Category: Conferences & User Groups
RIA Unleashed is next week! Here's my schedule.
Posted on Oct 19, 2011
I can't believe another year has passed and it is time for some unleashing of RIA's again as RIA Unleashed 2011 is next week (27th - 28th). When I started this event, originally as Flex Camp Boston, back in 2007, I don't think I imagined that not only would it still be here in 2011 but have grown. As some of you probably are already aware, I have passed the torch for this event on to the awesome team at FITC and it appears they are doing a fantastic job this year - keeping the overall look and feel of the event entact while bringing their event planning and promoting experience to the table. The good news for me then is, I actually get to attend some sessions. It's not easy to pick as the schedule is jam-packed with awesomeness, but here's what I plan on attending:
Thursday (workshops)
- Developing Performant Flex Components for Desktop and Mobile with Mike Labriola - if you've seen Mike speak, you know that a half-day session is still too short for him (but probably too much for my puny brain)
- Flex Mobile Boot Camp with Christophe Coenraets and Holly Schinsky - Christophe and Holly are two brilliant developers on Adobe's evangelism team and they've already previewed some of this on their blogs which has me super excited to see the real session.
Friday
- Keynote - obviously.
- Coming soon to a player near you with Michelle Yaiser - I gotta say this time slot was nearly a toss up, but Michelle is not just a coworker but an awesome speaker (yes, guys, she has a boyfriend) and she is going to preview some of what is coming in future version of the runtimes.
- Streamline your Ajax Requests with AmplifyJS and jQuery with Doug Neiner - I heard awesome things about Doug's presentation last year on jQuery and I can't imagine missing it this year (though I would go to Labriola's session on garbage collection if my brain wasn't already jelly from his prior day workshop).
- Brass Monkey, Seriously Fun Control with Chris Allen - jeez, another toss up but Chris Allen wins out because I think Brass Monkey is an awesome idea with tons of potential for not just gaming.
- Developing Flash & Flex Facebook Applications with Ryan Canulla - if I hadn't already seen a Robotlegs workshop at MAX and seen Slatwall at my local CFUG, this might have been a tougher decision than it already was. Still a tough call but Ryan wins by a hair.
- Building and Deploying Native Extensions with AIR 3 with Holly Schinsky and Christophe Coenraets - dammit, the toss-ups keep coming (seriously, I need 4 of me at this event) but this session wins out because ANE's are just a huge game-changer in my mind and something every AIR developer should be interested in (most are already).
- Closing ceremonies - as far as I know, I am still emceeing this, so I will be there.
Are you jealous of all the awesomeness packed into my 2 day schedule? Well, it's not too late to register. Do it now!
Continue Reading →RIA Unleashed Networking Events & Jesse vs. Jesse Round 2
Posted on Oct 19, 2010
RIA Unleashed is just a few weeks away - do you have your tickets yet? If not, you are really going to miss out this year. As always we have the amazing content from the best speakers, but if there was one complaint I heard from prior years, it was that the networking event was fun but a bit of an afterthought. Well, not this year. As I recently announced on the RIA Unleashed site, this year's networking event will be held on Thursday night at the MIT Museum in Cambridge. This is a place that includes exhibits on robotics and holography which are things that tend to appeal to geeks like me (you'll have free access to all the second floor galleries). The event will be catered with free drinks and light hors d'oeuvres. Plus, I am working to arrange both a bus to and from the venue and hotel for those of you without transportation as well as Jesse vs. Jesse Round 2. For those of you that missed it, Jesse (Warden) debating Jesse (Freeman) was apparently a huge hit at 360|Flex in DC. So much so, that there was demand for round 2 and I was happy to oblige. This entire event is free for registered attendees.
As if that weren't enough incentive to purchase your ticket, Ryan Stewart generously announced that he is holding a Scotch and Cigars event on the Wednesday night prior to RIA Unleashed that will be open to RIA Unleashed attendees. Ryan is even covering the cigars and scotch (though space is limited so RSVP with him if you want to attend).
So, what are you waiting for? Get your seats while they are still available and take advantage of learning, networking, museum access, food, drinks, scotch, cigars even - not to mention the giveaways which I am trying to arrange.
Continue Reading →RIA Unleashed Referral Contest - Anyone Can Win!
Posted on Oct 05, 2010
Crunch time is here for RIA Unleashed with 36 days remaining until the event! I think we have probably the best lineup ever or this event but, as always, I rely on the community to help me spread the word about it. In the past 3 years, I have always had some form of referral contest for attendees to win a nice prize. This year, I am going to do things a bit differently and remove the registration requirement for the contest. This means, even if you can't come to RIA Unleashed (though you should...where are your priorities?) you can still win the prize!
This year's prize is a copy of Adobe Flash Builder Professional 4 along with a copy of Adobe Flash Catalyst CS5 (i.e. both items go to one winner). In order to win, you can can request a tracking link to use on a blog post, tweet, Facebook post or whatever via the comments below and I will email it to you. This will allow me to determine exactly how many registrations you referred. Alternatively, I have been collecting the referral information in the registration form since registration began and will use that as well (note, you can combine both methods and that's probably the best way to maximize your chances). I will determine the winner by the most referrals when registration closes. One final rule, you must refer at least 3 people to attend the event to win the prize.
P.S. Feel free to use the banner in the left hand sidebar for your site if you like.
Continue Reading →Are there any relevant ColdFusion sessions at RIA Unleashed this year?
Posted on Sep 15, 2010
Absolutely! While I think it's a great event for getting a range of topics across the Adobe spectrum. Nonetheless, there is still an entire track purely dedicated to CF while Flex, Flash, AIR, Mobile and everything else split the remaining 3 tracks. This means that ColdFusion probably gets more dedicated sessions than any other language at the event. Given the recent demise of CFUnited, RIA Unleashed now becomes the only East coast event with ColdFusion content (and its in Boston...what could be better!). In response to a concern I heard expressed, I just wanted to give some context to some of the sessions since perhaps the session titles don't make it 100% clear the relevancy of the topics. So forgive the lengthy post but here are some details about about why I think these sessions are both relevant, important and useful to ColdFusion developers. Oh, and don't forget to register!
Continue Reading →Attend both 360|Flex & RIA Unleashed and Save Big $$
Posted on Sep 08, 2010
Were you having a tough time deciding between attending RIA Unleashed in Boston or 360|Flex in DC? Did your boss say the budget only fit one of the two? Well, it's time to relax because now you can tell your boss that for a measly extra $50 you can get all 4 days of 360|Flex and 2 days of RIA Unleashed. The best part is you can get all the pre-MAX good stuff at 360|Flex and then catch up on all the newly announced stuff from MAX at 360|Flex. Plus, you can't beat the extra opportunities to have a beer with your fellow developers - but we don't need to tell your boss that part. For all the details on how to purchase the combined ticket, go to http://www.360flex.com/blog/2010/09/360flex-and-riaunleashed-2-great-events-great-together/.
Continue Reading →