Articulate Users Conference, Anyone?

Jul 19, 2013

As an eLearning developer, I've attended several industry conferences (the big ones) and always been a little disappointed in the sessions offered. My biggest complaint is that the majority (if not all) are either vendors/sponsors pushing a product, the same folks rehashing their mobile learning and HTML5 presentations, or nothing that shows practical application of things (for example, talking about why you should incorporate gamification without showing anyone how to actually do it with the tools we use).

For an upcoming conference, a colleague of mine and myself submitted proposals for sessions to do exactly this (engage in the creative process of how to create exciting storyboards for your eLearning with a dry topic, and creative ways to create interest graphics and animations for your courses on the cheap). Both were rejected by the organizers (for reasons unexplained).

I'm afraid the conference is going to be more of the same again this year (based on what the featured sessions listed are). I know Storyline use is growing, and I've even been asked to consult with some outside users for big companies (recommended to me by internal team members) with tips, tricks, recommendations, etc. because there doesn't seem to be any organized conferences/workshops to address this need. If there are, I'm not aware of them.

So my questions are:

1. Are there any of you that would be interested in attending such a workshop/conference for a day or two with nothing but sessions regarding building better Storyline/Presenter courses?

2. Are there any of you that feel you could run a session such as this, even if it's for a specific type of implementation (like creating a media gallery, using variables to create multi-language presentations, doing certain types of animations, graphic design, creating games, etc.)?

3. Would Articulate be interested in co-sponsoring or organizing an event like this?

I thought a 1-2 day conference/workshop to specifically address the kinds of things Articulate users want help with, or new tricks to learn, would be extremely helpful and I would be more than happy to help coordinate something like this if there was enough interest.

It would be a paid event, of course. Personally, I would get a LOT more out of something like this than the super-expensive big conferences, which is why we are not attending this years'.

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EDIT - I may add to the below list as responses come in.

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Types of course I think might be useful (* indicates someone has indicated they could run a session on this):

  • Getting started with Storyline
  • Using variables to create multi-language courses
  • Different uses for variables within a course
  • Developing courses specifically for mobile (phones/tablets)
  • Creating custom characters/graphics*
  • Creating interesting menus*
  • Creating custom menus/navigation (ideas on different UIs that can be created)
  • Incorporating gamification using Storyline/Presenter
  • Creating interesting drag and drop activities*
  • Creating a portfolio site with Wordpress*
  • Recording using Storyline (simulations, screen recordings, best practices, etc.)

And the 2 myself and my colleague have already drafted:

  • Creative storyboard writing (with dry content)
  • Creating custom graphics/imagery, including ideas for animations using Storyline/Presenter (and doing it on the cheap /with a small team/no team)
49 Replies
Chris Perez

My team already has 2 sessions (1 could be a 2-3 workshop for writing scripts/storyboards) we'd be willing to put out there. From what I've seen just on this forum, there are a lot of talented developers with different skills they could present. If we got enough willing folks and Articulate to help get the word out, I think we could actually do something here in early 2014, maybe? That's what I'd like to see, anyway.

Michael Hinze

Hi Chris, great idea! Based on Tom's comment in this thread here is sounds like Articulate is already planning something similar for next year.

Re #1: I would be interested.

Re #2: I'd be willing to contribute and run a session.

As for location; somewhere on the US East Coast or Canada would be ideal for me. Also, I wouldn't mind coming to Europe; I still have fond memories of the European Authorware User Conferences, back in the good old days

If you want to run with this and need volunteers, send me a PM and I'll see how I could help.

Chris Perez

Michael Hinze said:

Hi Chris, great idea! Based on Tom's comment in this thread here is sounds like Articulate is already planning something similar for next year.

Re #1: I would be interested.

Re #2: I'd be willing to contribute and run a session.

As for location; somewhere on the US East Coast or Canada would be ideal for me. Also, I wouldn't mind coming to Europe; I still have fond memories of the European Authorware User Conferences, back in the good old days

If you want to run with this and need volunteers, send me a PM and I'll see how I could help.


Thanks, Michael.

That thread is months old and don't seem to be any updates. Would love to hear from Tom and get this thing moving. Even if it's not a formally-sponsored event from Articulate, having their acknowledgement and support would be fantastic.

