360|Flex San Jose, CA. August 18-20 2008

360Flex bumped into Brian Weisenthal at Trader Joe's

2008-07-02T08:00:00.000-07:00

Tom and were picking up some snacks for the BOF sessions at 360|Flex San Jose at Trader Joe's. Guess was was in the fresh fruit and veggies section? Brian Weisenthal, our pal and 360|Flex speaker.

While I grabbed some apples and a package or cherries, Tom asked, "So Brian, who're you hoping comes to your session?"

Brian puts down a cantaloupe with a disgusted look on his face, "Too ripe. Everyone...no really, anyone considering chat, collaboration or anything that updates LIVE in their applications. I really sense this as the next 'release' in the mythical 'versions' of the web we all like to talk about." He starts picking through the cantaloupes some more.

I look up from some truly sad looking grapples (that's an apple and a grape combo. I'm not sure how they make them, and frankly it scares me) in a bin off to the side, "Why should they come?"

Finally settling on a cantaloupe, Brian moves on to some sort of squash. Tom seems to know what they are, I keep a safe distance. "There are many challenges in architecting applications. With social networks, enterprise apps and communication apps, scalability and availability is already a huge challenge. Adding in real time data only makes things harder. I'm not going to tackle scalability too much head on, but I will cover a lot of the options and foundations you need to know."

"Cool." Tom says as they both agree that the squash in Tom's hand is the best one.

We wander down the snack aisle, more to my liking than greenery and such. I put a few packages of Lacies in the cart. "What's the goal of your session, overall?"

Brian grabs some chocolate truffles, "To get some good discussion going on about collaborative software and the impact it has on front end and back end architecture. Also want to show what good and bad decisions you can make with these complex apps. I have had some experience with this leading 9mmedia and would like to share my knowledge with everyone to help move the technologies and our field of RIAs and Flex forward."

Tom picks up some dried banana chips and walks towards the cart. "What two sessions are you most looking forward to?" He gets closer to the cart and I bash him in the shins so he'll drop the banana chips. "None of that hippy." I tell him.

Brian puts the coffee truffles back on the shelf and looks at the chocolate bark, "Building Red 5 apps, Chris Allen. I used red 5 once before Flex 2 was born, I'm curious to see what it looks like these days. Eric Ko, implementing reflection. Always liked reflection, never had a reason to use it in real life. Hoping for a lightbulb to go off."

Heading for the check-out, Tom and I pick a line with a small asian woman with only a few things, Brian opts for the business-guy who looks like he's doing the weeks shopping. From our lane, I ask, "What would tell people who've never been to a 360|Flex conference before?"

Business-guy is surprisingly quick with his cart unloading. Brian might beat us out of the store. "It's hands down the most you will ever learn at a conference. Oh, and I just remembered In-N-Out is in Cali, if you are from the east coast like me this should be your number one reason for making the trip!!!!!"

"Oh hellz yeah!" I second. I'm getting my In-N-Out on for sure!!!

Brian was with us in Atlanta, so when he says you shouldn't miss it, I'd listen... Or he might beat you up!

Hang with Brian and us and get your In-N-Out on, Register now!

360Flex Ribbit Spawn event Sunday!

2008-07-01T05:41:00.000-07:00

How cool is it this: the Sunday before 360|Flex San Jose 2008, during our free pre-conference training, there's gonna be a Ribbit Spawn!

The last Ribbit Spawn was a smash hit. We're thrilled to have Chuckstar and company as part of our pre-conference event! You'll have a full day of Ribbit goodness: learning how to build your own Flex apps with voice integration; learning about Flex, AIR, and the PureMVC framework; learn pretty much everything Ribbit uses and/or offers to earn them the name "Silicon Valley's Phone Company".

As always, our preconference training sessions are free for registered attendees. Ribbit Spawn is no different. The nice thing this time around is that you know the people you're hanging with in the session will be around for the duration of the conference. Make friends in the training and hang out during the conference. Ribbit will also have 8 employees attending the show that you can pester with questions about their product and APIs.

Ribbit are the great folks and forward thinkers. They realize that at $480 for the show and preconference training tickets may disappear before you can sign up (Register for 360|Flex now to avoid that though). Therefore, they are making the spawn available via a live broadcast to those who can't make it to 360|Flex San Jose. Head on over here to register for the free live broadcast.

If you're interested in being a part of the Spawn on Sunday and have already registered, send an email to info@360flex.com and let us know. Haven't registered yet and want to be in on the Spawn in person? Not to mention partake in the world famous 360|Flex San Jose that comes right after it. :) Register now!

360Flex Speakers make their own standards

2008-06-30T07:00:00.000-07:00

360|Flex speakers love to start crazy projects like degrafa and openflux. They start their own application frameworks like Mate and Swiz. However, none have ever tried to incite riots. Well, okay, so maybe a few have (i.e. Doug McCune, Sim Batemen, Ryan Friggin' Stewart), but none have so boldly stated it as Sam Rivello.

