360Flex – The Speakers – Sid Maestre

January 26, 2010 By

I was in San Francisco a little bit ago, hiding cameras in the Yerba Buena Cultural center, when I ran into Sid Meastre at the Starbucks next to Moscone Center.

I was testing the video feeds, with my Grande Mocha Frapaccino, when Sid walked in.

Sid: Oh, hey John! What’re you doing here?

Me: (Closing the video feeds) Hey Sid, not much was just wandering around the city a bit. You?

(He sits down)

Sid: Hiding video cameras for the Apple event this week. I’m really excited about 360|Flex San Jose. I remember the the first one in San Jose. For $100, if felt like you were paying ME to attend.

Me: Yeah that was a crazy three days. We sold out in 55 days! Hard not to at $100. What do you think people who attend your session will be most surprised by/about?

(They call Sid’s drink order so he gets up to get it. While he’s gone I check the rest of the video feeds, I’ll be watching from some crazy angles. I’ll see the Apple magic-unicorn-Tablet before anyone else! Side comes back)

Sid: The Mate Framework is not only a great way to organize your Flex code, but it’s “fun”. If Cairngorm is the line you wait in at Disneyland, then Mate is the ride.

(sid takes a drink of something Venti. He says it’s a double shot, half-caf caramel machiato latte with a shot of chocolate syrup at 164 degrees)

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

(My own frapaccino is getting a bit low, wonder if I should have another. I’ll just have to pee halfway thru my flight home later if I do)

Sid: Deepa is great, so I’m looking forward to hearing about “non-spark” related improvements in Flex 4.

(Several people walk in, having a really heated discussion about Zombies and Smurfs, and if smurf zombies would be able to take down Gargomel, when regular smurfs never could. Sid and I listen for a bit)

Me: Zombie smurfs, too funny. So, what are you most looking forward to at 360|Flex San Jose?

(sid sips some more of his concoction)

Sid: I know the economy sucks, but please tell me the root beer floats haven’t been cut

Me: Hell no! Tom may be moving on, but the floats will remain! We WILL be putting a sign on the keg so people don’t waste root beer thinking it’s beer beer. But no, root beer floats will be in the hizzouse!

(The zombie smurf people are still arguing, not sure how it’s pretty cut and dry, a zombie, smurf or otherwise, possesses enhanced strength and singular purpose. Gargomel is as good as dead. Dead dead, zombie smuf buffet dead)

(we watch them file back out, latte’s in hand)

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

Sid: Jump! Seriously, if you can swing it, there isn’t a better Flex conference out there. Did I mention root beer floats? You’ll walk away with more insights than you have time to implement, but that’s what the other 362 days of the year are for. Take these three days to super-charge your brain.

Me: (Nodding pretty vigorously) I couldn’t have said it better. People have told us time and again, that the content at 360|Flex is at least 6 months ahead of the curve. There’s no better place to get that kind of information, and technical detail.

(I pack up my gear, I need to catch a cab to the airport)

So who do you think would win? Lion or Vehicle Voltron?

Sid: (Looks at me like I just said I was giving up Flex for Silverlight) What the hell are you talking about? If you want to talk “Thundar the Barbarian” I’m all over that.

Me: (Laughing) Fair enough, I think Ookla the Mok could kick both Voltrons asses pretty easily.

Join Sid and the other 40 speakers for 360|Flex San Jose. I promise you’ll leave with more friends than you came with, and more technical information than you’ll be able to process. Weeks after, you’ll be hit with, “Oh snap! That’s what Deepa was talking about!” Don’t hesitate! Register now!


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

360Flex – Speaker Chat – Michael Labriola

January 25, 2010 By

If you haven’t been joining us for the Speaker Chats, you’re missing out on some great stuff! We’ve had two so far, and our third is this week, with Michael Labriola of Digital Primates.

