Maybe its because I’m from the midwest, or maybe its Dave’s hospitality, but I always feel like I’m coming home when I get to Minneapolis. With an amazing lineup of speakers (in which I was honored to be included) and a friendly, laid-back crowd of talented developers and designers, this year’s FlashBelt was a great experience.

Although my session, “Demystifying Flash Video Delivery,” was up against rockstars Hugh Elliott and Ralph Hauwert, I had a great turn out. Thanks to everyone who attended, and stayed awake for, my preso.

If you missed the session, or missed any details, you can grab the presentation here in PDF format:

http://www.flashconnections.com/flashbelt10/FB2010_Mysteries.pdf

I also promised that a whitepaper on HTTP Dynamic Streaming that I’m working on will be published by Adobe “any day now.” That is still true… watch my blog for an update and a link to the free doc when it’s published.

Jan Ozer and I had a quick ooVoo video chat about our upcoming workshop, Streaming Production and Flash Seminar – March 23 in NYC. Watch it for more info about what we’ll cover!

The always-entertaining Jesse Warden (JesterXL) shares some pearls of wisdom and some insights on getting started with the Open Source Media Framework. Enjoy.

This morning’s VideoNuze email brought some good news for Adobe:

Fox Switches from Move to Flash; ABC Plans Transition Too.

Looks like the gamble on adding HTTP Streaming to Flash Player has paid off. The advantages of the Move Networks solution just didn’t add up for the premium price tag. Congrats, Flash Media team!

Big thanks to Amy Blankenship at InsideRIA for including me on their list. I’m in good company.

http://www.insideria.com/2010/01/the-women-of-ria.html

The new Flash Player 10.1 features will include some iPhone-like features such as accelerometer support, multi-touch, gestures and screen orientation, but no announcement yet about iPhone support — only support for just about every other smartphone (including Palm OS — hurrah!)

http://paidcontent.org/article/419-adobe-extends-full-flash-to-just-about-every-phone-but-the-iphone/

More tomorrow after the keynote.
(No, I’m not there unfortunately, but watching the broadcast. So I’ll try to interpret the announcements as they relate to Flash video since I can’t scoop!)

Well, I’ve made it back home from my second Flash on the Beach conference, held in beautiful Brighton, UK. As expected, this year’s conference did not disappoint! Legends were born (Joa), controversies were kindled (Craig), and F-bombs were lobbed (Hugh, Stacey, Josh, Peter….etc etc). I was inspired once again by Hillman Curtis, by Joel Gethin Lewis, and by Craig Swann who showed us how important it is to “question everything” (as many of the attendees apparently took to heart!)

John Davey, his wife Jo, and his fantastic event staff pulled off the sold-out conference without a hitch. I’m in awe that they can run things so smoothly, and make it look so easy. I traveled there with my whole family (yes, 10-month-old and all) and John made us feel like royalty! He values his attendees just as much and bends over backwards to give them a content-rich conference, and a good time to boot.

This is one of my favorite conferences not just because John considers us all to be family, but because of the stellar content. The talent featured in the speaker lineup is amazing. I’m truly honored to be counted among the speakers at FOTB.

Mark your calendars for next year. I know the economy sucks. I know budgets are tight. But let me tell you, this conference is worth every penny (or pence)  you spend to get there, so don’t miss Flash on the Beach 2010!

p.s. And of course, I owe a huge thank you to all the fellow-speakers who helped me ring in my extra-special birthday celebration on Wednesday night/Thursday morning — especially to Niqui Merret and to Chris Pelsor for all the champagne and my flaming drink (I *may* still have the tiki mug…) You rock!!

I had the privilege to present a session earlier this week at the FlashBelt conference in Minneapolis. It was my third year in a row being a part of this fantastic conference that is a labor of love for its organizer, Dave Schroeder. I had to leave the conference early this year, so I missed a lot of the social mixers and, most notably, the keynote that has unfortunately cast a pall on this year’s conference. (See http://bit.ly/PY4ty for all the gory details.)

Because I feel I know Dave well, and I was one of the female speakers at this conference, I feel the need to weigh in.

I’ve been speaking at tech conferences for several years now, often as one of only two or three female speakers. So I’ve experienced my share of misogyny, but also of proactive inclusiveness. I’ve had the perennial conversation with many of the conference organizers: “How do we get more women involved?!” They all say they can’t find females who are willing to stand up and speak. It is truly a chicken-and-egg problem. It stands to reason that a woman may not want to show up, let alone speak, if she feels she’ll be putting herself out there to be disrespected or objectified. It’s not easy being a woman in a field dominated by men, and in some cases, boys.

