About Us

Elephant began as the Yokneam Forum of Technical Writers (פי"ל)  which started in Oct. 2003 during the hi-tech downturn to help experienced tech writers find jobs and clients. Over the past six+ years, the Forum has been a completely voluntary effort with top notch speakers volunteering their time, hi-tech companies and the town of Yokneam providing facilities, and New England style potluck catering (those coming bring refreshments to share - preferably homemade). Starting in May 2006, the Forum opened the elephant.org.il site and began charging membership dues to support the site and its other activities.

Originally intended as a getogether for Technical Writers living and working in Yokneam, it quickly became a national phenomenon within the Technical Writing community. Galit Frost summed up the impact of the Elephant on the technical writing community in the feature article of a local Hebrew newspaper. National newspapers (The Marker, ynet, and Haaretz) made use of the salary information available at Elephant. The IEEE Region 8 Newsletter recently took note of the impact Elephant has had in helping freelance technical writers. Local industry and later high tech companies throughout Israel soon turned to "the Elephant" to find the technical writers and companies that best meet their needs. Now that there is plenty of work and a shortage of writers, the Forum actively helps match companies with technical writers whose skills match company needs.

Meetings

Meetings of the Elephant are free, but you must register using the online form for the meeting or by sending an email with your name, email, job title and company (or freelance). Meetings always begin with a short round of AA style introductions (name, company/freelance, job title, etc.) and announcements. Refreshments are all potluck. The few minutes before the start of a meeting and during breaks are good for networking. Meetings are informal, but informative and candid. Even frontal presentations often turn into discussions because of the combined experience of the audience (many with well over 20 years).

Other Events

In addition to meetings, elephant.org.il provides information on events organized by other organizations that serve the same community. The Calendar of Events is updated daily and many organizations have direct posting rights. Some of these organizations have joined the Forum in providing summaries of their events. You can find links to these summaries in the Events section. Upcoming courses were originally part of the events calendar, but were later moved to a separate Course Calendar. There is also a separate page of course vendors. Organizations that want posting rights should make a request using the Contact Us form.

Courses

Neither the Forum nor elephant.org.il provide courses. However, in April 2007 the Courses section was opened with a comprehensive list of technical writing and related course vendors who do provide courses. Some of these vendors support elephant.org.il by giving discounts to members. As this section develops, information on the courses available will be added.

Membership

Paid membership was orignially introduced to create a "closed membership list" that would enable the Forum to arrange for group discounts while still keeping its activities free and open to the public. Most members join and pay annual dues to help support the Forum and offset the costs related to elephant.org.il . A number of service providers show their support for the Forum by providing group discounts to Forum/Elephant members. Annual dues, which serve as the main source of income for elephant.org.il are intentionally set very low to serve more as a catalyst to volunteer participation than as a replacement for it.

Salary and Rate Information

The willingness of participants to share information that they carefully guarded elsewhere formed the basis for starting the Salary and Rate Surveys. The salary survey results, which were picked up by The Marker, ynet, and Haaretz, provide technical writers with information that they can use during salary negotiations whose accuracy is similar to that found in expensive salary surveys that only companies could afford to subscribe to. The Freelancer's Toolbox includes links to many other surveys and pricelists.

Starting in Q4, 2006 the Salary and Rate surveys monitor the salaries and rates of a large group of writers that report every quarter, thus allowing an accurate analysis of job mobility, income and benefit changes, and other trends. Inexpensive access to the survey results is limited to participants in the surveys. Participants help pay for the cost of managing the survey by paying a small annual subscription fee; this subscription is included in membership dues for full members of elephant (details at http://elephant.org.il/join_now. Companies and other nonparticipants can purchase nonparticipant subscriptions at the full unsubsidized price.

Job Offers, Leads and Other Behind the Scenes Activities

Behind the scenes and between meetings, members of the Forum stay in contact with job offers and leads, joint projects, and professional assistance. Much of the offline information is confidential and discrete, so it never reaches the web site, including some of the job offers submitted via the Help Me Find a Writer form. The Jobs section (requires login with member permissions) mostly lists jobs garnered from public sources, such as professional mailing lists and newspaper ads. If you are looking for a job or want to help, you can either use the Contact Us form or contact Svi Ben-Elya directly at . For those who need to hear a voice, you can call Svi at +972-54-2452679.

Advertising

Elephant.org.il does not yet have an advertising policy. That is one of the reasons why you can look for days without finding one. The Writers for Hire section in the upper-left corner is an attempt to provide an effective, low-cost advertising medium. Members are allowed to post there only when they are immediately available for work. You can find more details at http://elephant.org.il/join_now . If you are interested in promoting your services in a way that will not detract from the user experience at elephant.org.il, please contact use the Contact Us form or call Svi Ben-Elya at +972-54-2452679.

Sponsorships

Elephant.org.il does not currently have a sponsorship program. However it is open to sponsorships proposals from organizations that serve the same community.

FAQ

Profiles

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