Travel Advice

Travel Advisor's weekly e-newletter just listed Savannah as number three on their "Top Ten: Most Underrated Destinations" that should be on everyone's must see list. Click here to see Travel Advisor's Savannah overview page.

Jingle Bells

Another interesting story about Savannah to share with everyone. Savannah is home to the Jingle Bells Church. While Jingle Bells wasn't written in Savannah, it was published as "One Horse Open Sleigh" in 1857 by James Pierpont, which he was the church music director and organist. He left the church in 1859 to pursue the insurance business instead. The song was originally written for a Thanksgiving pageant, but it quickly became a Christmas song. Debate still rages as to whether Savannah or Massachusetts (where many believe he wrote the song), but the UU church calls themselves the Jingle Bells church nonetheless.

Juliette Gordon Low

That name will mean something to you old girl scouts. If you've ever been to Savannah in the middle of the summer, you will notice two things. First, it's hot as blazes! Second, there seems to be a ton of young girls walking around, frequently in green. Why? Savannah is a Girl Scout mecca. Juliette Gordon Low was one cool lady. She founded the Girl Scouts in answer to the Boy Scouts. Having been a girl scout and now the mother of a girl scout, I can say it's a program that is great for girls. If you get the chance, the house is about 4 blocks from the hotel. You can take a tour or just visit the Girl Scout shop.

The house is famous for other reasons; it's haunted as well. Her parents were very much in love until the end and apparently beyond. Juliette came from an old, important family in Savannah. Her family were major railroad entrepreneurs, which helped put Savannah on the map. They shipped iron and cotton all over the southeast. Savannah, in fact, is the Pittsburgh of the South and that's why there are so many manholes that say "Savannah" on them. Look for the amazing ironwork in town. In fact, some of my favorite ironwork is disguised to look like marble; check out the columns of St. John the Baptist Cathedral, also in the historic district.

We'll see everyone on Saturday!

Bring your camera!

Don't forget to bring your camera! You'll find lots of others who love photography just as much as you do. If you're like me (MOM, NO MORE PHOTOS!), it's just wonderful to hang with people who don't mind that you need to take the time to frame that shot of the ironwork on the house just right. Or that you took 30 photos of THE SAME STATUE. And when you're done, we want everyone to upload their shots to the Flickr site. Not only are they fun for everyone to see, we even used them in last year's registration brochure for this year's conference.

Down to the wire!

I (aka Christine) leave for Savannah in a day and a half. Which means I'm still getting things together to be gone for that long, but it's so going to be worth it. Not only is Savannah just such a fun town, but our speakers are putting together some bang up presentations for everyone. Everyone I've talked to is just such an interesting person. I know the town will be a lure, but I really recommend you get to know the speakers too. I personally can't wait to meet the ones I've only talked to on the phone and I look forward to seeing the ones I already know too.

We have lots of first-timers to the conference, which is really exciting. I hope they come to this event and find UCDA to be as inspiring and energizing as I do. I always come back with new ideas. It can be so difficult to liberate yourself from your desk, but I always know the conference is worth the days away. And the best thing is to find out there are folks just like you, with the same problems and headaches and perhaps some ideas and thoughts about solutions for you. If nothing else, you'll find professional soul-mates.

So we'll see everyone this weekend. And I know some of you designers will try to hide behind a tree than make conversation. Just remember you're there with folks just like you, so don't be shy ... introduce yourself and you'll find you have a lot in common.

What Not to Wear

Or rather, what's the dress code? Well, anything goes, really, but if you want to fit in I'd recommend smart tshirts or nice shirts or polos, along with a pair of khakis or jeans. That and a pair of shoes (socks optional) and perhaps a jacket for those that freeze in the hotel AC and you're set. We're a fairly casual bunch and why not. The first night is an outdoor event, with a carnival theme, so I'd keep that in mind for the dress. If you dress for a cocktail party, you're going to feel silly eating a big pretzel and getting your fortune read.

