We’re pleased to announce that we have published speaker bios, session descriptions and a schedule for the Flashforward2006 Seattle Conference & Film Festival on the web site. While there may be additions or changes here and there between now and February, we hope you’ll agree that this event will be instrumental to your growth as a Flash developer or designer.

Why not register today while early-bird discounts are still in effect?

Here’s what’s new:

Better Venue: The Washington State Convention and Trade Center in Seattle is larger than our previous venues, allowing us to offer more sessions and exhibitors, and is conveniently located in the heart of downtown with great restaurants and hotels right outside its doors.

Deeper and more diverse content: There are now three full days of sessions, and the sessions are 25% longer than in the past.

More learning: We are now offering an optional fourth day of workshops, giving you an extra day of immersion in one subject. Take one workshop, or roam among them; customize your learning experience to suit your needs.

Special bonus for our attendees: Every conference attendee also receives access to the educational lynda.com Online Training Library, which contains over 200 hours of extensive Flash® and other Macromedia and Adobe Training that can be used to brush up before the event or as an after-event refresher course. Current Library subscribers receive extensions to their membership.

Bigger Expo: We will have more companies and organizations in the Flash ecosystem to show you their wares.

We’ve brought back the best of previous conferences:

Flexible learning: Every day of the event includes multiple concurrent tracks, so there will always be a topic you care about. You may plan in advance or choose as you go.

State of the Union keynote: The Macromedia Keynote, presented by Kevin Lynch, Chief Software Architect, will bring you up to date on the current and future plans for the Flash® platform.

A showcase of the world’s best talent: The Flashforward Film Festival will immerse you in the best Flash on the web.

Networking at its best: The networking reception and festival after-party offer you fun nights and great opportunities to meet and mingle with your colleagues from all over the globe.

Tons of toys: The end-of-conference raffle is how we distribute the mountains of free stuff our sponsors and exhibitors have so kindly contributed to the event.

Topics, fresh off the vine: Flash 8 and Beyond

Insider info: Our international roster of presenters mastered Flash 8 before it had even gone on sale, and they’re eager to teach you what they know.

Next generation insight: Many of our presenters are currently mastering the next generation of Macromedia software, and will be sharing their insights into subjects like ActionScript 3, Flex 2, Breeze and ColdFusion.

Putting them together: Other sessions will examine the interaction and workflow between Flash® and other programs in your toolbox, like Photoshop, After Effects, MySQL & PHP, Ajax and JavaScript.

Design expertise: We have a special emphasis on design at this event, with sessions covering video, audio, animation and effects, design for the web, mobile devices, and installations.

Design inspiration: We’ve packed the schedule with design visionaries, including Hillman Curtis, April Greiman, Erik Natzke and Jakob Trollbäck.

Emphasis on education: Educators will find a dedicated workshop day and sessions focused on web-based training, as well as teaching Flash.

Fun and Games: And since Flash® is also fun, we have seminars on game design and development, as well as presentations by Matt & Mike Chapman from Homestar Runner and Evan Spiridellis from JibJab.

We’re very excited to visit a new city, to showcase a new version of Flash®, and to share new tips, techniques, and projects. It’s our hope that you’ll join us once again for an exceptional program to feed your mind, inspire your soul, and keep your creative force in high gear. We hope to see you in February!

Expecting to see the Chris Orwig interview? Here it is.
(Your humble blogger pasted the wrong link into an email announcement.)

Hillman Curtis was one of the first design visionaries to join us at Flashforward, and we’re excited to confirm that he’s returning to the 2006 Seattle event to discuss his latest web and video work.

As digital video has become an ever-more-accessible medium, and now that Flash 8 makes it almost trivial to share your video creations online, many of us have been adding videography and video publishing to our professional and artistic repertoires. And as he did with web design, Hillman Curtis has been blazing the trail before us, mastering filmmaking and web delivery so he can share his inspirations, techniques and insights.

