Mania
Our semi-annual pilgrimage to Holland
One of my most rewarding business experiences is connecting with fellow users of the software that I use regularly. That is why I have been hosting CorelWORLD all these years, even though a more general graphics conference would have been a much bigger draw. That is why we debut PowerPoint Live this year, even though a conference on all of Microsoft Office would be more lucrative. There is just nothing like meeting others with whom you share a common destiny. And while newsgroups and email lists are valuable aids, nothing compares to meeting people in the flesh.
And if meeting your peers is a nice experience, meeting them 7,000 miles from home is an extraordinary one. And that is why I place in such high regard the opportunity to speak at Bob van Duuren’s Graphics Mania. His two-day event attracts CorelDRAW and Ventura Publisher users from Germany, Switzerland, Holland, Belgium, France, and the United Kingdom. And one Canadian—Allan Shearer, the former product manager for Ventura Publisher. And one American.
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There were many languages spoken at the event and I felt a tangible sense of guilt at the notion that just about everyone there was able to converse with me in English, while I couldn’t say more than a few words to them in their native tongues. But there were a few shining moments in which words were not necessary. A couple conversing in German kept referring to a phrase that sounded like “font box” and another that I interpreted as “substitution.” While the German language has its own word for that, many words that show up on application dialog box make their way into the lexicon of other languages. |
I took a chance that they were troubled by the Panose Font Substitution dialog box and walked up to them with my notebook computer on and the Panose box open. “Ja!” said the man. “Ah!” said I, as I proceeded to open Font Navigator and make the universal “a-okay” gesture of thumb and index finger forming a circle with the other three fingers outstretched. I pointed to the F1 key, we each smiled, and shook hands. It was tremendously satisfying to know that Corel users could communicate, relate, and share a moment without the aid of a common language.
No question about it, many of the experiences that we refer to as quintessentially Corel cut across cultural lines. And it came as no surprise to me that font management was one of those issues. Users from all countries strained to understand me in English during that presentation, so motivated were they to learn about potential solutions to the I’ve-installed-500-fonts-and-now-everything-is-slow syndrome.
And I can now say with more confidence than ever before, Ventura users the world over want better integration with Microsoft Word. It’s not just here in the United States that Ventura gets passed over for big projects because the finished files must be Word-compatible, or at the very least, be able to make peaceful roundtrips to and from Word. And you thought Quark Xpress was the competition...
The same holds true for DRAW. One new user was amazed at the power and the breadth of version 11 of DRAW, never imagining that a single application could do so much. And this is before she even made her way into PAINT or RAVE. But just like here in the States, her enthusiasm waned when she was shown features that simply did not function as advertised. “It does so much, but it promises so too much," she said in broken but nonetheless completely insightful language.
That the event went off without a visible snag is a credit to all involved, because oh boy, was there an invisible snag: a minivan full of conference supplies was stolen overnight before the event began. Software, signs, banners, name badges, prizes, keyboards, mice...everything except for (thank heavens) the presentation computers and projectors. So who needs a bunch of stinkin’ badges—the doors opened on time and everyone was the better for it.
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Sibling act: Speaker Erwin Brink and Mania co-host Karin van Duuren. That Erwin could smile for a photo shows indomitable spirit. It was his van... |
At one point that morning, Bob and Karin shared one of those “never again” moments that I have experienced on numerous occasions when the rigors of staging a conference seem too daunting. I hope they can exercise editorial license over their memories and recall only the good things about Mania ’02, of which there were many. Their event is a rewarding opportunity for me to reaffirm just how strong the bonds are within the Corel user community.
There is, however, one deep cultural gap that I might never be able to traverse. We had wonderful dinners in Amsterdam, sampling cuisine of many tastes and lands. But I don’t think I’ll brave the desserts...