The InDesignSecrets Print and ePublishing Conference
May 23-25, 2011, Washington DC

Registration:

Conference Overview

See more detailed session descriptions below.

May 23 May 24 May 25
9:00 am – 10:10 am
Introduction and Keynote:
The Second Publishing Revolution is Upon Us		 9:00 am – 9:20 am
FX You Didn't Know InDesign Could Do		 Full day: Room 1
 InDesign Beyond Print: Interactive PDFs, SWFs, and iPad/Tablet Apps
10:20 am – 10:40 am
YabbAdobeDoo: Make the Suite Work For You		 9:25 am – 9:45 am
From Designer to Devigner: Challenges for Publishers in the Tablet and eReader Era		 Full day: Room 2
 CS5 InDepth: InDesign, Photoshop, and Illustrator
10:45 am – 11:05 am
InDesign to iPad and Android Apps		 9:50 am – 10:10 am
Creating a Successful eBook		 Full day: Room 3
 HTML5, CSS, and Flash: Design for the Multiscreen Revolution
11:10 am – 11:30 am
Tables: Thinking Outside the Cell		 10:15 am – 10:35 am
Preparing Images for ePub/eBook		  
11:35 am – 11:55 am
Top 10 Scripts and Resources for EPUB Production		 10:50 am – 11:10 am
Data Publishing with InDesign		  
1:30 pm – 2:30 pm -- Room 1
XML and InDesign Demystified		 11:15 am – 11:35 am
Creating an Animated Widget in InDesign		  
1:30 pm – 2:30 pm -- Room 2
Producing eBooks from InDesign: ePub and Kindle		 11:40 am – 12:00 pm
PDF for iPad and Tablet		  
2:45 pm – 3:45 pm -- Room 1
Long Documents: Ten Essential Techniques		 12:00 pm – 1:20 pm
Lunch with Adobe: Sit Down with the Adobe Development Team		  
2:45 pm – 3:45 pm -- Room 2
Accessibility: It's the Law		 1:30 pm – 2:30 pm -- Room 1
Let's Talk PDF: Best Practices for Print Workflows		  
2:45 pm – 3:45 pm -- Room 3
Roundtable Discussion: Design Considerations for Print and EPUB Parallel Workflows		 1:30 pm – 2:30 pm -- Room 2
Power Illustrator Techniques for Everyone		  
4:00 pm – 5:00 pm -- Room 1
Grids and Other Typographic Power Techniques		 2:45 pm – 3:45 pm -- Room 1
Let's Talk Future: How to Prepare for the Next Two Years		  
4:00 pm – 5:00 pm -- Room 2
Adobe Creative Suite 5.5: Everything You Need to Know		 2:45 pm – 3:45 pm -- Room 2
From InDesign Styles to CSS for EPUB and xHTML		  
4:00 pm – 5:00 pm -- Room 3
Roundtable Discussion: InCopy, Word, and Other Text Workflows		 2:45 pm – 3:45 pm -- Room 3
Roundtable: Long Live Ink -- Let's Share Print Secrets		  
8:00 pm – 10:00 pm
Ignite InDesign! Tips, Tricks, and Techniques		 4:00 pm – 5:00 pm
Prizes, Tips, Q&A		  

May 23

8:00 am – 9:00 am
Registration and Breakfast
Start the day right by registering early! Then grab some food and coffee, tea, or juice, and meet your fellow conference attendees.
9:00 am – 10:10 am
Introduction and Keynote:
The Second Publishing Revolution is Upon Us
 Michael Ninness and the Adobe InDesign Development Team
If you're still thinking print or digital you're in for a surprise! It's all about "and" now, and the future shock is hitting the whole industry like a train. Get a strategic view of where we are and where we're going, along with a clear vision of what tools and workflows you'll need to succeed over the next few years
  • Overview of Adobe's Newest Features and Newest Policies
  • How to focus in a world of diffuse priorities and shifting ground
  • What do I need to know about the current and near-future state of the publishing market?
10:20 am – 10:40 am
YabbAdobeDoo: Make the Suite Work For You
Russell ViersRussell Viers
What do you get when you add InDesign plus Illustrator plus Photoshop plus Russell's brain? Non-stop wow!
10:45 am – 11:05 am
InDesign to iPad and Android Apps
James FritzJames Fritz
Wired, the New Yorker, Time, and Esquire are all doing it... Learn how you can you get your content out of InDesign and on to the iPad. What solutions are currently available? What's coming down the pipeline?
11:10 am – 11:30 am
Tables: Thinking Outside the Cell
Diane BurnsDiane Burns
Become a Table Master! Packed full with useful tips, learn how to make your tables look better and how tables can be used to resolve unlikely layout dilemmas, including those that don't look like tables at all.
11:35 am – 11:55 am
Top 10 Scripts and Resources for EPUB Production
anne-marieAnne-Marie Concepcion
You want to make EPUBs from InDesign? Learn about 10 essential InDesign scripts, plug-ins, online services, and utilities. Without these, you'll never be efficient!
12:00 pm – 1:30 pm
Lunch (Provided)
Dine with a presenter, network with your peers.
1:30 pm – 2:30 pm -- Room 1
XML and InDesign Demystified
keith gilbertKeith Gilbert
At the end of this session, you will have a good understanding of what XML is, how it is created, why we need it, how it is used in InDesign, and the skills and level of effort needed to make it work for you to help you with your publishing automation efforts.
  • How XSL can transform your content
  • Why XML should start outside InDesign
  • Essential tools for working with XML/IDML

