360|Flex Europe 7-9 April 2008 Milan, Italy

360Flex Europe Flickrs, YouTubes and finds Kaltura

2008-04-13T23:00:00.000-07:00

One thing that I’m going to do before our next show is get a consumer digital camera. Mine’s too expensive to bring and my wife uses it to much when I’m gone. This time we were a little better off as Nicole (John’s wife) had a camera to take some snapshots.

In addition to that though, there were quite a few other people taking still shots and shooting digital video. It always feels good when I see people taking photos. Maybe I’m reading too much into it, but I always feel grateful that people find our events memorable enough to want pictures.

If you took some photos and want to share them, there are two places you can do so:

The first is a Flickr Group Account - http://www.flickr.com/groups/360flexeurope2008

The second is Kaltura. This site was built on top of an open source video platform. Zohar gave a talk on the Kaltura platform and it does seem pretty cool. Check it out!

Cyril also uploaded some of the videos shot at the show onto YouTube. Check them out here: http://www.youtube.com/user/CyrilHZ

For those that didn’t make it in person, I hope these pictures and videos help you see some of the good times you missed out on.

We will be back in Europe in ‘09. If you want to suggest a host city, feel free to drop us a line at info@360flex.com and tell us why that city would be good.

360Flex Europe Day one

2008-04-08T01:13:00.000-07:00

Day one is over! Day two is underway!

Day one was great! Many people took advantage of the free day one, and were able to enjoy 360|Flex for a day and see what it's all about.

For those enjoying the full three day experience, its been super!

We started with a killer keynote from Adobe, Tom and i did a little intro and welcome, I spoke too fast, that's what Tom gets for making me talk :)

We had a quick schedule change when Weyert De Boer was unable to make it. Pneumonia is a pretty good excuse. He can make it up to us next time we're out this way! Thankfully Andrew Westberg was able to jump in and do a great session on Flex and encryption.

The crowd here is very enthusiastic to learn about Flex, to better their game, and share their knowledge.

We had an after party last night hosted by Simplified Logic. It was really cool to just chill out and talk to some of the attendees. Our favorite part about these shows is getting to know them. We talked about where they come from, what their countries/industries are doing with Flex and where they see Flex usage going. During these conversations it became fairly clear: we need to expand the Flex universe in Europe. It's growing, but we need to help it hit the same meteoric highs it has in the US.

Day two promises to be equally as great! We're almost halfway through and it looks like each session is getting really good crowds.

If you missed out, you'll have to make sure to find the next US event and attend, or wait, we might be back to Europe ;)

360Flex Europe Kicks Off

2008-04-07T05:12:00.000-07:00

Here are some shots from Sunday's sponsor/speaker dinner at the hotel. This was taken late into the night after much tomfoolery (no pun intended).

It was a very nice dinner, filled with traditional food from Milan.

One of the best aspects of these shows is meeting with those who are active in the Flex Community. It's cool that despite the fact that we're from all corners of the world, we all share a common bond that goes beyond MXML and ActionScript.

We also got the chance to hang out with a few of the attendees that found the loud party going down at the hotel.

If Sunday night was any indication of what's to come, this week is gonna rock. :)

360Flex free Flex developer certification exams

2008-03-30T23:00:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Adobe, we've got some free passes for the Flex Developer Certification Exam to give away. Value? $150!!

We'll be raffling off 6 exam discount (The discount is 100%, the exam is FREE!) certificates during our Wednesday keynote (Which by the way, is where we'll be announcing the location of the next 360|Flex). These discounts will enable you to take the certification exam free of charge!

If you clicked the link, you're probably thinking, "Flex 2?? Where's Flex 3?" Having taken the ColdFusion exam, back in the day, I'm guessing the Flex 3 exam is being worked on. You have the option of taking the Flex 2 exam now or waiting for the Flex 3 exam.

Since the raffle will be during our Wednesday keynote, that means it's for registered attendees only. For those of you attending the Free Monday only, sorry!

Not registered? It's not too late! Register now!

360Flex day one....... FREE

2008-03-27T22:23:00.000-07:00

Thanks to our sponsors, we're very happy to announce that day one of 360|Flex Europe will be free to all. Yup, you read correctly: Monday, 7 April, of 360Flex will be open to the general public.

If you've already registered, we'll be issuing refunds via your payment method over the next couple of months. We're also adjusting the registration price to €240 (2/3 of the original price). If you attend day one and like what you see, you can register for the remaining two days and keep the learning and Flex 101 momentum going.

