In addition to the play-by-play, I wanted to give an overall response to the conference.
Personally, I enjoyed the hell out of it. I applaud Beau and crew for taking a big risk on changing up the format. It really worked for me. There was no decisions about which presentation to see or problems with having two things I wanted to see at the same time. Even though there were a few presentations that didn’t do much for me, it was painless enough to sit through them for 20 minutes. But most of the talks were really, really entertaining, enlightening, and inspiring to me. I really feel like I came away with some new viewpoints and ideas.
But I completely accept that this is just my personal viewpoint. I know that many others did not like the single track format. This from comments I heard and blog posts I’ve seen.
I can totally understand the viewpoint. People pay damn good money to go to a conference (don’t let me get started on conference pricing again), and many of the talks could be considered fluff without any hard content. People (or companies that send people) want to see code, new techniques, tutorials, etc. There were a few breakout sessions each day, which were longer and more in depth, but overall, for the main sessions, there is just no way to “teach” anything in 20 minutes.
Personally, I don’t miss the longer sessions. There were a few sessions, such as Robert Hodgin, or David Carson, which I would have loved to see go a lot longer – but not so that they could teach more, but so they could inspire more. I think it’s still pretty tough to teach a whole lot even in a full hour. The most you can do is introduce a subject and get someone interested in a subject enough that they are compelled to go out and find out more on their own. It doesn’t always take a full hour to do that. Then again, it can be hard to do that in just 20 minutes.
It does seem like Beau and crew are aware that what they did is an experiment and are very interested in getting feedback and evolving into something that is valuable to the community. So if you were there and didn’t like the format, communicate it.
I am one of the ‘eh not so good conference’ peoples. There were some good inspirational talks but most fell way short of informative. Perhaps it was due in part to the format. As I told you in the aud, well done on your part.
Chris
Yes – congrats to Beau, I can’t imagine assembling an event like this. And, I did like that we weren’t fighting for room to sit in and fit in a small space to see the speakers we all wished to see as in conferences past. The sessions were too short though – not enough time for the speakers and the attendees to become immersed in memorable and learn-able sessions. That said, I wanted mostly inspiration and passion to spew from the event and encourage me to re-understand why and what I do as a flash developer so that I don’t lose track. This I did receive, from the speakers and even from the non-flash-specific speakers.
From a personal standpoint, I also see these conferences as a chance to personally thank those that have unknowingly pushed myself into this small world of Flash – even though like many, I’m shy, and just feel awkward around those whom I admire. Keith, Another thanks to you that your books have saved my a** on many many occasions, I hope you receive these comments well as I personally think that it’s developers “in the spot light” that really push everyone else in this community. Much like David Carson, as a designer, did when I was in college. At conferences, I try to thank everyone from whom I pull knowledge and ideas from – without you, all we would be creating were “skip intro” buttons and scratching our heads as to why 20 masks on 20 timeline animations slowed everything down!
Great session from you, look forward to the next!
Lex
There were definitely some good speakers and inspiration. But I thought the interactive nature of the conference was missing. We sat in the dark while the speakers talked with lights in their eyes. They didn’t have enough time to go into any degree of depth, and when when they were finished, there was no Q&A.
Listening to speakers is a one way conversation. I enjoy listening and then interacting with speakers. That’s what community is all about.
I appreciate the organizer’s energy and them mixing it up, but hope they change some things next year.
I wrote a larger post here:
http://blog.capstrat.com/articles/flashforward-2008-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/