And now the weather report ... Savannah is expecting dry weather with lows in the low 60s (BRR) and highs in the high 70s or low 80s. So some of you I suspect might be bringing shorts. Me, I'll be bringing a jacket!

Inspired Design Wall

Don't know about the rest of you, but I realized yesterday that in 5 days (now 4) and 2 working days, I'd be headed to Savannah. Time to think about what to bring. Me, I'm making a list so I'll remember my samples, my silent auction items and a knitting project or two to bring for the drive down and back. I'll also hope to drop by Wild Fibre too, to pick up another project.

Another thing to think about is to bring a drawing or a swatch of color for our Inspired Design Wall. Let this be whatever you want. It can be about your school, about Savannah or even better, just about you. We'll have postcards for you to use, but if you prefer to work ahead, create a drawing or color or something that inspires you and maybe others. Just make it 4" square. We'll have a wall to hang them. The more that take part, the more fun it will be. So bring your ideas!

Vote!

You've heard it all year long and now you'll hear it from us: vote! UCDA members who haven't cast their vote for the Board can do this at the conference. Look for the ballot in your registration material when you get to Savannah. We'll have all five board bios for you to read. Voting for the board may not decide the direction of the country, but it has a huge impact on the direction of UCDA. So be prepared to vote twice this year!

Volunteer room move

Teeny change to the schedule for all you amazing volunteers. Instead of meeting in Scarbrough 1, the meeting (which is super-quick and easy, but important) will be in the Verelste room. You don't have to say it, you just have to be there! When you register, we can point you in the right direction. If you're one that likes to plan in advance (good for you!), you can download the floor plan from this page.

Haven't volunteered? Why the heck not? We have loads of easy, fun jobs for people. You can ring bells, guard doors, guide people to locations, hand out our way cool goody bags or even be brave and introduce people. If I can stand in front of 600 people and do it, you can do it to 50 people, piece of cake! Plus we have a cool little item for our volunteers that you can only get by helping out and coming to the meeting. Penny's your gal and she's putting together the schedule. Drop her a line.

Your To Do List!

Wondering how to get from the airport to the hotel? What the weather will be like? What you should bring with you and what you should not bring on the plane? We've compiled all that information for you. We have lots of first-timers, so you'll find information on the Swap Shop and the Publications Review table, the Silent Auction and all the other optional events we have going on as well. Hopefully it will answer a lot of questions for you, but if not, shoot us an email.

Ride-sharing

Interested in sharing a ride from the airport, saving you a couple of bucks while feeling properly environmental? We've set up a group email. Send a message to the group when you will be arriving or departing and see if you can find someone to share that cab.

Even more shopping and eating

From Florence Bryant, my fabulous contact with SCAD.

RESTAURANTS
- Good food and elegant: Vick's on the River, Elizabeth on 37th, Sapphire Grill
- Casual, on the marsh: The Crab Shack, Bonna Bella Yacht Club
- Ethnic: Taste of India, Juarez
- Local with big band music (old 30's bistro, food is so-so but atmosphere is great): Crystal Beer Parlor
- Fun, young, good pizza: Mellow Mushroom
- Fun, very casual: Huc-a-poo's on Hwy in Tybee
- Artsy, fun lunch place: Soho Cafe
- Gryphon Tea Room has some great dishes, the building itself is worth having a lunch there
- Lulu's Chocolate Bar

FUN PLACE TO HANG OUT
- City Market, live music and touristic hangouts at night and weekends

TO DO
- ShopSCAD
- Museums (check out the Visitor Center)
- Bonaventure Cemetery
- Ghost tours (Savannah is one of the most haunted cities in the US)
- History tours
- Oatland Island for nature and animal lovers
- The beach on Tybee
- Kayaking on the marsh (available in Tybee)
- Wormsloe Plantation for a great nature walk

Swap shop

Hey all! Don't forget about the swap shop. You'll want to have your samples ready to land in your fellow attendee's hands! If you're new to the conference, the swap shop is a 45-minute, run and get 'em sample exchange. The doors open and it's a free-for-all. Sort of like the bride's bargain basement sale, only with publications instead of dresses, designers instead of brides and the publications are free!