Attendees to day one will have full access to the Flex 101 hands on training, the expo area, all of the tracks, every thing. They'll be able to register at the registration desk for days two and three or even online at home.

Attendees who are registered for days two and three will get the Conference USB drive and an opportunity to win some great giveaways.

Not registered yet for the 3 day event? It's not too late! Register now! Those coming just for Monday only need not register, merely show up at the event.

360Flex Europe Meet your EMEA Evangelism team!

2008-03-26T09:00:00.000-07:00

The US has Ryan, Ben, Kevin, Ted, and others. Who's the European team? Easy; Enrique, Andrew, Greg, and team!

Better yet, we'll have the EMEA Platform team at 360|Flex Europe doing a few sessions on all sorts of topics, and even delivering the Monday Keynote talking about all the cool stuff that Adobe has in store for the EMEA market, Flex, AIR, etc. Good stuff!

This is a great opportunity to meet the Platform Evangelism team for your region! The Platform Evangelists are an incredible resource for the community, so meeting the, trading cards, etc will be worth it!

Haven't registered? It's not too late! Register now!

360Flex Europe or MAX, tough choice?

2008-03-24T20:51:00.000-07:00

Adobe MAX Europe will be in Milan, later this year (december 1st). 360|Flex Europe will be in Milan in April, just over two weeks away.

Both events are great conferences, and in talking to Ted Patrick, the MAX evangelist, we all agreed; it's great to send a team member to MAX. That's where the entire Adobe Roadmap is laid out and explained. If your company is interested in where Adobe and their products are going, MAX is 100% the conference to attend. Tom and I even attend for that very reason.

Other events, like 360|Flex Europe, FITC Amsterdam, Flash on the Beach, etc are where you want to send your team for concentrated single focus information. At 360|Flex Europe, there's nothing else on the three day agenda but Flex, AIR, and ActionScript. If you're serious about Flex, AIR, and ActionScript and want to come away with untold new knowledge and skills, 360|Flex Europe is the event to attend. Our attendees constantly tell us that our events are the most technically focused, developer oriented events they've attended.

Don't miss out. Register now.

360Flex API contest don't forget to vote

2008-03-18T23:32:00.000-07:00

With only 20 days left until the conference, make sure to head over and vote. If you haven't entered, it's not too late to do that either!

The contest runs up until April 7th. We'll announce the winner of each Category during our Wednesday keynote!

Haven't registered for the premiere Flex/AIR conference in Europe? (the world even!) It's not too late! Register now!

360Flex wants your app for load testing

2008-03-18T04:30:00.000-07:00

Radview is just coming into the Flex scene. Yet they bring an incredibly important aspect of development - load testing. In the aptly entitled, "Great looking app – but how does it perform under load?" session, Radview's own Itzik Kubi will will introduce key performance testing principals and show how they relate to the Flex world.

As Flex is being adopted by more and more leading enterprises – application performance has become critical for the success of Flex implementations. RadView has worked closely with Adobe to develop an Add-On for load and performance testing of Flex applications.

Here's an offer from RadView:

Do you have a cool Flex app, but are not sure how it would respond if 3 million people a day tried to use it? (ok - even 100,000 a day). RadView will be presenting its Flex add-on for WebLOAD at 360|Flex and we thought it would be cool to demo the solution on a couple of the apps that have been developed by other 360|Flex attendees. If you have an app that you would like Load Tested - contact Itzik (Itzik@radview.com) and let's arrange a load test prior to Milan. Then during the conference we can present findings. Ideally we are looking for applications that use the AMF (or the secure AMF) messaging channel and communicate with LiveCycle Data Services.

If you're Flex app is going to be huge AND dependably up, then you'll definitely not want to miss this session.

Haven't registered for the show yet? Register Now!

360Flex Gets Deep with Cairngorm

2008-03-17T23:00:00.000-07:00

Borre Wessel, from the Cairngorm team, will be giving a session at 360|Flex Europe. His session will offer a peek into the roadmap of Cairngorm and the evolution of the framework up to this point.

There seems to be a love/hate relationship with Caingorm in the Flex community. Many seem to be heavily for it, while others can't seem to distance themselves enough from it. Regardless of your feelings, Cairngorm is here to stay. What better opportunity than this to get an idea of what they were thinking when things got put into Cairngorm, as well as what we can expect to find coming down the road.

In addition to Borre's advanced Cairngorm session, Neil Webb will also be delivering a "Cairngorm for Beginners" session at the conference as well. This means you're covered regardless of your level of expertise with this popular framework.

Using Cairngorm in your project? Need to get your new developers up to speed on Cairngorm? There's only one place in Europe to get that done. Register now!

