Hi there, David Blatner here… You know, I think anticipation is one of the most delightful human traits. You know how children can get almost giddy before opening presents! And if you’ve ever thrown toast at “The Rocky Horror Picture Show,” you know the shiver of antici… pation!

Well, that’s what I’m feeling right now: This year’s CreativePro Week is just around the corner and I couldn’t be more excited for it. Here are 12 things I’m looking forward to this year:

➡️ New Art: Bert Monroy is releasing his newest digital art creation during his session (Pixel Magic: Photorealistic Illustration Techniques). The piece, called “The Golden Gate” is massive: 14,400 by 10,800 pixels. Here is a tiny sample with an indication of where it comes from in the larger piece (see that person in a red shirt in the middle? just wait ’til Bert zooms in to show you who that is 🤣 ):

➡️ Three Minutes Max: There are tips and then there are “3 minutes max tips!” We’ve got four “3MM” sessions on the agenda this year: one each covering Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, and PowerPoint. The 30 presenters (ranging from Jesús Ramirez to Lisa Carney to Monika Gause to Rob de Winter to Nigel French and more!) are pulling out all the stops to show their best, wildest, most compelling tricks… who will win the audience vote?!

➡️ Ignite CreativePro: Hosted by the inestimable and inimitable Anne-Marie Concepción, our annual Ignite CreativePro session hands the stage to the attendees! This is one of my favorite sessions because you never know what to expect. Each person has 5 minutes, 20 slides, and a great story or lesson to share.

➡️ Camp CreativePro: Need a break from digital? Ready to actually use your hands to create? I’m thrilled that we’re doing the “Camp CreativePro” Arts & Crafts room again! I’ll be bringing a bunch of my old-time graphics supplies (Letraset, waxer, and so on)… and we have a ton of cool “make it” supplies, including a very cool project called the Hexa-flexagon, brought to us by the ever-inventive Khara Plicanic!

➡️ New Speakers: We have several new speakers at CreativePro Week this year, including the incredible Ben Willmore, Vince Wanga, Monika Gause, Angelo Montilla, Nicte Cuevas, Dave Clayton, and Rob de Winter!

➡️ Developer Summit: Behind every creative is a creative developer — a coder, IT person, scripter, or integrator who is responsible for making design professionals more productive and efficient! That’s why The Creative Developers Summit is co-located at the same place and time as CreativePro Week. If you’re a creative dev into automation, or you have one on your staff, be sure to check out the Dev Summit. But even if you’re not a developer, this is an awesome way to meet some and talk about how to super-charge your company’s workflow!

➡️ Water Slide: OK, I have to admit that the little kid in me is excited to end the day by jumping in the pool and getting on the water slide. The Sheraton Grand Wild Horse Pass is in an idyllic desert resort, located on the land of the Gila River Indian Community. Not into the swimming pool? There’s a big casino and a cool outlet shopping mall just 5 minutes away (free shuttle), plus golf, a really nice spa, and the only AAA Five-Diamond and Forbes Five-Star restaurant in Arizona. Don’t miss it.

➡️ Welcome Reception: Yes, we’re bringing back our networking reception “Bingo” ice-breaker game! This is such a fun and easy way to meet your fellow attendees, plus have yummy food. Bingo winners are eligible for prizes from our sponsors, including books from Peachpit Press, and a full one-year membership to Adobe Creative Cloud!

➡️ Movie Night: We’re showing a great movie every creative pro will love, called Pressing On — and we’re serving fun movie snacks! After a long day of intense learning, this is always a great way to chill out with people who “speak your design language.”

➡️ Solutions providers: Come meet the real people behind some of the best software solutions on the planet, including PageProof, Santa Cruz Software, and Priint. And of course we’ll have several people from the Adobe InDesign team there, too — it’s a great chance to tell them face-to-face what you want to see in future versions of the software.

➡️ Bonus breakfast and lunch sessions: AI is everywhere! The amazing Paul Trani from Adobe will be sharing what Adobe is doing with A.I. technology these days; and Maya Bisineer and Jess Kwok are joining us from Microsoft to share the amazing new tools Designer and Co-Pilot. This is going to be very cool.

➡️ Seeing you! Okay, maybe it’s cheesy, but my favorite thing about CreativePro Week is seeing old friends and meeting new ones, like you! The event is big enough to be full of energy, but small enough so that we can sit down together at a lunch table (or the Ask the Experts table) and talk. If you’re joining us online, you’ll find me from time to time in our digital Coffee Break Room! Come say hi.

Remember: there’s only one place on the planet and one week of the year that all this is happening! June 5–9 at CreativePro Week, in Phoenix (and online). See you there!