In an email to John and I, he actually says:

I'm hoping to get mad feedback and insight riots.

I come from Los Angeles, so I love a riot just as much as the next guy. (I ain't a looter though, DESPITE what that video camera shows!) Therefore, I refer you all to Sam's blog to read up on his Coding Standards doc. His post is a month old, but I still think very relevant. I'm just slow in writing blog posts. (Ask John about just how slow I am). Go read it and getcha riot on! :)

The Flex team has released their Coding Standards as well. Tariq Ahmed did one too awhile back, but I can't seem to find the link. (Someone post it in the comments if you know it.)

I personally wouldn't have the patience to write my own conventions, but I love to use them. Gimme an example to follow, and I'll follow. It's sad how many people let their preference get in the way of clean, coherent code. I worked a Y2K project at Bank of America once. I asked the Project Manager for their Coding Conventions doc. As he handed me the 300 page printout doc (It was all languages and styles; I just used/read a sliver of it), he said, "You know, in all the time I've been here, you're the only one who has ever asked for this." Sad.

So if you and your team aren't cohesive yet, go get cohesive. When you see Sam in San Jose, be sure to thank him for taking the time to help out lazy coders like me. :) Buy your ticket soon though, I'm sure many will come to see the hopeful riot Sam wants to start!

360Flex We bumped into Mary McDonald at Kinko's

2008-06-27T08:00:00.000-07:00

Tom and I went to Kinkos the other day to pick up some signs for 360|Flex San Jose, and guess who was there? Mary McDonald, our pal from 360|Flex San Jose '07! It looked like she was picking up some fliers, some sort of bake sale for the Junior Foreign Legion or something.

"Hey Mary, long time no see! How've you been?" I shout across the Kinko's, lots of people look up from whatever weird things they were doing in a Kinko's in the middle of the day. I pointed at Tom real quick with a "He did it" look. As we get closer, I switch to my inside voice. "Hope you're excited about your session in San Jose. Who should come?"

She looks up from the stack of fliers. "Anyone interested in using Item Renderers in Flex."She thumbs through the stack, pulling out one that look a little askew.

"Why should they come?"

"To discuss the Item Renderer examples and things to avoid when writing Item Renderers."
The Kinko's guy takes the crooked sheet, looks it over, starts to ask who the junior Foreign Legion is, but stops, when Tom jumps in and asks, "What's the goal of your session?"

"I will explain what Item Renderers are and how they can be used to in Flex applications. I will also discuss things to avoid when incorporating Item Renderers into your Flex application. I will demonstrate how to apply In line and Custom Item Renderers to Datagrids."

Picking up a pack of 3 hole dividers that come in neon colors, I look over and ask, "What two sessions are you looking forward to most?"

"How to make money with Flex! With David Bigelow And Versioning Support for Large Applications and Portals with Alex Hanui." She grabs a few packages of envelopes, looks like the Junior Foreign Legion fliers are hitting the postal service too.

Wann see what Mary has to say about Item Renderers? Join her in Alex or Dave's sessions? Register now, waiting is for losers!

360Flex Advanced Flex topics FTW

2008-06-26T08:35:00.000-07:00

This was pointed out to me, and I think it's a good thing to bring up. Tom and I will be at MAX this year, and I'm sure it's gonna be a great event. However, what was pointed out was that MAX is pretty light on Adv Flex topics: 11 to be exact.

To get the whole Adobe experience, there's no other conference to attend than MAX. You'll be exposed to the developer/designer workflow, the LiveCycle workflow, Acrobat goodness, Flex and Flash awesomeness, ColdFusion coolness, etc. If they can, whole teams should attend MAX, Managers and CxOs should attend MAX. There's no place to get "the whole picture" more clearly than the sessions at MAX.

But what if you've never opened Photoshop or Illustrator in your life and never plan to? What if the only thing you care about is Flex? What if you bring home the bacon by living in Flex Builder 12 hours a day? What if you're a small dev shop wanting four developers to get some conference love, but only have a $2000 budget?

If any of that is you, then 360|Flex is your show to learn new tricks, new ways of thinking, new approaches, etc. When you and the team need to progress to the next level, come to 360|Flex. If you're coming from Java/AJAX/CF and want to break into Flex, our Lynda.com sponsorsed Flex 101 Sunday training and 100 level sessions are the best place to learn. When your ready to progress more, coming back to 360|Flex for our unsurpassed advanced topics is the only thing that makes sense. Tom constantly pushes our speakers to dig harder and deeper to come up with more and more advanced topics. (Workday has an advanced code base for their app, so I think Tom just wants to make his life easier!) There's no better bang for your buck on Flex goodness, than 360|Flex.

