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.

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%uFFFDthe 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.

Anne-Marie Concepcion

Anne-Marie "HerGeekness" Concepcion is an accomplished design studio owner, consultant, trainer, author and speaker on all things related to digital design and production. Her Chicago-based firm Seneca Design & Training creates print, web and interactive PDF projects for clients including the Joyce Foundation, the International Housewares Show and LobsterGram. Anne-Marie is also a seasoned Adobe and Quark authorized trainer with clients across the country, recently helping BBDO, McDougal Littel, Loyola Press, Playboy Enterprises and McDonalds Corp. move to Adobe InDesign, often helping them incorporate Adobe InCopy as well. Her free bimonthly e-zine, DesignGeek, with "tips and techniques for the digital designer" is enjoyed by thousands of designers around the world. Visit DesignGeek Central at her studio's web site, senecadesign.com.

Bob Connolly

pdfPictures

Bob Connolly is an accomplished musician, writer, record, television, and movie producer with a vast rich experience in the print publishing industry. His most recent book is Dynamic Media: Music, Video, Animation and the web in Adobe PDF. He is also the president of pdfPictures, located in Toronto, Canada. pdfPictures is a full-service production company that specializes in convergence technologies. For the past 16 years, pdfPictures has been producing award-winning DVDs, TV series, music videos, records, commercial and educational CD-ROMs, Internet web sites and, most recently, Interactive “Rich Media” PDF documents. Their clients include: General Motors, Ford, Mazda, Jaguar, Nissan, Toyota, Dell Computer, Apple Computer, Benjamin Moore, Pfizer-Parke Davis, and the Ontario Ministry of Tourism.

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.

Sebastian Distefano

Adobe Systems, Inc.

Sebastian Distefano is a technology expert with 20 years of experience in the graphics industry. As business development manager at Adobe, he helps some of Canada’s leading creative and printing companies streamline electronic workflow and increase productivity by integrating Adobe applications into their operations. Prior to joining Adobe, Sebastian worked at Agfa Graphic Systems for nearly a decade, moving customers from analog workflows to digital PDF workflows. An Adobe Certified Expert on Acrobat, Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign, Sebastian is a frequent presenter at international conferences such as Macworld, NAB and Seybold.

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.

Lynn Grillo

Adobe Systems, Inc.

As a Solutions Engineer with Adobe Systems, Lynn Grillo's work centers around Adobe’s products for creative professionals. Based in the New York metro area, Lynn is an Adobe Certified Expert in numerous Adobe applications including Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Acrobat, GoLive and InCopy. Lynn proudly holds Adobe Print, Web and Creative Suite Master certifications. To date, she has co-authored and tech edited a number of books on Adobe software, and has recorded training for Total Training, Lynda.com and Terry White’s Creative Suite Podcast.

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

Michael Ninness moved to Seattle in 1989 to study for a Graphic Design BFA at the University of Washington. He paid his way through design school by teaching professional designers and photographers digital imaging tools and techniques. He also has over seven years experience in the graphics software industry as a product manager and user interface designer of products for creative professionals at Extensis, Microsoft, and Adobe. In early 2005, Michael returned to his training roots and joined the team at Lynda.com, an award-winning education provider of self-paced online video training, CD-ROMs, books and events for creative professionals. He is the author of several training videos including Photoshop Power Shortcuts and Photoshop CS2 Essential Training.