Ten Reasons Your Company Should Send You to Flashforward
Flashforward is a chance to refine your focus, add to your skill set, and gain fresh new perspectives from the top Flash® experts in our industry. But if you want your company to pay your way, you’ll need to prove there are tangible benefits—for your professional growth and for the skills you’ll bring back to the office. Here’s a short list of tips you can use to persuade your company of the benefits both of you will receive from your attendance.
Flashforward is the longest-running, largest gathering of Adobe® Flash users on the planet. It’s a known quantity, a well-established conference featuring the best minds in the industry. It’s a chance for intensive education from industry leaders, a place to gain inspiration from those pushing the limits, a community of peers, and an opportunity to network with top suppliers. This conference focuses on learning all you can about Flash so that you can create better Flash video, rich internet applications in and out of the browser, animation, audio, games, and much more, with a focus on Flash, Flex™, ActionScript and Adobe Integrated Runtime (AIR).
We’ve compiled a list of the ten most compelling reasons to help you convince your boss that Flashforward is worth every penny.
1. Learn from experts.
You’ll get three days of immersive education, during which you’ll learn everything from new software and applications to new ideas for extending and ramping up the use of Flash, and you’ll learn it from industry-leading experts.
2. Review and test-drive the new Flash upgrade.
Adobe launched a Flash upgrade this year. Whether you’ve upgraded or not, learning what the new version has to offer means you’ll understand whether or not it is a valuable investment for your company and how to time your upgrade to coincide with strategic business problems you can help solve.
3. Brush up your technical skills.
Take this time away from the office and its day to day interruptions to focus on improving your technical skills. Spend some time with your lynda.com Online Training Library™ to prep prior to the conference so you are ready to ask questions about what you don’t know. After the conference, apply the techniques you learned and transfer that knowledge to others or show your boss that what you’ve learned can be applied to your work, allowing you to improve workflow and be more creative.
4. Explore new resources.
Check out the sponsors and exhibitors showcasing new resources and options in the Expo Hall. You’ll make contacts that will help you bring your next projects to life, whether you need to dig deeply into Flash, test drive new software, content delivery devices, project management tools, and Flash peripherals. You’ll return to the office with lots of information and samples from a variety of vendors who can help you solve future design and production problems.
5. Build a peer network.
If you find yourself isolated in your creative work this is an opportunity to spend time with others who face similar problems and hurdles. A network of peers can prove indispensable, particularly if you work alone or in a small department. Flashforward speakers and attendees are great resources when you need help with a future project, have a position to fill, or just need someone to bounce ideas off of. Keep those business cards you collect. They will come in handy.
6. One idea pays for the conference.
You’ll be inspired by some of the top creators and innovators in the Flash industry—and if you bring back just one valuable idea, Flashforward will be worth it. If you can improve your efficiency by just a few minutes per day thanks to a tip or trick you learned at the conference, you’ll save your company time and money.
7. Improve your performance.
Pick your weakest professional skills and focus your time at the conference on improving that particular area. Flashforward features four tracks of content, so you can focus on your personal and professional needs, building your skill set to improve your work performance. With over 40 sessions to choose from, Flashforward is an excellent way to spend your education budget.
8. Teach your co-workers.
Host an “everything I learned at Flashforward” presentation for your co-workers when you get home. (Your attendee workbook is filled with resources and speaker notes from the sessions—even the ones you didn’t attend—so there are plenty of resources to refer to and share with others.)
9. Fill open jobs.
Does your company have an open job position? Use the social outings at Flashforward to network and look for new employees. If you meet someone who seems like a good prospect pre-screen them and ask for their resume. Head back to the office with a solution to your company’s search for new talent.
10. Go see a client.
Does your firm have clients or potential clients in the San Francisco area? Offer to make a call on a client or potential client and present your firm’s work. Or volunteer to meet with vendors while you’re in town.
Bosses don’t necessarily understand inspiration as a valuable business tool, but they do understand new ideas that improve the bottom line in your business. Flashforward, led by the industry innovators, is full of inspiration which helps push you, and your company, in new directions. Inspiration fuels the ‘creative curve’ and keeps you ahead of the pace (or at the very least, in step with it) which is where you want to be.
For more bottom-line benefits, take a close look at the program. The sessions are packed with information to help you save time, energy, and money without sacrificing creativity.