Adobe MAX 2010 Wrap-Up Part 1: Pre-Conference

So… it’s taken me a while to get these thoughts together and I’m not going to write about the general sessions, announcements, Sneaks, MAX Bash and all – you can read that elsewhere. What I’ll be providing here is an overview of events from my perspective, day-by-day, with a short overall wrap-up at the conclusion. Many photographs. Sound good? Excellent.

Speaker Badge, Adobe MAX 2010 - photo by Joseph Labrecque

Saturday:

I arrived Saturday evening and took a taxi straight to the University of Southern California, where Adobe Education was holding a summit reception at the School of Cinematic Arts. Had the taxi drop me off on the campus outskirts and used my Droid to navigate to the building. I would be lost without that thing!

USC School of Cinematic Arts, Adobe MAX 2010 - photo by Joseph Labrecque

Aside from catching up with friends, we also got the chance to tour the awesome new video production facilities they have there. Afterwards, a quick shuttle to the Westin where I finally checked in (very late) and called it a night. I was planning to meet up with some community people at The Standard, but this was not to be.

View from the Westin Bonaventure, Adobe MAX 2010 - photo by Joseph Labrecque

Sunday:

The first full day in Los Angeles as spent at the Adobe Education Summit. More networking and some nice sessions from both Adobe people and some fellow Adobe Education Leaders. I gave my session “Open Source Media Framework for Education” and afterwards had a nice chat with Stephanie Sullivan – surprisingly not about HTML5! My session should be on Adobe TV in a bit. These sessions are processed differently from the general MAX presentations.

Joseph Labrecque and Daniela Birch, Education Summit at Adobe MAX 2010 - photo by Marc Dubois
Joseph Labrecque, Education Summit at Adobe MAX 2010 - photo by Marc Dubois

During the final session, I had to leave early to meet Jesse Freeman and others at the “MAX Last Supper” that he had graciously arranged at Flemings that evening. Met a bunch of people here That I had previously known only through online communications such as Jesse himself, Kevin Suttle, Brian Connatser, Elad Elrom, Chuck Freedman, and a number of other fine gentlemen that I now openly apologize to for not catching their names. Good conversation all around- mostly focused on mobile development with Flash and AIR, of course! I was unfortunately called away to another meeting and wasn’t able to stay nearly as long as I had wished – but thanks again to Jesse for arranging such a great little event.

ADAA Ceremony, Adobe MAX 2010 - photo by Joseph Labrecque

Another highlight of Sunday evening was attending the 10th Annual Adobe Design Achievement Awards Ceremony held at the Regal Cinemas Premiere House. Some really interesting projects were on display here and the winners for each category were oftentimes overcome with emotion. A very interesting evening. All of the winning projects could be seen at the ADAA gallery within the convention center during the MAX event.

This was followed by champagne reception at the LACC, then food and drinks at the JW Marriott with Peter Issacson, Megan Stewart, John Schuman, and a few of my AEL friends. Great conversations, as always!

Part 2 will be published within a few days and will cover the general conference.

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