Articulate Event in Leeds - My not so quick take

Hello to all,

I attended the Articulate event held in Leeds (UK) yesterday.  Dragos was an awesome host!  The format was great as it was a great mix of people from the education field as well as commercial.  The end result should always be the same....knowledge transfer in a format that is fun, interactive and informative.  It doesn't matter if you design or facilitate courses for a university or on a commercial basis.

Here is my take on the day....

First off, Dragos was an awesome host!  He kept it moving with military precision.  He handled some curveballs with efficiency as well.  Well done!  Next year I will come the night before so we can fix all the world's problems over a few pints.  He the kind of guy I would have over for a BBQ and a few laughs.

I had pleasure of meeting some people who have helped me via the forums and otherwise.  I met Bruce Graham over a few cups of coffee and lunch.  He also gave two presentations....well done!  I shared some thoughts with Phil Mayor as well.  I didn't know he was going to be there.  It was a pleasant surprise.  I wish I had more time to speak to both of them!  We'll meet up next time....and at the very least 'here'.

There were two webinars as well.  The first one was with Don Freda who demo'ed Storyline.  It was about 7:30 am his time which begs the question...'What were you wearing?'  Anyway, Storyline is one nice piece of kit.  I said KIT, not sh*t!  We only had about 15 minutes with it, but a few things stood out in my mind.  A SCREENR type function was available via the ribbon.  The use of characters and the ability to use flash roll overs to change their pose and facial expressions.  Also, the ability to publish in a format suitable for the iPad and iPhone.  No demo for that, but a mention.  You can use all of you already produced Engage and Quizmaker interactions.  You can also import you PowerPoint presentation in as well.  This is a stand along product from Articulate and not a Presenter bolt on.  With that being said, it seems as though some functions do cross over which is good because you are already used to them.  The learning curve should be short if you have used Presenter before.  On word of caution....as per Don, some features may or may not be included in the final version.  Overall, it will be an awesome product!  Stay tuned.....

Dave Anderson AG (Articulate Guru)...letters at the end of your name looks cool to me.....gave an awesome presentation on how to theme you projects.  This goes well beyond colors and fonts.  He mentioned just by spending an extra day or so on the theme would bring a standard presentation to the next level.  He demonstrated this to prove his point.  It was a massive difference!  A SCREENR should be made available for this as this was a great tip.  Well done!

I also had the pleasure of cornering Dave Moxon at the end of the event.  He has helped me with more things than he knows (via his blog and comments elsewhere...thanks Dave!)  After our conversation, I had more to think about regarding my move from Moodle to Articulate Online.  I am more confused than ever...but that's ok as the more info I have, the more intelligent decision I can make.

Dave was part of several parts of the program, one of which was a nice Q and A from the crowd about some specific issues raised by the masses (Dragos has a post about this somewhere).  One question was about how to speed up the publishing speed to which Dave responded -

"Reduce your publish time by using less slides...."

Now... when I heard that I almost spit my coffee on the floor.  It was pure quality!  It may be my sense of humor, but that was one of the highlights on my day.  The answer was an honest one though!  Funny, but honest!  Thanks for the comic relief on that one and thanks for spending the extra time at the end so I could bend you ear.

All I wanted from yesterday was to take away a few nuggets of info that I could begin to implement (oh yea...and see the demo for Storyline).  I got that and more.  The event was community driven with info for all different people, each with their own style and ability.  Something for everyone!

A big thank you and well done to Dragos and his team.  I'll be there next year, just tell me when!

The one downfall...I wish it were two days.

I am hoping others will post, or Dragos will start a new thread with detailed info.

Thanks for letting me chime in!

-Dave