To borrow a phrase from Willie Nelson, “I’m on the road again!” The reasons are two-fold: the upcoming Write the Docs 2026 conference in Portland, Oregon, on May 3-5 and the subsequent Write the Docs meetup in San Francisco on May 7. For those who don’t know, Write the Docs is a large global community for anyone who cares about documentation, from technical writers to software engineers.
May 4: Lightning Talks at Write the Docs 2026 in Portland
As a long-time supporter of Write the Docs, Expert Support is pleased to sponsor the Monday Lightning Talks. These brief presentations feature both first-time speakers and seasoned veterans sharing information on a topic about which they are passionate. I attend every year and always come away with new perspectives.
In my case, our sponsorship means I’ll have 60 seconds to welcome attendees and presenters to the session, briefly introduce Expert Support, and invite further conversations. Please feel free to buttonhole me in the hallway at Write the Docs 2026 before or afterwards for a conversation.
May 7: Panel Discussion at Meetup in San Francisco
The fun continues later in the week when I return to San Francisco to reconvene with fellow documentarians at a meetup of the Bay Area chapter of Write the Docs. I will participate in a panel discussing the State of the Docs with documentation leaders from Salesforce, GitBook, and Anthropic. Learn how AI is shifting documentation from a static resource to dynamic infrastructure. Panelists will touch on topics such as AI-powered software development, documentation as a data layer, and the evolving role of technical writers.
Hope to see you there!
Paul Gustafson is CEO at Expert Support. A long-time Silicon Valley veteran, Paul has helped hundreds of clients optimize their technical communication strategies.
Expert Support is a leading provider of technical writing and consulting services. We help companies ensure their software documentation is efficient to create, effective for users, and ready for the next wave of technology.