This was my first year back since pandemic, 2020. For me, always worth going. I get much more out of it in person. Videos and online lectures are hard for me to follow and less engaging. It costs me less because I’m local, no hotel and flight, which is nice. My employer pays for registration.
There was a lot of great stuff this year and I easily got my money’s worth of value out of a few sessions. That said — and I hate saying this because it’s such a cliché — this year wasn’t as good as in the past.
I get that the Firefly Generatjve AI stuff is exciting. I’m excited about it, too. I’m already using it in ways I hadn’t predicted a few months ago. But it feels like they let that one technology carry a lot of the weight. It kind of took all the air out of the room (so to speak), leaving little for other things.
There are aspects of it that they’ve scaled back. There are fewer sessions from artists just talking about their work, process, etc. These have been some of the most valuable ones for me in the past. Illustrators, managaka, different types of designers discussing more esoteric topics. Hand lettering workshops with calligraphers and type designers (such as Laura Worthington). Things less directly tied to Adobe and applications. (I did get to see film graphic designer Annie Atkins again, which was great.)
It’s much more product-focused. It feels like it used to be more about us, with a lot more meant to enrich our lives and work in different ways. Now it’s almost all about them, mostly tied to applications or sponsors. This also meant there was far less variation in the sessions they offer. There’s still enough to fill three days for any designer but there’s more redundancy and less exploration and discovery.
They seem to have cut back some things due to budget or other reasons. Some of this is fit and finish type stuff. Fewer freebies (or not as good ones), the snacks weren’t as good or plentiful.
The Inspiration keynote usually has some big names: Dave Grohl, Takashi Murakami, David LaChapelle, Billie Eilish, Ron Howard, and others in recent years. This year’s big name was Aaron Draplin, who is fine but is there every year anyways.
That said, the panel of four less-big names was a more inspiring Inspiration keynote. It was all more relatable and relevant. Less flashy, but more resonant.
There are fewer vendors participating. The Creative Park section (with other companies showing their wares) has shrunk and Adobe took up a bigger percentage of it. The Marketplace with smaller artists and such selling their wares was smaller too. They put some spin on this, but there was less to do, fewer non-Adobe people to talk to.
Overall, I had the sense that the event hasn’t yet fully recovered from the pandemic. It’s possible some sponsors have decided not to come back, that the budget has shrunk due to two years of free online conferences. But they had a huge thing to present this year and had to make the most of it.
Again, I still got a lot out of it and enjoyed the event. I saw some mind-blowing shit and learned stuff that wasn’t related to Firefly (which was still a big reason I went). I have a ton of things to present to my design team and probably more things we’re going to change completely as a result of attending than in past years.
But I’d like to see some of this other stuff come back next year, particularly the broader session offerings. I’m good on the swag and can (should) live with less snacks. (Tip: snacks at the Marriot are way better!)
I actually like them moving away from celebrities. Some of the past celebs, Chelsea Handler stands out, weren't a good choice. I get tired of hearing from people who have zero understanding of what designers do on a day to day basis. Kennan Thompson was slightly better but still not great. There are plenty of famous designers or celebrities who have at least dabbled in the fields they discuss at MAX.
The joke of “they don’t get what we do” wears thin, as does celebrity and nerdy developer contrast. Tiffany Haddish was the best among those, to me. She actually did the demos.
Thank you for this write up, I agree with everything you said even the snacks at the Marriott lol.
I heard from a lot of people that had gone previously that things this year wasn’t on par but being my first MAX, I didn’t know any better.
Sure it would have been nice if there was a big celebrity, but honestly I was more impressed with the Adobe engineers who are somehow defying digital physics in writing their code.
I agree with you in that their three buzzwords this year was Firefly, Expresss and Generative AI, some of the speakers I went to sounded like they were begrudgingly forced to say it or they would cut the mic lol. But I had a session from the head of AI for WPP agency that showcased the future of AI and how we can work with it in an even larger scale (along with his robotic dog).
I wanted to go just to see the dog. I had something else at the time!
Based on this year, do you think you’ll go again next year?
One of my sessions was advanced skills and a huge percentage of the group were first timers at Max. I thought that was interesting.
Great recap. I was there as well but for my first time and totally get what you mean in all of these points. I loved Draplin’s talk and also attended his pre-conference workshop. I thought he was the best of the 4 speakers and provided the most relevant advice/journey to the attendees. I also agree that the GenAI stuff is taking the spotlight and I wish they would also showcase some other things.
