For Lectora User Conference (LUC) 2013, eLC sent a 2-man team to San Antonio, Texas this year during week of 29 April - 3 May.
Hosted in Marriott San Antonio Rivercentre, both Jasons (Jason Queck & Jason Pan) joined hundreds of participants from all over the US and the around the world in attending this much anticipated event that has an amazing line up of keynotes speakers, one-on-one knowledge sessions with the software developers, not to mentioned the many networking opportunities with fellow eLearning professionals.
On the first day, the Jasons attended the Partners Meeting to look at the challenges faced by resellers around the world and the way forward for Trivantis. Under the beautiful night by the river, all participants and partners were greeted to a welcome dinner and cocktail reception. Here, they had a chance to meet up with the staff of Trivantis, including its CEO. This is a great networking opportunity to be able to discuss issues with other partners of Trivantis on an informal note.
Cocktail Session.
After the wonderful kick off of the 3-days conference with the welcome reception, the second day was filled with three concurrent breakout sessions which covers topics on Lectora V11, LMS and CourseMill from the Beginner Level to the Expert Level. There were also two keynote speakers; Erik Wahl: Discovering Your Untapped Potential and Tom Wujec: Teamwork, the key to Innovation. They brought to LUC2013 many different thinking perspectives and open up mindsets when creating Lectora courseware. With a great spectrum of training sessions available, we decided to focus on lessons that are relevant to our current focus. The Lectora Mobile Applications and Integrating HTML 5 with Java into Lectora was one of the many hot sessions we attended. Of course, we also attended the Tin Can, which is a unique feature of Lectora that is newly introduced by Trivantis.
Erik Wahl: Discovering Your Untapped Potential.
Tom Wujec: Teamwork, the key to Innovation.
On the last day of the conference, there were 4 more breakout sessions which we attended. New features of Lectora Version 11 were highlighted by Trivantis trainers. Among the features that was introduced, the change of Lectora User Interface, which displays property level buttons from the Top Window Panel instead of the usual Right-Hand-Side Panel which caters more familiarity with Microsoft Office programs, is a bold "make-over" for those of us whom has been using Lectora since 2004.
Besides the emphasis on Lectora V11 introductions, one of the keynote sessions for the day was to meet "The Piano Guys" from USA and a photo opportunity with them. They had just released their music album and had a growing popularity on YouTube. What is inspiring about them is that they had a 5-man band making music from a single piano, creating beautiful noises made from tapping and banging on the same piano. With one man's dream to advertise his Yamaha Piano, to coming out with an entire music album with a crew of "fathers", one got to rethink contemporary methods of doing things and give it a go at what's passion in life.
Some of the sessions also covered the concerns of the developers on various topics such as the seamless and feasibility translation of Lectora Desktop e-Learning Courseware into the iPad e-Learning Courseware without the extra effort of re-designing the whole courseware and translation issues with regards to courseware development on a non-English e-Learning courseware for their local clients back home.
After each compelling segment, participants welcome the meals/breaks provided by Marriott RiverCenter which was simply magnificent. For breakfast alone, there was fruity breakfast together with croissants and butter; accompanied by Starbucks Coffee and bottled fruit juice. And for lunch, a four-course meal was served, including desserts and salads. There were also light-hearted tarts, canned drinks and Starbucks Coffee available outside the rooms for quick refreshments. LUC 2013 sure knows how to satisfy the senses of their participants!
To mark the close of the LUC, Trivantis organised a Wild Wild West Party at Knibbe Ranch for participants to let down their hair and flaunt their wild sides. Both Jasons were dressed in their pseudo cowboy outfits, complete with the requisite cowboy hat. Armadillo race was a popular attraction for the participants, not forgetting the one-on-one gunslingers for quick hands to pull-out their guns from gun pouch to shoot at their "enemy" for a friendly crossfire. Then there was the event of the night, the cowboys vs. bull challenge. To officially end off the LUC 2013, a starring sky of fireworks was displayed at the ranch. Thereafter, everyone were ferried safely back to the hotel by bus and bid farewell to a wonderful conference.
Jason Queck commented, "It was a great opportunity to attend LUC 2013 as the sharing of knowledge and experience with many other e-Learning professionals from all around the world who shared new trends, best practices and e-Learning experiences at this conference was tremendously beneficial. We can be the first to learn about the newest products and news in the e-Learning world. This event also provides a good business opportunity and networking platform with other e-Learning professionals and leaders. Besides, we were very honoured to be invited by Trivantis CEO and Top Management members to have a face-to-face discussion and feedback session that certainly strengthen our partnership."Jason Pan concluded,"I have gained a lot from the conference in terms of design tips for courseware, creating creative storylines to actual implementation and addition of external scripting into Lectora to create an enriching e-Learning courseware. By having the opportunity to also feedback to Trivantis staffs through the conference, I am confident that Lectora will continue to be a top authoring tool choice for users."