We are getting great response for the RealWorld DITA Conference here in Raleigh and have great speakers lined up -- including multiple speakers from IBM. 

Conference info is online at http://www.aboveandbeyondlearning.com/ditaconference.html

This article was written for those new to XML, and may be helpful to those new to XML and DITA... give you a foundation on which to build.

http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/xml/library/x-newxml/