Help University, Inc.
Partner, Director of Communications
1995 - 1998
Minority owner and Director of Communications of Help University, Inc., producer of conferences and seminars for technical writers, managers, and developers of online information.
Help University was a partnership started by MJ Plaster and Alec Sonenthal
in 1994 to provide reasonably priced, high quality conferences where people
could have fun as well as learn. At the 1995 Snowmass Summer Camp, MJ and
Alec invited Dave Gash and me to join the company. Together over the next
three years we produced conferences in:
| Chapel Hill | Chicago |
| Dallas | San Diego |
| Sydney | Orlando |
As part of Help U, I did all sorts of tasks - we all did. Typical chores involved in putting together conferences include:
- Planning session content and direction
- Selecting speakers
- Scheduling sessions
- Designing brochures and writing copy
- Planning location and timing
- Coordinating with hotel
- Running the conference
- Master of Ceremonies
- Managing conference events
I was the producer for several of the conferences. As such, I worked with the rest of the team to determine a theme, then arranged speakers, coordinated topics, and made sure everything go done on time. It was an amazing experience!