Get the answers you need to move your freelance business forward at the first and only conference for the creatively self-employed. Marketing, client retention, proposals, contracts, time management, work/life balance … it’s all covered, by creative-business experts who’ve built successful solo careers themselves. You can bring your portfolio, proposals or marketing materials for a one-on-one business review as well!

This conference is sponsored by HOW and will be held at the Hyatt Regency in Chicago on 27-29 August 2008. Visit the site to learn more about the speakers and schedules.

Mediabistro Circus is a two-day event that will help you understand what’s happening at the crossroads of digital media and traditional media, why it matters to you, and how it affects the work that you do. You’ll be able to go back to your office and say, “Let’s get started on this project - and here’s how we can do it.” Some of the most impressive people in media and technology will be speaking at Mediabistro Circus (we’re talking Jim Roberts, Chris Anderson, Regine Debatty, Robert Scoble, etc…). It’s a powerful mix of media luminaries, innovators and experts sharing knowledge and ideas over two jam-packed days in New York. The Mediabistro Circus is an experience that could quite possibly change your professional life. No matter what facet of media you’re in, it’s one event you can’t afford to miss.

Plan to attend this two-day summit about the digital platforms and trends that are changing media on May 20-21. Mediabistro Circus will be held at Skylight Studio in the west Soho neighborhood of Manhattan, bordering on Tribeca. Visit the site to learn more.

It is coming to Boston’s Hynes Convention Center May 18-21. HOW is the annual creativity, business and technology conference for graphic designers. Expect more than 60 speakers, 60+ sessions and 10 three-hour workshops.

According to HOW magazine editor Bryn Mooth, “The HOW Conference is a wonderful opportunity for designers to develop their design careers, hone their business skills, get their creative juices flowing and network with thousands of fellow designers.”

Many industry experts and well-known designers will present at this year’s Conference, including Allan Haley of Monotype Imaging, design entrepreneur Charles S. Anderson, Adobe’s Russell Brown and Julieanne Kost, plus Robynne Raye and Michael Strassburger of Modern Dog Design Co. Many speakers plan to use Boston as inspiration for their presentations, notably House Industries’ Ken Barber who will use Boston’s rich typographic history as the backdrop for his workshop on creating type.

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Microsoft will show its latest tools and platforms for creating and delivering rich interactive content for the Web at the annual CRE8 conference in Orlando in a special keynote session on 1 May, where hundreds of Web and interactive designers will be gathered. Microsoft will be showing its Silverlight platform, which delivers interactive content across various computer platforms, including Mac, PC, and mobile devices, making it a compelling technology for CRE8 Conference attendees. Brian Goldfarb, a group product manager from Microsoft will also be showcasing Expression Studio software tools, which allow Web design professionals to create next generation Web sites, interactive content, and video for delivery to different devices, platforms, and browsers using Silverlight and .NET.

Following the keynote, Microsoft is delivering a hands-on training session for CRE8 conference attendees. The sessions will provide a guided tour of the Expression Studio software tools for creating Web sites, interactive content, and streaming video delivered using Microsoft Silverlight.

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The 20th annual International Contemporary Furniture Fair will be held 17-20 May this year at New York’s Jacob K. Javits Convention Center. North America’s singular showcase for contemporary design, this Fair draws the most intrepid seekers of design truth and design trends to an extraordinary exhibition of the most inspired models of design on the forefront as well as thought-provoking programs and a schedule of supplementary exhibits and features.

View and draw inspiration from displays of furniture, seating, carpet and flooring, lighting, outdoor furniture, materials, images, accessories, textiles and kitchen and bath. For more information, visit the ICFF site.

Innovative Speakers’ Series and Interactive Art Installation

Evan Roth, co-founder of Graffiti Research Lab (GRL), kicks-off FITC Toronto: The Design + Technology Festival with a free talk and screening at Pixel Gallery in Kensington Market on April 19th starting at 6 PM. Roth is one of three artists taking part in an innovative speakers’ series sponsored by Pixel Gallery, part of this year’s FITC Toronto, a four-day event which brings together the world’s top designers and developers.

Roth will talk about his work with GRL, an arts group dedicated to outfitting graffiti writers, artists and protesters with open source technologies for urban communication. The group is well-known for inventing LED Throwies and creating giant-sized L.A.S.E.R. tagging systems. A splinter cell of GRL was recently launched in Toronto to assist in the use and development of Weapons of Mass Defacement.

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