1:30 pm – 2:30 pm -- Room 2
Producing eBooks from InDesign: ePub and Kindle
gabrielpowellanne-marieGabriel Powell, Anne-Marie Concepcion
Amazon.com now sells more Kindle ebooks than paperback books! The future is today! Join us as we introduce ePub and mobi, what they're about, what they're good for, and — most importantly — what they're bad at!

  • Kindle vs. iPad vs. Nook vs Digital Editions: What You Need to Know
  • What you (always) need to fix in InDesign's EPUB export, and how to do it quickly
  • Validating your files, and preparing them for publishing
  • Customizing your EPUB for formatting InDesign does not support

1:30 pm – 2:30 pm -- Room 3
PDF and Acrobat Secrets: Powerful Features You Didn't Even Know Were There
claudia mccuesteve wernerClaudia McCue, Steve Werner
Acrobat 9 and Acrobat X are full of amazing features that you might not even know are hiding, just below the surface. Learn techniques that can save you hours of time, make your workflow far more efficient, and reduce the bloat in your file sizes.

2:45 pm – 3:45 pm -- Room 1
Long Documents: Ten Essential Techniques
mike rankinMike Rankin
If you work on long documents (anything longer than 10 pages), you need these techniques!
  • Powerful (but easy!) GREP
  • Making sure your document can perform for both print and onscreen
  • Table of Contents and Indexing
  • Three scripts you absolutely don't want to be without
2:45 pm – 3:45 pm -- Room 2
Accessibility: It's the Law
vicky richardsVictoria Richards, Greg Pisocky
Do you need to create Section 508 accessible documents? Learn the newest, best tricks for ensuring compliance and managing an efficient workflow.
  • What you should do in InDesign vs. Acrobat
  • Handling accessibility in PDF, HTML, and other file formats
  • Techniques for checking your work.

2:45 pm – 3:45 pm -- Room 3
Roundtable Discussion: Design Considerations for Print and EPUB Parallel Workflows
ron bilodeauModerators: Ron Bilodeau, Gabriel Powell
Join these two publishing experts in this informative discussion about design concerns for professionals creating print and onscreen documents.
4:00 pm – 5:00 pm -- Room 1
Grids and Other Typographic Power Techniques
nigel frenchNigel French
Come see InDesign Magazine "InType" columnist Nigel French explain the most important techniques for getting great-looking typography in your layouts. Includes:
  • increase the readability and credibility of your layout
  • speed up your workflow with grids
  • the paradox: enhancing your creative freedom by setting up the proper constraints
4:00 pm – 5:00 pm -- Room 2
Adobe Creative Suite 5.5: Everything You Need to Know
jerry silvermanJerry Silverman
Adobe has just announced the Creative Suite 5.5, including some excellent new features in InDesign, Dreamweaver, and other cool apps. In this fast-changing industry, it's important to keep one eye on the bleeding edge. What tools and technologies does Adobe have up their sleeve?
  • Add multi-touch capability for touchscreens the easy way
  • Quick and easy HTML5 and CSS3 tricks for handling phone, tablet, and monitor
  • Dreamweaver and Flash Catalyst: Powerful members of the Suite

4:00 pm – 5:00 pm -- Room 3
Roundtable Discussion: InCopy, Word, and Other Text Workflows
anne-marieModerators: Anne-Marie Concepción, Cari Jansen
You have to deal with text files every day—importing, editing, exporting, sending out for review. There has to be an easier way! Explore the options with your peers in this discussion moderated by long-time publishing consultants.
5:00 pm – 6:30 pm
Networking Reception
Join the fun, meet others in your field, share ideas and try to win prizes as you test your publishing know-how!
8:00 pm – 10:00 pm
Ignite InDesign! Tips, Tricks, and Techniques
Come join us at the Westin hotel for dessert and some late night, after-dinner tips, tricks, and fun! Or sign up to present 20 slides in 5 minutes. This was the surprise hit of the Seattle event last year.

