Creative Tech will cater for everyone from Mac newbies to self-appointed Apple geniuses. Photo / Thinkstock
Creative Tech, the biggest Apple-centric show ever to hit New Zealand, takes place this weekend in the heart of Auckland. As nzherald.co.nz is the event's official media partner, you can check back here over the weekend for full coverage.
When:
9am Friday 10th and 8am Saturday 11th
Where:
Auckland University of Technology (AUT), 55 Wellesley St East, opposite Albert Park and the Auckland City Art Gallery. Doors open at 8am:
Ticket holders can register, collect their goodybags and CT Lounge wrist bands. Limited door sales will be available: two-day passes $200, one-day passes $120 and single-session tickets $30.
Event ticketing will accept Eftpos, Mastercard and Visa, plus cash. Single session sales will be available online from today for $30 each It's strongly recommended to
, to save door pressure. But if you need to buy on the day, there will be two terminals working. Tickets include: access to the sessions, a goody bag and access to the CT Lounge
The CT Lounge
The CT Lounge is a relaxation area with comfortable seats and other attendee benefits. This Lounge features the Wired Dog Help Desk. This is like an Apple Genius Bar - Wired Dog staff will attempt to advise any attendee on their Apple conundrums, and to solve any problem prevented.
The CT Lounge has also been designed as a human networking space - speak to the speakers, students you may wish to employ one day, or potential employers, the CreativeTech directors or - hey - each other!
Creative Technologies
Also in the CT Lounge will be displays by the Creative Technologies' department of AUT. AUT is a major sponsor of the event - Creative Technologies is a modern, interdisciplinary degree department that combines art and technology along with other subject areas. Staff promise Arduino and Mindkits' robotics, iPhone controlled helium-filled blimps, a dragon that reacts to movement, a brain-controlled hovercraft, interactive 3D environments and more. What will actually take place remains to be seen ...
Most of what the AUT Creative Technologies Department is presenting is attendee-only (access to the CT lounge is controlled), but some - like the iPhone controlled blimps - will appear in the free-to-the-public access trade stand area.
Free access areas
For there are free access areas at CT - the lofty atrium with stairs up to the AUT library is the site for our trade stands and it's open to the public.
This area also connects up the two main lecture theatres of CreativeTech - the big, 200-seat theatre that holds the keynotes and wrap session (Lecture 2), and the conference centre (Lecture 1). The atrium is the hub of this inaugural CreativeTech.
The stands will be manned by staff representing Vodafone, ActionMedia, Filemaker Pacific and Foundation Business Software, Cognito, BoCaPa Serial Search, Streamtime, Renaissance (MagnumMac), Rentamac, Epson, MacSense and C-Stuff, plus Digital Fusion. They will be showing the latest products, willing to discuss their services and able to sell - so watch out for show specials.
Keynotes
Most tech conferences, symposiums and seminars have keynotes. CreativeTech has gone one better - it has two; one for each day.
Friday's session is by Californian Futurist Mark Pesce. He worked at Apple back in the 1980s and he holds a patent on VR technologies. Nowadays he travels the world talking about the future, tech and the promise that holds for you.
The Saturday keynote is by Matthew JC. Powell from Sydney. The former editor of Australian Macworld and current editor of MacTheMag brings his wide experience of Apple in Australia and the US to bear on where Apple is going.
The keynotes will be filmed by Nick Tapper's OnDigital crew and appear on the nzherald.co.nz website, along with some other footage from CreativeTech - so if you can't get to Auckland, you'll see some of what we promise for next year's Auckland-Wellington CreativeTech in July 2011.
The sessions
There's almost too much going on to mention. CreativeTech has been designed from the get-go as an Apple-centric event by CreativeTech Ltd, an events company created early this year by three Apple-using New Zealanders.
Therefore, CreativeTech will be covering iDevices through Apple Macintosh, along with much of the software available. With sponsors like Renaissance (MagnumMac, StudentIT etc), Adobe Pacific, AUT and FileMaker Pacific, CreativeTech presents expert speakers from these companies plus Microsoft, the Music and Audio Institute of New Zealand (MAINZ), Rockshop, and independent iPhone developers Zac Cohan and Nik Youdale from Australia, along with New Zealand's own Rob Beck, plus the KIWA Media guys who developed QBook.
Topics covered include developing for iPad, iPhone, all aspects of FileMaker, 50 Mac tips and tricks with Wellington's über-tipster Miraz Jordan, Apple's iLife and iWork suites covered off by Renaissance's professional trainers, iMovie, an introduction to Final Cut (Apple's pro movie software), FileMaker Bento and Go, Microsoft Office:Mac and even Windows 7, for those of us who also use that.
And there's more - for musicians, there's a GarageBand demo by the Rockshop's Leon Dahl that morphs into an Apple Logic session hosted by MAINZ. That's because Logic can pick up GarageBand projects and add even more features. This is over in another building close by, in Lecture 3.
Click
for a full schedule.
Extra happenings
The Academy is running the movie
Welcome to Macintosh
at 5:30 on Friday night - this is just $10 per head, and a great way to finish off the Friday's more techy sessions before you grab a bite to eat. It will form a nice intermediary point to the Apple weekend.
There are also projections across St Paul St on Friday night, from one AUT building to another, from 7pm-9pm. This is a beautiful display created by AUT's Gabriel Teo of the IU, and it's sponsored by Epson NZ.
At the event, a team will be on hand to assist you, show you where the lectures are taking place and to offer any other advice you might need.
In summary
CreativeTech has been designed to inform and amaze you whether you are new to Mac, a switcher, a nascent developer or a seasoned Apple professional. Sessions have been designed for all levels of Mac users on Saturday, from beginner to pro. Everyone will learn something.
Learn more about Apple, about your iPhone, iPad or Mac, and celebrate the end of the event on Saturday 11th with the CT wrap session, featuring a guest panel from all walks of NZ Apple life that's guaranteed to intrigue you, em-ceed by the larger-than-life Matthew JC. Powell, editor of
MacTheMag
, author of MacThePodcast and former editor of
Australian Macworld
magazine.
Venue Details: 55 Wellesley St E
Auditors PwC: Cited disruptions to operations from that IT upgrade.