(Note: My colleague, David Tucker, has joined me in helping to author this post since we put on our Flash Camps as a collaborative effort between the two of us.)
It's come to our attention that there are a lot of people out in the community who do not know what a Flash Camp event really is all about. If they do know, it's a pre-conceived misconception that they're things like "glorified user group meetings". This couldn't be any further from the truth.
In our minds, a Flash Camp is, in essence, a mini conference. In these days of tighter budgets and the premium placed on our time, we try to make these events as time conscious and price conscious as possible. Why fly across the country to an event when we can bring something that will offer comparable content to your region? We try to keep the presentation quality of these events high so that people will want to attend and they will feel that they're getting a good value for the money.
Typically, a Flash Camp event will be one day, 9:00am to 5:00pm. We try to shoot for a Friday so that people can have a nice end to the week. We've talked about going to multiple days, but we want to make sure we've got this formula down pat first. Lunch is also included in the price of admission. If we're going to ask you to sit through a full day of content, the least we can do is feed you, right?
During the camp, you will hear from a lot of different speakers presenting (in a typical conference presentation format - these aren't 'hands-on' sessions). The speakers are diverse. This means that, yes, as it is a community event, we try to pull a good mix of local speakers and nationally recognized speakers within the Flash Platform community as a whole. This gives attendees a good motivation to attend because you will see both your peers from the local community, plus people who you know from twitter, reading blogs, etc.
Along with a diversity of speakers, we try to maintain a diversity of content as well. In Atlanta, we did an Intro To The Flash Platform session that was really rudimentary, and almost a bit of a marketing pitch. We have had topics as a advanced as "Custom Metadata Processors For Swiz", which is going to be way above an entry-level developer's head. We can't make the content too basic, or too advanced, so we try to shoot for a bit of both with the hope that everyone will take something away from the event.
Cost is always the interesting element. A lot of things go into the calculation of the cost like venue cost, catering, travel for out of town speakers, etc. Our ultimate goal is to get enough sponsorships so that we can keep the event cost to attendees below $100. We feel that that price point is a good place for a one day conference with top-notch content. Some people want it to be free, but the way I see it, you can't please everyone. Paying under $100 to have a full day of presentations from speakers that you would hear at 360Flex and Adobe Max is a bargain.
At the end of the day, Flash Camp events are catalysts for the local user community. Some areas, like San Francisco, have vibrant and highly active Flash / Flex communities. In these areas, the Flash Camp event serves as a way to reconnect with people and inspire the community to more user group meeting and such. In areas like Phoenix, where the community is not as active, the Flash Camp events serve as a way to launch the development community. It's an opportunity to get a large number of people in the room and have the user group managers pitch the user groups and their value to potential members. As these local communities grow and thrive, the Flash and Flex communities as a whole will grow and thrive. They are beneficial to the whole Flash Platform ecosystem.
On May 7th, Flash Camp Seattle will be held in the Adobe offices in Seattle. One of the sessions we are working out for that event will be a panel discussing where Flash and HTML5 will both fit within the future of the web. It's not going to be a "bash-fest" either way, but a frank, open discussion with representatives from both sides. Tickets are going fast, and registering via this link will save you 50% off the ticket price.
I think that all of the content we have put together for this make for the deepest and most interesting speaker lineup any FlashCamp has yet seen. Go register today and join us for what surely will be a great day of content around the Flash Platform and the future of Flash.
Flash Camp is coming to Washington, DC on April 16th. It will be a full day of great content on topics ranging from UX to Flex. Admission is dirt cheap and lunch will be provided. Come on out for a full day of great content and great networking with some of the area's industry experts!
When: April 16, 2010
Where: Navy Heritage Center (Naval Memorial stop on the Metro)
We're just over a week away from Flash Camp Phoenix and tickets are almost sold out. If you're interested in going, but have been on the fence, all the sessions are posted here.
Brian put on a great event this past Friday at Bentley University. The attendance was more than most other conferences I've been to this year. I am wondering if these one-day events are the way that conferences should be trending. The content was great (amazing speaker lineup) and the location was great.
I gave an overview of some Experience Design concepts, from a developer's point-of-view. Here are the slides, but I really feel that without the rest of the preso experience, but here they are if you want them.
We're just over a week away from Flash Camp Atlanta and tickets are almost sold out. If you're interested in going, but have been on the fence, all the sessions are posted here. There are cheap flights and hotels available still. Sign up today at www.flashcampatlanta.com and ensure your seat before they're all gone!
Time to digest another CFUnited. I didn't go last year because I was not too happy with the event after 2007. It had gotten too kitschy and too, for lack of a better term, silly. This year though, it seems things have turned around. I think we have to attribute that to the conference being under Stellr's guidance.
Overall, I'm very happy with how the flex tracks turned out. Great speakers, great content. The venue was good and it was a bit spread out, but that's how it is. The content in all the sessions was very strong. That's something that has been lacking in years past; the content was too rudimentary. This year, however, it's come back around. I think that competition from 360|Conferences and cf.Objective() has been taken to account and the content has been upped, in concequence.
The high point, for me, was the end of the demo mania when Doug McCune brought the house down. Now, note the irony here, one of the biggest names in the flex community brought the house down to close the show at CFUnited.
If you missed Doug's video (a mashup of the Adobe OSMF and FlexLingo), here it is:
The early bird pricing for Flash Camp Atlanta ends in less than 24 hours! Tickets are on pace to sell out soon, so if you don't want to pay more later, go sign up now. The early bird pricing is dirt cheap, only $40 for the main session and $15 for the introductory session ( an intro to Flash, Flex, and AIR ).
Flash (Flex) Camp Orlando is this Friday, May 29th. If you've been reluctant to sign up, I've got some things that may motivate you:
There will be a big announcement from Adobe. Think of this as a launch event.... *wink wink*
We will be giving away a free copy of CS4 Master Collection
We will be giving away multiple copies of FlexBuilder
Lots of swag, this is a launch event, after all
Go to sign up now before it's too late! Also, we have a new team package available: Buy two registrations, get the third one free. So, if you needed a reason to come to Flash Camp Orlando, I hope one of these is that reason. It will be a great day full of great Flash Platform content from top industry experts.
There has been some confusion as to what FlashCamp Orlando really is. FlashCamp is the new name that Adobe wishes to use for the events formerly known as FlexCamps. The content that you can expect for FlashCamp Orlando covers:
UX
AIR
BlazeDS
Flash Catalyst
Flex
So, for less than $50.00 you can get a day full of content that covers all these topics. Go over to the FlashCamp Orlando site and register today!
Here We Are
The Sun Will Rise Again