PePcon Speaker Dossier: Colin Flashman, the Merger
In the PePcon Speaker Dossier series we’re getting up close and personal with some of the coolest people on the planet: the print, PDF, and digital publishing gurus who’ll be the speakers at the conference! You’ve read their books, seen their videos, and liked their Facebook posts, now you can get to know them a little more personally, and have something to talk about when you meet them in person at PePcon.
“What’s a PePcon?” you ask. PePcon: The Print + ePublishing Conference is a massive 4-day multi-track extravaganza of all things print, PDF, and digital publishing, produced by the same folks that bring you this web site, InDesignSecrets.com. The seventh annual PePcon will be coming to San Diego, June 5–8.
The Colin Flashman Dossier
Geek Cred: Colin Flashman is known to us, at InDesignSecrets, as the Merger…he laughs in the face of danger…and tight deadlines……he feels the urge……the urge to merge (data merge, that is!).
AKA: Colly or Cole for a while (hence his alter ego, Colecandoo), but the one heard around the office is C-Dogg, and he’s cool with that.
Hails from: Adelaide, South Australia
Hang outs: Most relaxed in his Kitchen preparing something fantastic to eat, or traveling abroad (somewhere far, far from home). Online you can find him helping his peers in the Adobe InDesign forums.
Short bio: Colin Flashman is a prepress operator and graphic designer for a South Australian commercial printer, with almost 20 years of experience in the trade. He is also a regular contributor to this site and InDesign Magazine (available with a premium membership).
First job: Office assistant at a trade association. The print trade came a few years later, but his first job was filing, making coffees, fixing photocopiers… sadly he haven’t escaped the “fixing photocopiers” part yet!
First computer: A Commodore 64 at the age of six. Had a cassette deck with a game that took half an hour to load… memories.
Lefty or righty: (looks at hands for a minute or so…) Righty… yes, definitely right.
Geeky or Nerd? I honestly didn’t know there was a difference. After googling the difference, I’d say Geeky.
Favorite beverage: Farmers Union Iced Coffee. There’s no Starbucks or Tim Hortons in Adelaide.
Least Favorite food: Olives. They are his Kryptonite…
Favorite TV shows: Adventure Time, Better Call Saul, Game of Thrones, Cutthroat Kitchen. Adventure Time is funny but has undertones and a darkness that adults appreciate; Better Call Saul because he was a huge Breaking Bad fan; he doesn’t think a reason is required for Game of Thrones; and Cutthroat Kitchen because it takes the best elements of MasterChef and Wipeout and packs it into one hour.
What’s in your pockets right now? Pocket lint and an easter-egg wrapper.
If you could only use one piece of software for the rest of your life what would it be? Hmmm… probably InDesign… I think by the time I retire that footnotes and endnotes will be fixed.
At 6AM I am usually: Sound asleep.
Do you have a favorite moment from a previous PePcon conference? Toss up, would have to be either the Karaoke session that happened on the last night of PePcon 2015 in Chicago; or the Cards Against Humanity games also during PePcon 2015.
His PePcon 2016 Session: Data Publishing (https://pepcon.com/session/data-publishing/) Colin and Dave Creamer will team up to show ways that Data Merge, and related plug-ins, can be used to make campaigns that people may have thought were not possible. One technique that’ll whet appetites, is the ability to move a graphic on an x-y axis using nothing more than a font, anchored objects and data merge. The screenshot is a practical demonstration in a blood-pressure chart that varies from patient to patient.
This session is for anyone who’s looked at the Data Merge feature in passing and said “when would I use that?” (As it’s more than direct mail and business cards). Colin would recommend knowing the basics of InDesign as well as having run a data merge project or two.
Website: https://colecandoo.com/
Social Media: Twitter: @colecandoo
Facebook: Colecandoo
Linkedin: Colin Flashman
IDS articles: https://creativepro.com/author/colinflashman-2
Want more Colin? Register for PePcon: the Print + ePublishing Conference 2016 and join us San Diego. Not only is this the #1 conference for creatives within the publishing industry, it’s also the best place to mingle with the masters and build a community of colleagues from around the world.