The Presenter: Suyog Ketkar
Current Role: Content Designer, IBM
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The Topic
Using Burkean Pentad in Technical Communication

About the Session
Who hasn’t faced troublesome SMEs?
We all spend a lot of time collecting information. But to do that, we all go through numerous interviews with our SMEs, listening to them, gleaning from the interaction, and building information based on that initial ‘download’. This is the reason that we must have top-notch interviewing skills when it comes to our SME interaction. The better questions we ask, the more information we can get. And, the faster we can conclude our write-ups. There might be numerous ways to answer the question of “How to collect information from SMEs?” One such way is by posing good quality questions.

Kenneth Burke, in his book named ‘The Grammar of Motives’, introduced the concept of the Pentad. It is a concept that is applicable in the field of drama. But the technique shared by him has universal applicability in the sphere of communication. Especially, in technical communication, where the art of questioning and interviewing is of paramount importance. Through this presentation, and an activity that follows, I expect to share with the attendees a technique that helps them in composing questions. The questioning technique can improve interaction skills.

About the Presenter
Suyog Ketkar is a Tekom-certified technical communicator with about two decade of experience in writing and editing. He has won the prestigious Outstanding Technical Achievement Award at IBM for his efforts. He is a published author of two books, and has contributed more than 70 poems to multiple poetry anthologies. His articles have been published in national and international magazines. In his free time, he is a busy father. In his work time, he is busy with people, processes, and tasks.