The second day of Flash On The Beach was miserable… at least, the weather was miserable: the presentations were excellent.
Brendan Dawes kicked things off with a superb presentation. It was funny, passionate, down to earth and inspiring. He’s a bullshit-free zone. Once again, I was struck by how little was specific to Flash. Instead, the presentation was universal, covering design, inspiration, life, the universe and everything.
After that, I saw some of the beautiful data visualisations from Marcos Weskamp. You’ve probably seen his scrAPI-powered Newsmap app. It was fascinating stuff and despite the fact that English isn’t his mother tongue, Marcos did a good job of explaining some fairly complicated topics.
After a quick lunch at Wagamama’s, I gave my presentation. People were very kind to me and said they enjoyed it. I got a real glow of pleasure when Brendan told me how much he liked it. It’s always nice to hear that someone enjoyed a presentation, but it means so much more when the complement comes from someone I admire so much—just like when John Allsopp complemented me on my presentation at Web Directions South.
I took a break after my talk and re-entered the dome to see Hillman Curtis. Again, this was only tangentially related to Flash. He told some stories and showed some movies, all in a very relaxed way. It was a very pleasant experience to sit there and take in his work while he filled in the back story.
With that, the presentations were done and all that remained was the Flash tenth anniversary party in the Honey Club. Despite the weather (still miserable), many Flash geeks showed up and I spent the evening in conversation with people from Belgium, France and Norway.
I find it extremely cool that Brighton can attract such a far-flung crowd with an appealing, professional conference. John Davey took quite a risk with Flash On The Beach. I’m really glad it paid off.
I wish I could have been there for day three. Instead, I spent the day getting a bus to Heathrow, waiting at the airport, sitting in a plane, waiting for my luggage, getting a taxi and finally settling in to my hotel room in Berlin. The travelling was worth it: this is some hotel.