•  Marketing Collateral

Marketing Collateral

AneuRx: AAA Stent Graft with the Xpedient Delivery System
Medtronic AVE
Six-Page Brochure

This brochure introduces a new stent graft design, and was the centerpiece in a major international product launch. The brochure describes features unique to this stent graft system, and highlights its success in clinical trials. For this project, I interviewed the in-house marketing staff, wrote a first draft, and revised the draft based on comments received from in-house marketing, regulatory, and legal reviews—all within a highly compressed production schedule.

6F Launcher: Guide Catheter
Medtronic AVE
One-Page Product Sheet

This flyer is a sales tool to introduce a new guide catheter. The front page describes three key benefits of the catheter and the distinctive features that enable them. The back page provides specifications and ordering information. For this project, I interviewed the in-house marketing staff, wrote a first draft, and revised the draft based on comments received from in-house marketing, regulatory, and legal reviews.

Marketing Collateral and Communications Products
Hoffman Marketing Communications
Product Briefs, Data Sheets, Reports, and Presentations

Hoffman Marketing Communications, Inc. (HMC) provides writing services for companies and consulting firms in the information security, IT, and energy industries. Clients include Hewlett-Packard, Symantec, Cisco, and Cap Gemini Ernst & Young. I have written a variety of publications for HMC—including reports, product briefs, data sheets, and PowerPoint presentations. My role has involved interviewing technical staff, conducting research, writing draft copy, incorporating review comments, and assisting in development of illustrations.

Utilities Investigate Conductor Motion
Transmission & Distribution World Magazine
Magazine Article

This article describes the challenges faced by two utilities in cost-effectively controlling the vibration of high-voltage electric transmission power lines, which can cause equipment failure and power outages. Developing the article involved extensive interviews with engineers at two utilities, ghost-writing a first draft, incorporating comments received from the engineers, revising the article to meet the requirements of the magazine, and compiling accompanying photographs.

Are Distributed Energy Resources Gaining Traction?
Public Utilities Fortnightly
Magazine Article

This article provides a broad-based picture of the current state and potential future of distributed energy resources (DER). The article benchmarks the current technology, markets, applications, and business models that are active in this area. I ghost-wrote this article based on a landmark white paper that I had written on the same subject, in collaboration with another contract writer. For the white paper, we conducted more than 20 interviews with experts in the field throughout North America, and wrote a 150-page paper, with extensive data collection and analysis. The magazine article was a synthesis of the white paper.

Terra Valentine Winery
With Marie Gewirtz Public Relations
Press Kit

This press kit provides background information on a new winery and vineyard in the Spring Mountain District of California’s Napa Valley. Based on transcripts of interviews conducted by Marie Gewirtz, I wrote eight profiles of the vineyard, the winery, the Spring Mountain District, the co-owners, the general manager, and the winemaker.

What’s New This Week
EPRI (Electric Power Research Institute)
Weekly Webpage Feature

This feature appears on the homepage of www.epri.com, one of the most popular energy websites on the Internet. The feature articles, which are rotated weekly, briefly describe an aspect of EPRI’s advanced energy research in an entertaining and informative way. To develop the articles, I interview staff scientists and engineers, write first drafts, and revise the drafts based on comments received from the staff members.

Communications Products

PIER (Public Interest Energy Research) Annual Reports
California Energy Commission
Annual Reports, 2000-2002

The Public Interest Energy Research (PIER) Program is run by the California Energy Commission. PIER supports public interest energy research and development that will help improve the quality of life in California by bringing environmentally safe, affordable and reliable energy services and products to the marketplace. Each year the program is required to present an annual report on the status of PIER-funded projects. My role was to write 40-50 project summaries, based on interviews with principal researchers and project managers. Areas of research included residential/commercial/industrial energy efficiency, renewable energy, advanced generation, and environmental research.

Directory of Public Benefits Programs
California Municipal Utilities Association (CMUA)
Directory/Report

This 160-page report describes some 23 public benefit energy programs operated by municipal utilities throughout California, as well as dozens of public benefit energy companies administered by the state of California. For the project, I managed the production of the report—including initial scoping, scheduling, and budgeting—and was one of two writers who conducted interviews with utility personnel around the state and wrote the case study descriptions of the programs.

Generation Program News Service
EPRI (Electric Power Research Institute)
Web-based News Service

This is a service for collecting news about the client’s products, services, and events related to electric power generation. My role is to interview staff scientists and engineers and contractors; conduct research of reports, presentations, and other existing materials; write short news articles that synthesize information on the institute’s activities; revise the articles based on review by project managers; and post the articles.

Bluetooth DesignGuide
Agilent Technologies
One-Page Product Overview

Agilent EEsof EDA is a leading supplier of Electronic Design Automation (EDA) software for high-frequency system, circuit, and modeling applications. The Bluetooth DesignGuide is one of a family of Agilent design tools that enable design engineers to rapidly simulate and model the performance specifications of electronic equipment—in this case, Bluetooth transmitters and receivers. For this project, I rewrote and edited the copy to improve the clarity and grammar of the product description.

PG&E Research Reporter
Pacific Gas & Electric Company (PG&E)
Four-Page Newsletter

This quarterly newsletter reported on the research findings and activities of Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E’s) Research and Development (R&D) Department. Research areas included electric generation, electricity transmission and distribution, end-use, and environmental impact. For this project, I interviewed principal researchers and project managers, wrote articles, and coordinated the design, layout and production of the newsletter.

Document Production

 I manage the production of books and book-length reports. A few examples of my work are described below.
 

Marketing Collateral and Sales Team Guides
Medtronic AVE
On-Call Editing and Proofreading

For this project, I served as an “on-call” editor and proofreader during a busy production season prior to a series of major product launches. I copyedited and proofread more than 20 high-profile brochures, product sheets, white papers, sales guides, patient booklets, and presentation materials. Products included the Stormer Balloon Catheter and the Talent AAA Stent Graft

EPRI AC Transmission Line Reference Book: 200 kV and Above, Third Edition
EPRI (Electric Power Research Institute)
1,000-Page Book

This book has been recognized for more than 25 years as the worldwide industry standard for transmission line design. The book is commonly known as the “Red Book” for the red cover of the first edition, published in 1975. The book was updated and revised from 2003 to 2005 by a team of 20 international experts. My role was to edit the book, assist in the coordination of the writer/reviewer teams, and supervise layout and production.

This book is the essential industry-standard guide for designing overhead electric transmission lines to minimize damage to the lines from wind-induced conductor motion. The book is commonly known as the “Orange Book” for the orange cover of the first edition published in 1979. That edition was updated in 2004 through 2006 by a team of a dozen international experts. My role was to edit the book’s seven chapters for uniformity, clarity, and consistency of format. In addition, I helped establish editorial guidelines, participated in meetings and teleconferences over three years, and coordinated the layout and production of the book.

TAG^®: Technical Assessment Guide
EPRI (Electric Power Research Institute)
Series of 200- to 300-Page Reports

The Technical Assessment Guide (TAG®) is widely considered to be the authoritative source and industry standard for cost and performance information on technologies for electricity generation, storage, transmission and distribution, and environmental control. For this project, I edited text and supervised layout and production for more than a dozen different versions and editions of the report.