Tutorial Tuesday: CorelDRAW Unleashed User Conference Handout and Disc

The staff of experts at the CorelDRAW Unleashed User Conference put together some amazing sessions for those in attendance. If you weren't able to join us at the conference, we are now making available the Conference Guide and the Conference Disc.

This isn't just a single tutorial, it is a collection of information that took three days to present. The Conference Guide is 152 printed pages of full color information. On the Conference Disc, you'll find the Conference Guide as a PDF file complete with links to tutorial movies on many of the subjects covered. We then loaded the disc with clip art, plug-ins and other content of value.

You can get just the Conference Disc or a package with both the printed Conference Guide and the Conference Disc. Note that if you order the printed Conference Guide that your package will not ship until October 30th. Orders for only the Conference Disc will ship right away.

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The Many Output Devices of CorelDRAW

As I talk with CorelDRAW users, I find that they know a lot about how they use CorelDRAW in their job but they don't know the many ways it is used in the real world. The great news is that once you know CorelDRAW, you have the ability to pick up new ways to output your files with only a minimal learning curve.

One of our goals at the CorelDRAW Unleashed User Conference is to allow users attending the conference to see as many of the output devices as possible in action. We want users to see how they can grow their business by adding new methods of output. Behind the scenes I've been talking to vendors and lining up as many devices as possible. Today I'm ready to announce the first group of sponsors and the devices they offer.

Of course, I should mention that Corel is heavily involved in the conference. Two of the men behind the development and promotion of CorelDRAW will be there to interact with users and to deliver sessions during the conference. If you want a direct hotline to the developers, Tony and John will get your requests directly into the pipeline.

Brother will have their garment printer and embroidery machines available in the Output Center. Garment printers allow you to print directly from CorelDRAW to a wide variety of apparel and other fabrics. They'll even be showing the printer in conjunction with a green screen so that a photo can be taken, superimposed on the background of your choice and output on a shirt in just a couple of minutes. I've seen it in action, and it is really cool! CorelDRAW is also the core graphics technology in Wilcom Decostudio e1. It allows you to take a CDR file and create a stitch file for output as embroidery. Brother's embroidery machines can take those files and output them quite easily. Don't believe it, come see it in action!

Digital Art Solutions has so much to offer that it will be hard to list it all here. They offer add-ons for CorelDRAW, production ready clip art as well as a wide variety of output devices. Not only do they have all these great products, their team knows and loves CorelDRAW. So if you are trying to output from CorelDRAW to darned near anything, they can help you with it. This can include garment printing, embroidery, applique, vinyl cutting, print and cut, wide format, screen printing, pad printing and much, much more!

Universal Laser is one of the top manufacturers of laser engravers. 90+% of their customers use CorelDRAW to output to their laser engraver! A laser engraver allows you to mark and cut wood, plastics, paper, glass, leather, stone, ceramic rubber and all kinds of other materials.

This gives you an idea of some of the devices you can work with in the Output Center of the CorelDRAW Unleashed User Conference. We expect to have even more devices and I'll be back with further details as I have them. The conference is less than two months away and the special pricing for the suites at the resort are only good through June 9! Make sure to get registered now so you don't miss out on all the learning!

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Taxes and Training

If you are in the US, hopefully you got your tax return filed a few weeks ago. Those of you getting a refund have probably already received it. Even better, your "stimulus check" should be coming any day now. These stimulus checks are being sent to help stimulate the economy and can be as much as $600 for a single person and $1200 for a married couple.

I'd like you to consider using your stimulus check to invest in the future of your business. Wouldn't it be great if you could double or triple your investment within a year's time? That's exactly what you can get if you can improve your skills on tasks important to your business. Even better, your investment is most likely tax deductible so you can save money on next year's taxes.

You use CorelDRAW in your business, right? Most of you do and that's why you're here. No matter your current knowledge level of CorelDRAW, you don't know everything. Nobody does, not even the experts. Which means that you can certainly learn something new that will save you time every day. That's why I'm going to encourage you to "invest" in your future and join us at the CorelDRAW Unleashed User Conference!

We will have something for all levels of users. If you are just getting started, we have crash courses on the first day to get you up-to-speed quickly. Industry specific sessions will be taught on screen printing, sublimation, embroidery, engraving, sign making, digital photography and much more. There will be something on CorelDRAW and something on Corel PHOTO-PAINT in every timeframe. So no matter what you do with CorelDRAW, you will find sessions that give you valuable information for boosting your productivity and creativity.

The instructors leading the sessions have been carefully chosen for their expertise with the software and most of them make their living doing production work with the software and thus you will get lots of practical information. We brought them in from all over the world to share their expertise with you. And when they aren't leading sessions, they will be in the 1:1 Expert Bar. This is the area where you can sit down in front of a computer with one of the experts and ask questions. Or have them help you with a tricky design problem. Where else will you have then chance to work one-on-one with one of the top CorelDRAW experts in the world?

