Post on 16-Jul-2015
Christian GerickeSVP EMEA & APAC
Speaking with one voiceHow to develop a distinctive personality
SDL Nordic Digital Experience Day
18.11.20125
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What’s in this presentation for you?
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How to help your organization actually
genuinely get better at content!
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So, we all know that we "just" need
content and lots of it!
But not just any content, it needs to be
great content, ...
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... that speaks your customer’s language and engages
Acrolinx linguistic technology helps
some of the world’s greatest brands
speak with one voice
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@cgericke
Acrolinx linguistic technology helps
some of the world’s greatest brands
speak with one voice
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@cgericke
Variety of Content, One Voice
Web Marketing
Technical ProductContent
Brochures & Data Sheets
Training & Education
Sales Enablement
Videos & Presentations
Community& Support Content
Blogs & Social
Software UI& Embedded
Help
Newsletters & Articles
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AwarenessInterest
Evaluation
PURCHASE
Usage
Engagement
Advocacy
Winning
Customers
Keeping
Customers
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AwarenessInterest
Evaluation
PURCHASE
Usage
Engagement
Advocacy
Winning
Customers
Keeping
Customers
• Social
• Success Stories
• Website
• Blogs
• Social
• Online Help
• Customer Support
• Knowledge Bases
• Installation Guide
• Training
• User Guide
• Online Help
• Customer Support
• Knowledge Bases
• Online Help
• Customer Support
• Knowledge Bases
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How we treat our customers
Brochure
Glossy
Slick
Colorful
Reader-friendly
Sexy
Compelling
Manual
Plain
Dull
Black & White
Confusing
Dry
Boring
So to start with …
Who are we writing for?
What are we trying to say?
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Target Audience ≈ Personas
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Sam the Persona
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Is this your style guide?
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Which is better for a golfer?
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Voice at Microsoft
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Voice at EasyJet
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© Roger Perry
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Cats are not allowed in this garden
Affect and Effect
Among and Between
Assure, Ensure and Insure
Complement and Compliment
Comprise and Compose
Each Other and One Another
Farther and Further
Influence, Impact and Effect
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This is all great theory!
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You just need to get everyone in the
organization creating great content that
works.
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So, more content and better content…
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How?
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Optimization Circle
Analyze
Set Standards
Optimize
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We break this down into three aspects:
Words & Phrases (aka Terminology) – including branding,
messaging, feature names, and so on
Style – the traditional rules of good writing you want to follow
(Chicago Manual of Style, Strunk’s Elements of Style, …)
Tone of voice – the tone you take projects the company’s
personality
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Some example rules for clarity and translation optimization
Avoid Embedded Sentences
Do not use more than two clauses. Longer sentences are harder to understand than shorter sentences.
• Polyshield Seal Kits provide sealant for every ANSI Combo. Polyshield Seal Kits are included and shipped with each ANSI Combo
• Polyshield Seal Kits, which provide sealant for the ANSI Combo and which are included and shipped with each ANSI Combo, provi
Do Not Use Complex Sentences
This sentence has several complex constructions (nested sentences, passive, coordination, noun clusters, etc.) and is difficu
• You can customise the “touch time” required to trigger commands using the touch key. To specify a time, press [Access] on the
• Pressing [Access] on the control panel will select this interval, so that the machine will respond to the touch key operation
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Content AUDIT!
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Acrolinx Savings Calculation
ROI Model
ROI model: translation savings
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Aggregated Report
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Content x Tone = Impact
(Doug Kessler @dougkessler)
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flesch kincaid
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Examples: Tone of Voice
To commence work, a new ticket needs to be generated.
To commence work, a new ticket must be generated.
To commence work, you must generate a new ticket.
To start work, generate a new ticket.
To start work, please generate a new ticket.
To start work, create a ticket.
Open a ticket to get started.
Open a ticket and get working!!!
@cgericke
Classification: Tone of Voice
informal
& lively
readable
& clear
To commence work, a new
ticket must be generated.
To commence work, a new
ticket needs to be generated.
To commence work, you
must generate a new ticket.
To start work, create a ticket.
To start work, please generate a new ticket.
To start work, generate a ticket.
Open a ticket to get started.
Open a ticket and get
working!!!
Classification: Audience
informal
& lively
readable
& clear
young
close
impersonal
formal
technical expert general
public
To commence work, a new
ticket must be generated.
To commence work, a new
ticket needs to be generated.
To commence work, you
must generate a new ticket.
To start work, create a ticket.
To start work, please generate a new ticket.
To start work, generate a ticket.
Open a ticket to get started.
Open a ticket and get
working!!!
We Measure Your Tone of Voice
Target Score
(configurable)
Document
Score
Readability: Meaning
Value 0 25 50 75 100
Meaning difficult to read average easy to read
Language complex easy
Reading
Level
high low
Informality: Meaning
Value 0 25 50 75 100
Meaning formal neutral informal
Vocabulary
Structures
technical
passive
informal / colloquial
use of “you”, “we”
Type of
words
more nouns
than verbs
more verbs
than nouns
Liveliness: Meaning
Value 0 25 50 75 100
Meaning monotonous neutral lively
Structures long sentences
embedded sentence
similar structure
short sentences
fragments
questions
varied structures
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SDL LiveContent + Acrolinx
SDL LiveContent + Acrolinx
Quality Checker
Integrated with SDL
LiveContent Architect
Supports Grammer,
Reuse, Spelling, Style
and Terminology
Checking
Style Checking
Guidance on style of
content and suggestions
on alternatives.
Spelling and Terminology Checking
Guidance on spelling
and terminology.
Technical Details/Requirements
Requires Enrich 2.0
Supported Versions
LiveContent 2013 SP4 - Acrolinx 3.x
LiveContent 2014 – Acrolinx 4.x
Supported Editors
– Arbortext 5.x, 6.x (32-bit and 64-bit)
– XMetaL 8.x, 9.x(beta).
– oXygen XML Editor (Standalone) 15, 16 (Q1 2015)
Acrolinx + SDL WorldServer
Acrolinx + SDL World Server
Re-use of existing
translations in
Translation Memory
Available in all authoring
integrations supported
by Acrolinx
Leverages SDL World
Server re-use algorithms
Author writing content in any supported authoring environment.
Define Words, Phrases, Sentences in Translation Memory
Define Words, Phrases, Sentences in Translation Memory
Define Words, Phrases, Sentences in Translation Memory
Define Words, Phrases, Sentences in Translation Memory
Configure Acrolinx Options – “Enable Reuse”
Acrolinx suggests alternative sentence based on Translation Memory.
Technical Details/Requirements
SDL World Server 10.4.1
Requires Enrich 2.0
Joint Roadmap
Roadmap
2014 Q4 – SDL TMS Support for Reuse
LiveContent 2014 Q4 (10.4.1)SDL TMS 2011 SP5 CU1 (v10.5.1)Enrich 2.1
2015 Q1– Editors
• XMetaL 9.x (Beta)
• oXygen XML Editor (Standalone) 16 (Q1 2015)
Later in 2015 – Integrations with SDL Tridion– Integrations with Trados Studio– LiveContent – Tone of Voice