MAX and 360|Flex form the perfect compliment for expanding your knowledge and skills. Got to both if you can. If you can't, be sure to pick the one that is right for you. MAX just launched their new site, so be sure to go there and check out all the details.

If 360|Flex is the show for you, buy your tickets now. The small dev shops maybe be tiny in size, but we can tell you that they sure love the 4 tickets for $1500. "Tickets left" drops a lot quicker when the decrease in multiples of 4.

360Flex Jeffry Houser at the Movies

2008-06-24T08:27:00.000-07:00

Tom and I decide to take a short break, hitting the theater to see the Incredible Hulk (Go see it, it's good!). Guess who we bump into at the concession stand? Jeffry Houser of DotComIt!

"Hey Jeff! Taking a break from prepping your 360|Flex presentation?" I ask as we get in line behind him. There's a line situation ahead of us; Traffic's backed up. The guy at the head of the line seems to be confused by the Jujubes and Whoppers. Oh great! "So who do you think you'll get in your session?"

"Anyone interested in learning how to build Flex Components for their applications." Jeff says, trying not to reach up and choke Mr. Now-what-about-Gobstoppers? "Adobe has spent a lot of time building components for the Flex Framework. But, for normal development you do not need to create components that are as flexible or bullet proof as the ones in the Flex Framework. Come to my presentation if you want to learn how to build Flex Components for real world applications. And if you want to bullet proof your stuff, I'll provide an introduction to that too."

Tom looks over at the line next to us. Of course, it's moving faster since there's now some guy going on about Sour Patch Kids in ours. Tom starts to get anxious as he really likes his previews. "What's the goal of your session?"

Jeff looks at the line next to us too, "To get people thinking about flexible and reusable code."

Mr. Sour Patch Kids has finally gotten out of line with nothing more than a nacho and large mega gulp of Mtn. Dew. Yeah, no Sour Patch Kids, go figure.

Jeff steps up and orders his Reese's Pieces. Tom asks, "What two sessions are you looking forward to most?"

Jeff hands the cashier his money and waits for change, "Chris Keeler's session on High Dev video. I hear he is gonna talk about lighting and production aspects. Samuel Asher Rivello's session on creating an MMO From scratch sure sounds like fun. I had no idea Blizzard only spent 59 minutes on WoW, but can't wait to start my own company doing that."

"Yeah really! I'm dying to know what that's all about." I say, ordering my large popcorn with extra butter. I know it's not really butter, or even really dairy for that matter, but it's so good!! "What would you like to tell people about 360|Flex if they're on the fence about attending?"

Heading towards the auditorium, Jeff says, "I hear you're gonna have root beer Floats on tap. I have no idea how that works, but can't wait to see it."

Looking at Tom with a I didn't know that look on my face, "Me too."

This will be Jeff's third time hanging with us, Seattle and Atlanta being the other two. We can't wait to chill with him again! Be sure to find Jeff and praise him for all his hard work on The Flex Show podcast. If you're lucky, he may interview you for the show!

Want to catch Jeff's session? Want to see The Flex Show being recorded live? Want to see how Root Beer floats on tap work? Register now before it's too late.

360Flex on the Switchboard, we'll connect you!

2008-06-20T07:48:00.000-07:00

If you haven't heard about Switchboard, you should take a look. It's a cool little utility that let's your AIR apps become first class citizens to CS3 apps. Do you feel there is a piece of the Designer and/or Developer workflow that has been missing? Well, now you can build it. Tom and I are really happy to have Bernd Paradies with us in San Jose to talk about the cool stuff you can do with Patch Panel and Switchboard.

There's a forum for asking questions and posting your cool switchboards.

(This is from our eProgram Guide)
PatchPanel is a Flex library called cs3.swc, which allows Flex developers to access the ExtendScript DOM of the host application through ActionScript objects. SwitchBoard makes it possible for AIR stand-alone applications to work with Creative Suite applications. The SwitchBoard installer will install two services onto your machine: SwitchBoard Service forwards messages between AIR and CS applications; and the SwitchBoardLauncher launches target applications when necessary. AIR developers only need to include a Flex library called SwitchBoard.swc to their projects in order to send and receive scripts to/from other CS applications. SwitchBoard is available on labs now and PatchPanel will be posted on Adobe Labs this year.

Want to learn to make the most of Switchboard? Have you always to make that killer feature for a CS3 app? You won't want to miss out on what Bernd has to say. Register now!

360|Flex Send a Team or an Army

2008-06-18T07:03:00.000-07:00

According to SeaWorld (Fun Fact #6), a group of frogs is called an army. Therefore, since Ribbit is sending 8 folks to the conference, that makes them the official Army of 360|Flex. We're thinking of making battle shields or at last some sweet looking uniforms. :)

John and I set up many goals for ourselves with 360|Flex. One of which was, "Why should only one team member get to go to a conference? Why can't conferences be more affordable so a team (or an army) from a company can attend?"

