United States of AmericaCopy General is a gracious host! Presenters are friendly, funny and knowledgeable. I liked having the “goodie bag” given at the end. GridIron Software provided a terrific boxed lunch and free copies of Flow – extremely generous and much appreciated.
Beth Stinson
Blackboard Inc
U.S. Navy Memorial Auditorium
Event DetailsThe DC-Area InDesign User Group put on another superb Creative Suite launch event on Tuesday, May 25, 2010. When you have Chris Converse, Noha Edell, and Michael Murphy as your presenters, how can you miss? For those of you who were on the waitlist, our apologies. We did all we could to squeeze in a few more seats. Still, there were dozens on the list before we closed that out.
After checking in, attendees enjoyed Starbucks coffee and fresh-baked goodies while visiting the exhibits of our sponsors. We want to thank our exhibitors: Copy General, EEI Communications, GridIron Software, MacMedics, Mac Business Solutions, and Xerox. A special thanks to GridIron, which sponsored the delicious box lunches from Booeymonger.
All the proceeds from this event go to support the DC-Area InDesign User Group. Thanks to the nearly 250 attendees, as well. You did some good while you learned. Events like this are why we are able to have free meetings with free food and no dues.
I spoke with many of those that attended and heard a common theme. Nearly everyone came away learning about a feature or two in CS5 that is going to make their lives better. And that’s how it should be. Not everything is going to be important to everyone, but everyone found something useful.
For Photoshop users, “Content Aware Fill” and the greatly improved selection capabilities with new Edge Detection and Color Contamination options were hot items.
Michael Murphy showed off InDesign CS5’s new features. One of my favorites was the gap tool, which automates consistent spacing between elements. Live corner effects and the ability to transform multiple selected objects were right up there, too. But my two very best favorites were being able to have different page sizes in one document and the ability to have headlines or other text blocks span multiple columns in the same text frame.
You might want to read Michael's review of InDesign on the Creative Pro site: www.creativepro.com/article/review-adobe-indesign-cs5.
Michael also has a podcast showing even more new features that can be viewed at www.theindesigner.com/blog/feature-by-feature-review-of-indesign-cs5.
Another very hot topic was ePubs, especially with the advent of the iPad. Noha Edell showed how we could export InDesign files into a variety of different digital publishing formats. Now our documents can more easily meet the needs of our recipients regardless of format.
Then Michael Murphy and Chris Converse worked together to take an InDesign file right into Flash. That led to a whole presentation around creating interactive documents in InDesign and enhancing their interactivity in Flash.
You can download a PDF list of Noha's EPUB resources and Chris's What’s New in Web and Interactive Tools at the bottom of this page.
The final afternoon session had Noha covering new features in Illustrator and Chris introducing Flash Catalyst.
We concluded the event with one of the greatest raffle drawings of all times. Thanks to our sponsors, we gave away a copy of Adobe CS5 Design Premium (courtesy of Adobe), an iPad (MacMedics), a Mac Mini (Mac Business Solutions), three certificates for 2-day Adobe Training from EEI Communications, a one-year subscription to Total Training On-Line, one month subscriptions to Shutterstock, one-year subscription to Stock Layouts, books from PeachPit Press and more. And GridIron Software gave a free copy of Flow (Ret: $299) to everyone who attended the lunchtime presentation! All totaled, tens of thousands of dollars worth of goods and services were given away.
As people left, they were handed a goodie bag containing a copy of Layers magazine and various promotional material in a reusable grocery bag courtesy of the Brightdoc division of Copy General.
The great success of this event was due to the efforts of a number of people.
First and foremost, I want to thank Chris, Noha, and Michael for their well-organized, informative, and entertaining presentation.
The staff at the U.S. Navy Memorial, including Chris and Morgan who took care of us that day. Brittney and Angela who made sure everything was ready to go when we arrived.
Obviously, all of our sponsors, who are mentioned in the wrap-up.
And, finally, all the folks at Copy General. Mark, who handled the registration site; the Sterling production team that printed and bound the handouts and inserts and assembled all the goodie bags; Andy, Susan, Karen, Jasha, and Han, who helped with set-up and registration the day of the event. And, of course, Laura, who coordinated everything to help me look good.
Thanks to you all,
Ken Chaletzky
Great event! The presenters did an awesome job showing the new features of CS5. Even though I am not a Flash or Dreamweaver user, to see what they can do with files created in the other programs allows me to see the possibilities of creating an interactive version of a printed file. I’m very interested in the Catalyst program and creating interactive layouts without dealing with code. –Johanna Fernandez, APTA
Thank you for opening up a whole new toy box to capture more capabilities and engage more clients. –Fran Tucci
This was a fantastic launch event. I’ve been working with InDesign CS4, so I was a little skeptical that CS5 would be different enough to convince me to upgrade anytime soon. However, the upgrades are fantastic and seem like they would save a lot of time. I’m very glad that this event was offered — it’s really great value for the information presented. All of the presenters today did a wonderful job of clearly presenting the info and the new features and have definitely gotten me excited about trying CS5! –Shellye Skinner, American Physical Therapy Assoc.