I know Hoss.  I’ve presented at conferences he’s been a part of several times. And, yes, he does seem to get a pass. “Aw, yeah, that’s just Hoss…” I’ve heard that more than once. To that point, let me share a couple of personal experiences I’ve had interacting with him.

My first encounter with Hoss was at the conference where I presented for the first time, with my female business partner. The sessions had just let out and there was a rush for the elevators. My partner and I were the last to get into a crowded elevator, and Hoss was the next in line. We squeezed back to make room for him, and he got a big grin and shouted to everyone within earshot… “Yeaaaah, I’m ridin’ with the LADIES!” and proceeded to press himself against us. We were of course disgusted and embarrassed, but as first-time speakers we didn’t want to make too much of a fuss. As women so often feel they have to do in business, we snickered and laughed it off. And just kept our distance.

The next time I crossed paths with him was a couple of weeks ago at another conference. Again, I was in an elevator, but this time I was there with my husband and 7 month old daughter. I had mentioned the previous elevator experience to my husband, so he was surprised when a quiet, respectful Hoss got in, nodded to me and smiled at our baby. We had a short conversation and he was on his way. This is the “teddy bear” Hoss that Dave refers to in his public apology, one that has a daughter of his own. (Based strictly on this interaction, who would have guessed he was on his way to show off his “orgasmatron”?)

So, yes, Dave should have been aware of the tone and content of Hoss’ presentation prior to inviting him to speak. But not for a second do I believe he would consciously condone discrimination, objectification, or abuse of a female attendee or speaker. I had to bring my daughter with me to this year’s conference and he bent over backwards to make things easy for us (you don’t see many babies at tech conferences, believe me). FlashBelt has always been the most gender-inclusive conference of its kind. I honestly believe that the reason this was sparked at THIS conference was primarily BECAUSE there were so many women in attendance. It would truly be a disservice to single out FlashBelt as “the” sexist conference. Dave has a big heart, and he just got a big lesson in trusting those who he thinks of as friends.

I tell you all this not to ratchet up the buzz, but to hopefully become part of a bigger solution. This stuff is always under the surface. The women know it; the men know it. It’s incidents like this that can raise consciousness, help trigger action and foster change. Let’s hope that’s the real take-away from this year’s FlashBelt.

If anyone has ideas to bring about a more gender-blind Flash community, please bring ‘em on. It’s 2009, already!

Nope, that’s not a typo. If you haven’t heard the buzz about Flash On Tap yet, here’s the deal.

• Top-tier speakers.
• Full-day intensive workshops.
• Two full days of sessions.
• Career Fair.
• Trivia Competition.
• Cool Boston location, “The Castle”
• Smaller conference, giving you a chance to network like crazy.
• The excitement of a beer festival; the inspiration of an info-packed conference.

And did I mention beer is included? Oh, and most meals are covered too (mmm… Smokey’s Longhorn BBQ, anyone?!).

Flash on Tap is also less expensive than other conferences — and if you buy your ticket before Monday, Sep 8 you can take advantage of early bird pricing. (They also offer flexible ala-carte pricing, which isn’t so common with conferences these days…) So get on over there now and reserve your space!

BONUS — ENTER DISCOUNT CODE
FOSBEER
FOR AN ADDITIONAL $50 BUCKS OFF!

FlashOnTap.com >>
October 7-9, 2008
Boston, MA

p.s. I’m heartbroken that I’m missing this conference… my good friends up in Boston have been scheming for over a year now putting this together, and I was so excited to watch it come to fruition. So you all need to go, soak it in, have a beer for me, and be a part of this historic first-annual FOT. I’ll be here gestating…

Adobe announced yesterday that NFL has chosen Flash as their platform of choice to broadcast Sunday Night games. Dubbed Sunday Night Football Extra, they’ve developed a “rich, interactive environment that will include interactive extras such as alternative camera angles, picture-in-picture technology, in-game highlights, live statistics, and interactivity.” And, unlike the Olympics, will feature audio commentary, and even interaction with the announcers via a “live blog”. (Not sure if they mean live chat, here… which would be more compelling.)

For more info, see the official press release.