With over 47 sessions (on top of some great free training on Sunday, more of which we'll be announcing soon), it would be impossible for one person to soak in all the information that 360|Flex has to offer. We're happy to see that great companies, like Ribbit, are recognizing the value of sending more than just a token team member. (Sidenote: if you have not seen what Ribbit can do for you, go now. Ribbit is a great and simple way to add live voice communication to your applications.)

Let's run the numbers quickly: 8 people = 2 team rates = $3K

$3000 for 8 tickets to a show that people love and lives the new standard of what a conference should be. There are some other groups coming out to visit us. If you're part of one of those groups, drop us a line at info@360flex.com. Tell us why you're sending more than one person. Tell us whether or not you like that you can afford to send more than one person.

We just got word yesterday that another company is sending 10 people. With registrations like that happening, you better book your ticket soon. Remember, the eBay Conference Center has a maximum capacity and when it's sold out, it's sold out. We legally can't allow any more in than that. Book your ticket today to avoid your heartache later.

Speaking of Ribbit, expect to hear some more great news in relation to them and 360|Flex soon. It's another reason why you want to buy your ticket now.

360Flex H.Paul Robertson chillin at Starbucks

2008-06-17T08:07:00.000-07:00

Tom doesn't drink caffeinated drinks. I more than make up for his share of intake. We were checking out hot spots for our next 360|Flex,and stopped in for a Grande Mocha Frapaccino (My weakness). Who should be sitting there, sipping another non-caffeinated drink as well? Our pal H. Paul Robertson, speaker at upcoming 360|Flex San Jose 2008.

Tom and I take a minute to pull up a seat at his table. Paul's already working on his presentation.

"So Paul, who should come to your session?" Tom asks, trying to get his MacBook Air to connect to Starbuck's AT&T Wireless.

Taking a sip of his steamed milk or hot cocoa, Paul says, "The main audience is developers who have used or are planning to use the SQLite database functionality in Adobe AIR, and who care about getting the maximum performance out of their database code. The session will be more useful for developers who already have some database knowledge and experience, but you definitely won't have to be a hard-core SQL junkie.

I'm also hoping that some developers who are at the advanced/expert level will come and participate and share their ideas. I don't want this to be a one-speaker show -- I know that I don't know all the answers and all the best tricks, so I want to have others share their expertise too."

"Very cool." I say, slurping frapaccino through my straw. My MacBook Air has been on the wireless since we sat down, Tom is still fussing with his. "Why should they come?"

"To learn tips and tricks for improving database performance in Adobe AIR's SQLite engine. To get a better understanding of how the SQLite engine works in AIR and what things can affect performance." He looks back down at the screen, fingers flying over the keys. I think I see a few powerpoint stick figures on one slide.

"So what would you say the goal of your session is?" Tom asks as Yahoo! Maps finally starts to load for him.

"Hmmm. My answers are definitely going to start sounding redundant. My goal is to help people identify specific aspects of the AIR SQLite implementation that may negatively affect performance, and learn techniques for improving performance. I also hope that along the way attendees get a better understanding of how the database engine works, to help them be able to architect their applications better." This time he doesn't look up up at us, dedicated guy. He's still got months to go until 360|Flex San Jose.

Tom asks, "What two sessions are you looking forward to most?"

Without even thinking about it or grabbing a copy of the schedule, Paul says "Ben Stucki: How to build a framework; Brad Umbaugh/RJ Owen: Diving deep with the Flex component lifecycle; Eric Ko: Implement Reflection in ActionScript; Ryan Stewart: Synchronization online and offline with AIR and LiveCycle DS; Tony Hillerson/Juan Sanchez - See the Data, Be the Data; Renaun Erickson - A Testing Approach Spanning Dev to End User"

"Cool." Tom says, closing his laptop after getting directions to our next stop.

I start to close my machine down too, time to visit another hotspot. "What would you like to tell people about 360|Flex, if they're on the fence about attending?"

This one gives him a bit of pause, "Hmmm. I guess the fact that I couldn't narrow my 'sessions I'm looking forward to' down any smaller than 6 is a pretty good sign."

"True dat." Tom and I say in unison.

It's always good to hang with our first time speakers. Tom and love meeting new folks and expanding our community one person at a time. 360|Flex San Jose 2008 will be Paul's first time at a 360Conferences event. If we do our job right, it won't be his last.

Wanna see Paul in action? Want to check out some of the can't miss sessions on his list? You better register now before it's too late.

360Flex We ran into Chris Keeler this afternoon

2008-06-16T07:58:00.000-07:00

So Tom and I were walking into In-n-Out and guess who was coming out, Christopher Keeler! Chris is doing a session at 360|Flex San Jose on High Definition Video and Flex Hands On. We sat down with him to chat over Double Double's Animal Style with fries well done.

