Flash from FlashForward in NYC
Part 3 - Wrapping up in Style
Daily report - 7/26/00
Day three, FlashForward2000, New York City. The final day of the conference was a blur of activity for me as I made my way around the conference sessions, meeting people and spreading the word about Flazoom.com. Even though I was exhausted from the party the night before, and I found out that my son spoke his first word, I was still disappointed to see FlashForward2000 coming to an end. I tried to pack in as much as I could, and learn, meet and greet.
The Sessions
The sessions were somewhat sparse in the morning as I think most people partied on too late the night before. I attended the session on licensing Flash, and learned the ins and outs of creating Flash properties for entertainment. The session was interesting, although a little dry at times. Next on the agenda was Joshua Davis of Praystation.com. Josh took us through a number of his projects, showing his Flash skills and letting us in on how the life of a talented Flash designer is. He was an excellent speaker, friendly and very down to Earth. The Flash that he showed was amazing.
I ended up skipping the third session for a quick shopping trip to Tiffany's for my wife, and FAO Schwartz for my son. I got back just in time for the start of the High-end Applied ActionScripting session with Branden Hall. Branden whizzed through a number of ActionScript tips and examples, keeping the pens flying on note pads across the room. I found the session to be one of the best ActionScripting events of the conference (along with Colin Moock on Tuesday). I made me want to get Flash 5 even more!
At the end of that session, there was a flurry of activity as people tried to meet up with each other for the LiNK game. In this game, conference attendees had to find the attendees on either side of them, alphabetically. The lobby was jam packed, and the sidewalk was totally blocked. I fought my way through to listen to the Flash resource panel. My good friend Amanda Farr, of Virtual-FX.net, was a speaker and she, along with the other resource sites, all shared their passion for the Flash community. Also on the panel included Bill Spencer, the 'Pope de Flash' and Mark Fennell of FlashKit.com.
After the panel members talked about their sites, I skipped out of the Q&A to see the end of Yugo Nakamura's talk called 'The Flash Canvas.' Hands down, there was no better presentation at the entire conference than this one. Even with a translator, Yugo managed to keep the audience on the edge of their seats with his amazing skills. Receiving standing ovation after standing ovation, Yugo flew through a number of demos showing Flash at levels that boggled the mind.
The End of FF2K?
The conference finally made its way to the final event. An end of conference wrap up with Lynda Weinman and Stuart McBride. The LiNK winners were announced, swag was given away and then software, t-shirts and Aeron Chairs were given away. I was able to catch up with a few new friends and say a final goodbye, and I also found out that another FlashForward conference is being planned for Europe in the late Fall! The official announcement will be made on FlashForward2000.com by September 1st.
Postscript
After the conference ended I met up with Amanda and Seth from Virtual-fx.net for a fantastic Sushi dinner. We then took to the subways and the rainy streets of Manhattan heading to Times square, Grand Central Station and finally ending the night with a round trip on the Staten Island Ferry. I am looking forward to meeting all the friends I made at the next FF2K in Europe. The conference was such a great opportunity to learn and find work, that I should be able to afford more time off next time around!
Part 1 - Live from FlashForward2000
Part 2 - The King of Flash, there is no higher!