360Flex – The Speakers – (Dr.) Eric Fickes

December 29, 2009 By

I haven’t skateboaded since I fell off my new (only like 2 days old) deck and broke my arm, 1 day before I was having knee surgery. BUT I went to hang out with Eric Fickes at a local skate park (Colorado has many in the Denver metro area, we’re very skater friendly.) to get some fresh air. We chatted after he was done… doing a few maneuvers? tricks? Im not hip to the lingo :)

Me: This is gonna be your first 360|Flex isn’t it? That’s gotta be exciting.

Eric: You know it. I’m really excited to finally be attending, even better that I’m speaking, double whammy yo’!

Me: No doubt, enter the 360|Flex scene with a bang. So, what do you think people who attend your session will be most surprised by/about?

Eric: People are going to attend my session? no seriously, anybody who knows me will mostly be surprised I’m not wearing a baseball hat.

Me: What? Why the hell not!? You better not get all punk ass and show up in khaki’s and a polo or something! I’ll have to sic Jesse Warden on ya!

(Eric shakes his head no. )

Eric: No, No just no cap. Maybe?

Me: So caps aside, what session are you most excited about, besides your own of course :)

(While Eric thinks I grab a juice box that some kid sat down near us, and take a drink. The kid ain’t looking, i put it back real quick)

Eric: Hassoun’s & Heider’s OSMF & Stratus OMG FTW WTF presos

Me: Nice. Keeping it local! Denver in the Hizzouse!

(We watch the kid pick up his juice box expecting it to be a bit heavier than it is. His face is priceless)

Me: (Stifling a chuckle as the kid looks around) What are you most looking forward to at 360|Flex San Jose?

Eric: (Pointing at me, while I shake my head ‘no’) Time off in CA hanging with some homies.

Me: (Still shaking my head and giving the kid a ‘why would I drink your juice?’ look) There’s definitely worse places to spend a week, especially if the trend holds. 360|Flex in San Jose in March == Awesome weather, great time.

So, what would you tell someone that was on the fence about attending 360|Flex, to convince them to come?

(The kid with the juice box has given up trying to figure out his missing juice problem, and gone back to talking to his friends. His back is slightly turned and he has Oreos in his Lunch box… Not for long)

Eric: (Watching me eat my Oreos) If you ever wanted to know where the beef is, attend 360 | Flex.

Me: Damn skippy son! Others imitate, none do better. One of the things I’m most proud of about 360|Flex is the community around Flex. Our speakers are freakin awesome! The attendees are just as kick ass, and usually a few attend, then become speakers. It’s a great group of people, and bringing everyone together twice a year around the country, is just plane awesome!

(Juice kid reaches into his lunch box, comes up empty, looks around as Eric and I chat some more, as usual the conversation turns to Voltron… I really like Voltron)

Me: So who’d win dude? Lion Voltron or the Vehicle one?

Eric: (Watching Juice kid freak out and empty his lunch box looking for something. Oreos probably) Sorry, I’m a lover not a fighter. And besides, we all know Lincoln Hawk would tear the arm off of everybody in this list. Don’t believe me, maybe you need a refresher

Don’t miss the most bad ass group of speakers in the Flex/AIR/ActionScript community. 40+ sessions of content you won’t see anywhere else, and if you do, it’s a repeat of 360|Flex presentations, you can count on it.

Register now, we will sell out, and you’ll be sad. Don’t miss the most forward looking, deep tech talk event that developers talk about months after.




Filed Under: 360flex, Community, San Jose, Sessions, The Speakers Tagged With: , , , ,

360Flex – What you missed on RIAdventure

December 18, 2009 By

If you missed RIAdventure, you missed some truly inspiring stuff, some truly cool tech talks, and Sam Rivello tearing it up on Karaoke!

First the inspiring. Doug McCune and Sam Rivello rocked the house. Doug spoke about data visualization, but not in the typical, here’s how to create the latest, hottest chart/graph/heatmap but in terms of what data viz is, where it came from “The Bar Chart was Invented”

I’ve never been a data viz guy, but his talk was great. I think the group really got a lot out of it. I think enrollment in the McCune school of DataViz is open too, there’s a suggested reading list :)

Sam Talked about life… building life in code, and how the concepts of life (the 7 requirements for something to be “alive”) can be expressed in code. We’re not talking AI, more a comparitive discussion, with cute smiley faced amoeba’s to back up the talk. (You can check out his project here) It was a great talk, and another where you’re left with that “hhmmmm” look on your face.

