We’ve already noted that many of our Flashforward 2005 speakers are prolific, but Craig Swann can only be described as ubiquitous in the Flash universe. So we’ll take the easy way out and list the things Swann and his colleagues at CRASH!MEDIA haven’t done. (Note that our research is shoddy and it’s possible Swann did, for example, win a pie-eating contest; we will correct any errors that are brought to our attention.)

• Crag Swann and his team have not yet co-authored a book on Flash for Gardeners or Birdwatchers. (Merely Game Development, ActionScript, XML, Communication Server, Site design, Interface Design, Math, Audio, and tomes for people who are Mystified and/or Dumb. See crashmedia.com –> menu –> books.)
• Swann has not yet judged nor won a Punkin’ Chunkin’ competition. (But he has judged and/or won just about every Flash competition, including ours: he won in ‘02 for looplabs, was a finalist in San Francisco this year for the Bacardi Freestyle Contest site based on that looplabs work, and is a finalist again in New York for the CRASH!MEDIA site itself; plus he’s been a reliable judge of ours for years.)
• Ferrari has not yet, apparently, commissioned a site from Swann’s team, but Pontiac, Chevrolet, Honda, Cadillac and Mercedes Benz all have; and that’s just one industry of a dozen or so industries vying for their attention. Unfortunately their Flash work for Harlequin, “The world’s leading women’s literary publisher,” is all internal for the sales force so far.

Swann will be sharing his expertise in sound with us at Flashforward New York:

Sound Ideas
Sound is often, sadly, the most overlooked and undervalued element in an interactive project. Yet sound is one of the most powerful media available to communicate not simply message and meaning but also emotion, the key to connecting with a user. As an interactive platform, Flash offers a host of audio possibilities. In this session, Swann highlights sound for gaming experiences, UI, navigation, interactive toys, installations and integration with other technologic platforms. He discusses mixing, sampling, sequencing, triggering, using audio input, MIDI, audio visualizations, physical sensors and inputs—all different ways to harness the power of audio in the Flash environment. This session is open to all levels of Flash users who are interested in using sound in unique ways in their own Flash projects.

Interactive audio continues to be one of the most compelling reasons to use Flash on a web site, so learn from the master. And watch out for a demo of the Harlequin work…

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