Tom was actually having a 5x5, so Chris and I made him sit at another table, those're just darn messy!

"So Chris, why should folks go to your session in San Jose?" Tom asked between bites.

"You can get a hands-on experience with HD shooting, lighting, and get THE BEST encoder settings." Chris replied, reaching for his chocolate shake. When I opened my mouth to ask who should be sitting in the chairs in his session, he added, "Anyone who is interested in producing and streaming HD video in Flex."

I was wondering what the goal of his session was. "What are you hoping people get out of it?"

He offered, "To teach people that its not just point and shoot. There is a lot that goes into making good HD videos."

"I do like HD" Tom said, reaching for more ketchup packets.

As Chris finished up his burger, I asked him what two sessions he was looking forward to the most (besides his, of course).

"Advanced Video Streaming (Dave Hassoun) & Data Visualizations(Tom Gonzalez)" was his reply as he stacked his stray. Standing up, he added,"Tell anyone sitting on the fence about 360|Flex San Jose this: If you're into Flex (or want to get into it), then you need to be at this conference. It's the "end all, be all" of Flex events."

Chris has been to two other 360|Flex events, so he should know.

Wanna join Chris? Learn about ? Maybe grab a Double Double? Register now!

360Flex and EventVue

2008-06-13T07:10:00.000-07:00

Tom and I were approached by EventVue, a few weeks ago. After seeing how cool it is, and how much better our attendee experience can be, we were sold!

So what's it do? Well it slices bread, toasts it, makes pies (not cakes), and combs your hair.

ACTUALLY!

EventVue ties in with our other partner, Eventbrite to create a user account when you register for 360|Flex. From there you'll be able to: Create an attendee profile that links in your blog, twitter, etc. You'll be able to set tags that apply to you, that other people will be able to search (location, interests, etc.). You'll be able to search for other attendees from your city. You'll be able to record a small video introduction of yourself, that we'll be showing throughout the conference.

The main goal and benefit of EventVue is to enable you attendees to connect more. You'll be able to connect with each other before, during and after a conference. You won't be spammed by recruiters or people selling something. It'll be a private little universe where only you attendees can connect with each other. Not registered for the show? Not allowed into the circle.

We know how hard it can be to find, let alone connect, with others at conferences. This is one of the reasons we keep ours small. However, even at our size, there's still a need to help like-minded folks connect. eventvue will remove some of the largest barriers to you finding and connecting with others.

We're really thrilled to take EventVue out and kick the tires with 360|Flex San Jose 2008! eventvue and eventbrite are already working behind the scenes to get this going.

If you're going to want to be allowed into the inner circle, you better register now. Once we're sold out, there's no way in.

360Flex has 25 percent more sessions

2008-06-12T07:36:00.000-07:00

We didn't think our attendees had enough hard choices in life. One of the most common complaints we hear at 360|Flex (yes, we get complaints!) is that it's too hard to pick a session to attend. This is because the other concurrent sessions are just too good to miss.

To that we say, "Suck it up!" Now, the choices are harder. We've added 25% MORE sessions!

"How can this be?" They cry from the streets. We're able to offer so many more sessions because we're managing our time slots better! Our hands on track, which often has some space to spare has been revamped. Since we're offering so much hands-on content during the free Pre-Conference training, we decided that the hands-on track need only be Tuesday. Monday we made into a "How'd They Do that?" track, covering topics like TicketMaster's kiosk, the Mate Framework and creating an MMO in 59 minutes. Wednesday is now "The Business Side of Flex", covering topics like a look at Flash Player 10, i18N compliance and more!

These great sessions are essentially "bonus" material beyond what we've offered at previous 360|Flex events.... and it doesn't cost any more!!! Think of it like the second bonus disk! :)

Interested in 25% more sessions than the last 360|Flex? Register now and start the tough process of narrowing down the selections.

360Flex shirts are back!

2008-06-11T07:24:00.000-07:00

For those that attended Seattle and came home with a spiffy gray 360|Flex polo shirt, we hope you're enjoying it. For San Jose 2008, we're working on another shirt. It'll be a polo again, since they are wearable even by those poor souls in "Business Casual" environments.

For the Seattle event, the shirts are pretty much what put us in the red. While they were very loved by the audience, we didn't think to ask someone to share the cost with us. This time we did and look who said yes.

The shirt sponsors are:
Doug McCune
Digital Primates
RealEyes Media

Each has secured a spot on the shirt and we'll be looking at shirt designs in the near future. If you have any suggestions for colors, designs, styles, etc. let us know by dropping a comment or an email to info@360flex.com. We're open to suggestions, as always.