If you missed last week’s chat, you’re in luck, we’re recording them now (Sorry Dan, forgot to hit record on yours). Check out James Polanco, and see how much great knowledge gets dropped in this chats, before this weeks chat. Thursday at 11am MST.

Join us This thursday (bookmark or come back to THIS LINK)

The Speaker Chat’s are great ways to meet our speakers before 360|Flex San Jose, and have them answer whatever questions you’ve got. Unit testing, Flex 4, custom components, whatever you need to know, the speaker chats are a great place to ask.

If you haven’t already registered, don’t wait, 360|Flex San Jose is gonna kick ass! Register now! You’re career will thank you for spending 3-4 days in the company of the best Flex/AIR/AS Developers in the community. Whether you’re learning in a session, or absorbing awesome insights in the hallways, you’ll leave San Jose way ahead of the curve!

Filed Under: 360flex, Reasons to Attend, San Jose, Schedule, Sessions, The Speakers Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

360Flex – The Speakers – Huyen Tue Dao

January 22, 2010 By

We get so few female speakers at 360|Flex, we’re always eager to talk to those that do want join us for the best Flex/ActionScript/AIR conference around.

I was at Office Depot picking up some supplies for 360|Flex when I ran into Huyen Tue Dao (she explained it’s pronounced kind of like “Hwin” and my middle name more like “Tweh.” I feel bad when someone feels like they have to do that avoiding-saying-your-name-because-they-don’t-want-to-offend-you thing. But I’m totally cool either way.)

(We stop to chat in the portable hard drive aisle)

Me: so are you excited? this is your first 360|Flex right?

Huyen: This one is going to be my first actually. I didn’t get a chance to go before so I thought I’d sneak in by going through the “Speaker” door.

(I pick up some sort of external hard drive leather holster. who buys this?)

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

Huyen: I think that people will be surprised about how even the simplest code can lead applications to beachball/freeze sometimes. Also I think people will be happy to see how little the solutions to the problems can cost in terms of runtime and effort. I know I was.

Me: Nice use of the ‘beachball’ (I sit down the stupid leather holster, and pick up a 128mb flash drive. Really?)

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

Huyen: (She picks up a 1tb portable, damn they’re getting small) I’ll have to say Jeff Tapper. I think that he has a straightforward and humorous way of getting his point across, and his topics always seem to be ones that are need-to-see’s on top of being cool-to-see’s. They’re always things that you can apply as a developer right when you get back to the keyboard.


(A sales man comes over, and asks if we need help, we both decline. We’re quite capable of reading the specs on portable hard drives)

Huyen: What’re you looking for anyway?

Me: I need a new hard drive to store my ‘Smurfs’ and ‘Punky Brewster’ episodes on. My current one is getting a bit crowded with the full series of ‘Eight is Enough’

What are you most looking forward to at 360|Flex San Jose?

(after looking at me like I had opened a third eye or something.)

Huyen: I’m really looking forward to getting to meet and get to know more Flash/Flex/AIR developers. I only just started really getting out into the community over a year ago, and I’m already crazy about all the talented and intelligent and geeky folks we have in it. It’s really cool to come up to someone in person and tell them that their blog post saved my butt or that I’ve been following them for a long time (on Twitter, not in a crazy psychotic way).

(I laugh. Yeah that’s a fine line, but developers understand it better than most I think)

(We walk over to the pen aisle. An aisle of nothing but pens. Not pencils, highlighters and pens. Just pens. If I were some sort of pen using assassin, I’d be in hog heaven.)

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

Huyen: (Picking up a Pen described as the “last pen you’ll ever buy”) I would tell them that if they go to 360|Flex they’ll get the opportunity to tap into a really cool network of people, that they will know the harmony of the hive mind that is the Flex community, and that their uniqueness will be added to our own. And that resistance is futile. Okay, maybe that’s a little too aggressive.

Me: Nothing is too aggressive when it comes to helping developers learn about 360|Flex (I laugh). There really is an awesome hive mind within the Flex community, We argue over things, but eventually everyone gets on the same page, and cool shit comes forth!

