Tampa InDesign User Group

Meeting Summary: Interactive Design: Building What You Know, with Chris Converse

Thu, Jul 23rd, 2009 at 6:00 PM

Art Institute of Tampa Classroom

Our July 23rd InDesign User Group Meeting: Interactive Design: Building What You Know, with Chris Converse, proved to be one of our biggest registration turnouts ever, with over 80 of our members registering. In addition to the regular members, Miguel Menendez stopped in from Alicante, Spain (well... actually Miguel was visiting with his family and they were vacationing on Anna Maria Island). Miguel is thinking about starting an InDesign User Group in Spain and he wanted to see how it all works. Miguel, thanks for stopping by!

Our group gathered for our meeting at the Art Institute in Tampa. InDesign User Group member Shelley Manes started the meeting off with an icebreaker; winners were treated to fabulous prizes. Thank you Shelley for coming up with such an interactive icebreaker, keep them coming! PLEASE NOTE: I do not have the contact name and information for the person who won the InDesign Magazine subscription. I know Undine won the book, but if you were the other winner, please contact me so that I can send your name and email address to receive your prize. I can be reached via email at: tampa@indesignusergroup.com.

Chris Converse of Codify Design Studios introduced the group to building interactive PDFs and using the tools like InDesign and Acrobat (the tools we all know and love) to create these PDFs. He continued to mesmerize our group with using more of the CS4 and CS3 Suite products (like Illustrator and Flash) to bring our simple print or web graphics to life by adding simple animation or video. He showed us how each product in the suite could be used to build on the previous project. Finally he finished the presentation by showing us an easy technique to fixing frames of video in Photoshop without opening up the file in Premiere or After Effects.

Chris provided the group with a FREE step-by-step guide available online (complete with assets that you can follow along with); they are listed under the How 2008 stuff at codifydesign.com/chris/speaking/2009/howdesign

Finally, the meeting closed with a raffle drawing for fabulous prizes that were donated. Thank you to the two members who donated a t-shirt and Photography sitting as two of the great prizes. In the future, if you have a great prize to donate, see me before the raffle so that I can get your name and company name down so that I can recognize you in the wrap-up minutes!

Note: You can download the flyer for the August 15th event with Chris Converse at the bottom of this page.

Thank you

I would like to thank all of the Special InDesign User Group members like: Giovanni Yarabek for taking the photos and Jeanne and Bill Kean for helping with cleanup and registration:: Rob Livingston for helping out by passing out the flyer for the All-Day event Aug 15th :: David Rogers for picking up the Layers Magazine so that each person had a copy to take home:: Shelley Manes for beginning our meeting with a fabulous icebreaker. Look for more icebreaker type events at future meetings.

I would also like to thank TBAF's Barry Wallace for helping me plan Chris' two visits. Also, Victoria Snabon-Heath, Rebecca Russell, and the Art Institute for allowing our group to have our meeting in the Atrium at the Art Institute.

Thanks also to:
• KW Media, publishers of Layers Magazine and Photoshop magazine (http://www.layersmagazine.com/)
• Lynda.com
• Adobe Press: http://www.adobepress.com
• Total Training: http://www.totaltraining.com
• Adobe Systems: http://www.adobe.com
• O'Reilly Media: http://www.oreilly.com/
• Peachpit Press: http://www.peachpit.com/index.asp

Thanks as always to our location and communication sponsors:
• The Art Institute
• Tampa Business Journal
• Create Magazine
• Ad2 Tampa Bay
• Creative Tampa Bay
• Tampa Tribune Business Section
• Weekly Planet
• Sarah Schweiger Creative Design Services
• Betsy Bugeja – Digital Media Creations.tv (Public Relations)
• St. Pete Times
• AIGA
• The Tampa Graphic Design Meetup.com Group

We appreciate everyone who attended!

Upcoming Industry Events

"I had no idea you could do all that right out of InDesign and Photoshop. I can't wait to see what he’ll do in the workshop."

That's what everyone was saying after Chris Converse previewed the upcoming workshop:

INTERACTIVE DESIGN: Building On What You Know
A day-long workshop for experienced Adobe CS3 and CS4 users
with featured presenter Chris Converse

Saturday, August 15th, 9:30 am - 4:30 pm
International Academy of Design & Technology

Okay, so you may have missed the InDesign User Group meeting in July where Chris Converse demonstrated what you can do with what you already know in Adobe CS3 and CS4, but you DO NOT want to miss the day-long workshop event. Chris put on an amazing show of just a few of the things that he'll teach in the workshop:

• How to create interactive PDF files direct from InDesign
• How to export web-ready Flash animation files direct from InDesign and Illustrator
• How to manipulate, adjust and even add graphics to video files in Photoshop
• Create animation in Photoshop and that can go direct to the web

Don't miss out on this opportunity to learn how you, your creative design staff and your business can benefit from building on what you know.

For more information and to register for the workshop go to tbaf.org.

NOTE: InDesign User Group members please use ADOBE for PROMO CODE, to receive the member rate. Note the option for the Workshop WITH Lunch and WITHOUT Lunch.

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Adobe Max. As you've probably heard by now, Adobe Max will take place October 4-7, 2009 in Los Angeles. Max is an Adobe-fest -- sessions, classes, labs, sneak peeks, an inspiring opportunity for informal and formal discussions with thousands of designers, developers, and Adobe staff.

IDUG members can receive $200 off the full conference pass. To see information on registration and getting the subsidy, look over to the right of your screen if you're reading this page (and you are logged in).

Comments from attendees

"Terrific! Love having a presentation push my envelope, inspire me to do more - think of more possibilities." M. Smith

"It was interesting, I learned more about InDesign as a web interface application than I even knew before." C. Small

"Great Meeting! On target with where my work is now." S. Lasky

"Chris is extremely knowledgeable and dynamic in his presentation." D. Rogers

Next Meeting

The next meeting of the Tampa Bay InDesign User Group was originally set for September 4th but due to a change in plans, the meeting has been canceled. If you have a recommendation for a speaker for a September meeting, let me know: tampa@indesignusergroup.com

One of our members is currently seeking to purchase a "full version" of Creative Suite CS3 publishing edition, Standard or Premium. Email John Barolo at jbarolo@hydeparkumc.org if you have a version to sell.

Attached File/s

• August_15.pdf

Photos from this Meeting