If you thought you were seeing double while perusing the educational opportunities related to Acrobat/PDF at the upcoming Seybold SF 2000 Conference, no need to lie down or schedule an eye exam.

Seybold Seminars began hosting its PDF Day special program several years ago -- twice a year, in fact, considering the annual conference stops on the east (Boston) and west (San Francisco) coasts.

"It remains our most-successful one-day seminar," says Thad McIlroy, Seybold Seminars' Program Director. Planet PDF is a co-sponsor of PDF Day.

Adobe's Acrobat technology has matured considerably since the first gathering, while the user community has grown in size and become considerably more experienced in developing a wide range of solutions based on PDF. For Seybold, the challenge for PDF Day (and its other programs and special events) is how to continue to meet the changing needs of attendees.

The answer: PDF Day is evolving into PDF Days at the San Francisco event, being held August 27 to September 1 at the Moscone Center.

"We've tried to monitor and report on what we see as the two main aspects of PDF adoption," says McIlroy, "PDF as a format for transmitting print documents, and PDF as a pure "electronic" format, where the author intends that the document will be read primarily online, and perhaps never printed."

Not surprisingly, the changes this fall closely reflect that thinking, with PDF Day for Electronic Documents slated for Tuesday, August 29 and PDF Day for Print on Wednesday, August 30. Attendees can register for one or both dates, with a discount offered for the latter.

"As the technology matures, we've found that the two camps -- print and electronic -- have both matured," says McIlroy, "and in that process become less interested in each other's concerns."

Early feedback has been positive, he says, suggesting the decision has the support of many customers. Seybold Seminars will be soliciting attendee feedback following the conference as one part of its planning for Boston 2001.

Other Formats, Programs

In addition to PDF, Seybold's soothsayers have been keeping close watch over XML, another file format that's been commanding attention. While some apparently see an issue of -- or necessary choice between -- PDF *or* XML, others suggest the two are complementary (reminiscent of the previous PDF *or* HTML debates).

In San Francisco, Seybold is offering educational programs on "XML and Publishing" and "XML in E-Commerce" to help clarify some of the issues. In the Publishing Strategies Conference, a session titled "XML and/or PDF?" will bring the two together. Both PDF and XML will be included in Seybold's special eBooks program.

"I'm very much looking forward to the presentations and debate in that session," says McIlroy.

"As the interest in PDF continues to grow and mature, we'll do everything we can to let the whole publishing community explore all of its aspects at Seybold Seminars," he says. "As far as I can tell, we've got the broadest and the deepest coverage of the subject available at any seminar or conference in the world."

Reason enough to call it PDF Days.

MORE Information

See the Planet PDF PDF Day index page.