The more things change, the more you need ADOBE DAY in the UK! [June 12th]

The clock is ticking! You only have until end-of-daySunday June 9th to register for a FREE strategy-packed, half-day session in Manchester, UK. This event, ADOBE DAY, will be held June 12th, just before UAEurope goes into motion at the same hotel.

We’ve lined up an exciting set of speakers who are presenting all new materials on provocative topics. Note: you may register and attend Adobe Day even if you are not registered for or attending the adjacent UAEurope conference.

Take heed, this session is thought leader focused, and not a series of thinly veiled product demos. In most instances, you may not see any product at all.

The strategies presented do, however, intersect closely with the direction that Adobe TechComm is headed, which is why we put to many resources in this action-packed session. It starts at Noon with a free lunch during registration and concludes at 5:00 pm. You may view the agenda and speakers biographies by clicking on this link. You may register by clicking on the 5th icon on the right side of the large circle in the microsite.

Note: these URLs will be stale and you won’t be able to register after June 9th.

Below is an overview, with some quotes from a few of our presenters.

Who is the user and WHAT does the user want from us? Yesterday, today, more importantly – tomorrow!

Paula Stern, of WritePoint LTD., presents on the following: Users have evolved significantly in the last two decades. The Millennial user wants Help to be always available ‘on the go’, quickly searchable, easily consumable and immediately actionable. But have we identified, mapped and responded to these changes? How can we adapt to new realities in technical communication and help bridge the gap between the product development teams and their end users?

What is Paula Stern looking forward to at Adobe Day?

“Though I love to network and meet colleagues here in Israel, I rarely have the opportunity to meet those who share my love of communication, user assistance, and documentation in international settings such as UAEurope and Adobe Day. We stand today at a moment of change. Our users are changing, our deliverables are changing, and our tools are changing – all to keep up with amazing technological advancements being made at a faster pace than ever before. Much of what we will accomplish in the coming years will be determined by the tools we use. I’m looking forward to meeting other Adobe users to learn and to share experiences, opinions and knowledge because the real success story in our industry comes from the blending of people and tools.”

Separating Content from Form – A Staged Approach

Dr. Tony Self of Hyperwrite will be winging his way all the way from Melbourne, Australia to take part in both Adobe Day and UAEurope. Tony’s session is quite a mouthful:

One of the theoretical ideals of single-source publishing to multiple output formats is “the separation of content and form”. If the content is completely separated from its presentational format, then that content can be re-used in different publishing scenarios without any rework. But this is a theoretical ideal… in practice, the separation can be very challenging. There are, however, different degrees to which content can be separated from form, and these can be interpreted as belonging to three stages

What is Dr. Self looking forward to at Adobe Day?

The speed at which technology is transforming documentation is mind-boggling. It is absolutely critical that we grasp every opportunity to keep learning; the UA Europe Conference and Adobe Day are exactly such opportunities.

eLearning, mLearning, and User Assistance

Ray Gallon of Culturecom will be addressing some challenges in the following areas:

We have already seen a shift in professional training from instructor-led classroom sessions to webinars. Now, as we move off the desktop and onto mobile devices- always connected everywhere you are – we are about to experience a huge shift towards mLearning. How do mLearning theories and methodologies impact user assistance? Are we looking at shifting UA out of the application and onto mobile devices? Or will everything go mobile?

What is Ray Gallon looking forward to at Adobe Day?

UA Europe is a conference with a true European orientation. The audience is different from other tech comm conferences I attend, and that’s what makes it interesting. For its special day, Adobe has assembled a concentration of industry leaders for a schedule that elegantly complements the main UA Europe programme with a good mix of theory and practical sessions. I’m honoured to be part of it, and looking forward to hearing my colleagues.

Seek and ye shall find! Improving your help system’s search results

Colum McAndrew, well known technical communicator in many channels, will be addressing this dynamic subject. SEO and search are probably some of the fastest arenas of change that affect us all. Colum will be addressing the following:

Users have evolved significantly in the last two decades. The Millennial user wants Help to be always available ‘on the go’, quickly searchable, easily consumable and immediately actionable. But have we identified, mapped and responded to these changes? How can we adapt to new realities in technical communication and help bridge the gap between the product development teams and their end users?

PANEL: Assisting the Millennial User – Challenges and Opportunities in the Decade Ahead

Ellis Pratt of Cherryleaf will moderate a stellar panel composed of the following experienced thought leaders:

• Chris Despopoulos
• Dave Gash
• David Farbe
• Matthew Ellison
• Paula Stern
• Stefan Gentz
• Willam van Weelden

We caught up with a couple of our panelists to ask what they were looking forward to at both Adobe Day and UAEurope:

Dave Gash:

“Nothing endures but change,” said a Greek philosopher, and that is certainly true of communication, especially technical communication. Our chosen career’s techniques and technologies constantly evolve as we each contribute to the discipline, making the task of staying current more a collaborative effort than an individual one. Conferences like User Assistance Europe and events like Adobe Day present the perfect opportunity to meet, observe, and learn from experts and peers alike, sharing knowledge, problems, and solutions, and gaining valuable insight on how our individual and collective contributions can advance the field.

Willam van Weelden:

I’m looking forward to learning where the experts think that technical communication is going in the next few years. I’m looking forward to finding out what eLearning, mLearning and other developments such as mobile devices are bringing to our field.

Ellis Pratt:

I was struck by how much positive feedback there’d been on different Social Media sites about the Adobe Day that was held in the USA earlier this year. It’s great that Adobe has organised another Adobe Day, so that those of us based in Europe can keep up and also experience this event.

Chris Despopoulos:

I like to follow what’s new with technology and how people are using it. I’m looking forward to an explosion in networked applications, leading to interesting problems and exciting solutions in the UA domain. Adobe put together a forward-looking agenda — I can’t wait to see what all the participants will bring to the table.

Read about our previous Adobe Day

We held a highly successful, well-attended Adobe Day at STC Summit in Atlanta in May. There were several blogs written by attendees, but you can click on our blog to get an overview, and links to most of the other blogs: Key highlights from #AdobeDay at #STC13 Summit in Atlanta.