Also, before you ask, that's all the shirt sponsor slots. You're a developer, not a NASCAR driver. :)

We learned some things from Seattle.

Juan Sanchez and Andy McIntosh are more the norm than John Wilker and Tom Ortega. Maybe it's because most Flexers party like rock stars, or maybe cuz Tom eats too much. Regardless, there'll be plenty more Smalls and Mediums for you tiny folks.
There will also be enough for everyone. Last time we "targeted" our end number and to be honest, missed the target. This time, we're ordering enough shirts to handle a "max capacity" crowd. You will all get a shirt. :)
Oily chicken & 360|Flex polo != friends. Tom had a fight with his lunch (big surprise) and lost (bigger surprise). Therefore, his is permanently stained with chicken grease. Don't be like Tom (in more ways than one! LOL)

Want to make sure you get your 360|Flex San Jose 2008 commemorative shirt (Next year we may have the Franklin Mint make 'em)? You'll have to register to get one, cuz you can't buy them in stores (not even the "As Seen On TV" ones)!

360|Flex has Doug McCune as a sponsor!

2008-06-05T07:53:00.000-07:00

Ever attend a conference with a guys' face on the sponsors page? When you attend 360|Flex San Jose 2008, you'll be able to say, "Yes" to that question!

We're vibrating with excitement that Doug "Bedazzler" McCune is a sponsor of 360|Flex! You read that right. Not a company, not a dev shop, or a product seller. A single developer. To understand the method to Doug's madness, go read his post on the subject.

It's not just cool from the standpoint of having never (to our knowledge) been done at a conference, but it's a testimony that we're not out to rob and pillage our sponsors. A developer on his own can afford to sponsor our events. It's not $10,000 and up to sponsor 360|Flex. In fact, for $10,000 you'd be up there with Adobe, and our highest level sponsors!

If you want a nice polo shirt with Doug's mug, there's only one spot to get it. Register now before your forced to go to eBay to get one!

Does your company want to join the ranks of Doug and our other prestigious sponsors? Download the packet and email info@360flex.com with your order.

360Flex all 47 speaking slots taken!

2008-05-29T16:10:00.000-07:00

First off, we'd like to give a big thanks to the Flex Community. We had a record turn out for speaker submissions! It's a testament that the Flex Community is growing by leaps and bounds. We're just happy to have a small part in helping that growth.

It really sucks to have to tell someone their topic didn't make the cut. Tom made me do all the dirty work. Just so you know though, we trimmed the Hands-on track to just Sunday and Tuesday. This gave us 8 more session slots to fill ( 4 on Monday, 4 on Wednesday). That's how good and numerous our topics were. Now, for attendees though, the choice will be tougher!

To those that we had to decline, we don't want you to think your topic sucked. In fact, we want to encourage those that didn't make it this time to submit again next time! For those who were still working on a topic to submit, finish working on it and submit as soon as we open the gates on the next one.

If you haven't seen the schedule, check it out, it's freaking awesome!

For those that did make the cut, thank you again for being willing to make 360|Flex San Jose great. We're thrilled to have each one of you onboard. While Tom and I may "get the party started", you're the reason 360|Flex kicks such ass and why attendees show up!

Haven't registered yet? With a line up like that and 47 sessions, you better get on it, register now! This is gonna be the best 360|Flex yet. Don't be left behind "wishing" you were there.

360Flex Free Preconference Training by Lynda.com

2008-05-27T18:07:00.000-07:00

Note: By free, we mean free to paid (registered) attendees, not free to the public. Sorry for any confusion.

We've partnered with the great folks at Lynda.com to bring you the very best free pre-conference training available. Did I mention free? Yeah? Ok just checking.

We'll have David Gassner (of 360|Flex Seattle and lynda.com DVD fame) teaching an all day Flex 101 hands on class on Sunday the 17th before 360|Flex kicks off. If you're looking into Flex, or need to brush up a bit, you'll want to make sure to sign up for this. It's "Bring Your Own Laptop" but lunch is provided! Just drop an email to info@360flex.com and say you're attending Gassner's 101 training.

We're really happy to be partnering with Lynda.com on our training. Lynda's training materials and speakers are first rate. We read Gassner's reviews in Seattle and so we know a lot of you will be thrilled to have him back and for a full day this time.

David has even graciously volunteered to a full day of pure Flex or mix in some AIR topics as well. Voice your opinion in the comments below and we'll let him know your opinion.

We're going to have some really cool things to put in our conference folder and on the USB key from Lynda, so make sure you're in San Jose to get some great content and training materials! Your client/employer/resume will thank you!

Register now before it's too late.

360Flex new look. Like our hair?

2008-05-18T07:54:00.000-07:00

So what do you think? Many thanks to Anthony Tanaka for whipping up this kick ass design for us. Tom has been belly-aching for a while now that our site needed to change up it's look. No offense Ted :) your template has served us well for a many a show, but it was time.

