I’m a very lucky guy, I got to go to Drupa for Quark, Inc. I know of a number of people in the Denver office that would’ve loved to be able to attend, both because of the fair, and because it was the Global Launch of QuarkXPress 8.

Many of us have worked really hard in this release, and to be selected to attend Drupa and the launch is a privilege and I’m very thankful (... thanks Tim!)

My stay was for the first week, from the opening day (which was the launch day), up to the 4th of June. It was all in place for it to be the success it was for us, the booth was great, the demos were ready, we were all set.

I was part of the Demo Team, one of four presenters (was supposed to be six) that had to work at the booth’s theater area giving live demonstrations of QuarkXPress 8 to Drupa attendees. This was an exciting experience for me.

All work and no play makes Alberto a dull boy. Sure, sure, going to Drupa meant hard work, really. We all had to wake up early, get all clean and pretty, and meet for breakfast around 8 AM, and be at the booth by 9-9:30 AM and work non-stop until the show closes (“... One world, One Drupa! ...”). For some of us, that’s when the day started! (I should mention that at Düsseldorf there still was sunlight by 10 PM).

As I said earlier, I was part of the Presenters Team (led by Matthias Günther). It was four of us, and we had to give about 10 live demos every day, alternating in English and German. We were (for the first week), from bottom going up:

• Simone Schulze

• Alberto Varela

• Marc Horne

• Matthias Günther