Phil Mayor

Chris Perez said:

Michael Hinze said:

Hi Chris, great idea! Based on Tom's comment in this thread here is sounds like Articulate is already planning something similar for next year.

Re #1: I would be interested.

Re #2: I'd be willing to contribute and run a session.

As for location; somewhere on the US East Coast or Canada would be ideal for me. Also, I wouldn't mind coming to Europe; I still have fond memories of the European Authorware User Conferences, back in the good old days

If you want to run with this and need volunteers, send me a PM and I'll see how I could help.


Thanks, Michael.

That thread is months old and don't seem to be any updates. Would love to hear from Tom and get this thing moving. Even if it's not a formally-sponsored event from Articulate, having their acknowledgement and support would be fantastic.


PM Tom I am sure he can point you in the right direction.

Kim Lorek

Hello!

Someone commented about how the conferences add this to the beginning, which I've seen. 

A factor that isn't addressed is the mere fact of being taken away from valuable development time attending a conference, as well as attending the pre-conference sessions.  Too much time away.  I think if a hands-on conference about Storyline was organized and possibly just 2 days, that would meet the needs of many people who can't take a week off attending sessions and the conference itself.

I would be very interested in running a session as well as learning from other developers how they develop (there are more than 2 ways to get the same result in Articulate, ie when to use animation vs a new layer).  It would be a great place to share ideas, presentations, creativity, etc.  For those new to Storyline, what a great way to learn...to see it used!!

Cheers to this idea, I hope it comes to fruition!

Kim

Edward Springer

What a great idea! Like Chris, I have attended conferences in the past (only one related to elearning, others involving workplace safety) where it seemed that there are quite a lot of ideas with very little how to, and of course the emphsis on specific products. But, let's be fair, these conferences are generally underwritten by vendors so you can't blame them for wanting to promote their products. A conference dedicated to practical topics using Storyline/Presenter would be very useful to all of us who depend on these products to get work done. Don't know if I could contribute, but would love to attend. By the way, Charleston, SC is a wonderful place for a conference.

Donna Copeland

I agree with all of the above, but will have to add emphasis to the comment from one user stating it would be a great idea for some of the sessions, if not all of the hands on type workshops to be recorded and archived as webinars, at least for registered SL and Presenter users. Some of us do not have corporate backing for travel and our learning has been completely based on our own findings, i.e., via Lynda.com and Articulate's excellent recordings and documentation. Travel is not always an option, especially overseas. I throw my hat in for Charleston, SC or even somewhere in Florida. That might also convince some people to drive over a weekend from the west and midwest regions of the U.S.

Another topic I would like to see is something on the different applications of using Storyline's recording feature, how to handle resolution difficulties, how to run tests and how to adjust settings to make the most of recordings for mobile output (Ipod, IPads, Android tablets, smartphones).

Chris Perez

@Jenny - Recorded webinars is a good idea, but not sure if that could be done on-site, but I imagine anyone running a session could offer to run a webinar version of it after the fact?

@Kim - yes, a 2-day mini-conference would be great. I don't like spending 3-4 days traveling to a conference and not really learning much relevant to me. This would solve that, I think.

@Brenda - I think something that could resolve missing sessions would be to run some as beginner sessions and a parallel course running would be for more advanced users. It sounds like a lot of folks would be interested in contributing, so it might be tough to cram everything in if this works.

@Mindy and Edward - we should definitely have some Presenter content addressed. I believe there is a new version of the suite coming out soon,yes? Timing could be great to introduce that and go over new features, as well.

@Donna - I'll add you session suggestion to the list.

@Jerson - I'll add the portfolio site/Wordpress item to the session suggestion list, too!

It sounds like east coast U.S. is the consensus and makes the most sense if European folks are interested.

Shawn Stiles

I would love to attend an Articulate conference.  The folks from Trivantis (Lectora) have them every year and they are always well attended since they focus on how to use the tools. One thing that I would love to see at an Articulate conference is a panel discussion with the developers so that they can get a better understanding of how we as users/developers utilize their tools and have a dialog on what we would like to see in future versions.

I agre that having it on the East Coast would be optimal.

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