360|iDev

Most businesses never get asked why they do things. It’s just assumed why they do it. Sometimes it’s for money, sometimes it’s for glory. If a company is lucky, sometimes they get to do it for the love of it. One reason that rarely gets mentioned though is for the customers. Well, to be honest, the only reason we do these shows is for our customers.

360|Flex (and 360|iDev too) are not shows owned by Tom and John. Sure, we’re the organizers and producers, but I’m willing to bet that our customers (attendees, speakers and sponsors) feel like they own them too. And they should. The thing that makes 360|Flex so special is that ownership by the community.

When we started this thing, we did it with the intent of bringing the community together so they could meet and learn from one another. This show will be no different in that regard. 360|Flex is still THE best place to hang with the Flex community.

I sat down with the Julie from the Crown Plaza today. We went over menus, we talked about the room setup, etc. We made sure that everything is going to be perfect for 360|Flex. It’s odd to see the conference space before the attendees show up. Quiet and calm, unsuspecting of the event that’s slowly inching it’s way forward.

If you’ve been to a conference and left feeling “empty”, then you need to come to 360|Flex. If you read all the wonderful blog posts and find yourself wondering, “Is it that good?” then you need to come. This will be the only 360|Flex in 09. This will be the only place to come and experience the magic. Register now and you won’t regret it. Let the opportunity pass by and you probably will regret it. See you there!

Let me start of by saying, this is NOT a sad news post!

360|Flex Indy is our best selling show to date! I think that people are seeing the value in this show during these tough economic times. We’re giving you five amazing tracks, plus some killer hands on stuff all for roughly $500. That’s the price other shows charge just for their 1 day pre-conference training. Our pre-conference training is free with admission, in case you weren’t aware.

We tend to do 360|Flex shows 6 months apart. We wanted to do Indy in 2009 to hang with our good friends at Simplified Logic, and so we chose May to insure that Indy had time to thaw. If you do a wee bit of calculating, you’ll see that puts us in the November timeframe. Not a good month with people already taking time off for Thanksgiving, so let’s roll back one month to October. Now, isn’t there something else going down in October. Oh yeah, that Adobe MAX thing. Now, we realize that we don’t share customers 100%, but let’s face it. Trying to hold a stand alone 360|Flex in the same month as MAX on the same side of the country is probably not too smart. Economic times are tough, so we wouldn’t want to put people out by forcing them to travel twice for the two shows or making people make a tough choice on where to be. We’re looking at some alternative formats for the West Coast edition, but one thing is for certain. There will NOT be a standalone 360|Flex on the west coast in 2009. (Let the rumor mill start churning on what the “alternative format” will be!) Come 2010, we’ll get back on track and start off with a west coast show and resume a schedule more conducive to 2 shows a year.

What about September you ask, well, that poses it’s own problem. See, 360Conferences had a baby this year. She cost us a little money, but she’s so cute! LOL 360|iDev, our iPhone/iPod developer conference, was launched in early March. It looks like we have our second hit show on our hands. The problem though is that 6 months after March is September. Therefore, we’ll be busy that month doing that show. As much as I’d like to think John and I can handle 2 full length shows in the same month, we’d be lying to ourselves if we tried. Plus, both shows would suck and everyone would hate us. We don’t want to be hated. :) We want people to like us!

August would be only 3 months after Indy and December would be no good for a lot of folks again cuz of holidays, you know, it’s Festivus time. We’ve never had to work with two different shows before and as you can see, it requires a bit of planning. 360Conferences may be known for great shows, but planning is something that we still struggle with obviously! :)

Indy is our most robust 360|Flex show to date. It’s almost 2 shows worth in one. We have other items in the works to provide even more value for your money.

Tickets are moving fast. We have roughly 30 tickets left at the $480 price level. They’ll soon be $550. You better register now to get the best price you can get! See you in Indy!

360Flex Indy – Why do we do it?

Indy Will Be the Only “Stand Alone” 360|Flex Show in 2009