I am trying to decide what PDF Conference to attend and am wondering if anyone can give me some insight? I am particularly interested in Acrobat 9 and Rich media. I would like to learn about Flash, JavaScript, Flex, and ActionScript. I would consider myself an intermediate Acrobat user, deeply familiar with the Acrobat and Enfocus GUIs, yet unfamiliar with development.
I have read about the Adobe Acrobat & PDF Central Conference which seems to fit my needs but perhaps does not have as much clout as Adobe Max. Adobe Max seems very robust, but I am afraid that it is beyond my experience level. I need to fully justify the costs of attendance. In order to do so, must be assured that I will not come away disappointed that there was not as much learning opportunity as anticipated or disappointed that my level of experience restricted my ability to cease the opportunity.
If anyone has been to either of these conferences or any others, please let me know your experiences and recommendations.
Thank You
Theresa Lighty
Technology Specialist
Acrobat & Prinergy based workflow environment
I have been to both for two years now and they are very different events for several reasons.
1.Size- MAX is a way bigger event (thousands of attendees) and is more web developer focused ( Flash, Cold Fusion, AIR, Flex) with a few sessions for other Adobe apps. This year there are more Acrobat sessions than in the past as well as other apps that were not well presented in previous years. This is probably because MAX started out as a MacroMedia conference for MacroMedia software- so the repeat attendees came expecting to see MacroMedia software presentations. Since Adobe bought MacroMedia the conference has been adding more sessions for traditional Adobe apps each year. The PDF Central conference will get in the low hundreds of attendees and pretty much all of the attendees will own and use Acrobat. I think you get a much better opportunity to speak and interact with the speakers and conference attendees at a smaller venue. MAX can be a bit overwhelming- it's a big show.
2. Attendee focus- PDF Central conference attendees will almost all use Acrobat on a dialy basis and for lots of different business tasks. I met LOTS of MAX attendees who don't use Acrobat or those that did when asked what they use it for answered "Why.... to make PDFs , of course- what else can you do with it ?"
3. Session material- MAX covers many different apps and Adobe technologies, the PDF conference is focused on Acrobat. Yes, the PDF conference has some Actionscript, Flex, Flash, etc sessions but they are all about how those technologies are used with Acrobat, not by themselves.
4. Entertainment/FOOD- Even though I would not use this as a reason to attend a professional conference, I gotta mention this one because MAX puts on a really great show and the food, etc is incredible. Mountains of candy were available all day long one year, fancy parties- it's over-the-top, lavish spending on atmosphere at MAX. The PDF Central conference is much more low-key. Good food, snacks, events, etc. but more of "what" you would expect, not more "than" you expect ;)
If you want to learn Flash, Flex, and Actionscript in broader terms then you'll get better information at MAX. If you want to learn how they interface and interact with Acrobat you'll be better off going to a PDF and Acrobat centric event like the Central conf.
My two cents only.......
Hope this helps,
Dimitri
WindJack Solutions
www.windjack.com
www.pdfscripting.com
Dimitri Munkirs
WindJack Solutions
pdfscripting.com