At the LFUG meet-up last week it was clear that not everyone was 100% sure about what goes on at MAX and why they should go, especially given the current economic situation. So, here is your 5 minute guide to what’s happening at MAX, who’s going from the UK and how YOU can go for less…
What is MAX?
From wikipedia… “Adobe MAX is a large annual event held by Adobe in North America, Europe and Japan. The purpose of the event to provide unique opportunities for those in the computer design and development industries to connect and learn the latest cutting-edge technologies that Adobe releases.”
This year’s European event is taking place December 1st – 3rd in Milan, Italy. If you’re interested in Adobe’s technology roadmap, new product announcements or want to learn more about the Flash Platform and Flex through hands-on labs and over 50 Flex developer sessions then MAX Europe is for you. Use the session browser to explore all the sessions at MAX.
Who is going to MAX Europe from the UK?
This year, there are a host of speakers travelling from the UK to speak at MAX, alongside Adobe product managers, evangelists and designers & developers from all around the world. Here are some of the sessions from UK speakers:
- James Whittaker (RefreshingApps.com), “Perfecting the user experience in Adobe AIR”
- Samuel Williams (LBi), “Building Flex applications with PureMVC”
- Neil Middleton (Monochrome), “Structuring your development team and getting the work done”
- Mike Jones (FlashGen), “Debugging and profiling with Flex Builder”
- Rob Bateman (Away3D), “Finding Away3D”
- Stefan Richter (FlashComGuru), “Building collaborative applications with Flash Media Server”
- Carlos Ulloa (Papervision3D), “Advanced Papervision3D”-
- Rick Williams (AKQA), “Anatomy of a seriously sophisticated AIR application”
- Dom O’Brien (Glue London), “Interactive Video Campaigns”
We’re planning to hold a get together dinner on Sunday night in Milan, in conjunction with the LFUG, for all attendees travelling from the UK – come and network with UK Flex developers before the event starts, pick up your exclusive MAX T-Shirt and plan out your agenda for the conference. There is a rumour that Adobe are sponsoring some drinks 😉
How do I justify the cost?
In the current economic climate, it can be challenging to justify the cost attending conferences – if you do need to sell it to your boss, then I think MAX is better positioned as 3 days of intensive training; in which case, at around £400 (book using discount code UKI816) it’s pretty good value. Travelling to MAX in Milan from the UK doesn’t need to be expensive – I’ve listed some low cost options for flights and hotels below; and you could always consider room sharing to reduce the cost further… why not post over on the LFUG forums for a room mate?
EasyJet have return Gatwick<->Milan flights from around £50.
BA have return Heathrow<->Milan flights from around £100.
Hotels – there are hotels on Expedia from around £45 a night staying near the Central Station. A map of recommended hotels is available here.
Why else should I go?
Well, keep an eye on Ryan Stewart’s blog for another BIG reason to attend MAX Europe… 🙂
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