Anthony stepped up and gave us this sweet ass template. Let us know what you think; what should change, what you'd improve or drop, etc. Our main goal was making things easier to find, and put more content like Speaker names, sponsors, etc 'above the fold'

Also in case you were planning to submit a design, please do. We've created a test site, for new UI's for the 360Flex blog and even the 360Conferences blog (all derived from the same original template). The test site will be the place to take a peek and see what we're planning, what we're testing, etc. BEFORE it goes live on our main sites. There won't ever be content there, so don't plug it into your readers, but bookmark it, check in once in a while if you're curious what Tom and I are planning.

360Flex The Daily Schedule

2008-05-13T17:49:00.000-07:00

Click here for the Schedule

OK first, Tom and I apologize. We aimed to get the schedule finalized a few days ago, then we waited for an email to draw a few more, then I got sick, then these crazy three legged aliens invaded, etc. Thankfully they couldn't breath our air or something...

At any rate, here it is! We promise getting the schedule completed and posted in a timely manner is at the top of our list of improvements. Tom will have to update his eProgram Guide later, but we wanted to get this out to you ASAP.

Now that we've got the daily sessions all plugged in, we're turning our attention to an area that has suffered in the past: Birds of a Feather. We're thinking the BoFs will run concurrently with our nightly festivities, so everyone can grab some grub, a beer or two and enjoy some great conversation on a wide range of topics: meet the Flex Team, talk to the ADC team, see how some cool Flex Apps/Frameworks came to be, get the latest on Open Source initiatives.

What we need from you are ideas on the BoFs: How can we make them better? Should we have more than 2 a night? Or is 2 a night too many and having a party is enough? Let us know by dropping your thoughts below in the comments.

If you like the schedule, then head over and buy your ticket now. There's only 400 and they'll likely go quicker now that we have the schedule up. Click here to register.

Click here for the Schedule

360Flex San Jose Hotel Options

2008-05-07T19:00:00.000-07:00

I was in San Jose last Thursday, checking out hotel options. It was fairly easy :)

The official hotel of 360|Flex will be the Holiday Inn!

1740 North First St.
San Jose, CA 95112
Hotel Front Desk: 1-408-793-3300
Hotel Fax: 1-408-453-0259
Group Code 1: Three Sixty Flex
Group Code 2: FLE

If you were with us back in the day (that's March '07, yo), you'll know there's a lounge (open until 11-ish). Once the after hours parties at ebay's Town Hall wind down, we'll come back here to cap off the evening. This is where we'll be staying along with the speakers.

We have a room block with discounted pricing of $129 per night. The link above should automatically get you the $129 rate. If you book by phone, mention the group code of "FLE" or "Three Sixty Flex". It seems that Holiday Inn's reservation system does not allow numbers for group codes, hence the dual code setup for us.

If the HI doesn't work for you, there's a few other options;

There's a Double Tree nearby but they're currently sold out for the 18th.

Also try:
Fairfield Inn
Homestead Studio Suites
Motel 6

360Flex call for beer!

2008-05-07T07:00:00.000-07:00

If you attended 360|Flex San Jose '07, you'll know our beer selection was incredible (thanks COWPU crew!). This year as we return home to San Jose and eBay's Town Hall, we're empowered to once again select whatever beer we feel like (they'll attempt to source whatever we request).

What would ya'll like to drink? Micro brews? Hefs? IPAs? Fruit flavored stuff (not my choice, but hey)? Leave us a comment and we'll make up a list, see what we can do. Obviously those beers with the most votes will win, since we can't have 30 different kegs around the place... Well I guess we could but we'd like you guys to remember to show up the next day, so it'll probably be 2-3 kegs, each night.

For you non-drinkers, don't worry. Tom (a fellow non-drinker) will make sure your crowd is properly represented! But feel free to request your favorite lemonade or soda pop flavah! (We don't really use the word soda pop, but we didn't want those who actually do use it to feel left out...like Ryan Stewart. Only he doesn't even add the "soda" prefix, he says straight up "pop"! LOL)

360|Flex San Jose Sponsors

2008-05-06T07:00:00.000-07:00

Would you like to sponsor?

Email us at:
info@360flex.com
Or download the general sponsor packet PDF at:
http://www.360flex.com/downloads/SponsorPacketSanJose.pdf

One thing that helps us put on these shows are the sponsors. Without their support, we just wouldn't be able to do 360|Flex. Some not only sponsor financially, but also send speakers and/or provide free giveaways.

Interested in becoming a sponsor? As little as $1K can get you in (and that includes a free ticket!). Then, if you really want to make an impression, the Diamond Level is still available. Our last Diamond netted 7 Flex developers which breaks down to roughly $2K per developer. You can beat that sort of rate for finding talent! Details for all levels can be found here.