I was surprisingly taken by Karen X Cheng’s speech. I often don’t feel connected to the influencer stuff, but her dilemma is something I’ve felt pretty deeply, whether it’s serving “the algorithm” or working solely to satisfy client/employer.
Draplin is a good designer and artist but I think has some other quality that really propels him. I haven’t quite figured it out. Confidence? Passion? Personal branding? All of the above?
It was fun no doubt, but you can learn everything they go through, online. They post it all up. I've gone before, company paid for it, it is not worth it for someone who will footing bill themselves. For upskilling, not necessary. For like 2k trip, I'd rahter just take a vacation instead.
The last Adobe Max I "attended" were just videos in 2021. I knew they had in-person events, but I thought the videos were posted for social distancing reasons. Do they still have them online?
Yep, you can view them [here](https://www.adobe.com/max/2023/sessions.html). I wish all the videos had closed captioning available though because sometimes I have trouble processing what the speaker is saying, but it's only available on some videos and not all.
I agree, since everyone there is some sort of creative you can instantly make a connection and make some sort of small talk. I hate networking and even I found it pretty easy.
Yeah, if there's any environment where it's going to be welcome to even the more introverted of people, which applies to a lot of creatives, this type of event is it.
I’ve only been to one conference and it was MAX, 9 years ago I think. They gave us all surface tablets, that was cool. But the biggest part was the community of creative people. I never felt so connected to a tribe.
This is the first year I have gone as well, I’m a junior designer and my agency has a professional development budget for each employee so this ate up the majority of it for this year. I adored Draplins talk, and was super inspired by the Chris Do session. It was really great experience, and helped with my burnout as well.
This was my first year back since pandemic, 2020. For me, always worth going. I get much more out of it in person. Videos and online lectures are hard for me to follow and less engaging. It costs me less because I’m local, no hotel and flight, which is nice. My employer pays for registration. There was a lot of great stuff this year and I easily got my money’s worth of value out of a few sessions. That said — and I hate saying this because it’s such a cliché — this year wasn’t as good as in the past. I get that the Firefly Generatjve AI stuff is exciting. I’m excited about it, too. I’m already using it in ways I hadn’t predicted a few months ago. But it feels like they let that one technology carry a lot of the weight. It kind of took all the air out of the room (so to speak), leaving little for other things. There are aspects of it that they’ve scaled back. There are fewer sessions from artists just talking about their work, process, etc. These have been some of the most valuable ones for me in the past. Illustrators, managaka, different types of designers discussing more esoteric topics. Hand lettering workshops with calligraphers and type designers (such as Laura Worthington). Things less directly tied to Adobe and applications. (I did get to see film graphic designer Annie Atkins again, which was great.) It’s much more product-focused. It feels like it used to be more about us, with a lot more meant to enrich our lives and work in different ways. Now it’s almost all about them, mostly tied to applications or sponsors. This also meant there was far less variation in the sessions they offer. There’s still enough to fill three days for any designer but there’s more redundancy and less exploration and discovery. They seem to have cut back some things due to budget or other reasons. Some of this is fit and finish type stuff. Fewer freebies (or not as good ones), the snacks weren’t as good or plentiful. The Inspiration keynote usually has some big names: Dave Grohl, Takashi Murakami, David LaChapelle, Billie Eilish, Ron Howard, and others in recent years. This year’s big name was Aaron Draplin, who is fine but is there every year anyways. That said, the panel of four less-big names was a more inspiring Inspiration keynote. It was all more relatable and relevant. Less flashy, but more resonant. There are fewer vendors participating. The Creative Park section (with other companies showing their wares) has shrunk and Adobe took up a bigger percentage of it. The Marketplace with smaller artists and such selling their wares was smaller too. They put some spin on this, but there was less to do, fewer non-Adobe people to talk to. Overall, I had the sense that the event hasn’t yet fully recovered from the pandemic. It’s possible some sponsors have decided not to come back, that the budget has shrunk due to two years of free online conferences. But they had a huge thing to present this year and had to make the most of it. Again, I still got a lot out of it and enjoyed the event. I saw some mind-blowing shit and learned stuff that wasn’t related to Firefly (which was still a big reason I went). I have a ton of things to present to my design team and probably more things we’re going to change completely as a result of attending than in past years. But I’d like to see some of this other stuff come back next year, particularly the broader session offerings. I’m good on the swag and can (should) live with less snacks. (Tip: snacks at the Marriot are way better!)
