I have finally recovered from Flash On Tap in Boston and all I can say is WOW! It was truly an incredible conference and the start of something epic. Even though this was the first time holding this conference, the quality of speakers and attendees was on par with what I could have expected from a well established event. I really have to thank Infrared 5 and Influxis for putting on an amazing conference.

The conference started out with workshops on Thursday. I took "from Flash to iPhone" with Keith Peters and had a great time. Keith had a practical approach to helping Flash Developers transition over to Objective C language. At every critical topic, Keith reviewed a slide showing examples of ActionScript 3 code then next to each item was its equivalent in Objective C. Throughout the workshop he was more then happy to stop and walk around to help anyone having problems. Workshops ran from 9:30 - 5 with a 1 hour lunch break. Unfortunately I was only able to sit in one workshop but I heard a lot of good feedback about Rich Shupe's "AS3 for Designers". There seemed to be a healthy spread of low to high level topics being covered and I would certainly suggest that you attend a workshop to make the most out of the conference.

After the workshop, was the opening party at "the castle". The castle, ironically enough, looks like a giant castle built on a block nestled between modern Boston buildings. Inside, the building is one large open are with a stage set up on the right and beer tasting on the left. Thats right, Flash on Tap is not only a Flash Conference but a beer tasting event all in one. Let me explain how it worked out.

Everyday, time is alloted for morning track sessions followed by lunch then afternoon beer tasting and main presentations. At first the beer tasting and main presentation didn't work so well together and it was really unfortunate to see Grant Skinner give an awesome presentation while half of the people in the room were talking over him tasting beer. By the second day the guys running Flash On Tap had worked out the kinks and limited beer tasting to the time in between presentations.

Before I talk about some of the speakers I have to say Flash On Tap was one of the most social conferences I have ever been to. I am sure the Brooklyn Brewery Local 2 with 8.70% ABV (alcohol by volume) had something to do with it. Since morning presentations were over by lunch time, the rest of the day allowed you to do a lot of socializing and networking. By the time the day was over in the Castle you had already made a lot of new friends and were well on your way to heading out on the town for the night. I don't think this is something that is emphasized enough at larger conferences and I really enjoyed putting faces to people I knew on twitter or who I have not seen a in a long time. This part of the conference was an amazing success and everyone got along great.

During the mornings I attended as many presentations as I could. There were so many to choose from I had trouble picking the ones I wanted to see. Here are a few that I liked:

• Audio Tool Private Parts with Joa Ebert
• Proof of concepts with Moses Gunesch
• The Tinkerer's Box with Mario Klingemann
• Signal To Noise with Brendan Lee

It goes without saying that all the speakers were very good and it is nice to have so much Flash talent on the East Coast for a change. You can also see the full conference schedule here.

The highlight of the entire conference was of course the last night q party. It started with the final beer tasting, then a BBQ and ended in a bar down the block with the infamous Green Man. Everyone had a good time and it was a great opportunity to finally hang out with anyone you missed or became good friends with. Probably the best summary of Flash On Tap came from Chuck Freedman when he said on twitter: "I had more personal/intimate and engaging conversations with Flash devs at @flashontap than any other conference. I like that." You can also read Chuck's more detailed take on the conference here.

Looking forward to doing it again next time.

Read more from Jesse Freeman.