May 24

9:00 am – 9:20 am
FX You Didn't Know InDesign Could Do
mike rankinMike Rankin
Need to make a shiny-object effect in InDesign? Build interlocking objects? InDesign expert Mike Rankin makes it all step-by-step simple in this short but way-sweet guide to fx.
9:25 am – 9:45 am
From Designer to Devigner*: Challenges for Publishers in the Tablet and eReader Era
cari jansenCari Jansen
When moving between print and ePublishing, you — the designer — need to learn to think like a developer. This sesion will explore some of the challenges and offer some creative resources to help you make the transition.
(*Devigner = mix between designer and developer)

9:50 am – 10:10 am
Creating a Successful eBook
 Ron Bilodeau
Take a document from InDesign to EPUB and Kindle mobi format in 20 minutes flat. Learn tips and tricks earned in the forges of converting hundreds of books at O'Reilly Press.
10:15 am – 10:35 am
Preparing Images for ePub/eBook
gabriel powellGabriel Powell
In this information-packed session, Gabriel Powell will teach you how to prepare your images in InDesign for optimum display on a variety of eBook readers. You'll pick up several tips for laying out your images and you'll learn how to properly specify the image export options for the most optimal results.
10:50 am – 11:10 am
Data Publishing with InDesign
keith gilbertKeith Gilbert
This session is an introduction to the various ways to automate the process of publishing data in InDesign. Specifically, InDesign's built-in DataMerge, Em Software's InData, and InDesign XML import/export will be highlighted.
11:15 am – 11:35 am
Creating an Animated Widget in InDesign
claudia mccueClaudia McCue
Don't just make a button, make a button that actually interacts with the user! Creating effective widgets (such as navigation controls) isn't hard if you know what to look for and how to think about it.
11:40 am – 12:00 pm
PDF for iPad and Tablet
blatnerDavid Blatner
While DPS and many other digital publishing solutions are sexier, PDF is a proven file format that works great on tablet devices (as well as desktops and smartphones). Learn what you can and can't achieve with PDF, what are the best PDF readers, and how to distribute PDF files to your audience. 
12:00 pm – 1:20 pm
Lunch with Adobe: Sit Down with the Adobe Development Team
Here’s your chance to hear it from the source! Grab some food (provided) and sit down with Adobe’s product development team. Learn about CS5. Then talk back and know that the right people are listening.
  • Adobe’s page-layout philosophy: Why are we here and where are we going?
  • What features do you wish InDesign had?
  • Vote on features you want changed in future versions of InDesign.

1:30 pm – 2:30 pm -- Room 1
Let's Talk PDF: Best Practices for Print Workflows
james fritzJames Fritz (moderator), James Wamser, Steve Werner, Claudia McCue
There's PDF and then there's PDF! Learn the best practices for making efficient, print-ready PDFs on Mac and Windows.

  • Export vs. Distill
  • Tweaking PDF export presets for optimum output
  • What to do when the printer says "convert type to outlines"
  • PDF/X1, 3, and 4 -- why, when, where, who, and how!

 

1:30 pm – 2:30 pm -- Room 2
Power Illustrator Techniques for Everyone
Russell Viersmordy goldingRussell Viers, Mordy Golding
Whether Illustrator is at the core of your work or just another tool in your toolbox, you'll learn a lot from these two masters of Illustrator.
  • Best practices for InDesign/Illustrator integration
  • Taking it to the screen with HTML5
  • Real World Illustrator tricks you need to know
2:45 pm – 3:45 pm -- Room 1
Let's Talk Future: How to Prepare for the Next Two Years
david blatnerDavid Blatner (moderator), Mordy Golding, Michael Ninness, Mike Rankin, Russell Viers
We're one year in to the 2nd publishing revolution, and changes are coming almost weekly. Get a glimpse into the future from our expert panelists, and learn how to manage your documents and workflow to best prepare for 2011 to 2014.

