Convince Your Manager¶
Do you need help justifying why your manager should send you to Write the Docs? Do you need help convincing your community to submit a Writing Day Project? Don’t worry – you’re not alone. Based on the experiences of some of our previous attendees, we’ve put together two sample emails and a list of resources below. Feel free to adapt and share with your employer and community to convince them that there are many benefits of attending!
Sample Email #1¶
Convince your manager to send you to Write the Docs¶
Remember to change the things in [brackets]!
FROM: [your name]
TO: [your employer or manager’s name]
SUBJECT: Professional Development: Documentation Community Conference
I’d like to attend Write the Docs Portland from May 4-6, 2025. This three-day event explores the art and science of documentation, and covers a diverse range of topics related to documentation in the software industry.
Write the Docs conferences bring together everyone who writes the docs – Tech Writers, Developers, Developer Relations, Customer Support – making the events an ideal networking opportunity. Each conference successfully combines a number of different event formats to deliver engaging, practical, and timely content.
There is a single track of talks, a parallel unconference event, and a community writing day. The sessions from last year will give you a good idea of the kinds of topics covered, many of which are relevant to my work.
Costs:
Conference ticket - $650
Benefits:
Discovering solutions to problems I’m facing at work
Exposure to the latest ideas, techniques, and tools for software docs
Opportunity to learn from the best doc teams in the industry
Building professional connections with other documentarians
Thanks in advance, [your name]
Corporate Resources¶
When discussing how to pitch the conference, a few generally helpful tips emerged:
Highlight specific talks that relate to ongoing projects at work (after talk line up has been announced).
If your company is looking to hire another documentarian, the networking is an excellent resource.
Attending raises the visibility of your company in the community.
Establishes your team’s reputation for caring about their docs.
Share info about previous conferences. View the main page overview explaining Write the Docs, history, and schedule overview.
Sample Email # 2¶
Convince your manager or community to participate in Writing Day¶
Remember to change the things in [brackets]!
FROM: [your name]
TO: [your employer or community lead’s name]
SUBJECT: Docs hackathon: Documentation Community Conference
I’d like to attend Write the Docs Portland from May 4-6, 2025. This three-day event explores the art and science of documentation, and covers a diverse range of topics related to documentation in the software industry. I am particularly interested in leading a project at Writing Day. I believe this event can positively impact our project and community.
Writing Day is modeled after the concept of “code sprints” or “hackathons”, which are common in open-source conferences. The primary goal is to bring interesting individuals into the same room and have them work towards a shared goal; in this case the goal is creating or improving documentation or other related projects.
Costs:
Conference ticket - $650
Writing Day Benefits:
Introduce our project and community to a new audience and demographic in our industry
Get highlighted as a project in the conference blog and announcements (must submit online by April 17, 2025)
Onboard documentation enthusiasts to increase the likelihood of post-conference contributions
Strategically tackle documentation tickets and requests
Update existing documentation Peer review new and existing documentation
Conference Benefits:
Exposure to the latest ideas, techniques, and tools for software docs
Opportunity to learn from the best doc teams in the industry
Building professional connections with other documentarians
Bringing our project to Writing Day benefits us as a community. It gives us the opportunity to improve our documentation and create a more inclusive project.
Thanks in advance, [your name]
Writing Day Resources¶
When discussing how to pitch Writing Day, a few helpful tips emerged:
Highlight specific projects from a previous Writing Day project list.
If your community is looking for regular documentation contributions, this is a great place to onboard potential contributors and editors.
Attending raises the visibility of your company in the community.
Establishes your team’s reputation for caring about their docs.
Review the tips for leading a project at Writing Day.
Share info about previous conferences. View the main page overview explaining Write the Docs, history, and schedule overview.