Mad props to eBay, Simplified Logic, EffectiveUI and SavenTech for stepping up early and signing on before we even formally announced the show.

At Host Level, we have:

At Platinum, we have the following:

At Gold, we have the following:

At Silver, we have the following:

Helping out with the Thumb Drives, we have:

Flex 101 Training:

The 360|Flex Polo is sponsored by!

Partners:

360Flex.com needs a new design

2008-05-01T07:00:00.000-07:00

Calling all designers, information architects or interaction desginers! We're thinking it's time to change up the look of 360flex.com, so we need your help. The site isn't "broken" per se, since San Jose is the 5th show to use it. However, people say info is hard to find at times, so we'd like to address that.

The main thing we'd like to get away from is the "skinniness" of our layout and the super long sidebar. We want information to be easy (and intuitive) to find.

The 3 important parts of our site are:

1. The Details - Where, when and how much the show is.

2. The Speakers - Who's talking, when and what about

3. The Sponsors - Who's making the show possible and how can we find what they're offering

If you didn't know, the site is a blogger blog. Ideally, the design should be a blogger friendly template. We won't make that a requirement though, just a "nice to have".

Any thoughts? Any friends you can think of? We're not sure how much these things cost, but we're willing to give up a free ticket as payment. Not to mention accolades in a blog post and a "Designed by: " link to you or your business in the footer.

Interested parties should drop a line to info@360flex.com with the word "Redesign" somewhere in the subject. Thanks!

360|Flex San Jose API Contest is Looking for Sponsors

2008-04-30T07:00:00.000-07:00

Do you have a cool set of APIs? Do you want some of the world's top
Flex programmers to work with your API to see how they hold up? Maybe
you'd like to see what cool apps a Flex/AIR developer can make with
your APIs?

If any of that rings true, then you should become an official sponsor
of the 360|Flex San Jose API Contest. With nearly 400 attendees and
thousands of visitors to the site, this is a great opportunity to let
the Adobe RIA community know that you not only have an API, but that
you support the tools of their choice.

The fee is $1500 plus you supply a game console as the prize for your
API category. Last time, we had Ribbit, eBay and Degrafa. This time
will surely be bigger and better. Don't be left out.

In addition to seeing how your APIs hold up, this would be a great
opportunity to help you find some much needed talent for your company.
See one killer entry, why not approach them with a job offer?

We also have other sponsorship opportunities as well. More info on
those can be found here.

For you Flex/AIR developers out there, fire up your Flex Builder and
get ready to try and win one of the great prizes. Also, don't forget
to register as we'll likely lock down speakers and hotel info soon.
After that, tickets will start to move fast.

Any questions or for further info, email info@360flex.com

360Flex why the 18th and not the 17th?

2008-04-29T10:04:00.000-07:00

Sorry about the confusion there. We briefly advertised the conference as starting on Sunday, the 17th, and not Monday, the 18th. Now, we're going back to our traditional Monday to Wednesday date schedule.

We were going to make Sunday an "official" part of the conference, but then we retracted. Why? Because the Free Pre-Conference training isn't meant to count as a full day of the conference. It's there for those that want some additional Flex 101 training before the "main event". However, we wanted to make sure attendees were not expecting a full day of sessions on Sunday.

In addition to the 101 Training, we're looking at lining up some sponsored vendor specific training. This will be of interest to those looking to get up to speed on a particular vendor's product. If there's a product you'd like to see some training on, drop their name in the comments. If you're a vendor who wants to sponsor one of the few slots to do vendor specific training, drop us an email at info@360flex.com.

One thing to remember, Sunday night is the traditional Welcome Reception. This is a chance to grab a bite to eat and share a few drinks with your fellow attendees. This way, everyone is buddy-buddy come Monday morning. Once again, not required attendance but we think it's fun. :)

Don't have your ticket yet? Whatcha waiting for? Register now.

360Flex San Jose Schedule

2008-04-18T07:00:00.000-07:00

We've long been harassed by our attendees for not giving them enough information about the session topics. Those days are now over. We hope you think our new eProgram is as cool as we think it is. We'll be adding other information (additional speakers, day/time of session, Birds of a Feather meetings, Party info, Reg Desk info, venue map, etc.) as we near the show date.

360|Flex San Jose 2008 eProgam Guide

360|Flex San Jose 2008 Daily Schedule

Take a look and give us your first impression. Does this help you better choose which sessions to attend? If a speaker's description isn't clear enough, let us know and we'll have them expand on it.

If there's anything you'd like for us to add to the eProgram, just drop it in the comments. We're pretty excited to offer this moving forward, so we want it to be useful to you in whatever way you see fit.

Want to be a speaker? Go here for more info.

As you can see, we're improving the show yet again. This will be the best 360|Flex to date. You won't want to miss out so buy your tickets now!