Ryan Campbell Flex/Flash Developer Blog

My Experience at 360|Flex Atlanta

This is my second time attending 360|Flex and my first time speaking at it. Overall I had an amazing time and can't wait for the next one. I showed up by myself, knowing hardly anyone and left with a ton of new friends (beer helped with that).

The conference is full of brilliant approachable people who are eager to swap knowledge. As an independent developer who works from home, I really enjoyed meeting others face-to-face. Talking to fellow developers about Flex is a lot more rewarding compared to forcing my fiancee to listen to my "cool" programming breakthroughs.

Back at home before the conference, many people asked if I was nervous about speaking. I responded with no (only half lying to them) and that I was more excited than anything. When I previously went to the Seattle conference I got to experience the community vibe and felt that everyone is just appreciative of the knowledge you have to share. Also, as Doug McCune has said, it's ok to say you don't know the answer to something because there is usually someone in the crowd who will gladly answer for you.

Also, I owe my left nut to the guy who let me borrow his Mini-DVI to VGA Adapter. Thanks so much dude! It would have been a fairly pointless session without it.

One of my favorite sessions was building your personal brand that Doug McCune and Juan Sanchez bravely took on in place of Jesse Warden. Although I give huge props to the two of them for being able to whip up a lot of useful tips (in only 20 minutes!), I really enjoyed the input from the crowd. I think this is where 360|Flex shines. Whether or not you are a speaker, everyone brings something to the table and everyone's opinion helps take the discussion further than it would without them.

As the Atlanta conference was ending, I was already getting excited hearing about when/where the next conference will happen. I really hope Tom and John were able to step away from their lovely blue registration table for at least a few moments to see how well their conference turned out.

To all of the great people I met at 360|Flex Atlanta, please keep in touch and I hope we'll be meeting up again at a future conference.