David Blatner

Seattle, WA USA

David Blatner is the author of 15 books on topics such as InDesign, Photoshop, and QuarkXPress -- including Real World InDesign, InDesign Breakthroughs, and Real World Photoshop. He is the co-host of InDesignSecrets.com, the editorial director of InDesign Magazine and The InDesign Conference, and a contributing editor to CreativePro.com. Over a half a million copies of his books are in print in 12 languages, winning him awards and praise from readers. He has spoken at conferences and workshops around North America, Europe, Australia, Japan, and South Africa.

Lin Chen

Chicago, IL

Lin Chen, president of NewCircle Consulting, manages software development teams implementing user-centered and complex web-based solutions. An expert programmer, she has built websites, including online stores and communities, intranets and extranets, and sophisticated web-based applications. She is adept at assembling disparate pieces of the technology puzzle to tailor a solution that resolves each client's unique challenges. Lin Chen holds two master's degrees, in physics and computer science, and is fluent in both English and Mandarin.

Sandee Cohen

New York, NY USA

After a career in advertising, Sandee Cohen began teaching computer graphics over sixteen years ago. She has taught for New York University, New School University, the University of Hawaii, City College in New York, as well as many private organizations. A dynamic and entertaining speaker, she has been a frequent participant at Seybold Seminars, Macworld Expo, and Thunder Lizard events. She is the co-author of Real World Creative Suite 2, which covers how all the applications in the Creative Suite work together. She is the author of the InDesign Visual QuickStart Guide—the only book to have covered all versions of InDesign. She is also the author of books on the Acrobat, Illustrator, FreeHand, and Fireworks. She is the senior contributing editor to InDesign Magazine where her column, InQuestion, answers reader's questions.

Chris Converse

Graphic Designer and Multimedia Developer

A graduate of the Rochester Institute of Technology with a BFA in graphic design, Chris has evolved into a multimedia designer and developer in the Philadelphia area over the past fifteen years, and has worked in the mediums of print, CD-ROM, websites, animation, DVDs, photography, and package design. Chris brings real world project experience to the conference arena. His expertise in Adobe's Creative Suite, is showcased through work-flows and the integration of the tools to get the job done and your meet deadlines. Chris designs and maintains the InDesign User Group and Acrobat Users websites for Adobe Systems, as well as advertisements for Adobe for placement in the creative pro's publication,InDesign Magazine. His portfolio includes work for international pharmaceutical companies, ivy-league academia, as national consumer brands including Nexium, Campbell's Soup, Pepperidge Farms, Tylenol, and Motrin. See examples, watch videos, interact with his work at http://chrisconverse.com.

Tim Frick

Chicago, IL

Tim Frick has provided creative media services to an extensive client list since the early 1990s. His work has received design, video and interactive awards and has appeared in many publications, web sites, and television broadcasts as well as at Chicago's Museum of Contemporary Art. Tim's company Mightybytes has been creating design-driven media solutions for a wide variety of corporate, education, arts, and not-for-profit clients since 1998. He was an instructor for several years in Columbia College Chicago’s interactive media department and has been teaching classes for Ascend Training on various design, animation and interactive topics since 1998. He has held positions on the board of the Association for Multimedia Communications (AMC), as well as on advisory committees for the Illinois Institute of Art's Animation and Interactive Media Departments and the Interactive Media Departments of Columbia College Chicago and Westwood College. Tim is also the author of Managing Interactive Media Projects from Cengage Learning (formerly Thomson-Delmar Learning).

Mordy Golding

Mordy Golding, an Adobe Certified Expert and Adobe Certified Print Specialist, has served as a hands-on trainer and has spoken at worldwide events and seminars including Macworld, Seybold, NAB, and PhotoshopWorld. His books include the soon-to-be-released Real World Illustrator CS, SAMS Teach Yourself Adobe Creative Suite All in One, The Web Designer's Guide to Color and SAMS Teach Yourself Adobe Illustrator in 24 Hours. Mordy has also recorded several training videos including Illustrator Fundamental Techniques and Advanced Techniques by Software Cinema (www.software-cinema.com) and Learning Adobe CS Integration and Version Cue by Lynda.com (www.lynda.com). Mordy worked at Adobe as the product manager for Adobe Illustrator 10 and Adobe Illustrator CS, and in October of 2003, Mordy was named a 'Champion of Graphic Design' by Graphics IQ.