360Flex Europe Flashlite schedule viewer

2008-03-11T08:29:00.000-07:00

Props to Luca for whipping up a really kick ass 360|Flex Europe schedule viewer in Flash Lite.

While I can only enjoy it in Adobe Device Central, it's available for Download here, for your lucky folks sporting Flash Lite capable phones.

Make sure to check back for a later version, we need to hook Luca up with the most up to date schedule.

Thanks Luca, this should make it way easier for everyone to stay on top of what session they want to see and when/where it is.

Man I wish Crackberries did Flash Lite!

Not registered for the Premiere Flex conference in the world? Why wait, register now!

360|Flex Europe is THE place to be for Flex developers!

360Flex and adobe On AIR Tour!

2008-03-10T20:59:00.000-07:00

Were you jealous of the on AIR tour that cruised around the United States last year? Wishing it were on your side of the pond? You're in luck!

The on AIR tour Europe is here!

Adobe on AIR Tour Europe

Adobe is taking Adobe® AIR™ on the rails. Join Adobe at one of 12 upcoming events in Europe to learn how you can use your web development skills - including HTML, JavaScript, Ajax, Adobe Flex®, and Flash® - to bring your web applications to the desktop with Adobe AIR. Learn more and sign up at http://onair.adobe.com

You can get full details at the site, but here's the map, so you can see where they'll be!

While the AIR tour will get you introduced to these technologies, nothing is better than a 3 day conference on Flex and AIR. If you're serious about RIAs, Flex and/or AIR, you need to come to 360|Flex Europe. At €360, it's a bargain! Register now!

360Flex Europe Sponsors

2008-03-09T21:23:00.000-07:00

Download the Sponsor Packet

One of the great things about doing these shows is working with the sponsors. These are people who care very deeply about the Flex and AIR community. It is always a pleasure to work with them, side-by-side to put these shows on.

For those of you wondering whether or not to sponsor, here's something to think of. The nice thing about Europe is that besides the corporations that are coming, we have people coming from multiple countries: Finland, Norway, Romania, Spain, Portugal, Great Britain, France, Belgium, Ireland and of course Italy. Therefore you can get a non-scientific pulse/vibe on which countries would be open to your product or services. Check out the sponsorship opportunities then contact us.

Join these great companies that already are sponsors:

Diamond Level:

Gold Level:

Silver Level:

360Flex Europe LinkedIn Group

2008-03-06T09:00:00.000-08:00

We created a linkedIn group for all attendees, speakers, sponsors of 360|Flex events. We're only going to 'ok' people who have attended, so the group should be the same great group you met, drank with, hung out with in San Jose, Seattle, Atlanta, Milan, etc.

Honestly, we're not sure what we'll see from this, but it'll be an interesting experiment. I can see the connections made at mixers, and during sessions blossoming into even more networking opportunities for attendees.

Hit up this URL to request membership.

I'm thinking this might be a great way to keep the community vibe at the event going afterward, certainly a great group of people to be connected with.

Let us know what you think.

Who are we?

360Flex Europe, API contest extended for you!

2008-03-05T23:37:00.000-08:00

Tom and I spoke with our sponsors prior to 360|Flex Atlanta, and decided that while their own contests would end when planned, we'd extend our contest to allow for the European community to enter. We wanted to make sure that each sponsor's API was exposed to the widest range of community.

Therefore, you can still choose to use the Ribbit API, the eBay API, or Degrafa. We've got the prizes, the contest is worldwide, so make sure you do your best. The competition is very good!

For details check out this blog post on the US site, and the entry form with some shorter rules, here.

You've got just over a month to enter. Make sure to blog about your entries too. The voting is open so the US entries have a lead on the Euro dev community! Better get started, get the word out!

Not registered yet for 360|Flex Europe? The Premiere Flex developer conference in the world? Not too late, register now!

360Flex Europe - Why we don't do early bird pricing

2008-02-20T18:20:00.000-08:00

The names have been changed to protect the innocent, but Tom and I got this in an email thread.

"...I'll just go ahead and sign up at the normal price which is a good deal in my book."

That's why we don't believe in the farce of early bird pricing. Why punish some one who is late to the party for no other reason than they're late? If you're late to your mechanic, he may make you wait a bit longer, but he doesn't bump the price up 30%. If he did, you'd find a new mechanic.

If shows you regularly attend do that, maybe it's time you came to ours instead. Register now, it's still only €360 per seat. Just like it was the day we started selling tickets.

Why we do what we do.

360Flex Europe - Is it right for me?