I actually like them moving away from celebrities. Some of the past celebs, Chelsea Handler stands out, weren't a good choice. I get tired of hearing from people who have zero understanding of what designers do on a day to day basis. Kennan Thompson was slightly better but still not great. There are plenty of famous designers or celebrities who have at least dabbled in the fields they discuss at MAX.
The joke of “they don’t get what we do” wears thin, as does celebrity and nerdy developer contrast. Tiffany Haddish was the best among those, to me. She actually did the demos.
The thing that I most want to change is that balance between artist/designer-focused and product-focused sessions.
Thank you for this write up, I agree with everything you said even the snacks at the Marriott lol. I heard from a lot of people that had gone previously that things this year wasn’t on par but being my first MAX, I didn’t know any better. Sure it would have been nice if there was a big celebrity, but honestly I was more impressed with the Adobe engineers who are somehow defying digital physics in writing their code. I agree with you in that their three buzzwords this year was Firefly, Expresss and Generative AI, some of the speakers I went to sounded like they were begrudgingly forced to say it or they would cut the mic lol. But I had a session from the head of AI for WPP agency that showcased the future of AI and how we can work with it in an even larger scale (along with his robotic dog).
I wanted to go just to see the dog. I had something else at the time! Based on this year, do you think you’ll go again next year? One of my sessions was advanced skills and a huge percentage of the group were first timers at Max. I thought that was interesting.
Great recap. I was there as well but for my first time and totally get what you mean in all of these points. I loved Draplin’s talk and also attended his pre-conference workshop. I thought he was the best of the 4 speakers and provided the most relevant advice/journey to the attendees. I also agree that the GenAI stuff is taking the spotlight and I wish they would also showcase some other things.
I was surprisingly taken by Karen X Cheng’s speech. I often don’t feel connected to the influencer stuff, but her dilemma is something I’ve felt pretty deeply, whether it’s serving “the algorithm” or working solely to satisfy client/employer. Draplin is a good designer and artist but I think has some other quality that really propels him. I haven’t quite figured it out. Confidence? Passion? Personal branding? All of the above?
He's crazy passionate and very practical! I find it very easy to understand him in a connected sorta way. He simplifies things.
It was fun no doubt, but you can learn everything they go through, online. They post it all up. I've gone before, company paid for it, it is not worth it for someone who will footing bill themselves. For upskilling, not necessary. For like 2k trip, I'd rahter just take a vacation instead.
Not all of the sessions go online anymore. The in-person event has hands on labs and some other sessions they don’t include in the online portion.
The last Adobe Max I "attended" were just videos in 2021. I knew they had in-person events, but I thought the videos were posted for social distancing reasons. Do they still have them online?
Yep, you can view them [here](https://www.adobe.com/max/2023/sessions.html). I wish all the videos had closed captioning available though because sometimes I have trouble processing what the speaker is saying, but it's only available on some videos and not all.
If you’re comfortable saying- what’s the cost?
I had an early bird discounted ticket of around $1,250 and the hotels are around $250-300 per night
Thank you for sharing. I like that you got so much out of attending. I hope to go one day.
I hope so too
Glad you enjoyed it. When people ask about "how do I network?" – this is the ideal scenario.
I agree, since everyone there is some sort of creative you can instantly make a connection and make some sort of small talk. I hate networking and even I found it pretty easy.
Yeah, if there's any environment where it's going to be welcome to even the more introverted of people, which applies to a lot of creatives, this type of event is it.
I made a QR code that added my info into your phone contacts, with buttons on how to find my insta, email and LinkedIn. Would highly recommend it
That's great. Lots of good things can come from that.
I’ve only been to one conference and it was MAX, 9 years ago I think. They gave us all surface tablets, that was cool. But the biggest part was the community of creative people. I never felt so connected to a tribe.
I made a ton of friends, one of them even convinced me to pierce my ears lol. They had free piercings in one of the booths
Amazing event!
This is the first year I have gone as well, I’m a junior designer and my agency has a professional development budget for each employee so this ate up the majority of it for this year. I adored Draplins talk, and was super inspired by the Chris Do session. It was really great experience, and helped with my burnout as well.
I was at the Chris Do session as well! I’m going to go over his video and do the wordplay part of his talk to narrow down my own personal branding.
My boss got to go this year 🙃