Adobe MAX Conference 2010

[decoyman]

Just wondering, has anyone ever been to an Adobe MAX Conference? If so, what are they like? They're definitely not cheap to attend, but is it worth the cost? Anyone going this year?

Also, what are some other good "design" conferences out there? I work at a university, and Adobe MAX has many education-centric seminars and workshops available, which is nice and what drew me to it in the first place.

Oh, one other thing I've heard, but have no real basis for... does Adobe give out software when you go to their conferences? It doesn't say anything about that in the details on their website. But it'd make me feel way better about paying so much to attend.

Thanks!

 

[lucidmedia]

Just wondering, has anyone ever been to an Adobe MAX Conference? If so, what are they like? They're definitely not cheap to attend, but is it worth the cost? Anyone going this year?

Also, what are some other good "design" conferences out there? I work at a university, and Adobe MAX has many education-centric seminars and workshops available, which is nice and what drew me to it in the first place.

Oh, one other thing I've heard, but have no real basis for... does Adobe give out software when you go to their conferences? It doesn't say anything about that in the details on their website. But it'd make me feel way better about paying so much to attend.

Thanks!

What are you looking to get out of your conference? MAX is very different from a "design" conference, and the many commercial "design" conferences are quite different from the "design education" conferences that Adobe sponsors as well.

I will be presenting at MAX this year, so I will be there. But I usually don't go.

I don't expect there will be any huge announcements at MAX. Now that CS5 is launched and 5.5 being a ways away, things will be quiet for a little bit. With Adobe's layoffs and belt-tightening I would not expect any freebees... It will NOT be like the Google Developer Conference this year where everyone was given a free Android phone.

In terms of design conferences, the AIGA has a large national conference every year that is well attended. Typecon is focused on typography and type design, and can be a lot of fun because it is a small community and many well-known designers come and are very approachable. Internationally, ICOGRADA has a yearly conference, as does ATypI, which is a very large conference on typography.

SIGGRAPH is, of course, a huge conference focused on computer graphics.

The AIGA also has a series of smaller, regional "design education" conferences that you may like, as well. Next one is at NC State in October as well.

 

[decoyman]

Thanks for the response! What do I hope to get out of it... well, I'm a lone wolf designer in my current position (work on my own 95% of the time). In the past when working in agencies, I was able to rely on my coworkers to give me tips and tell me about the latest techniques in design – web, print, interactive... Now I don't have that, but I want to make sure I stay up on the latest best practices, techniques, etc.

It just seemed like the Adobe MAX conference would be right up my alley since so many of the sessions seem like they'd be really interesting and informative. But it's incredibly expensive. I've never heard of a conference that costs $1500 to attend. I work at a university, so the cost is $1000, but still...

I suppose I AM also a design educator at my university, but only teach one lab section per semester generally. I'm primarily a practicing designer, so the "design education" conferences don't interest me a whole lot. I'm interested in type, but don't know that I'd want to go to a whole conference on it.

I checked into AIGA's offerings, and it seems like there's a good one coming up in October '11. But I was hoping for something this year.

Will keep looking. Thanks again for the response!

P.S. - What's your session topic?