webDU photos and trading cards

Andrew Muller has posted some great pics from webDU this year, including shots of each of the trading cards in the playing deck of the experimental social game that took the conference by storm :)

As was the case with many of the conference delegates, Andrew found it hard to trade his cards away, and even went to the extent of getting each of them signed by the person they represented.

By the way, for some reason in a moment of weakness I traded my Julie Steadman to Adam Lehman so if you happen to have a spare Julie in your post-conference stuff, I'd be happy to trade you a Tim Buntel, Greg Rewis, Kai Konig, Geoff Bowers or even a rare Dale Rankine :) Email or Twitter me!

webDU 2008 Wrap Up

Well, webDU has come and gone for another year, but I have a feeling that this year was different. I knew that numbers seemed to be up on previous years from discussion I had been having with Geoff and the Daemon team. These guys are first class event organisers, not to mention first class people, and I very much appreciate the work they do each year to run webDU. It just seemed to me that the number and enthusiasim of delegates, the quality of the sessions, and the overall vibe of the conference was on a higher level to previous years. It was great to be around - motivating, inspiring, and a lot of fun.

The content
As per ususal the main technologies were covered - Flash, Flex, AIR, Colf Fusion, Mobile, CSS, AJAX, JavaScript, 3D. I managed to see both keynotes (a rarity for Day 2 since the evening activities of Day 1 normally wipe out a lot of us for an early start the next day!) and both were great. Mike Downey and Greg Rewis had their schtick down pat for showing off AIR and some new features of Flash, Dreamweaver and Fireworks CS4. Tim Buntel on Day 2 had a great session on the next top 5 trends we'll see in web, and although remaining sceptical over timing (as we all have been really Tim), he did outline Mobile (Flash Lite, AIR Mobile) as a big trend to watch for in the coming years.


Some other sessions I attended was Mobile Web 2.0 with Gary Chan from Forum Nokia (talking on WRT and the opportunities for web developers on Nokia), Michael Wise and his crazy box of fun (hooking up Flash to Wii remotes, multi-touch surfaces, RFID and GPS), and Brian Chau on ActionScript 3.

Mobile
From a mobile point of view, I think we did ok (as well as Gary, I spoke on FLV and Flash Lite 3) for a web conference. This was my 5th webDU, and 4th as a speaker, and every year I speak on Flash Lite. I have a feeling that next year I will have some better opportunities to speak about, but for the main, I felt that we covered the mobile aspect pretty well considering that most people come to webDU for Flex, AIR, CF and Flash. There may be some photos circulating soon that show the extent that I went to in order to draw a crowd to my session - and that's all I'll say right now.

A shout out to Gary, Ung-Ping, Hawa, and the other nice lady on the Forum Nokia stand whose name embaressingly evades me at this moment (!) to say thank you for getting involved with webDU the way you did.

The fun
The "event" this year was a little bit more relaxed than the banquets of previous years. This year, we had the total run of a bowling/bar/laser tag/karaoke entertainment centre for the night. I will say that while my bowling score was pretty average, it was enough to snatch victory for me on the final frame :) A word of warning - playing laser tag with Darren Tracey and Mark Mandel can be hazardous to your health, if you are on the opposing team. The trading card game was a massive success and I look forward to seeing the concept trademarked, patented and rolled out for large licensing royalties at other "big technology conferences" by Kai and Minty ;) Well done boys.



We have the speaker party on tonight which always proves to be a lot of fun and a great time to hang out and get to talk with some really clever people in a very relaxed setting. I won't ever forget Mike Downey doing Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen at the karaoke machine one year, or watching Ted Patrick kick everyone's butt on Wii Tennis. Ahh, these are the memories :)

So for all of you who have always heard about webDU but have never made it, it's getting better every year so make sure that 2009 is the year you finally come to one of the best conferences in the world.

UPDATE: Just reading through my Google Reader this morning and found Alessandro has already spotted some of my webDU antics via Flashmagazine.

See Nokia Web Run-Time at webDU 2008

As part of the always-awesome webDU conference this year, I'm very pleased to see Nokia not just sponsoring the event (which is great on its own), but also presenting on their WRT (Web Run-Time) technology. WRT can of course contain Flash Lite content, becasue essentially is a browser-based experience, and Flash Lite has long been able to be viewed through the S60 browser. But WRT is ultimately based on HTML, Javascript and CSS to create installable widgets for the S60 platform.

