tekom Europe Advisory Board for Professional Development and Training

The tekom Europe advisory board for professional development and training is an initiative of tekom Europe to make the profession of technical writer better known and to foster professionalization at the European level, in line with the objectives of the association.

The ten members of the advisory board come from various European countries. Thanks to the broad country coverage, the board can operate throughout Europe to promote its profession. The advisory board is made up of industry professionals and university lecturers who are themselves active and have wide networks in technical documentation.

Goals of the tekom Europe Advisory Board for Professional Development and Training

The advisory board has set various strategic goals.
•    An important goal is to bridge the gap between technical communication and related areas.
•    The aim is to arouse general interest in technical communication, to exchange knowledge and experience and, especially, to motivate others to take up this profession.
•    Therefore, various new target groups are to be involved in the activities of the board and in the tekom services for technical communication, e.g. people from translation,
       journalism, interaction design, information systems, computer science, media and communication studies.
•    The visibility and awareness of technical communication is to be increased, especially among translators and language service providers.
•    To achieve this, interesting and relevant up-to-date information about the profession of technical writers and their field of work is to be provided.

Activities of the Board

The activities of the advisory board include, among other things, marketing and providing information to new target groups, e.g. job agencies or people from related fields of work. To promote the profession, different channels and media are used, such as marketing leaflets, image videos, presentations, webinars, websites, blogs, newsletters and social media.

Some of the board members have already worked on the "TecCOMFrame" project funded by the EU through Erasmus Plus. TecCOMFrame's comprehensive career website is an important contribution towards making the profession better known throughout Europe, providing comprehensive information about the profession. In this project, an academic competence framework for the training of technical writers was developed, as well as prototype curricula.

•    The advisory board will continue to work actively on TecCOMFrame after the end of the project to keep the results up to date.
•    The relationship between academia and industry should become closer.
•    The advisory board will provide support in the field of technical communication, e.g. for students and universities, and help to create both academic and vocational
       training programs for technical communication in translation studies or other areas.
•    The advisory board will foster exchange and cooperation in general and build a network of universities and other associations.

In its work, the advisory board cooperates closely with the various national subsidiaries of tekom Europe.