Flashforward 2008: The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly
The Good
Metaliq , the new promoters and organizers of Flashforward 2008 had the courage to shake things up. They gave the conference a strong theme. They chose a great city. They added inspirational speakers from outside the community, and found great speakers from within the community. The event was smooth, well planned, and seamless.
I really enjoyed the raffles, the speaker slam, and the Thursday night after party. I loved Miha Pogacnik's keynote and was surprised how much of Jamy Iam Smith 's presentation carried over to Flash design. Craig Swan , Robert Hogin , Jared Ficklin, and Erik Natzke were inspirational.
The Bad
Not all their risks and changes were for the better. Changing from a four track program to a one track program eliminated all choice. Next time I would appreciate at least two tracks.
The Ugly
The great speakers like Craig Swan and Paul Ortchanian were not permitted enough time to thoroughly talk about their subjects and show examples. The speakers seemed frustrated and the audience missed the inspirational work that these people do.
Additionally, the elimination of Q&A time make the conference a one way conversation. Q&A adds to the collaborative and interactive magic of the event and puts conference goers in touch with the leaders in the industry. I felt frustrated sitting in the dark, in an uncomfortable chair, without a good place for my laptop, watching the host get to have a conversation with the speakers.
The Bottom Line
A valiant first effort. The bad and ugly can be easily fixed. Metaliq seems to have good instincts about speakers and seems to understand the community. I look forward to next year, but will look for some changes to the format before I buy my ticket.
All Articles
My overall impression of the conference is that it was an inspiring experience. I agree with John that Metaliq did a great job selecting speakers and topics appropriate for the audience, and I think they also did well supporting the conference's theme: Passion, Professionalism and Partnership. The decision to offer only a single track helped reinforce the theme and increased the breadth of topics covered; however, I found the depth of many presentations to be lacking. Next time, I would like to see more opportunities for Q&A with the speakers, and I hope that some of the logistics are improved, i.e. decent WiFi access with plenty of bandwidth, improved seating for laptop users and a better variety of catered food. Hint: sitting in a dark auditorium for 3 hours at a summer blockbuster is cool, but it sucks for 24 hours of presentations over 3 days - constant darkness eats energy.
The thing I enjoy the most about FF is the showcasing of work that represents the leading edge of what's being done in Flash. There was a fair amount of this, but it seemed a bit muddled and lost in my head by some utterly (subjective) pointless efforts at stimulating my motivation. I'm motivated already. I second John's lamenting the loss of our voice as an audience; took the interactivity right out of it. And my butt kept going numb in the godawful auditorium seating.
That said, I love being immersed in the Flash community, and it is always wonderful to see some of my professional heroes in the flesh. I hope the organizers will reevaluate a few of their departures from previous formats, because it really is a fantastic conference, and I've really come to look forward to it each year.
Erik Natzke is bitchin. I saw him speak at Flash in the Can a couple of years ago and found him inspiring.
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