A turbulent, yet inspiring week at FFK10 in Cologne

posted April 18th, 2010 by Constantin Ehrenstein in FFK

Last week, the 10th edition of the FFK, the Flashforum conference, took place at the Mediapark in Cologne. The FFK is the greatest and most important conference for the Flash Platform in the German Tongue Region, and as usual Flash Platform celebrities from Germany, Austria, and Switzerland as well as from the international community came to offer the participants their talk and workshop (BYOL) sessions.

FFK10 Opening Titles from Marc Thiele on Vimeo.

FFK10 was great fun (a little more on that in a later blog post), and it felt like a family gathering. André Michelle invited to an Audiotool party on Wednesday in Studio 672 in the Stadtgarten, so there was plenty of time to mingle with the community and have a talk with all those amazing people.

But on Thursday, matters worsened with the rise of the volcanic ash in Iceland, leaving the international guests of the FFK10 mostly stranded in Cologne. Some, like Ralph Hauwert, were glad enough to reach their homes via train, but with 17,000 flights cancelled and people flocking to the railway stations that probably made for a very unpleasant travel experience. Others, like US-based Jesse Freeman and Joshua Davis (among others), got on a days long journeys through Europe or enjoyed the hospitality of their fellow, Cologne-region-based conference speakers and FFK10-organizers.

Hang in there, peeps, I’m holding my thumbs for you.