Chat pod beats microphone for keynote Q&A
People come to conferences such as this week’s Adobe Acrobat & PDF Central Conference in Minneapolis for different reasons, but a common one is the desire to find answers to product-related questions. And there’s ample opportunity to mingle with the expert speakers and other attendees over the course of the two-day event to do just that.
However, as became clear during the keynote address this morning that was being webcast live to a global audience, it’s sometimes easier to ask those questions that pop into your head when listening to a presentation when logged in rather than being physically present in the same room with the speakers. By my count, during this morning’s joint keynote by Ted Padova and Angie Okamoto titled “Differences between Acrobat Forms and LiveCycle Designer Forms,” virtual attendees received answers to more than 25 questions typed into the chatpod in Acrobat Connect during the one-hour session. In contrast, there was time at the end of the keynote for only one person in the room to ask a question.
The session itself was set up as good-natured sparring between Phillipines-based Ted & Nebraska-based Angie over the respective pros and cons of creating PDF forms with either Adobe Acrobat or with the free-standing (and Windows-only) LiveCycle Designer software. In reality, the two speakers are anything but combatants; rather, they’re just completing the task of co-authoring a book due out in December — PDF Forms Using Acrobat & LiveCycle Designer Bible. But for the sake of the session, they continually challenged each other’s preferred tool (Ted/Acrobat vs. Angie/Designer), pointing out the perceived advantages of their favorite forms-creation tool.
While the on-site audience sat listening in the darkened room, the online attendees were busy typing questions, chattering about which speaker they agreed with or relating their own preferences or needs. Both Ali Hanyaloglu and Lori DeFurio of Adobe Systems were logged in and quickly responding to virtual queries. Granted, many of the typed Q&A exchanges were brief in nature, such as:
Larry Powell: ”Designer work on a Mac?”
Ali Hanyaloglu: “No Designer for Mac, Windows only. But forms created with Designer work on the Mac.”
Another response provided an active link for easy exploration:
Karen G: ”Radio Buttons are a challenge to get in tabbing order in Designer. Is that being addressed in newer editions?”
Lori DeFurio: “Designer 8.2 has a new palette for tab order - if you want to try it - http://www.adobe.com/tryacrobat will give you Acrobat 9 + Designer 8.2.”
Sometimes the online exchanges were more entertaining than instructive, reflecting on perceptions gleaned from the webcast audio:
Susan Peirce: “Ted is louder than Angie. Can you change that?”
Ali Hanyaloglu: “They are sharing a microphone. Ted is louder than Angie most of the time
”
Predictably the session ended in a draw, with the expert speakers agreeing that neither Acrobat or Designer is the best choice for all forms needs and authoring circumstances. Anyone designing forms on a regular basis really needs to use both, and to understand the key features and limitations of each, they concluded.
Likewise, it seems clear from a pair of hybrid experiences the past two days — attending the conference keynotes in person and online simultaneously — there are ways they can overlap to enhance the user experience. Each has certain shortcomings, but finding ways to integrate them can both expand the audience and provide for greater opportunity to ask questions and get answers from a broader range of experts–who may or may not attending the conference in person.
You can download today’s keynote presentation [PDF: 2.7 MB ] to see the outlined advantages and disadvantages of Acrobat vs. Designer. However, the chatpod is now closed and the speakers are giving other sessions (as I write this). But you can always take your questions to the respective forms forums at AcrobatUsers.com.
While I’m on the subject of online educational opportunities and forms, the free eSeminar at AcrobatUsers.com for next month is on “Basic Fillable Forms and Form Tracking,” scheduled for Wednesday, October 15 at 10 a.m. US Pacific.
