Colleen Trolove has been a trainer, coach, writer, and editor in plain language for the last 15 years. With Miraka Davies, she co-owns the online School of unProfessional Writing.

She’s judged the USA ClearMark Awards, the New Zealand Science Communicator Awards, and she’s helped jazz up the WriteMark New Zealand Plain Language Awards by singing at four of the awards ceremonies!

Katherine Barcham has had a chequered career, spending most of it working in her 2 passion areas: writing and accessibility.

If you have met Katherine before, maybe at one of her previous talks for TechCommNZ, you know she is obsessed with making content accessible for everyone. In her day job as a Digital Accessibility Specialist, she gets to conduct accessibility testing, train people, educate and advocate for more accessible products and services. Outside work, she loves getting a chance to talk with fellow writers and together, work out ways they can make their content accessible to even more people.

If you’ve met Megan at a TechCommNZ event before, you might be thinking… ‘possums’ right now.

That’s because back then, she was working in conservation — creating clear and concise documents about all-things-pest-control. Her Graduate Diploma of Information Design from Christchurch Polytech (now Ara) meant possum control had never looked so good — on paper!

Since then, she’s:

•     wrangled web content at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT)
•     created well-designed information for a range of businesses while self-employed
•     trained oodles of people on the power of plain language at Write (her current role).

Megan’s approach to life aligns beautifully with plain language: make things practical, be curious about people and situations, and strive to see how others view things. A childhood of chasing sheep around King Country hills and years of travel have only enhanced this outlook!

You’ll see this practicality in Megan’s business writing workshops at Write. People love the real-world examples and stories, often have ‘aha’ moments, and leave rapt they can apply their new skills straight away. And sometimes — they even get to hear about those possums!

Deaf Aotearoa is a national organisation representing the voice of Deaf people, and the national service provider for Deaf people in New Zealand. Deaf Aotearoa also works closely with Deaf communities, government agencies, and other organisations to increase awareness, promote New Zealand Sign Language, and strengthen the rights of Deaf people.

Emily Cotlier is a business analyst and technical communicator, passionate about clear information and data. She’s applied her skills to roles in software, manufacturing, and government, often focusing on online content delivery. Since 2018, she’s followed AI developments. And over the past two years, she has stepped up to educate colleagues and clients about AI and automation.   

Between 2013 and 2016, Emily enjoyed being Vice President of TechCommNZ. She has also judged the technical category in the WriteMark New Zealand Plain Language Awards.

Dave completed 22 years as an aircraft technician in the Royal Australian Air Force. He transitioned into civilian life in 2005. Unlike many colleagues, he deliberately avoided work in defence and aviation to expand his experience across other industries.

Because of his technical background and his transition to civilian life, Dave now works as a technical communicator across many different industries. Some of his experience includes manufacturing, engineering, technology, mining, explosives, government, logistics, health and safety, and the defence industry.

After working in several roles as a contractor, Dave set up his own company, Integrated Training and Documentation, in 2010 as a technical writing consultancy. Then in 2021, Dave was the first Australian to become an ASD accredited trainer in Simplified Technical English (STE). He started a second company, with his business partner, to deliver STE training as an ASD accredited trainer.  In April 2024, Dave became a member of the STE Maintenance Group (STEMG). The STEMG keep the STE specification up to date and current. In June 2024, Dave became the Australian National STE Coordinator.

Dave is a long-time supporter and member of the ASTC. He is a past committee member and held the role of President and Vice-President.

Jennifer is a Digital Content Strategist whose career has evolved with her interests alongside advances in technology. After starting out in print at newspapers in the US and at the Moscow bureau of Time Magazine in Russia, she adapted her journalism skills to write and produce television news at ABC News in Moscow and Chicago. With the Dot-Com boom came a move to New York City and roles writing and editing health news online at CBSHealthWatch and WebMD.  

After a stint in New Zealand as a writer and wine educator at a Hawke's Bay winery, she joined Mayo Clinic’s health information team in Minneapolis, Minnesota. There she led the development and implementation of machine-readable, omni-channel content products for consumers and health professionals.  

Back in New Zealand post-pandemic, Jennifer served as a strategic advisor at the Digital Public Service at DIA where she provided advice on emerging digital government issues like AI, digital inclusion and integrated service delivery. She is currently a Content Strategist at Streamliners.

Steph has worked in content writing and publishing for 12 years, championing the importance of plain language, writing style, accessibility and branding as the must-have package for clear communication. She’s a Plain Language Award winner, Plain Language Awards judge, Plain Language Advisor appointed under the Plain Language Act 2022, and one of your current TechCommNZ board members.

Steph develops and delivers practical letter and email writing workshops for the business teams in her workplace. The workshops are informal, conversational, and collaborative. They focus on showing teams how to plan and build strong customer communications from scratch.