elegant communication

This is what some of her clients say about her newsletters and other materials:

• "The Union loved the migration plan! In fact, they're taking it to DOL and asking them to provide this type of plan for ALL the agencies!" — IT Center Chief, MSHA

  [Note: The "migration plan" was actually a class outline and syllabus for two, three-hour virtual training sessions covering the migration from Windows XP to Windows 7 and Office 2003 to Office 2010 at the same time. Quite a jump for those who didn't already have the upgrades at home. ]

• "Well done! Clear, concise, informative."  — Depty Assistant Secretary for Policy, MSHA
  
  
• "FANTASTIC! Keep up the good work!" — IT Center Chief, MSHA 
  
  
• "Trusted to deliver well beyond expectations, and does it willingly, exceptionally, and consistently." — PM, DMI
  
  
• "Strong contributor to technical discussions and is willing to get in the mix of areas that benefit the conversation and to contribute to the problem solving that occurs on a daily basis." — PM, DMI
  
  
• "Superwoman!" — Network Operations Division Chief, MSHA
  
  
• "Superlative efforts!" — PM, Digital Management, Inc.
  
  
• "Delivers excellence." — PM, Digital Management, Inc.
  
  
• "You gestate . . . then all of these things pop out at the same time!" — Director of Outreach, NTTC Washington Ops
  
       [Note: The "things" referred to were newsletter features and articles, backgrounders, and long, involved, detailed database entries on each technology covered. I find grouping like items (if they're on the same technology or subject matter) to be extremely efficient and effective. ]
  
  
• Recognized for "attention to detail, relating cross-project issues, problem analysis, customer service orientation," and "coordinating difficult technical groups." — VP Regulatory Services, JSC

Newsletters:  Melodie wrote, edited, and distributed the newsletter examples below. She has a long history of writing, editing, and publishing newsletters that goes back to 1993 when she took over her HOA neighborhood newsletter, kicked it up and notch and made it more "professional."

She was also a professional newsletter staff writer on an award-winning newsletter while working in technology transfer. The examples below are from an IT department talking to its customer base in the rest of the company / agency. This newsletter was put in place as a marketing tool to change the perception of the rest of the agency that the IT department didn't really care about the users and just did whatever they wanted to whenever they wanted to without considering them.

     PDF format         4-page done in MS Publisher.  
     HTML format      made for e-mailing (printed length is 10-12 pages).
     HTML format      made for e-mailing (printed length is 10-12 pages).
     She had several people comment about how useful they found on the last issue.

Additional examples (hard copy) from her newsletter staffer days are available on request.

High-level overview:  This document is an example of a 50,000 foot overview of a network architecture that's suitable for senior management personnel who do not have much technical depth. Melodie wrote this piece and had the WAN enginner review and comment before it was published. Sensitive details have been redacted from the example.

CBT: Melodie created this computer-based training video using Adobe Captivate. She also did the voice-over and editing. The Flash file is about 6 minutes long and shows you how the Search Commands tab in Microsoft Office 2007 works in Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. The Search Commands tab is not part of the standard Office 2007. If you would like to download it on your home version of Office 2007, here’s the location at Microsoft: http://officelabs.com/projects/searchcommands/Pages/default.aspx. 

Editing:  Before and After editing example of a memorandum. Sensitive information has been redacted from the example.

Procedures: 
Most technical writing is procedure oriented, and it is not unsual in large companies to have the procedure writer also draft the policy if there is no existing policy. Often, those writing the procedures are the first to identify the need for a new policy, when the new procedure gets to the point of stating policy. (A big no-no because they have two distinct purposes.)  Sensitive details have been redacted from these examples.

This example is from a network (LAN/WAN/Network) library she wrote (yes, the entire library!) that contains approximately 122 procedures ranging in length from 50 to 150 pages

This example is one small section of roughly a 4000 page user guide software library that she took over maintenance of, in addition to the LAN/WAN network library. The software library contains approximately 53 "book" sections.