Gary Chan from Nokia will be presenting "Beyond Browsing - Web 2.0 goes Mobile" and showing web developers the opportunities to extend their reach into mobile widgets on the WRT platform by using their existing skills.

And as part of my session ("The Not-so Ancient Art of Mobile Flash Video") I might even get time to show the Flash Lite 3.0 video app we build incorporate into a WRT widget.

Confirmed as a speaker for webDU 2008

The 2008 webDU Conference is starting to take shape, and looks like being bigger and better than ever. And as has been my usual custom for the past 4 years, I've been honoured with a presentation spot.

This year my session is all about Flash Lite 3, and is (currently) titled "The not-so-ancient Art of Mobile FLash Video". I'm still working out the finer details of the session, but it'll be good to again fly the Flash mobile flag in the midst of stiff competition from AIR, Flex and Cold Fusion.

More to come as we get closer to the conference. If you're nearby Sydney arpund June 12-13, you need to make it a priority to come along to one of the most widely regarded web technology conferences.

webDU 2008 Dates Announced!

The dates have been confirmed for the greatest thing that happens down here ... if you're a nerd ... webDU! From Geoff:

Clear your diaries, inform your loved ones and pack a clean change of underwear because the premier Asia-Pacific web event for 2008 has been confirmed. webDU will be held on 12-13 June at the Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre in Darling Harbour, Sydney.

This year will be the greatest yet, with a wide range of speakers who will tantalise the mind and enlighten even the most decrepit developer's soul.

webDU covers a range of topics including Flash, Flex, AIR, JavaScript, ColdFusion, CSS, design, usability and more. If you're tangled in the Web, then this is an event you don't want to miss.

There will also be workshop groups running on 11 June for those who simply cannot wait to sink their teeth into webDU goodness. The conference agenda itself is being assembled over the course of the next month. Stay tuned for further updates at www.webdu.com.au

And yes, I'll be there again for my 5th webDU conference. I'm looking forward to delivering some great Flash Lite news, information, demoes and opportunities this year - more to come so stay tuned!

webDU Day Two and all done

So webDU is done for another year, and I can say that it was again a very successful conference. Geoff, Julie, Vanessa and the rest of the Daemon team should be very proud and their efforts are very much appreciated by all attendees, speakers and sponsors.

So Day Two started off not as dusty as previous years ... the previous evening was the annual conference banquet with it's regular highlights of great food, casual conversation amongst everyone and some fun entertainment. This year saw the Kath and Kim show come to webDU, and the two foxy ladies from Fountain Lakes did their level best to embarress as many of the visiting US Adobe folks as possible. Only problem was that when Kim tried to throw herself at who she thought was Tim Buntel, she instead had Andrew Spaulding (and don't tell me you didn't enjoy it Andrew!). They also thought that Ted Patrick was the Adobe guy with the dog who went everywhere ... James Talbot was beside me saying "Don't tell them it's me ... don't you say a word!".

The Microsoft party this year was handled by none other than our own Scott Barnes, who cut quite the dashing figure in his new MS Expression jacket. Free jackets and copies of Expression Web also sweetened the deal for many party goers ... but I think we all knew most were there for the drinks :)

But everyone pulled up very well I thought the next day, and the scond day keynote with Tim Buntel (ColdFusion Scorpio preview) and Ted Patrick (Flex). Sessions were also well attended, with Jesse showing off his awesome work on Flash Lite 2.x component framework called Shuriken. The day ended with a roundtable with all attendees and the Adobe guys doing their best to answer questions, but as always most of the answers involved a healthy dose of "no comment" :)

So, just the speaker party to go tonight before I head home on Sunday. It's been a great time this year and I was pleased to find so much positive energy for Moket and what we're trying to achieve. Most believe that Flash Lite WILL evetually fulfill the promises we've had over the past 2-3 years, and hopefully Moket is still well placed when it does.

So from webDU 2007 ... good night!

Touchdown at webDU

webDU is officially underway for me. I got the red-eye out of Brisbane this morning at 5.30am to get down to Sydney in time for the Day Zero training course I was running for Flash Lite. Got to meet up with James and Kai again which was cool, and gave 6 or so guys a total deep-end experience in Flash Lite 2,x development :) I think they're heads are still spinning, and I'm just catching up to the fact as to how little sleep I got last night! Off to the annual ANZ User Group Managers meeting tonight to catch up some more ... keynote tomorrow is Apolllo with Mike Chambers and Mie Downey (always a hoot), then my FL session first up. Rock on!