2:45 pm – 3:45 pm -- Room 2
From InDesign Styles to CSS for EPUB and xHTML
cari jansenCari Jansen
Can I control my EPUB designs? Like web-pages, EPUB design is defined through use of xHTML and Cascading Style Sheets (CSS). In this session we take a look at how we can use the power of InDesign object, paragraph, character, and table of contents styles to build and use a tailored CSS for our EPUB export. We'll wander off into Dreamweaver CS5 CSS and Oxygen XML Editor in the process.
2:45 pm – 3:45 pm -- Room 3
Roundtable: Long Live Ink -- Let's Share Print Secrets
james fritzjames fritzModerators: James Wamser, Jay Nelson
Most publishers today still need to get documents printed. Join us for this informal discussion on printing topics.
4:00 pm – 5:00 pm
Prizes, Tips, Q&A
Which of our presenters has the most useful InDesign tip? Plus, stay until the end for a chance to win great prizes, including a copy of the CS5 Master Collection and a 20-person Adobe Font Folio!

 



May 25

On Wednesday, May 25, we'll offer three full-day post-conference tutorials. Please note that these tutorials require an additional fee. The sessions are not hands-on, but you may bring your own laptop (though we cannot guarantee AC power at the event). If you are not attending the conference, you can still sign up for the May 25 tutorials by filling out the registration form below and emailing or faxing it in.

Fritz9:00 am – 4:30 pm: Room 1
 InDesign Beyond Print: Interactive PDFs, SWFs, and iPad/Tablet Apps
James Fritz
InDesign is the world's best layout tool, but that doesn't mean only print layout! Learn how InDesign makes it easy to create interactive PDF files, SWF (Flash) files, EPUB documents, and iPad/Tablet apps.

  • Building Presentations
  • 5 Keys to a successful EPUB export
  • Building navigation links efficiently
  • Making smaller and faster interactive PDF files
  • SWF vs. FLA from InDesign
  • Creating interactive forms with InDesign and Acrobat
  • Building apps for iPad and Android
 russell viers9:00 am – 4:30 pm: Room 2
 CS5 InDepth: InDesign, Photoshop, and Illustrator
Russell Viers
Join internationally known Suite-Superstar Russell Viers for a special all-day session that covers InDesign, Photoshop, and Illustrator... and most importantly: How they work together to form a one-two-three knockout punch. If you use the Creative Suite, it's a day you won't want to miss!

Topics covered include:

  • Strategies for using multiple artboards in Illustrator
  • The (wrong) assumptions most people make about how to move artwork from one program to another.
  • Take your artwork from "good" to "holy cow, that's great!"
  • Why smart objects make you look smarter
  • Going beyond: Taking artwork to Dreamweaver and Flash
jerry silverman9:00 am – 4:30 pm: Room 3
 HTML5, CSS, and Flash: Design for the Multiscreen Revolution
Jerry Silverman
Let's face it: If you want to stay relevant and productive in this quickly-changing publishing industry, you must learn the basics of HTML, HTML5, CSS, and Flash. Good news: It doesn't have to be hard, and it can even be fun! Join us for this full-day, fast-paced, information-packed seminar that will give you the tips and techniques you need to make the leap from "static designer" to "multi-screen expert!"

Topics include:

  • Thinking "multi-screen" -- desktop, phone, tablet, and print
  • Seamlessly updating content across PDF, eBooks, websites, video and native Apps
  • Designer's Guide to HTML and CSS (for the non-coder)
  • Building your first HTML/CSS website for mobile devices
  • HTML4 vs. HTML5 -- what's the big difference?
  • CSS vs. CSS3 -- your styles are your friends!
  • Web fonts vs. traditional fonts — the possibilities will surprise you!
  • Flash vs. HTML: Friends or Foes?
  • Your easy guide to Dreamweaver, Flash Catalyst, InDesign, Illustrator... and when to use each of them
  • Optimizing your graphics for mobile, tablet, and desktop
  • Jumping on the App bandwagon -- not nearly as hard as you'd think!
  • Video: What you absolutely need to know
  • EPUB: Ten essential HTML/CSS tricks

 

Program note: This page features a preliminary list of conference sessions and speakers. Speakers and session descriptions are currently being confirmed and are subject to change. Check back frequently to find the most up-to-date information.