Social Media Benefits for Your Writing Career
Description: How to use LinkedIn and Twitter to market your business by Ciranna Bird
Published: Carolina Communiqué - A publication of the Carolina Chapter of the Society for Technical Communication
Would you like to book Ciranna Bird for your upcoming event? Speaker fees vary based on event location, program duration and other factors. Please e-mail ciranna.bird(at)cirannabird.com to obtain a quote.
Food and Bacteria Awareness
Social Media for Freelancers
Panels and Facilitation
Food and Bacteria Awareness
Workshop: Protect your egg-laying hens and customers from Salmonella
July 21, 2016
Location:
Inter-Faith Food Shuttle,
Raleigh, NC
This 90-minute workshop provided a brief overview of Salmonella, the bacteria that causes diarrhea and fevers. We talked about how people get the bacteria. We covered the NC laws and USDA egg handling regulations. We highlighted the difference between large scale egg producers process of collecting eggs through conveyer belts, versus small-scale farmers collection of eggs by hand. We evaluated different methods of collecting and washing eggs on small-scale farms. I provided strategies on how to limit the movement of bacteria and viruses on your farm, and suggestions for their customers on how to cook and prepare eggs at home that reduce the spread of the Salmonella bacteria. We had a lively discussion, where farmers shared best practices and asked plenty of questions.
Learn how to Home-Can Heirloom Tomatoes
July 16, 2016
Location: Chapel Hills Farmer Market Chapel Hill, NC
Thank you for joining me at the Chapel Hills Farmers Market 2016 Tomato Festival. I enjoyed handing out Carolina Farm Stewardship Association stickers, organic cherry tomato seeds which was donated to them by Southern Exposure Seed Exchange and copies of my home-canning heirloom tomato article.
In addition to the wonderful taste-testing of hybrid, heirloom, and cherry tomatoes, I had a chance to meet Craig LeHoullier, author of The Epic Tomato in person.
Social Media for Freelancers
Build Your Freelance Business with a Strong Online Presence
Friday, October 7, 2016
Location: The 2016 AMWA
Medical Writing & Communication Conference Denver, Colorado
During this session, Lori De Milto and I presented online marketing tools to freelance medical writers. Lori, the author of the The Mighty Marketer: Your Guide to Making More Money as a Freelance Medical Writer, shared with the audience how to maximize visibility on LinkedIn and the American Medical Writers Association AMWA freelance directory. I shared tips on how to protect their website from being hacked as well as how to recover from a breach. Then I discussed ways to ensure a positive experience of potential customers to their websites which included the following:
- Minimize the time it takes for your website to load
- Structure the navigation within the page using hypertext markup language
- and provide alternative text to pictures to ensure people with limited vision can easily access the content.
5 Tips for Creating an Effective Freelance Business Website
March 12, 2016 Location: AMWA Delaware Valley Chapter (DVC) Freelance Conference, King of Prussia, PA
It was an honor to be invited by the AMWA Freelance Conference Committee to share my knowledge alongside my peers and mentors Melissa Bogen, ELS, Medical Editor/Owner, Bogen Editorial Services, Christine Durst, PhD, Durst Writing Solutions, Don Harting, MA ELS, CHCP, Harting Communications, LLC, Cyndy L. Kryder, MS, CCC-Sp, Medical Communications Specialist, Brian S. McGowan, PhD, FACEhp, Chief Learning Officer, ArcheMedX, Inc, Ann M. Volk, MA, Owner, Volk Medical Communications and Kristina Wasson-Blader, PhD, ELS, Principal, Clearly Communicating Science, LLC.
Attendees of my 5 Tips for Creating an Effective Freelance Business Website roundtables asked great questions and learned how to do the following activities:
- Use plain language and document design techniques to ensure their web content is easy to read.
- Choose a theme that meets web accessibility guidelines.
- Perform monthly maintenance to protect their websites from hackers.
Five Tips to Prevent Your Author’s Website from becoming an Antique
October 3, 2015
Location: American Medical Writers Association (AMWA) Annual Conference, San Antonio, TX
As a roundtable leader at the 2015 Annual Conference, I shared website building strategies with my fellow freelance medical writers.
Five Tips to Prevent Your Author’s Website from becoming an Antique
March 18, 2015
Location: Holly Springs Writers Guild Carey, NC
This interactive discussion helped attendees ensure that the money and time they invested to launch their websites continued to be worthwhile months and years later. I shared strategies to avoid becoming a hostage of website hosts, content management systems, and website designers.
Speaker Panels and Facilitation events
What is medical writing?
May 2, 2015
Location: WriteNow!2015 Triangle Area Freelancers Annual Writers' Conference, Raleigh, NC
Speakers Guiseppe Getto, Rick Evans, Carrie Knowles, David Morrell, and Ciranna Bird
I want to thank Andrea Wenger and Ciranna Bird "for their efforts in bringing the first tech writing track to the conference
...through Ciranna's participation in the panels, she demonstrated some of the many possibilities for writers to find work in unexpected places.
She showed how a mind so informed by science and data can find ways to be creative in solving problems and helping people through writing."
- Jenni Hart, writer and copy editor
May 1, 2015
Chose roundtable speaker for the American Medical Writers Association-Carolinas Spring 2015 Conference
Francine Netter, author of Medicine's Michelangelo: The Life & Art of Frank H. Netter MD. with Ciranna Bird
March 26, 2015
Facilitator - Encouraged thought-provoking discussion of Atul Gawande's book and the use of checklists in medical writing for the Carolinas Chapter of the American Medical Writers Association.
The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right by Atul Gawande