Report on Nordic Techkomm Copenhagen, 2023

This year’s conference started on Tuesday, September 19 with a networking event in the afternoon. Attendees discussed tools and trends in technical communication, including content writing, systems, and challenges in translation. The most hotly discussed question was “Will AI help us get rid of PDF as a format?” The overall consensus was that, at some point, PDF formats will probably be replaced by AI – however, it will take a while. In the evening, there was a guided tour through the city center of Copenhagen, where we visited the most important sights and learned about the history of Copenhagen.
Since this networking format was well received by attendees, providing an excellent start for the next two conference days, we will probably host it again next year, maybe in a different setting.

The first conference day started with the keynote “How Will AI Revolutionize Technical Communication?” by Scott de Loach, followed by an interesting discussion in the audience. Besides AI, many other current topics were discussed: Lars Holm Sorensen presented on accessibility, showing a demo of good and bad accessibility for writers. Dr. Marion Wittkowsky gave insights into how AI can be integrated into higher education for technical writers and translators.
The networking dinner provided a great ending to this first successful conference day: over good food and drinks, attendees, speakers, sponsors, and organizers discussed a plethora of different topics. 

After morning coffee or, alternatively, a swim to start the day, the second conference day kicked off with workshops: Petra Herbst held a workshop to follow up the presentation she gave the previous day on Docs as Codes. This gave attendees the opportunity to directly use their newly gained knowledge. During his workshop, Matthias Maul demonstrated hands-on action steps to improve team community and productivity. It was great to see how engaged the attendees were – workshops are all about hands-on experience and trying out new ideas together with others in the field. 

Before lunch break, it was time for some presentations by the sponsors of NORDIC TechKomm. After good food and some time to relax in the sun, Dorte Sonne spoke on “Global Leadership in Technical Communication”, while Jang Graat talked about “The Low-Tech Approach to Serving Personalized Information”. After an interesting presentation by Nolwenn Kerzreho on how to reduce e-waste, the conference was already almost at an end. tekom Danmark’s president Maiken Blok ended the conference with a closing session and a raffle. The raffle winners weren’t the only ones to go home happy; all other attendees took a lot of new knowledge, interesting discussions and a good mood home with them. So far, we have received only good feedback and great suggestions for improvement.
The conference was sold out and there was a very positive atmosphere – we are looking forward to next year and hope for as many engaging attendees, speakers, and sponsors. Thanks to all who participated and contributed to this conference.