You might ask how Corel Corporation is involved. The man behind the development of CorelDRAW, Tony Severenuk, will be giving our opening keynote and sharing with you the top new features in CorelDRAW X4. He'll also be leading sessions later in the conference where he will share tons of great tips for boosting your productivity. Of course you'll always find him carrying a notebook so he can write down your concerns, your wishlist of new features and anything else that will help shape future versions of CorelDRAW. John Falsetto will also be joining us from Corel and giving a keynote address on the Wide World of CorelDRAW. If you want to talk directly with the people behind the software, this is your opportunity.

Some users have told me that it is too far to travel. Tell that to the attendee who is joining us from New Zealand. There is no other event like this anywhere else in the world and we truly will have the world getting together to join us in learning to get the most out of CorelDRAW. I want to encourage you to invest in your future and join us for four days of incredible training!

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The Myths About Phoenix Heat in July

I've received a few e-mails telling me that it is crazy to hold the CorelDRAW Unleashed User Conference in Phoenix in July. I've lived in the Phoenix area since 1989 so I think I understand the heat very well and I think it has been blown way out of proportion.

The average July high in the zip code where the conference is held is 102 degrees. The average low is 74. I'll admit that I was pleasantly surprised that it was that low. Now some of you will say that 102 is still very hot. To truly understand the heat, you have to remember it is a "dry heat". The average humidity in the morning is 43% and drops to only 20% in the afternoon. Typically the humidity rises during the month of July so you'll probably find the humidity during the conference to be lower than those numbers. So while it may be 102 outside in the sun, it doesn't feel as hot due to the low humidity. The coldest I have ever felt in my life was getting out of a swimming pool in Phoenix in July. Why? Because it is so dry that the water on your body evaporates very quickly. We're talking teeth-chattering cold. Now I'll admit, that was after dark and it isn't like that during the day.

Let's look at the typical day at the conference. You'll be sleeping in your air conditioned guest suite. Typically it will be 78 degrees in your room and you can change it to whatever feels best to you. In the cool morning air, you'll walk outdoors under a roof to the ballrooms where the conference is held. The ballrooms will also be air conditioned to a comfortable temperature. We'll most likely serve breakfast outside simply because it is so nice out there in the shaded courtyard in the morning. Maybe you'll walk back to your suite after lunch to freshen up. The next time outdoors would be a walk back to your room in the late afternoon after the high temperature of the day has started dropping.

For those who wish to cool off, the resort features a number of pools and an on-site water park. If you don't want to be in the sun at all, there are plenty of indoor activities at the resort.

Some of you are probably golfers and you think it is too hot for golf. The sun rises very early in the summer since we ignore daylight savings time. So you could probably tee off as early as 5 am and get in nine holes before the conference day starts. And since this is summer in Phoenix, you'll pay a green fee about a quarter of what you would pay in the winter. This is before the heat of the day so you'll probably be much more comfortable than you would be playing golf in your hometown.

There are also places you can visit in Arizona where the temperature is even cooler. The average high temperature at the Grand Canyon is 80 and the average low is a very chilly 50 degrees. It is around a four hour drive from the resort. The beautiful red rocks of Sedona are a two hour drive and their average high is 97 with an average low of 64 degrees. Visit Slide Rock and the water will definitely give your backside a chill. Kartchner Caverns is also a two hour drive from the resort and the cave is 68 degrees year round.

Now there is one thing that I will guarantee is hot about this conference. That's the productivity and creativity tips that you'll learn from the top Corelians in the world! Bring your sun screen, your swim suit and we'll give you the best information to be found anywhere in the world on CorelDRAW and a little bit of fun in the sun. Just make sure to register soon or you might miss out while your competitors are at the conference soaking up the information presented.

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Who Should Attend the CorelDRAW Unleashed User Conference?

Do you use CorelDRAW to make money? For many of you, it is a tool that you use all day long to produce artwork for your company. Others may use it occasionally and wish they could find a way to use it more. Maybe you are just a hobbyist that just enjoys using CorelDRAW and/or Corel PHOTO-PAINT.

As I was putting together the CorelDRAW Unleashed User Conference, I wanted an event that that would take users to a higher, and more profitable, level with CorelDRAW. And we've done our best to provide information for CorelDRAW users of every type.

During each of the time frames where training is provided, you have six choices for what you want to learn. And we've gotten the top experts from the CorelDRAW community to lead the training. Nowhere in the world will you find this much CorelDRAW expertise in one location.

Maybe you are currently using CorelDRAW for laser engraving. Yes, we've have information on how to get more out of laser engraving. But what if you could expand your business by adding sublimation? You'll see how easy it can be. Maybe a garment printer would help your screen printing business. Best of all, we'll have an "output center" where you can try all kinds of different machines and see how your artwork can be output on the machines.

