We These Few Men—The Actionscript Conference 2009 Committee
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The Actionscript Conference (TAC) 2009, which spanned from Sept 13-15, had ended. If you ask my opinion, I would boldly proclaim that this year’s edition is in many ways bigger and better than last year’s. That said, the committee got all tired and burned out, and that also explains why this post is written two days after the conference had ended (I’m burnt myself). 
I just want to take the time to write this post, to show the appreciation that I had for all who had helped out during the conference. Some of these guys may be lesser known heroes, but without them, I can assure you the show might not have gone right in too many ways. Here goes. 
If you’re in the local Flash scene and do not recognise this face, there’s a big issue. *loL~* Shunjie is the user group manager of the Singapore Flex Usergroup (FUG), and the founder of both The Actionscript Conference and RIAction in Singapore. He started making the necessary preparations for TAC since way back in March, and the effort that he had put into this may not be seen by all. I’m one lucky one to witness it.
Being the co-founder of TAC and co-manager of the FUG, you ought to know Alvin too. He’s one of the guys that I really admire, having the ability to use both his left and right brains almost equally. He designed the TAC logo, paper bags, brochures, while preparing for his “Multi Touch in Flash” presentation.
Alex is the liaison officer between TAC and the speakers and recruitment companies. You may not see him running up and down the aisle often during TAC, but he’s working out behind the scenes to help in every way that he can. The next time that you see him, do say hello and give him a pad on the back.
Arul Kumaran is the command center head if you ask me. Hidden in the video control room, he probably had the most important job of recording the sessions for post conference enjoyment, and it all rests upon the shoulders of this man. If you think it’s easy, think again. Fighting against fatigue, toggling between the different cameras for the right capture at the right time, it is indeed highly stressful.
Arul Prasad was unfortunately, unable to be with us during the conference itself, as he had some business matters to attend in San Francisco. However, he was the original liaison officer and who knows how many emails he had to keep replying in order to connect with all the speakers. He was also actively participating in our pre-conference meetups, so indeed, credits go to him as well. 
Elliot Williams is a volunteer for TAC, but little did he know that without him, the conference probably wouldn’t be able to run! He single-handedly fixed up the wireless network, troubleshoot whenever people got trouble with connecting to the wifi, being the security officer to ensure that no people come into the auditorium unauthorised, and being the emcee in between the sessions! Elliot, you’re great man! 
Another two of our lesser known heroes, Victor and Jonathan were essential in a lot of roles as well. Tasked to be in charged during the registration, rotating between looking after our personal properties, recording of videos, you can literally see them everywhere. These two are what put our minds at ease so the rest of us can operate with a safe mind. Without them, it would again be a serious mess.
So yes, this is me. It feels weird adding what I did on my own blog, but yea, I’m one of the committee too. I was involved in the planning process, being the main photographer for the two days, and also the interviewer for the speakers. It is tough juggling all these roles especially when one has to prepare for his own presentation, but looking back, it was all worth it.
Aftermath
Now that the conference had come to an end, I’ll be working to put up my slides soon. In the meanwhile, I’m also in the works of transcribing the interviews. Once they’re done, I’ll post them up on this blog one by one.
Just a final word, it has been great working with you guys.