Michael Labriola

Michael Labriola is a Partner and Senior Consultant at Digital Primates IT Consulting Group. He has been developing Internet applications since 1995 and has been working with Flex since its 1.0 beta program. He specializes in developing application with high business impact using emerging technologies. Michael worked as an author and technical editor on the Flex 2:Training from the Source book and has published a series of articles on Adobe’s Developer Center teaching others to integrate Flex client and server technologies. As a frequent speaker on Flex topics and contributor to Flex Mailing Lists, Michael is known throughout the developer community.

Jim Maivald

Jim Maivald is a graphic designer and consultant who has over 25-years' experience in design, and 20-years' experience in computer-based design and publishing. Jim teaches for Ascend Training, in addition to other clients around the country such as Purina, WorldBook, Grainger and others. He is an Adobe Certified Expert, and teaches InDesign, XML, Photoshop, Illustrator, and Acrobat. His course in XML and InDesign has been groundbreaking in bringing the publishing and web development fields together. Jim is the author of Photoshop Complete, and was the Technical Editor for Personal Publishing/Business Publishing magazine, and the Editor of Design Graphics World Magazine. Jim is also a regular featured speaker at the Chicago InDesign User Group meetings.

Michael Ninness

Senior Product Manager, InDesign, Adobe Systems, Inc.

Michael Ninness grew up in the Redwoods of Arcata in Northern California. He moved to Seattle in 1989 to study for a Graphic Design BFA at the University of Washington and fell in love with the Pacific Northwest. He paid his way through design school by teaching designers and photographers how to use digital tools and techniques. Michael has over ten years experience as a product manager and user interface designer of software products for creative professionals. Past positions include LiveMotion Group Product Manager and Senior User Interaction Designer for the Creative Suite at Adobe, and Program Manager for Expression Blend at Microsoft. Michael is a frequent and top-rated presenter at numerous industry events including Photoshop World, PhotoPlus Expo, PMA, Macworld, FlashForward, Flash on the Beach, Web Design World, the HOW Design Conference and Pacific New Media at the University of Hawaii. He is also the author of several video training titles published by Lynda.com.

Colin Smith

Colin Smith is a best-selling author, trainer, and award-winning new-media designer who has caused a stir in the design community with his stunning photorealistic illustrations composed entirely in Photoshop. He is founder of the world's most popular Photoshop resource site, PhotoshopCAFE.com. He is a regular columnist for Photoshop User magazine, PlanetPhotoshop.com, and the official site of the National Association for Photoshop Professionals. He has authored or co-authored more than fifteen books on Photoshop, including the best-selling How to Do Everything with Photoshop CS and CS2 and award-winning Photoshop Most Wanted: Effects and Design Tips. Colin is also creator of the Photoshop Secrets Video training series (PhotoshopCD.com). You can see more of Colin's portfolio at pixeloverload.com.

Adam Pratt

Adobe Systems, Inc.

Adam Pratt is an Application Engineer at Adobe Systems where he supports all of Adobe's products for creative professionals. He's an Adobe Certified Expert in every application in Adobe's Creative Suite, and the first certified Creative Suite Master in the world. He's the co-author of three GoLive books including Adobe GoLive CS Tips and Tricks and he has extensive professional experience in Web, print, and multimedia design.

Steve Whatley

Adobe Systems, Inc.

Steve Whatley is a Dynamic Media Systems Engineer at Adobe and is an Adobe Certified Expert in Photoshop, Illustrator, Premiere, After Effects, and InDesign; he is also an Adobe certified Video Specialist. Steve's career started in the 70's as a commercial airbrush illustrator for print. 20 years of illustration and design gave Steve the opportunity to work as Art Director and creator of most of the Posters for the original 3 StarWars movies. After 20 years in his own Graphic Design Studio doing both print design and photography, Steve started moving into Video and Animation in the early 90's.  Steve worked in both 2D (After Effects) and 3D for corporate and Broadcast Television, with a stint doing nightly news graphics for the Fox Network. Steve is a multi-platform guy working with Mac, PC and SGI computers. You can also see Steve on the web with his blog called "aftereffectscookbook."

Brian Wood

Brian Wood, Director of Training and Co-Owner of eVolve Computer Graphics Training, is an Adobe Creative Suite 2 Master (certified in InDesign, Photoshop, Acrobat, Illustrator and GoLive), and the author of InDesign CS2 Hands-On-Training, published by Peachpit Press, as well as InDesign and Illustrator CS2 video titles for Lynda.com. In addition to training eVolve¹s many clients, Brian has spoken at events hosted by GAG, AIGA, STC, XEROX, CASE and other organizations.