Now I realize that it is an investment to come to a conference like this. We certainly have to charge a fair amount to provide you with this level of expertise, provide tasty meals and give you the biggest productivity boost you've ever had with CorelDRAW. And I know there are travel expenses to get to Phoenix and join us for four days. Remember this is an investment in your business or maybe the info you need to start a new business. This is an investment that pays great dividends. When we save you time, you finish more projects and make more money. When you find that CorelDRAW do give you more types of products to sell, you have a wider product line and make more money from the designs you've already created. We take your investment seriously and our team will make sure that you return to your desk overflowing with information on getting the most possible from your copy of CorelDRAW!

Look over the conference information using the links I've provided. Talk it over with your boss (or yourself, if you are the boss) and register for the conference. We also know that during the summer that families often take vacations. You might want to bring your family along to enjoy the amazing resort where the conference will be held. I look forward to meeting you in July!

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CorelDRAW Unleashed User Conference Special Pricing

It probably seems like July is a long time from now. That's when we are holding the CorelDRAW Unleashed User Conference. While the conference starts six months from today, the special pricing on the conference ends in 22 days. We'd hate for you to miss out on saving $100 because you waited a bit too long to register.

In the meantime, we are busy working with our experts to put together an agenda. We want to make sure that we present the sessions that will help your productivity and creativity increase the most possible. About half of those pieces and the rest will be put into place in the next 2-3 weeks. This means you can still suggest topics that you would like to see.

We have already seen very good registration numbers and we fully expect this to be the largest CorelDRAW conference in the last decade. Don't miss out, register now and enjoy the $100 savings!

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New Server Powering the Unleashed Sites

If you've read the last few posts, I've announced a few changes that have been made recently. Now I have one more and if all went well, you'll never know anything changed. Earlier this week we migrated the Graphics Unleashed and CorelDRAW Unleashed sites to a new dedicated server. Our old dedicated server was still working fine, but it was starting to show its age. We wanted to make sure that we had a server that could handle the increase of traffic that the CorelDRAW Unleashed magazine and CorelDRAW Unleashed User Conference would bring.

At the same time we installed our own mail server. Like everyone, all that unwanted spam is bombarding our inboxes. The new mail server gives us additional filtering options so we can make sure the bad stuff is blocked and the good stuff gets through.

Hopefully this is the last of the big changes for a while. I'm ready to get back to creating CorelDRAW content and this stuff has been very time consuming for me.

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CorelDRAW Unleashed User Conference Updates

Hopefully you are already aware of the upcoming CorelDRAW Unleashed User Conference to be held in July, 2008. Today I wanted to focus on some changes to the hotel and to the registration process.

We got a letter from the Pointe South Mountain Resort a couple of weeks ago announcing a name change to the Arizona Grand Resort. So while it may seem like the conference has moved to a new hotel, it is new in name only. It is the same building with all the same great amenities. The address has also changed only because the street on which the property sits is named after the property. So you might find it is hard to find with the online mapping services in the next few months until they update their databases with the new street name.

While I don't know all the reasons for the name change, I can guess that part of it has to do with the renovations they are making to the guest rooms. I've been in the current rooms and they are nice. The resort felt they could do better. So they are gutting the rooms and spending $35,000 on each room to make them absolutely spectacular. This construction is going on now and will be completed long before the conference. In short, you're going to be staying in an awesome room at a bargain price.

Behind the scenes on our end, there have also been some changes regarding the conference. If you haven't tried to register before, these changes would be invisible to you. We wanted to make the process as simple as possible for you, our guests, and yet have a system that automated as much of the process as possible for ourselves. Starting today, the new registration process is finally hooked up to the Web site and is ready for your registrations. For those of you who subscribe to the newsletter, the registration system will look somewhat familiar since they all use the same back end. In the next few days we'll also launch the same registration for our CorelDRAW Unleashed Boot Camps scheduled for 2008. There are just a few details left before we can launch it.

There are two changes of note to you for the CorelDRAW Unleashed User Conference. If you register prior to February 1, 2008, you'll save $100 on your registration. Also, we have posted the first part of our schedule. The optional Crash Courses for Wednesday, July 9 are now listed on the site and you can select them as part of your registration.

In the next few weeks we are going to ramp up the promotion for this very special event for CorelDRAW users so make sure you get yourself registered while we still have space. You do not want to miss it!

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CorelDRAW Unleashed Discussion on Video

I sat down with Gérard Metrailler (Director, Product Management, Graphics at Corel Corporation) at the CorelWorld Conference in San Diego in late June and we discussed my CorelDRAW Unleashed books and the big CorelDRAW Unleashed announcements. Since this video (see below) was recorded, we've gotten very close to the release of the premier CorelDRAW Unleashed Magazine which is due to be sent on October 16th. If you haven't already subscribed, it is completely free so there is no excuse not to get a subscription. All of the details of the upcoming CorelDRAW Unleashed User Conference are also available. Make sure to get your registration in early before the event is completely sold out.

Enjoy the video of the discussion! We're sorry for the poor sound quality.

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