Abhay Chokshi is an experienced technical communicator currently working at Fraedom, New Zealand. He loves collaborating with other writers in the industry and has interesting stories to share around tech comm.  He is currently intrigued by writing that enhances design and UX. 

Originally from Charleston, South Carolina, in the US, Cindy Staudt moved to New Zealand 12 years ago and has completely forgotten how to say the words oregano, garage, and cookie. She has worked in the US government (frightening to see Dick Cheney’s portrait every day!), in a NZ publishing house, in tertiary education, and now in the private sector with a focus on public health and education.

She originally trained as an editor, but has also worked as a technical writer, content developer, and desktop publisher. Having a keen interest in both words and graphics led to a largely self-taught design career, and she now works as a user interface designer at Streamliners in Christchurch.

Off duty, she enjoys playing tennis, reading, and watching Marvel movies with her two boys.

Dave Gash is a technical publications specialist in Southern California who focuses on technology consulting and training for hypertext developers. A veteran software professional with over thirty years’ experience in development, documentation, and training, Dave’s well known in the tech pubs community as an interesting and engaging technical instructor. He’s frequently been the featured speaker at user assistance conferences in the US and around the world.

He holds degrees in Business and Computer Science.

Dave is an accomplished musician who plays several instruments, primarily the guitar.

Eithne (pronounced Eth-na) is a director and co-founder of Wires Uncrossed, a business dedicated to helping technical teams connect. It’s her passionate belief that building stronger connections is the key to ensuring a sustainable organisational culture, through increased staff engagement and motivation, and reduced turnover.

Originally from Ireland, Eithne spent over five years working for large multinationals in China, where she helped technical teams overcome the barriers of language, culture and distance to build strong connections. Moving to New Zealand, she spent the next 10 years working alongside technical specialists in some of our largest companies, equipping them with the skills and structures to foster effective communication.

Eithne holds a Bachelor’s degree in International Business and Languages. Having circumnavigated the globe she remains a keen sailor, and enjoys getting out on the water with her husband Myles and their young family.

BRebecca manages the Product Documentation and Marcomms groups at Allied Telesis Labs in Christchurch, where her teams produce everything from long complex manuals to infographics and videos. Her career has involved many aspects of communication, including technical writing, customer support, management, business process development, and data analysis.

In her spare time, Rebecca's recently taken up sketching, and she's putting her passion for the environment to good use by leading a native tree planting effort in the foothills of North Canterbury. She spends as much time as she can in the outdoors, and likes to ignore the chaos in her garden - weeds act as a carbon sink, right?

Based in Melbourne, Australia, Tony Self pioneered hypertext and online documents. For 25 years Tony has worked internationally in online Help systems, computer-based training, and electronic documents.

His impressive experience and achievements include:

• founding HyperWrite, a technical documentation company specializing in hypertext
• serving as Chief Technology Officer for Asia-Inc.com
• serving as Director of Training for TCTrainNet, which offers online training and certification for technical communicators
• serving as Adjunct Teaching Fellow at Swinburne University
• being appointed a Fellow of the Institute of Scientific and Technical Communication UK (ISTC).

He now consults on online documentation, internet strategy, and DITA implementation.

Tony holds a PhD in semantic mark-up languages and a Graduate Diploma in Technical Communication, and a Graduate Certificate in Teaching and Learning in Higher Education.

He is also a keen private pilot.