Of course we talked tech too, and got into code!

Ryan Stewart, Greg Burch, Faisal Abid, and even Nate Beck (Not a speaker, but jumped in to present) rocked the mic and the flat screen with awesome tech talks.

Ryan and Greg rep’ed Adobe awesomely, talking about Catalyst, mobile (Slider and iPhone), Flash platform, you name it we talked about it, including some sweet stuff we had to turn the camera’s off for :)

Faisal showed us Android and talked about Android and CF playing together. He also showed us Chrome OS, which (not surprisingly) doesn’t work if you’re not online. Seeing Android truly in action, was pretty dope, I’m more impressed now than I was.

Nate stepped up on the last day to talk about the Push Button Engine, and building Flash games. Very cool stuff!

I’m working on the videos now (Waiting for more HDD space in my drobo, UPS man is on his way), we’re going to post as much of the session video as possible.

Ad of course it was a cruise!

During the time inbetween sea days, everyone spent the day hanging out, doing excursions, whatever they wanted. Most nights we all got together for drinks, sometimes dinner, and whenever possible, karaoke.

You’ll have to ask Sam about the stair case the next time you see him :)

I have to admit, the entire experience of a cruise, with awesome tech talks, great networking, and cool people, and of course, sweet destinations, and beautiful ocean, is a great way to conference. It’s certainly not gonna replace 360|Flex, but we were on the boat with a group of almost 700. That’s a lot of people in one place for the same reason, on a cruise!

IMG_2296

Of course everyone who joined us on the boat is coming to 360|Flex San Jose Free of charge too, so it’ll be a cruise reunion :)

Don’t miss 360|Flex, you’ll regret it, I promise :) Register now!

Filed Under: 360flex, RIAdventure360, Ryan Stewart, San Jose Tagged With: , , , , , ,

360Flex – The Speakers – Kevin Schmidt

December 18, 2009 By

What does one do when stuck in Indianapolis on a 5 hour layover? Leave the airport and find a White Castle of course!! Actually the of course part wasn’t me, I hate White Castle, and hate being IN a White Castle as much as eating one.

Thankfully I was able to hit up Kevin Schmidt for a lift, the “of course” was all him!

Me: Thanks for picking me up. Sure I can’t convince you to grab lunch somewhere else? Chili’s Fudruckers? a Rescue mission?

Kevin: (After glaring at me) no. White Castle.

Me: (Sighing) Ok, I can live through it I think. So you excited about 360|Flex San Jose? (He nods) You were at the very first 360|Flex huh? I think that’s where we first met.

Kevin: I popped 360 Flex’s Cherry at the very first one!

Me: That’s a rather disturbing mental image, but yeah I thought so… the good ol’ days!

(We pull into the parking lot)

What do you think people who attend your session will be most surprised by/about?

(We get out, Kevin double then triple checks that the car is locked and we go in. It’s as gross as the last time I was in Indianapolis. In fact I’m almost certain that old lady in the corner, hasn’t moved since I was last in the state…)

Kevin: (he’s looking at the board as he answers. We’ve got to wait for someone who’s ordering 13 White Castles and 2 orders of chicken rings… Rings?)

That they can use ColdFusion without even knowing what the hell ColdFusion is! That and free beer!

Me: Free beer never hurts.. I think that’s how Microsoft lures people to it’s events.. oh and giving away laptops. (Kevin starts to say something) Not happenin’ order your food!

(Kevin orders 4 Double Jalepeno Cheeseburgers, 2 Chicken rings with Cheese, and a side of Fish Nibblers)

(I decide since I’m already taking my life in my own hands, I’ll go big. 2 Bacon Cheeseburgers, 1 Double White Castle, 2 Double Jalepeno Cheeseburgers, and a side of Chicken rings)

Me: What session are you most excited about, besides your own of course.

(We take a seat next to a guy who is either spying on us, or has a lazy eye)

Kevin: Garth Braithwaite – Your Flex App Looks Like Poo – I just hope that it doesn’t smell like poo too. I’d hate to offend the olfactory senses of those around me.