He has done so in his latest book, Creating Short Films for the Web, in which he details the creative process behind nine video projects. His Flashforward presentation will similarly examine some of his latest short films, as well as his most recent web designs, like yahoo.com.

If you haven’t visited Hillman’s portfolio site lately, you must! Plan to spend time savoring his Film and Video work in particular. His latest pieces are a documentary on the design group “Pentagram” and a “Films on Film” short about Spinal Tap.

We’ll be publishing all our speaker bios and session descriptions soon, but we’ll reproduce Hillman’s here for your convenience. Please don’t miss the chance to see Hillman’s presentation in person!

Hillman on Video

Hillman describes the relatively recent addition of filmmaking to his studio. He’ll talk about recent web design work, such as redesigning the Yahoo.com homepage, and then share how his path moved into making films. Hillman will show several films from his Designer Series and one from the Films on Film series. Each experience will be deconstructed, with focus on filming and the process of editing - of finding the story. Hillman will touch on technical challenges as well as the freedom that new (DV and HDV) technology allows. He will trace the impact that his experience as a Flash® and web designer has had on his filmmaking.

Hillman Curtis is founder and creative director of hillmancurtis, inc., a design studio with offices in San Francisco and New York City. Hillman has designed some of the world’s most visited sites, including Yahoo.com, Adobe.com, Fox SearchLight Pictures, and has led design initiatives for clients such as AOL, RollingStone, MTV, and Aquent.

His work has been recognized worldwide and garnered the industry’s top honors, including the One Show Gold, The Communication Arts Award of Excellence, The Webby, Adweek Icon Gold Award, SXSW Best of Show, and others. He has appeared as the keynote and featured speaker at design conferences worldwide and his work has been featured in a variety of major design publications.

Hillman’s first book, Flash Web Design (New Riders, USA) has sold over 100,000 copies and has been translated into 12 languages. His second book, MTIV, Process, Inspiration and Practice for the New Media Designer, was released in 2002, and is required reading in many design schools, and is currently in its third printing. His latest book, Creating Short Films for the Web, was released in August of this year.

Hillman’s most recent venture has been into the world of film and video. His Designer Series — a series of short documentaries on designers such as Milton Glaser, Paula Scher, and Stefan Sagmeister, have been viewed over 250,000 times collectively and published online by the American Institute of Graphic Design. He has directed several short features — all currently making the rounds at the top film festivals — as well as two successful music videos.

NOMINATE NOW

Remember that site you were going to finish in time to nominate it for the 2006 Seattle Flashforward Film Festival? Hurry up! The deadline is December 2nd. Someone else steal your good idea before your site was done? Nominate theirs instead! Give our judges plenty to choose from so the finalists they select will truly represent the best Flash on the web.

To answer a few frequently-asked questions…

• There is no charge associated with nominating a site
• A site can be nominated for as many categories as it excels in
• You may nominate as many sites as you want
• The sites you nominate can be your own or one that you admire
• What do you win? A big rubber arrow! See Mark Sylvester’s excellent Flickr set and start planning your victory tour.

Need a little traffic to your site? Feel free to post the URL in the comments of this post after you nominate it — assuming it’s a legitimate Flash site that has been nominated to an appropriate category, we’ll gladly let the comment remain.

Questions? Post a comment here or email festival@flashforwardconference.com.

Interested in judging these excellent pieces? let us know! (And yes you CAN be a judge and a finalist; we just assign you to a different category than the one your for which your work is nominated.)

We’ve had amazing presentations from representatives of Creative Commons at recent Flashforward conferences — Joichi Ito, Lawrence Lessig, Paula LeDieu — and we’re working on securing another CC speaker for Seattle. Meanwhile, we noticed that they’ve launched a fundraising campaign, so we thought we’d let our readers know about it (all seven of you.)

If you prefer tangible thanks for your donation, there are several very nice CC-logo items available for sale as well, and since we don’t have any Flashforward T-Shirts for sale* you might as well buy one of theirs…

But seriously, the Creative Commons movement deserves our support, so help if you can!

*yet