So bring your samples! The more samples we have, the more fun the event is. Send them to:
Hyatt Regency Savannah
UCDA Conference (Oct. 4-7)
Swap Shop (HOLD for UCDA)
2 West Bay Street
Savannah, GA 31401
912-238-1234

More shopping and eating

Some more possibilities of things to do in Savannah ...
Try yelp.com
Seems to have some places I recognize and approve.

Try chowhound.com
Mostly a chat board, but some good places are mentioned.

Try this site too: Savannah off the Beaten Path
Looked through this and it lists a bunch of cool places that are not so touristy.

Don't forget to visit us at the conference too, lol!

Places to shop!

Tracy just asked about places to shop, so I'll add it to the blog. The Hyatt (and the Inn on River Street and the Hampton) are all right on the edge of the Historic District, down on River Street. River Street is, well, on the Savannah River. You can watch many ships, usually carrying lots and lots of cargo, come in. River Street is very old but it's mostly ... touristy. There's some really nice restaurants on River Street, but I'd recommend going South and heading down a couple of blocks. Broughton Street is my favorite street in the district. Lots of shopping and galleries. There's a fun art store called Primary Art Supply (if you live in the Clemson area, your arts store is Michael's, so it's a treat for me.) Last time I was there, they had a coupon for a brand new store that I've forgotten the name. It's a mix of consignment and new stuff. Lots of fun clothing up there and I ended up buying a used wallet that I'm still using. There's a store called the Paris Market that has all sorts of fun stuff, from books to candy to jewelry to furniture. They gave me the rec on Back in the Day Bakery, yummy. They are starting their Happy Hour cupcakes just in time for us! Take a new buddy and get 2 for 1 cupcakes. Check out their site for their cupcake schedule. I am definitely trying a California Buttercream.

Anyone else got any recommendations to share?

160over90 and Wilkes

Hi all! Well it wouldn't be a conference without a slight tweak to the schedule. So, a big congrats to Mark Golaszewski on getting a new job! He'll be back as a corporate member in January and still contributing on the listserv. Sadly, however, this means he can't join us in Savannah. However, Wilkes will still send a representative and I'm happy to say they are sending their director of admissions, Melanie Mickelson. Mark says, "She has worked very close with both me and 160over90, and could speak very well to the relationship we have. Additionally, she is probably the main client most of the designers would be working with anyway, so she does seem to fit well here. For the four+ years prior to hiring 160, it was pretty much she and I handling all the undergrad recruitment materials, so she is well-versed in the projects."

So don't be alarmed if you see the change. It should still be the same great session you signed up for.

Seattle in Savannah

Office Monkeys--just one of the oddities you can bid on in the Savannah Silent Auction. Plan now to add something fun or inspiring to the event.

Couldn't resist an opportunity to use this year's Silent Auction in to plug next year's conference in Seattle. Archie McPhee's Seattle superstore is home to one of the oddest collection of toys and gifts you're likely to come across. Check them out at mcphee.com and in person next year in Seattle.

Volunteers

Hey all! A note to let you know if you didn't sign up to volunteer, you can always help out. We have tons of little jobs for people to do and it's such a great way to get to know people. We have door guards, session helpers, gofers, heck, even the always popular bell ringer. This year, we even need some volunteers to help lead people to the Trustee Theater and then to Johnson Square, as well as some people to help greet at the big party in Johnson Square.

Don't see anything up there you want to do? Tell us how you think you can help out and we'll see if we can find a role for you. Ask anyone who's volunteered in the past and they'll tell you it only made their conference experience better. Plus, you get the swanky "volunteer" ribbon on your nametag, making you a UCDA VIP.

Wanna volunteer? Get in touch with Penny Frank or with me, Christine Prado.