Me: Yeah I hope, but haven’t confirmed that Garth isn’t bringing aides to his presentation, visual or olfactory. What are you most looking forward to at 360|Flex San Jose?

(Our order is called and Kevin goes to pick it up)

Kevin: (Taking his seat, with a tray piled high with meat in shapes it was never meant to be in) I’m not going to lie, I’m headed to Napa Valley after the conference, that’s what I’m looking forward to! A close second would be the kick ass beer at the party. You guys always pick great beer! I hear there is an opportunity to take in some great Flex content too!

(I take a bite of a chicken ring, wondering not only what part of a chicken the ring comes from, but how they get it into that shape.)

Me: What would you tell someone that was on the fence about attending 360|Flex, to convince them to come?

Kevin: (He gulps down a double jalepeno cheeseburger) Ouch, doesn’t that hurt? I mean I know if I had a fence pole stuck up there I’d be getting off as quick as I could and register! I mean, it’s an awesome conference and if you don’t come, you deserve to have that pole stuck up your ass!

(I work on one of my bacon cheeseburgers)

Me: Smartass, but yeah it’s amazing how many people not only pass up the cheaper tickets, but wait until the last minute, as if they’re afraid the conference won’t happen, or we’ll do a sale or extend early bird until a week before. Nuts.

(I take another bite, trying to hold it down)

(we eat the rest of our meal, interrupted only once by someone of indeterminate sex, asking kevin for one of his chicken rings, he gave them one)

Me: (Getting out the car at the airport) So Kevin, who’d win? Lion Voltron or Vehicle Voltron? You have to answer since I ate White Castle.

Kevin: (he thinks a bit eating the last of his fish nibblers) Lion Voltron of course! The Lion is the king of the fucking jungle!

Don’t be one of those people, there’s a few, and I mean a FEW cheap tickets left. Safe $100, buy an iPod with it! Register now! Not only is there free beer at the conference, I know of at least one session with beer as part of it. Don’t miss out on the funnest and most technically deep conference on Flex and AIR in the world, don’t be fooled by imitations (Like Chicken shaped like a ring!!) Register!





Filed Under: 360flex, Announcements, Community, San Jose, Schedule, Sessions, The Speakers Tagged With: , , , , ,

360Flex – The Speakers – Andy Powell

December 17, 2009 By

I was at the annual Voltron convention in Colorado Springs this past weekend, when I ran into Andy Powell.

I certainly wasn’t expecting to run into anyone I knew at the VoltronCon, let alone a speaker at 360|Flex San Jose!

Me: Hey man, what’re you doing in Colorado Springs?

Andy: Chillaxin.. checking out Voltron stuff. Thinking about my presentation for 360|Flex San Jose.

Me: Awesome, months out, and you’re working on it, love it! Which 360|Flex was your first? You’ve been to a few now.

Andy: (picking up a Princess Alura Barbie Doll, shaking his head in what I assume is disgust) ATL and every one since then, so i guess that would be four all total now.

(I pick up the Ken as Keith doll. Rather creepy.)

Me: So, what do you think people who attend your session will be most surprised by/about?

(we put the dolls down (These really were dolls, not action figures, but we’re headed that way now))

Andy: Over the last two years, we’ve been in the midst of a “UX Revolution”, but developers are constantly asking themselves, “What the hell does that mean to me?”, or “Why should I give a shit about UX?”. I really think that people will be surprised that we can relate these topics to a developer and really show why they should care. This is also my first presentation, ever, without code. So we’ll see how it goes.

Me: (nodding) it’s funny how UX has really come into it’s own the last few years. It’s been important from the beginning, but now we actually talk about it, and work towards it.

(The action figure section is a crazy jumble of pilots, and voltrons of all sizes from Lion, to Vehicle, to the weird lion team from more recent memory, Voltron 3D)

me: (Picking up a vehicle Voltron set MIB) What session are you most excited about, besides your own of course?

Andy: (He thinks about it, while deftly assembling the lion team voltron) I’m always interested to see what Ben Stucki has been up to, it’s usually some pretty hot stuff. Jesse is always fun to watch. It’s great to see him on stage with the energy of a chihuahua that’s been mainlining red bull.

