(BTW, Sarah is also blogging on the conference.)

I was really looking forward to the opening session yesterday...I find the topic of linguistics fascinating. I just wish the speaker had been more energetic, and I think I'm going to like reading her book.

I went to Cheri Lockett Zubak's session on procedures. Cheri's done lots of research into types of procedures, and having just left a client site where a previous consultant felt that tasks didn't need numbers, I was really interested in summarized procedures. (I still don't think the client's stuff was set up correctly, and Bonni Graham and I discussed how some subjects...like audit and security, or policy and procedures, aren't really good subjects for summarized procedures.) It was great having Cheri back again, and her session was terrific.

While I was listening to her, I realized that my soon-to-be-gamer son will be one of the folks Cheri was talking about in a few years...when the baby boomers aren't in control, the gamers will be, and the gamers don't read. (Other than text messages, of course.) But they do communicate, just more with visuals. We're going to have to change, and now I'm really looking forward to Luke's session later today because he's all about the visual.

Next session up was my panel of pundits (Sarah O'Keefe, Alan Houser, and Scott DeLoach), talking about features in HATs. We were put in one of the smaller rooms (probably based on Joe's surveys), and had people just about everywhere, standing and sitting on the floor. Jack Molisani of LavaCon was nice enough to find more chairs when he saw what was happening.

We didn't always agree, which I think is A Good Thing(TM), and we had lots of fun. The attendees asked some great questions, and hopefully the vendors who attended will take advantage of the input.

Adobe sponsored last night's reception, where we had Caesar salad, tortellini with tomato sauce and cheese, and garlic bread. On another table, big trays of cheese and fruit, with crackers and bread, were laid out. And at the end, they brought out huge chocolat-covered strawberries. The food was great, and those who won copies of the software were thrilled.

Now on to day 2...I'm going to go to Cheri's session on reusable content in Author-it, and then Luke's session, and then Geoff and I will talk about editing online Help. It's another full day!