Chicago PDML and Adobe Max 2007 Conference

[Mark Roberts]

OK, I got myself signed in at the conference yesterday. Bob Sullivan 
drove me down to the convention center where we found the west-side 
entrance blocked off. Around the east side we found lots of people and 
some prominent Adobe banners down at one end. Of course, the real 
entrance was at the other end. Doh! Walked back and got in but couldn't 
find registration. One of the officials gave me directions: Up two 
escalators, over to the other side of the building, down two escalators 
and turn left. Which put me right at the west side of the conference 
center which we couldn't drive to directly because it had been blocked 
off.

Scattered all over the place were "Adobe PDF Kiosks". Couldn't even 
guess what a "PDF Kiosk" might be as I hustled back (up two escalators, 
across the building and down two escalators) to the festivities. 
(Meaning "food and booze"). BTW: When I registered for the conference, 
the web forms I filled in had a prominent section asking about special 
dietary needs: Vegan, vegetarian and a couple of others. About a week 
before the conference I received an email update about my "vegetarian" 
selection. It basically said "We're serving everything buffet style so 
just don't eat stuff with meat in it". How helpful.

I checked on the shuttle service they provide to downtown and 
discovered the good news is that it stops at the Hilton just a block 
down from the hotel where I'm staying. Cool. But they only run the 
shuttles for an hour in the morning and an hour in the evening, so it's 
an all-day thing or nothing if you're traveling by shuttle. Other good 
news about my hotel, though: It's right next door to Columbia College, 
which houses the Museum of contemporary Photography. Of course it opens 
after the shuttle buses leave in the morning and closes before they 
come back, so I may not be able to go in, but I can at least peer in 
the windows as I go by.

Saw some preliminary presentations during the opening festivities last 
night. The main theme seems to be "Don't ever use 100k of bandwidth 
when you can convey the same information with 10Meg". 

I discovered what a PDF Kiosk is! It's a computer with and Internet 
connection. i can walk up and log in with my conference ID and password 
and surf the net free for as long as my legs hold up - they're set at a 
height you can only use while standing and there a conspicuous absence 
of chairs of the correct height (or indeed any height). Still don't 
know why they're called "PDF" kiosks.

Summary of event so far: Typical Adobe user interface.