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Flash and Flex Conference Price Comparison, 2009 Edition

December 18, 2008 at 4:48 pm · Filed under Adobe, Conferences, FITC, Flash, Flash on the Beach, FlashForward Conference, Flex

As the New Year is upon us and we start to budget for conferences in 2009, it is time for the annual Flash conference price comparison post. This year the comparison is a little more in depth because it has more significance with the world's (and especially US) economy hitting some hard times. As a refresher, you can see my posts on this subject from 2007 and 2008.

I was prompted to start looking at conference prices for 2009 when I heard that Flash On The Beach Miami's Super Early Bird pricing has been extended through Christmas. John Davey, the conference organizer, sent me a short email stating, "I think everyone is worried about the economy, and although it is worrying me too, I think a show of 'giving back' will be appreciated." I agree, John. And, thanks!

So, without further delay, here is a breakdown of pricing comparing some of the 'major' Flash/Flex conferences:

	FOTB (Miami)	FlashForward	FITC (Toronto)	360\|Flex

Super Early Bird				First 100 tickets
Regular	$299	n/a	$458 USD	$360
Student	$149		$230
Flex Pass	$449		$542

Early Bird				Next 200 tickets
Regular	$429	$899	$542	$480
Student	$319		$271
Flex Pass	$559		$625

Standard				Last 100 tickets
Regular	$499	$999	$625	$550
Student	$249		$313
Flex Pass	$629		$709

Door Price
Regular	$599	$1099	$709
Student	$299		$355
Flex Pass	$719		$793

When looking at the table, you'll no doubt notice a few things right off. First, FlashForward continues to be the most expensive conference of the bunch at about a whopping 50% more expensive than FOTB or 306|Flex for the standard ticket price. I should mention that FlashForward has not posted their prices for 2009 and the table includes their 2008 pricing. Since the conference just changed hands last year (it was purchased by Beau Ambur of Metaliq) and they dropped the prices at that time, it is most likely safe to assume that they will keep the prices as-is this year.

Another item to consider is that with a new edition to be held in Miami, Flash on the Beach no longer requires international travel. My prior comparisons all had to take into account a flight to London and the very lopsided exchange rate for US Dollar to British Pound. With that no longer being necessary, FOTB is now even a better bargin for those of us in the States. Especially when you realize that all of the headlining speakers from the Brighton edition have also committed to speaking in Miami.

360|Flex has always had some of the lowest prices for a conference. They started out with all tickets priced at $360, but had since risen the price to $480. For their next conference they are taking a new approach of tiered pricing. As you can see above, the first 100 tickets are at the old $360 rate, the next 200 are at the standard $480 rate, and the last are at a premium rate of $550 (which is still about half of the cost of FlashForward).

Of course there is always the extra costs that go along with conferences like flight and hotel. Those certainly add to the cost, but for the most part are the same across the board (except in the case of international travel and/or exchange rates as mentioned previously), so I don't take those into consideration here.

What are your thoughts on the price of conferences in 2009? Am I missing any conferences that you would like to see added?

Comments (3)

Flash on the Beach ’09 Miami Tickets Now on Sale

November 18, 2008 at 9:43 am · Filed under Conferences, Flash on the Beach

If you haven't been to a Flash on the Beach conference yet because you had a hard time justifying the cost of travel to Brighton, your chance to experience the best Flash-centric conference has arrived stateside! Tickets for FOTB Miami to be held April 6th-8th, 2009 are now on sale. And, the first 199 people to buy tickets will get them at the unbelievable price of $299.

On that note, I've been adding up some numbers for my annual conference pricing comparison post - so check back soon for all the details on which conference is the best deal of 2009.

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See me speak at the < head > Conference

October 22, 2008 at 11:21 am · Filed under <head> Web Conference, Actionscript 2, Actionscript 3, Conferences, SWX

This Saturday, October 25th at 2pm PST, I'll be speaking at the <head> Conference on Working with SWX: The Native Data Format for the Flash Platform. Here is my session description:

In this session we'll cover the basics of SWX: what it is and what it is best used for, how systemwide simplicity benefits developers, how to use the free public gateway for integrating APIs into your mobile and web applications, and plans for the upcoming ActionScript 3 release.

If you are unfamiliar, <head> is a global web conference -- all sessions are attended online using Adobe's Acrobat Connect. There are a few local hubs scattered around the world, so you can also sign up to attend those hubs if you'd like to network, meet speakers in person, etc. Aral, the conference organizer, has arranged for an amazing line-up of speakers over three days.

Hope to see you there!

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