I gotta run (sitting down a freakishly large pen, maybe it’s for giants) but wanted to ask you who would win in a fight, Lion or Vehicle Voltron?

Huyen: Definitely Lion Voltron. I actually had a set of robot lion magnets when I was little. Unfortunately, they were just clay/ceramic magnets so I couldn’t actually put them together into Voltron. I think I did try a few times.

Me: I know I woulda tried, I mean, that’s what scotch tape and super glue are for aren’t they?

Don’t miss out on the best Flex conference in the world, seriously, I’m not making that up. You won’t get this many sessions devoted to making Flex/AIR/AS developers better, anywhere else. Register now, don’t miss out.


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

360Flex Speaker Chat – James Polanco

January 21, 2010 By

Join us for our second Speaker chat, today at 11am MST.

James Polanco will be with us, feel free to ask him anything; about making music, Flex 4 Component LifeCycle, whatever you like.

Join us in the Adobe Connect room at 11am, MST for a great town hall style chat with one of our great 360|Flex San Jose speakers.

If you haven’t already registered for 360|Flex, use this link to register! It’ll help James in our “Speakers get a fly suite” contest. The Speaker who has the most registrations tied to their unique URL wins a pimped out upgrade to a suite at the Marriott. You’re not gonna want to miss 360|Flex, but if you’re still on the fence, make sure to join us for the chat, to get a taste of the calibre speakers and topics we have for you!

See you in San Jose!

Filed Under: 360flex, Community, Reasons to Attend, San Jose, Schedule, The Speakers Tagged With: , , , ,

360Flex – Get your New Year’s Resolution on

January 12, 2010 By

It’s that time of the year.

You know, the one pictured in the image. It’s a time where the gym population magically balloons.  The times when streets fill with walkers and joggers (at least out west).  It’s a new year and, thus, resolution time.

Aside from the health one, there are two resolutions that are pretty popular.

  1. Learn something new
  2. Get a better job/position

Now, let’s see how it is that 360|Flex can help you fulfill those resolutions.

Learn something new

This one should be fairly obvious, but just in case let us reiterate some points.

  • There are over 40 sessions at the next 360|Flex, lead by industry leaders and devs in the trenches just like you
  • 2 Keynotes – Adobe always delivers a great keynote, often with big news for the Flex community.  The community portion of the other keynote is always an amazing glimpse into projects that blow your mind and inspire
  • Free Hands-On Sunday Workshops – That’s right, a lot of shows make you pay for your conference pass then extra for hands-on workshops.  At 360|Flex, you’re regular admission ticket lets you into the Flex 101, Mate and Flex/Hardware workshops.  Just bring your laptop
  • Panels – New to 360|Flex this year are panels.  This will be your chance to hear from many experts at once and pick their brains
  • Meet the Flex Team – We usually have a Birds of a Feather where you can pick the brains of various members of the Flex team

Get a better job/position

Whether you’re tired of your current job or just want to move from Junior Flex Dev to Senior Flex Dev at the same company, we can help:

  • Highly technical sessions got finally get you over that hump from Junior to Senior
  • The parties offer an opportunity to meet and interact with many Senior Developers as well as those from contracting or full-time realm.  Meet your peers, ask for advice and learn from them.
  • Hallway chatter is always amazing at conferences and 360|Flex is no different.  Many people come simply for the hallway chatter, where very heavy discussions happen on the fly.
  • People who are looking for Flex developers know that they can find developers at 360|Flex.  Learn about opportunities and the market to better help you decide to stay with your current job or to possibly seek out another

As you can see, 360|Flex can help avoid the “Nothing’s changed” feeling that usually accompanies resolutions.  Registers now and make that first step in achieving your goals.  ”Help us, help you.”  :)

Filed Under: Hands-On, Reasons to Attend, why Tagged With: , , ,
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