A mere 15 days to conference, can you believe it? See you all in two weeks!

Quark speaker

Details on who is speaking at the Quark session!

Dan Logan is a chief product manager at Quark, Inc. Dan has worked on and shaped Quark's benchmark graphic design application — QuarkXPress — for more than 10 years.

Dan came to Quark in 1998 from Erbe Design in Pasadena where he served as Studio Manager working on design and photography projects for a variety of clients including Wired magazine, Chronicle Books, Toyota, Sony, and Samsung. Exposure to technology diverted Dan's attention to other schools of design, such as animation and interactive authoring, and in 2000 he was recognized in HOW Magazine's 57 Hottest Interactive Designs Annual for producing a CD-ROM promoting Blasto Media.

In his current position as product manager at Quark, Dan is designing the graphics and layout features for future versions of QuarkXPress.

InDesign speaker

We now know who is speaking for InDesign and she should be great! Here's her bio:

Noha Edell was an Adobe enthusiast long before joining Adobe Systems in 1996. With over 20 years experience in the prepress and graphics industry, her background includes operating her own training and consulting business, managing the educational services department for an Apple reseller, and working as an instructor at Parsons School of Design in New York. She is an Adobe Certified Expert in InDesign, Illustrator, Photoshop, PageMaker, and Acrobat.

At Adobe, she has pioneered the development of the InDesign User Groups throughout North America as well as advancing the growth of the international User Group community, fostering relationships and vitality among InDesign users.

Noha’s knowledge is great, her enthusiasm infectious, and her unique ability to deliver the message of the power and accessibility of Adobe creative applications inspiring. An unflappable, engaging presenter, she is a frequently requested and popular speaker at Adobe-sponsored events and industry and professional organizations’ conferences.

Breakout Sessions

If you signed up for a session and were told it was closed, you can now attend it if you like. With some hard work between Tadson and the hotel, we were able to juggle some things around and you should be able to attend those previously closed sessions.

Flickr

Last year, we had a group on Flickr for all attendees to upload the pictures they took while in Toronto. Wow, did we get response! People posted so many fun shots, we ended up using them in the 2008 Call for Registration for Savannah. So we're doing it again! So, if you've already been to Savannah, upload some pictures! And if you're coming, bring your camera!

To see last year's collection, visit www.flickr.com/groups/ucdaroots

To see what the folks who attended last year's InSight workshop in Savannah photographed, visit www.flickr.com/groups/insight

And to see what's going on in Savannah this year, go to www.flickr.com/groups/ucdashift. Right now, it's a handful of shots I took while visiting this summer.

Registration is closed

Our big conference news today is that we've officially closed registration. We had right around 290 people at the early bird deadline and thought we'd be able to keep it open til the end, but you folks just kept on registering anyway. Anyway, you lucky folks who have registered should look forward to a great 4 days. And those that didn't make it, well, UCDA has all sorts of great programming and remember next year's conference is in Seattle, another great city!

UCDA Listserv

I saw that someone commented on the dining post that he'd like to get a group together to go to Lady and Sons. (I tell you though ... so many other wonderful places to eat!) For those new to the UCDA conference, there's always friendly, fun people looking to dine out. Still, if you are looking to get a group together, you have a couple of options, besides this blog. One is the message board at the conference, which is just a big board to post open messages. People use this a lot to put out dinner requests. Another option is to post these to the UCDA listserv. If you haven't discovered the listserv, it's a very active place. Whenever I call new members, I always tell them to sign up for that, because it has the most interesting discussions. One of my favorites? Worst mascot. Green wave, a tree, horned toad ... there were lots of picks for that title.

Also, feel free to add your favorite Savannah eatery under the dining post.

Write for the blog!

Hey, are you coming to the conference? Email me to let me know if you want to write for the blog. I'm looking for 3-4 other folks to post stories of their experiences online, that they are happy to share with attendees as well as those watching the game from their computers.

