360Flex we ran into Mike Potter on the Curling Rink

Tom and I were taking a break from planning the 360|Flex, and decided to learn how to curl. No not our hair, that cool sport the Canadians like, where you send a stone sliding down a long icy path. Kinda like Bocce ball, but on ice, and equally as unknown. We ran into Mike Potter, Adobe's big cheese for Flex Marketing. He was walking toward the next rink over from ours, he had his own stone.

"Hey Mike!" Tom and I step off our rink and walk towards his, our special shoes make a funny noise as we walk.

"Oh hey guys, I didn't know you curled. Wanna join me? My team is light two men as luck would have it." Mike is polishing his stone and putting on his curling shoes. He introduced us to 'Skinny', his other team mate, from one of the more French parts of Canada.

'Skinny' looked Tom and I up and down, starting and stopping with our rented curling shoes, "I was aboot to go find two alternates, you sure you want these two?"

Mike vouched for us. He probably regretted it afterward.

"Sure, if you're interested in two n00bs on the team." I say.

"Yeah no problem, this is just practice, we're going to try out of for the next Winter Olympics." Mike was practice throwing. Working on his turning, both directions, he's pro for sure!

Tom and I grab our rocks and brooms, and head back to Mike's area. "So Mike, who do you think should come to your session in San Jose?" I ask.

"Developers who are interested in users actually seeing what they’ve built with Flex and AIR. It's one thing to build a great application; It's another to actually promote it and have people use it. This session tells people what resources are available to them to promote their applications. This stuff really works too, unlike that hair club for men stuff. Do this, and people will find out about your application. Guaranteed*. (* Guarantee not guaranteed.)" Mike lines up to deliver his rock, and Tom and I, plus 'Skinny' start sweeping. Tom and I only learned to sweep that morning, so our method was probably as counter productive as it could be, but 'Skinny' kept his mouth shut, and Mike, just made a face like he was having a heart attack, right there on the ice.

As we slid down the ice towards the house, Tom asked, "Why should they come?" Both of us were already outta breath, sweeping was pretty hard work.

"Who cares if you’ve built the coolest application if no one knows about it.  Come to this session and figure out how to make sure the Flex community knows about your app." Mike said between clenched teeth, as the rock slowly veered to the right. It stopped just outside the third ring.

I took my turn as the one to deliver the rock, "Mike, what's the goal of your session?" I asked as I tried my best to put the right turn on the rock, which really put it into a kind of drunken spin.

Mike sweeping like a pro answered, "Help developers promote the cool stuff that they’re building."

Tom is opposite Mike, sweeping like crazy, though I couldn't tell if he was helping or not, "What two sessions are you looking forward to most?"

Mike expertly guided the rock into the ring just outside center of the house, "Mine and mine. Seriously, I’m in marketing now.  The other sessions are too technical for me."

Tom took his turn to deliver the rock, turning it just right. Mike and I with the help of 'skinny' swept it right to the center of the house! I actually did very little, but Mike and 'Skinny' are damn good curlers!

Want to find out more on how to get your great Flex application noticed? Don't miss out on swapping awesome curling stories with Mike at 360|Flex San Jose. Register now!