Acrobat PDF Central Conference features live webcast

by Kurt Foss, Editor, AcrobatUsers.com

They are rolling out the proverbial red carpet in Council Bluffs, IA, on October 23-24, welcoming a mix of attendees, expert speakers and assorted dignitaries from across the portable document world. And the second annual Acrobat & PDF Central Conference has added a new twist this year—a second virtual red carpet for members of local Acrobat User Group chapters to view the keynote address and the opening educational session live via an Acrobat Connect Professional linkup.

Ali Hanyaloglu of Adobe Systems, who is also the leader of the Boston chapter, will give the opening address on the "State of the Acrobat Union." He'll be discussing "where Acrobat has been, where it's at today and what we have all learned from the success of version 8."

Next up will be an informational session titled "Remember the Users: Designing for your Readers," presented by Angie Okamoto of Tech Ed Solutions in Omaha, NE, hosts of the conference. She will talk about the different versions of Acrobat Reader and the importance of taking the functionality differences of each into account when designing a PDF form. "You want to make sure your form looks correct to all users," she says, "and you especially don't want to limit who's able to use your PDF."

Lori DeFurio of Adobe Systems, who helped arrange the special online sessions, explained in a recent e-mail message to local chapter leaders how it will work.

"If you want to hold your user group meeting to correspond with the times of the presentation (7:30 am – 10:15 am CDT), we will include your chapter in the Connect meeting," she says. "We will *not* be allowing anyone to join from the comfort of their homes or offices--they *must* attend a chapter meeting, live and in person."

So far, chapters that are planning to host a local meeting in order to host live viewing include New York, Boston and Dallas. [Check the Events page at AcrobatUsers.com for an updated list of hosting sites.] The online presentations will be available to chapters that wish to take part; the live sessions will also be archived for post-conference viewing.

NOTE: For those Acrobat User Community members who may want to attend the conference in person--there's still time to register—you can take advantage of a special member discount of $100 by entering the “AUC2007” discount code on the online registration form.

According to Stacey Sells of Tech Ed Solutions, the inaugural conference drew nearly 200 attendees from three different countries and 17 states. Based on attendee feedback, this year's agenda includes additional topical sessions and more Acrobat experts, along with a number of hands-on sessions and roundtable discussions. The company is an Adobe Trainer Provider and also serves as the leader of the Acrobat User Group chapter in Nebraska, with regular meetings at its facilities in Lincoln and Omaha. With that experience, Sells says, “we are familiar with Acrobat topics that are of interest to our clients and the Acrobat community. We've developed sessions for all experience levels--with more than 35 sessions to choose from, and topics fit for all types and levels of Acrobat users and developers."

The wealth of sessions covers a broad spectrum of topics, presented by some of the top Acrobat experts, including a number of Adobe staff. A sampling of sessions:

• "The Stuff that PDFs are made of: Understanding the PDF structure," by Thom Parker of Windjack Solutions

• "What we've got here is failure to communicate: Making your PDFs 508-compliant," by Leonard Rosenthal of Adobe Systems

• "Adobe Acrobat and Captivate: Incorporating Captivate tutorials with your PDFs," by Nicole Sell of Tech Ed Solutions

• "Interactive PDFs with Adobe InDesign: Creating the document using Adobe InDesign," by Bob Connolly of pdfPictures.com

• "Adding depth to your PDFs: 3D diagrams and layers with Acrobat 3D," by Tim Huff of Adobe Systems

• "Doing more in less time: Acrobat shortcuts and tips," by Ted Padova, author of The Acrobat 8 PDF Bible

One of the attendees of the first conference who is headed back for the second is Dick Vohlers, a software developer for the SAS Institute in Cary, NC. He says that while he's saved on travel costs in tapping into a number of online educational events in recent years, there are benefits to attending a conference in person from time to time.

"Attending a webinar is good in its way,” Vohlers says, “but you miss the chance to renew contacts and to be able to ask your own individual questions between sessions or at a vendor booth. When Tech Ed Solutions announced its conference last year, even though the location was not as convenient for me, I decided to attend. I'm glad I did."

Another satisfied customer is Carlo Arellano with General Casualty, a property and casualty insurance provider based in Sun Prairie, WI. He said the company attended last year because it is "expanding from the typical desktop Adobe Acrobat installs to using the Adobe LiveCycle Server and Reader Extensions. We wanted to come and see what the latest developments with Adobe products were, as well as participate in the Adobe Designer hands-on with Angie Okamoto." Arellano says his team will be attending again this year.

If your local user-group chapter is hosting a meeting in conjunction with the conference, you and your team can get at least a taste of the event. You'll even have an opportunity to ask questions following the two live webcast sessions, says keynote speaker Hanyaloglu, who was the first chapter leader to host an Acrobat Connect Professional link to a live meeting in Boston earlier this year.

He says he'll take a few questions from the remote-viewing audience via Connect's chat pod feature. To chapter leaders hosting the two live conference sessions, Hanyaloglu offers advice for optimizing the experience. He suggests that viewing sites have "a reliable and consistent connection—wired or wireless—and a good set of speakers for the audio portion." He further suggests that chapters try to "keep things interesting locally between sessions.” And enjoy the virtual red-carpet ride, he says.

“Connect, sit back and watch!"