Aral Balkan

I had an absolute blast previewing my new talk, Aim for the low-hanging fruit (or 5 rules for Hedonistic Developers), at the Adobe User Group events in Amsterdam and Ghent during the Adobe CS4 launch.

I always love presenting in both the Netherlands and Belgium -- you guys are so awesome -- and this time was no exception.

I don't know how it's possible, given that I've had just a total of 5 1/2 hours sleep in the last two nights and that I presented talks in two different countries yesterday -- but I'm feeling refreshed and recharged and raring to tackle the last month leading up to the conference.

Oh, and one small request:

If you attended either of the talks, I'd really love it if you could a comment and a short review. I'm trying to write up a summary for the talk and I keep getting stuck. How would you describe what you saw? Leave a note (or send me a 140 review on Twitter) and I'll use my favorites in the session description in the future (with full credit to you, of course, so make sure you leave your name). Thanks so much in advance!

Comments

• Thank-you so much for all of your amazing feedback -- wow! Based on your feedback I've (a) changed the title of the talk (from "developers" to "creatives") as it really is aimed at all creatives (developers, designers, and artists) and I'm going to be presenting it at Flash on the Beach next week! It was so much fun to present this session to you guys and to meet and speak with so many of you after the talk. I hope I'll get to see some of you again at FOTB!

  by Aral on 2008-09-25 11:31:45

• Aral, thanks again for the awesome talk, loved it. We were discussing if you could go for "geek comedian of the year", I rarely had so much fun watching a presentation. I wrote a small roundup as well if you like. More photos (under a CC license, what did you expect) on Flickr: http://flickr.com/photos/schoeters/sets/72157607470858910/.

  by Simon on 2008-09-24 19:05:06

• make that 'python'. *sigh*

  by Theun de Bruijn on 2008-09-24 13:56:43

• Hi Aral, Thanks again for the session, it was so much fun (quoting the title). Greetings, Sarah

  by Sarah on 2008-09-24 16:47:08

• Hey Aral! Go to see you made it home in once piece :) Your presentation was awesome (but you knew that. You were there ;) ) I really liked the slides. Very different, and 'full of energy'. Very different from other slideshows (Not one 'black' slide in there) It was good to see you again. PS: I wrote a blogpost where I mention you and your session, but since your Dutch is awfull (hey, if I don't tell you, who will? :p ) I won't be much of a help for you ;) Good luck with your last month of preparations for . Looking forward to it. See you soon :)

  by Ronny on 2008-09-24 16:50:17

• Hmz...Where's did the 'head' go...? :p

  by Ronny on 2008-09-24 16:51:52

• Haha, thanks for the session! Good to hear you seem to have enjoyed it as much as us. And yes, I feel confident enough to say that goes for the entire crowd. It was a real pleasure to see someone on stage really, and I mean _really_ caring about what they had to say. It's not so common to hear voices nowadays without a clearly commercially or enterprise (yuck) driven agenda. Then again, it might be you're just a lot better at hiding yours ;). One point of note would be that a small interlude on how to integrate these five rules in a much more controlled environment, like working for an agency or yes, dare I say it, enterprise, would be a nice addition. In contrast to projects one starts, manages, delivers, or f*cks up for one's self. Next to that, nothing but thumbs up. Your session was insightful, inspiring, but most of all fun. Just like life should be. /off to get some pythone console love

  by Theun de Bruijn on 2008-09-24 13:55:04

• As a student I really learned some things from your presentation. On top of that I had the feeling I got a free stand up comedian show wich is a big plus. I'll be sure to check back if you're speaking somewhere in Belgium once again! Unfortunatly I don't have any pictures , I'll ask the people who joined me at the even though cause one of them brought his camera. Keep up the good work I'd say. Little question : Are there any presentations from you availlable online ? Would be nice to see the one from last night again for example ... Greetings

  by Jonathan Vercoutere on 2008-09-24 15:21:12

• It was a great presentation Aral!

  by Frederik Heyninck on 2008-09-24 13:41:51

• I wrote a review - read it here http://cyrilhanquez.com/blog/2008/09/24/latest-aug-event-was-brilliant/ and pics there http://www.flickr.com/photos/fitzchev/sets/72157607465793849/. See you in few days already :-)

  by Cyril Hanquez on 2008-09-24 12:33:41

• Thank you all so much! :)

  by Aral on 2008-09-24 14:52:23

• Oh, and if you have pictures from the event please do share them, perhaps on Flickr (under a Creative Commons license would be really cool). Videos also -- YouTube, Vimeo, Viddler. And do leave a note to let me know if you get a moment. Thanks! :)

  by Aral on 2008-09-24 14:54:49

• Hey Aral, I must admit that i liked your presentation very well. I am a designer so I thought your presentation was nothing i could learn from, but i was wrong! Your guidelines work in the designworld too i think. Its easy to loose yourself in making beautiful design that dont match wit the technique. I am gonna hold on to your list of wisdom:) and try to intograte it into my work. Keep up the good work and maybe till sometime later! Greet, Dennis

  by Dennis willems on 2008-09-24 14:18:06

• Hi Aral, I enjoyed your 5 rules for Hedonistic Developers. You inspired me to think about my current job. I'm a allround designer/developer and in my current company i'm the only one who works with the internet. Sometimes I miss the input of other developers. But I like my job a lot because I can do the whole process,from designing the websites till the programming of the database connections. I desided i'm gonna play more and seek the limits of the website I am making. Thanks for the inspiring speech I will follow you one the internet ! Janneke

  by Janneke on 2008-09-25 07:58:19

• Hi Aral, Although the cakes sucked big time, you presentation was the bomb. As a designer myself I try to find my way into scripting and it takes my like forever to get the hang of the whole ActionScripting-code. So it was very recognizable to me, the way you presented that little piece of code. The fun is still there, but I can see myself moving away from it again when it takes me too long to learn. Flex is cool and you can do cool things with it, but I find the learning-curve rather steep. So your presentation hit the nail on the head. Thumbs up for this presentation and have fun! Greetz, Kristof

  by Kristof Drossaert on 2008-09-25 08:53:10

• You were great fun, Really! But I didn't learn anything. I guess lots of people just need a speaker to give them an inspiring energy boost.

  by Kim on 2008-10-10 07:29:48

• You're the infotainer, man! Absolutely loved your show last evening.

  by Hans on 2008-09-24 21:45:49

• thank you author.

  by edebiyat on 2009-03-16 23:14:06

• thanks u man;)

  by ibrahim on 2009-01-17 19:56:16

• thank you aral

  by Okey Oyunu on 2009-06-08 07:29:54

• thank you very much regards

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• thank you very much

  by pire on 2009-02-25 09:47:43

• thank you

  by liseli gizli çekim on 2009-02-25 10:11:18

• One point of note would be that a small interlude on how to integrate these five rules in a much more controlled environment, like working for an agency or yes, dare I say it, enterprise, would be a nice addition. In contrast to projects one starts, manages, delivers, or f*cks up for one’s self.

  by konut on 2009-07-11 14:43:51

• thanks a lot..!

  by Oyun on 2009-02-25 12:01:25

• Thank you very very much

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• Thanks nice share i think i ll use

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• very good thanks nıce ...

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• thanks u man

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