2008-02-20T09:34:00.000-08:00

I've no doubt that question has been asked, a lot.

With about 1 month to go, let me help explain what 360|Flex is, and why it may or may not be the conference for you to attend.

We'll start with who probably shouldn't attend.
You're a backend developer, not interested in moving full fledged into UI development. You'd like to build some nice UI's from time to time, but your heart and soul are in CF, PHP, .NET, LISP, COBOL, you name it. While we do offer an integration track, it's only 1/3 of the focus, and it's spread across multiple technologies. It's bummer you'll have to pay more for a conference that is more suited to your goals, and desires, but you'd be wasting your time and money coming to 360|Flex.

You've never written a line of OO code in your life. Our San Jose event had plenty of your type and we had plenty of 101 content aimed at getting non-OO, never seen Flex or ActionScript, developers up to speed. 360|Flex Atlanta however has a more mid level, at least a bit familiar with Flex and AS, 101 track. I'd recommend some Adobe certified training or maybe hit up Total Training (who sponsored our Seattle event) and then come hang out with us next time. (Oh yes, there will be a next time)

Now, why 360|Flex is the conference for you
You're a Flex developer. You eat, sleep and breath Flex and ActionScript. There's no other conference, anywhere, that is only Flex. Sure there's plenty that dabble; have an "RIA track", maybe have some of the same speakers. But they all cost more, hmmm. Less Flex, AIR, AS content, more money. Do the math.

You're a ColdFusion, COBOL, .NET, LISP developer, looking to move more into UI and RIA technologies. You've seen the light, you want in on the fun. Our 101 hands on, plus our session ratings, will help you find the session that is right for you. Whatever your existing Flex skillset, you'll find enough to keep you busy every day.

You're a Flash developer, looking to leave timelines and keyframes behind. Again with the 101s and the session ratings, you'll be able to find the session that best fits your skillset.

You're thinking Flex might be the technology direction your company will want to take. While the 300 level sessions may be over your head, the 100 and 200 sessions will help you see what's possible down the rabbit hole. :) You'll come away knowing one way or another if Flex and AIR are right for your company.

Lastly, you're a developer looking to build desktop apps, screw this RIA webapp stuff. AIR is what makes you tingly. The AIR specific sessions will more than give you what you need. Our speakers are at the forefront of AIR application development. Plus since AIR is MXML, a lot of the other sessions will have relevance for the AIR developer.

360Flex Europe Schedule

2008-02-12T14:34:00.000-08:00

It's here!

We've completed the first draft of the schedule for 360|Flex Europe. This is by no means the complete schedule, I wouldn't print it out and start planning your day.

BUT you can see what kind of top notch, best in class speakers we have coming. We talk a lot about the Flex community, but for 360|Flex Europe, 'community' really does take on a global meaning! We've got speakers from quite literally, 'All over the globe'.

Running 360|Flex is exciting enough, being able to bring our brand of conference and community across the pond, that's exciting too, but being in the same place with such a great assemblage of developers... well that's almost beyond words.

Tom and I are almost done with 360|Flex Atlanta, it's in just over a week, after that we're full time 360|Flex Europe. We know things have been quiet on the 360|Flex Euro front but this does NOT mean we've done no work. This is just a taste of what's coming down the pipeline. This event will be the premiere Flex developer conference for Europe and will ROCK THE HOUSE!!!

Download the schedule now.

Haven't registered? Do it!

360Flex the age of the Thumb Drive

2008-01-23T15:07:00.000-08:00

Up until now, for each conference we provide a CD with presentations and materials on it. It's usually not very full since we get presentations from speakers pretty late (ahem, speakers!).

2008 sees the end of the "Conference CD" and the the birth (for us anyway) of the 360|Flex Thumb drive!

Each attendee will receive a 1gb thumb drive packed with cool stuff. First and foremost, no more waiting for speakers to upload their presentations after the conference. We'll be able to collect presentations up to and during the event, and if you want one in particular, just come over, say 'hello' and hand us your thumb drive, we'll update the content immediately: 'While you wait'.

We think moving to thumb drives will be a big benefit to attendees. Speakers are busy folks, before, during and after the conference and getting their presentation files and source code uploaded is usually pretty low on the list of priorities. HOWEVER, when they show up to the conference, they have at least a copy for themselves :) So we'll be able to intercept them, copy the files to our drives, then share.

The thumbdrives give us much more freedom to put cool content and materials on it vs read-only media.

Want your company's logo on the opposite side of the 360|Conferences logo? Contact us via email at info@360flex.com for sponsorship information.