Me: Jesse as a Red Bull mainlined Chihuahua… yeah that’s pretty fitting.. He’s great fun to watch, and crazy smart. What are you most looking forward to at 360|Flex San Jose?

(We walk over to the cosplay section. Why not? freakzoids dressed as pidge and Voltron… always good for a laugh)

Andy: I want to see what people have been doing the last year or so to push the boundaries of the platform. It seems that sessions here are always about 3-6 months ahead of the mainstream community.

Me: That’s a pretty good way to look at it. I’m gonna have to borrow that quote for the website (I laugh, but am dead serious), you’re right though, our sessions are routinely ahead of the curve, and always seem to lead to people commenting that they’ve more than gotten they’re money’s worth, by lunch on day one…

(A Vehicle Voltron walks by holding hands with someone dressed like Sven… great costume… I wonder if Big Composite robots fall in love?)

What would you tell someone that was on the fence about attending 360|Flex, to convince them to come?

Andy: (we have to split up and make a few fancy manuevers to get past a whole gaggle of Alura’s and surprisingly a Nanny. Who cosplay’s as Nanny?) Best use of your conference dollars if you’re a Flex developer and looking to do cool new stuff with the Flash Platform.

Me: Well said! That’s what we try to get across, and why we price the event the way we do. If anyone comes up to us on the last day and says (honestly) they don’t feel they’ve gotten their money’s worth, we’d do whatever we could to make it up to them.

PIDGE

Since we’re here, who do you think would win? Vehicle or Lion Voltron?

Andy: I’m going to have to go with Lion Voltron b/c they did the same with less. The vehicle one had all these little pieces all over the place that weren’t even real vehicles, just made up shit. Plus the lion Voltron had the princess rocking the pink lion. Any robot that can rock the pink and still kick ass is tops in my book. I think Pidge was flex developer anyway.

Don’t miss out on the Flex conference that will jump your knowledge 6 months ahead of the game! Register now! Hang with Andy and all the other great speakers, and attendees at the first, best, and most awesome Flex Developer conference in the world! Don’t miss it!

Filed Under: 360flex, Community, San Jose, The Speakers Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Gift Idea: Conference Pass vs New Gadget

December 11, 2009 By

As the holidays are coming up, we find there is the proverbial question: “What would you like for a gift?” I know for me, it’s a tough question. It’s not tough for me like it is for say my 5 yr old. He changes what he wants Santa to give him almost daily. No, instead, for me, I just can’t really say there is something that I want. Sure, there’s a bajillion new gadgets out there that would be neat, but it just seems silly to me to ask for one of those.

I’ve been pondering it though and I think there is something that I would ask for. In this new economy, one can really only depend on oneself for professional success. Gone, it seems, are the days where you could spend 30 years at a company, dedicating your life to help it succeed and where it would reward that dedication with retirement. My dad caught the tail end of that bus and had to retire “early” for fears of the company pulling those benefits altogether.

I know that there will likely not be Social Security for me. 401Ks just seem crazy to me because I don’t see how it differs from gambling in Vegas (at least Vegas has buffets!). No, the only thing that will pay for me to live it up in old age will be my hard work. I’ll need to create the future that I want to live in financially and professionally.

That’s why I think I’d ask for a conference pass as my gift. Yeah, I can hear all you naysayers out there, touting this as a gimmick to sell tickets. I’ll admit, it’s true. However, you have to remember, I helped start this conference for one reason: to help people better themselves by increasing their skillset in Flex and ActionScript. That’s still the reason why I work on this show. It may be my final 360|Flex as an organizer, but it won’t be my last 360|Flex ever. The vibe is too magical to miss. The community is too full of friends that I *must* see to keep my spirits high. The speakers are too amazing to miss from a learning perspective.

Therefore, if you find yourself wondering what to ask for (or give) that would be meaningful this holiday season, I’d suggest a pass to 360|Flex. While a new gadget gets boring after a few hours, a 360|Flex conference creates bonds and memories that last a lifetime. Don’t believe me? Check out what past attendees have to say. Here’s the registration site: http://360flex.eventbrite.com I hope to see you there in March.

Filed Under: 360flex, Business, San Jose, why Tagged With: , ,
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