I just got back from the first european Flash conference in years, and must say it was a bit of a disappointment. There were a few excellent sessions from Aral Balkan and Craig Swan in particular, but I found the rest to be really too basic. I mean, most developers attending the conference probably are quite experienced. It's just frustrating to sit at a session where you're told that Flash now has filters and a drawing API. Seriously guys, either get better topics or tell how advanced each talk is going to be.
And please, throw better parties the next time. They really sucked.
Comments
strange that you picked those two sessions out as good while you thought the others were too basic... Aral's and Craig's presentations were not really focussed on hardcore Flash development either.
Maybe it was the weather that really spoiled it for you!? :)
Posted by: Pete Barr-Watson | 7 Dec 2006 23:20:46
Out of interest, wot sort of stuff would u have like to have been included in the sessions?
Posted by: Tink | 8 Dec 2006 04:18:02
Before you totally bash me, let me say that it wasn't all bad ;) I did enjoy the conference for most parts. I think the biggest problem is that you're really not able to conceive from the session subject and description how advanced the stuff is going to be, so that would be something to correct for the next FOTB. You know, "Reface your interface with the DrawingAPI" can mean a lot of things...
Posted by: Tuomas Artman | 8 Dec 2006 08:30:06
Personally I think it's a bit lame when someone travels over the Atlantic to give teaser session about their latest book, nothing else. Makes me feel like I'm listening a vacuum-cleaning salesman.
But Erik Natzke and Marcos Weskamp gave me a huge stack of inspirations so I'm not disappointed about FOTB at all.
Posted by: Simo Santavirta | 8 Dec 2006 10:13:27
no bashing Tuomas! Just trying to work out the real views of people so we can make sure to avoid the same things next time... You're right about the session descriptions on the timetable etc...
Posted by: Pete Barr-Watson | 8 Dec 2006 11:17:47
Hey Tuomas
Is there anything in particular you would like to have seen presented?
Posted by: Tink | 8 Dec 2006 12:20:13
Hi Tink,
I think what's best about conferences like FOTB is to have talented people share their experience in different fields (be it coding techniques, pitfalls, algorithms, ideas). You know, something that you only have knowledge of after you've used several years doing that stuff.
I think the topics were good. The problem was that each session started with very basic stuff and got to the interesting part in the last ten minutes. Instead of trying to please everyone, it would be a good idea to have sessions wich require participants to have a advanced knowledge of the subject to be covered (and tell that in the session descriptions).
Posted by: Tuomas Artman | 8 Dec 2006 13:48:20
Btw, from what I heard, your session was great, Tink ;)
Posted by: Tuomas Artman | 8 Dec 2006 13:49:21
Point taken, and thanks :)
Posted by: Tink | 8 Dec 2006 17:37:50
From my personal point of view I thought FOTB was fantastic and an absolute credit to John Davey. I've spoken at a lot of Flash conferences and this is up there with the best. As for the parties I've been to quite a few crap parties at lots of conferences - usually the best ones are the ones that aren;t planned so to speak. Obviously I'm speaking a speaker here so my views can be a bit skewed compared to an attendee but those I spoke to thought it was a fantastic three days.
I think on the point of session descriptions I agree the pocket schedule and the booklet should have had the descriptions - I've already fed that back to John and I'm sure next time that will be sorted. But just having the pocket schedule was cool - many dont have that.
We've also got to remember that this was the first FOTB. John and the team will no doubt listen to everyone's feedback and continue to craft what I'm sure will become a must attend event.
Posted by: Brendan Dawes | 8 Dec 2006 17:47:45
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