Other than that, things are zipping along. We finished up some of the details with some new vendors to the resource center this year and I must say you will definitely want to nab a goody bag this year. Don't ask the front desk; come to the resource center and find the booth where they will be giving them away with your ticket you get at registration.

Sort of amazing to think that in three weeks, we'll be furiously getting ready to welcome a large crowd to Savannah. I've looked at the attendee list and I see lots of names. Some of the names I know and can't wait to see, some I recognize from phone calls, emails and the UCDA listserv and can't wait to see in person. There's also a lot of names I don't know at all but am excited to think they could one day be planning this conference themselves. Looking forward to shaking a lot of hands then!

Silent Auction

I'm preparing the information document that goes to all attendees. I hope everyone reads it because it's got great information in it. I'll share some of these items on the blog as we get closer to Savannah. To start out, I'll mention our Silent Auction. What a fun event this can be. We have so many talented members who do such beautiful craft work. I myself will be bringing a couple of hats, one which board member Connie Peterson is modeling in the photo. I'm sure competition chair and coworker Cheryl DeSellier will bring some of her beautiful jewelry. And former board member Pam Fogg will certainly bring another latched rug item. Last year's was a hot auction item. So, a friendly reminder to not only bring your checkbook, but to share your handiwork as well. And if you don't create, don't let that stop you. Other popular items are odd knickknacks and books.

Dining in Savannah

Sure is hard to find a bad meal in Savannah. Of course, you can stand in line at Lady and Sons with the other tourists, but why? Savannah's full of great places and charming restaurants. Check out our recommendations, mostly from Michelle Anderson, who works in the e-Learning admissions at SCAD. You'll get a chance to meet her at the Resource Breakfast, so make sure to say hello.

Breakfast
J. Christophers Michelle's pic: Goddess omelette
Huey's on the River: Christine says: Near the River Street Inn. Beignets will give you a sugar high, but they're worth dropping the diet for the day.

Lunch
Vic's on the River Michelle says: Great pulled pork and mac and cheese
Firefly Cafe Christine says: everything here is great, but I always get the corn chowder and the cranberry salad
Zunzi's Michelle says: Homemade South African cuisine! Order as take-out or eat on the patio (outside seating only)

Dinner
Sweet Leaf Smokery Michelle says: Lunch or dinner, spicy barbeque. Great burritos!
Vinnie Van GoGo’s Michelle says: Great pizza/salad, great location, cash only
Pink House Christine says: we ate here for dinner in the bar and it was a fun evening

Treats
Leopold’s Ice Cream Michelle's pic: Smores!
Savannah Candy Kitchen Go for the overall feel of the place and find candy you haven't seen in years. Christine's pic: the farm fudge. There are two: one on River Street and one in City Market. The River Street one is bigger, but both have pretty much the same stuff.

Coffee shop
Gallery Espresso Michelle fav.: Chai Tea & Iced Thai Coffee

Do you have a favorite place to eat? Let us know!

Opening night is coming

Conference is coming up really very quickly. I looked at the calendar the other day and realized that in less than 4 weeks, I would be packing up and heading to Savannah. Gulp. Still, we're in great shape and very excited about not only our programming but everything else we have planned too. The first night event should be truly unique. Our first session is held in the Trustee Theater, which is this very cool theater about six blocks from the hotel. It was built in the late 1940s and ran movies until the early 80s, when the district fell on hard times. Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD), as they've done with so many of the buildings downtown, bought it, renovated it and now uses it for lectures and shows. The people at SCAD have been truly wonderful to work with and everyone is excited to have this shared event with them. I'm also happy to have an icebreaker party outside in one of Savannah's famous squares. Whoever built Savannah decided it would be a civilized city with some city blocks reserved as open spaces. The idea was to have gardens or community spaces. It's worked so well they are in the process of converting one square they made a parking garage back into a city square instead. I can't imagine Savannah without the squares. I think it would probably be unbearably hot and muggy without some green spaces.