Last Friday I finally got a chance to get away from software development and photography and do something different.  I attended the FlashPitt 2009 conference.  This is the second time this conference runs in Pittsburgh, and it is really great.  Even if you are not a Flash or even a Web developer, you can find inspiration from some of the presentations no matter what your profession is.

My favorite presentations were by Josh Sager (http://joshsagermedia.com/blog/), Ian Coyle (http://cargocollective.com/IanCoyle)  and Dan Mall (http://www.bigspaceship.com/).  I took a ton of notes, book-marked a few absolutely amazing sites and got a few ideas for future projects of my own. 

It is a shame that Pittsburgh does not host more of such conferences – normally you have to go to Boston, New York, San Francisco, or at least Baltimore/Washington, DC to actually exchange ideas with like-minded individuals.  Pittsburgh does have a great Flash Users group (http://pittmfug.blogspot.com/); unfortunately, they only meet on Thursdays and this semester I have a class that night. 

I really wish that once in a while conferences such as FlashOnTap (http://www.flashontap.com/) or Small Press Expo (http://www.spxpo.com/) came to Pittsburgh.  

Alas, lack of interesting conferences is the price we pay for the low cost of living.