Haven't registered yet? Now's as good a time as any! Register!

360flex start 2008 off with a ton of new knowledge

2007-12-27T11:08:00.000-08:00

We hope everyone enjoyed a Merry Christmas, Kwanza, Chanukah, or Festivus, whichever you celebrate, and are looking forward to 2008 as much as we are.

Is 2008 the the year you've decided you'll learn or become better at Flex development?

360|Flex Atlanta and 360|Flex Europe will give you the opportunity to expand your Flex knowledge, by being surrounded with the best and brightest in the Flex community, sharing what they know.

Register for Atlanta or Europe and make good on that New Year's resolution.

360Flex Europe Call for Speakers

2007-11-14T07:00:00.000-08:00

Speak at 360|Flex Europe. It's 7 to 9 April 2008.

360|Flex has 4 tracks;

Application Development
Integration (with back ends like Java, CF, .NET, PHP, Rails, you name it)
Custom Components (creation, use cases, etc)
Hands-on Training

You may or may not know that we've revamped how we handle speakers. We cover your hotel stay for 3 nights.

360Flex Europe is €360 per attendee. It's pricing was in effect before the survey, so it'll be the last show at the 360 price point. Due to it still being 360, there is no team discount for 360Flex Europe.

Hotel rates for Europe are €140 per night. Utilize this form to get the group rate.

If you're interested in speaking, drop us a line at info@360flex.com We're not very formal so an email with a track and a session idea will suffice as your "Paper".

Don't think you're speaker material? Don't know what you'd talk about? Some of our best speakers told us that. In case you need some ideas (like them), here you go: Share what you're working on (ala eyejot and buzzword). Share what you've learned (ala Ben Stucki and Doug Schmidt). Built some cool components (ala Doug McCune and Brendan Meutzner)? Yap about that.

Still not speaker material? Just want to learn from all the pros and the guys in the trenches. No worries, come as an attendee and learn from the speakers.

Come one, come all! Register now!
360Flex Italy

360Flex Twitter Account

2007-11-10T16:43:00.000-08:00

In the US, we always have Twitter up either on monitors at the conference or on our mobiles during the planning. We'll be bringing that tradition to 360Flex Europe.

Twitter allows us and everyone at the conference to talk to one another in a relatively easy fashion. Think of it as an electronic message board. If you're interested in following along with the conference going ons, definitely get hooked up with Twitter.

If you want to see the tweets (that's what the messages are called), sign up for a Twitter account. Then add 360Flex as someone you follow.

360Flex Euro Hotel/Travel Information

2007-11-10T15:59:00.000-08:00

Hotel Location:

StarHotel Business Palace
Via Gaggia, 3
MILANO, 20139
Italy

Group rate: €140
This rate will expire on 21 January 2008. The rate will increase after that date, so book your room early to get this excellent rate.

Use our hotel reservation form to book your room. You will need to fill it out and fax it to the hotel. This is how they do it, not our choice.

Travel Information:

From Milano Linate Airport:
Take the hotel shuttle service

From the Milano Centrale Train Station:
Take metro line 3 to the Porto di Mare stop

For more extensive information on how to get here, check out Marco's Blog Post.

About 360Flex Europe

2007-11-10T15:39:00.000-08:00

360|Flex Europe is the first European Conference purely about Adobe's Flex and AIR technology. It is put on by 360Conferences , the same people who put on the 360Flex conferences in the United States. For attendee reviews of 360Flex, check out this entry .

This event will be held 7 - 9 April 2008. It is going to be in Milan, Italy at the StarHotel Business Palace.

We're lining up an all-star cast of speakers from Europe and America. For those of you in Europe who could not make it to America for the previous 360Flex conferences, now is your chance to attend!

Register now then book your room.

360Flex Europe tickets now selling

2007-10-05T07:26:00.000-07:00

In business, it's nice to know that your business is appreciated by it's customers. Nothing says that better than when your customers can't wait to purchase your goods. Robin Harrison, who made it to San Jose but couldn't make it to Seattle, was the first ticket buyer for 360Flex Europe. The funny thing is that he found the registration page a few hours after we put it up, but before we had yet to hype it.

While it was indeed a bummer to not have him in Seattle, it's good to know that people are out there who are waiting for our shows and are willing to purchase their tickets at the first possible moment.

Thanks for your business, Robin, but more importantly for your faith in our abilities. John and I will try our hardest to make sure that 360Flex Europe is going to be a blast.

Want to join Robin and 359 others in Milan for 360Flex Europe? Feel free as registration is now open.