The event was excellent! Michael Murphy’s stuff was excellent. Chris’s Catalyst session was GREAT! Noha did a fantastic job too. Thanks again to Ken Chaletzky and his team for another excellent InDesign User Group event. I travel down from Lancaster and it is WELL WORTH THE TRIP! Thanks. –Mike Lovell, Life Reloaded
Awesome, knowledgeable and entertaining speakers! Great and helpful information to make me a better and faster designer! Thanks for a great event! –Jamie Farris
I found this launch event very helpful. I had watched the online launch. This one went into more detail of the items that were covered there. All the presenters were great. Their presentations informative and helpful. –Amy Wiersum
Very entertaining yet full of important information, like going to school in a comedy club. –Theresia Wulansari
So glad to see all the shared enthusiasm for Adobe and CS5! Nice to have it be unified in one place with people from print and web and design and development! Super helpful – wish there were more seminars like these in the form of Adobe refreshers (like Noha reviewed things in CS4). –Chloe Magner, Kiplinger Washington Editors
The presentations made it pretty obvious that the money spent on any of these packages would be made back very quickly due to increase in productivity. As for new features and functions, seems once again, Adobe has thought of everything to make our lives easier. –Sally Hoffmaster
Chris, Michael, & Noha is a dynamic training and presentation team with an international flair. They compliment each other with super instructions, product overview wrap up with great humor without missing a beat or losing the audience attention. –David McKenzie, Government Printing Office This seminar and all the other group workshops have been instrumental to my use and understanding of the Design Suite software. I’m looking forward to upgrading. –Brandon Moore, Center for Advanced Health
There is no other way for solo’preneurs’ to keep up to date, well informed and inspired to try new software technologies, and keep abreast of what’s going on in the industry. Adobe is the “community”. –Robin Mahler, Uppercase Creative
Great seminar – very informative (especially given the many innovations in the CS5 release). Good pacing, enough depth for me to really appreciate the genius of how some of the new features will save time and simplify delivery of content across multiple platforms. –Margaret Irish, Stars and Stripes
Loved InDesign animation!! Spent so much time switching tools – relieved not to have to do this. Variable page sizes – great for book designers. Can’t wait to play in Photoshop with refine edge and healing brush/Content aware – Wow. Illustrator: Can’t tell you how long I’ve spent trying to make a point. Shape builder: Terrific. –Anne Masters, Anne Masters Design, Inc.
The seminar was amazing! I learned so much in such a short time. I can’t wait to try out everything. The presenters were wonderful. So informative, entertaining and passionate about the suite of products. I am excited to see the crossover of print to interactive. –Jennifer Houck, Anne Arundel County Public Schools
I have finally become addicted to the Washington DC IDUG. It’s like having another family. Everyone is so energized and this energy absorbs you. The information that Noha, Michael, and Chris have given today on CS5 was phenomenal. I just upgraded to CS4 a few months ago. Didn’t want to upgrade again to CS5. After today, how can I not? You can not drive a horse and buggy on the highway and expect to arrive at the same time as your auto, although you will save gas. Thanks to ALL! –Leona Weiner, The Washington Post
Love the teaching in these one-day events. It allows time to cover tips in several software packages. Love the giveaways. –Joni Davis, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Variable widths make me want to cry, I am so happy. Shape Builder, thank you, thank you. I am also excited about Puppet Warp. InDesign is worth the cost of the entire suite, the others are just gravy!! –Wilma-Elise Thomas, Wet Paint Design studio
I consider myself a Creative Suite Expert and was amazed how much I learned. Adobe is still able to surprise me with new features and tricks to make my work faster and better. My clients won’t know what hit them, and it will be my little secret. –Cooky Bysura, HIDA
All nagging problems I've had in InDesign CS4 seem to be fixed in CS5. This is an upgrade worth paying for. Excellent presentations as always. Catalyst looks awesome for code-phobic designers! –Richard Pottern, Rich Pottern Design
A very informative presentation that answered all my questions about how Adobe is adjusting to CSS web design. CS5 is packed with powerful new features and enhancements that makes it a "must" to upgrade sooner than later. –Jack Hernandez, National Association of Counties
This is my second launch event (attended CS3 too) and definitely lived up to my memory – loaded with information, great tips, good take-home, and best of all – loads of info to convince boards/superiors why I need to upgrade. –Katy O'Donovan Peterson, CDR Fundraising Group
Thank you to GridIron for giving me more than over cost of ticket with software giveaway. Thank you Copy general for years of managing ID group and launch events. –Renee Zerby, American Chemical society
Our next regularly meeting is scheduled for September 14, 2010. Have a great summer!
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