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About FITC | FITC Press Kit | FITC Leadership Team |

About FITC

FITC (http://www.fitc.ca) is a Canadian company that produces events that inspire, educate and challenge the best animators, designers, developers and motion graphic artists working in Flash and other new media platorms. Over the past seven years, the company has held 17 events in nine cities and four countries with over 10,000 attendees and over 700 presentations. The company’s flagship conference, FITC Toronto: The Design & Technology Festival is one of the largest and most important events of its kind, attracting participants from around the world and serving as a launching pad for new ideas, new methods, and new technologies.

Asia: Seoul, South Korea; Tokyo, Japan
Canada: Edmonton, Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, Vancouver, Winnipeg
Europe: Amsterdam, The Netherlands
USA: Chicago, Hollywood, New York City

The FITC name was derived from the first event, produced in Toronto, Canada in 2002, and called "Flash in the Can", a reference to Adobe’s (previously Macromedia’s) Flash software, and CAN taken from Canada. This inaugural festival focused strictly on Flash. However, the scope of future events has broadened to include all forms of interactive media technologies, including, Flex, AIR, processing and more.

FITC is a partner in the Rich Media Institute, a training facility for digital professionals located in Los Angeles, CA, and Toronto, Canada. The company also owns and operates element156 Digital Media Centre in the heart of Kensington Market in downtown Toronto currently home to the Rich Media Institute (Toronto) and Function13 Store & Gallery.

FITC Press Kit

FITC Amsterdam 2010 Press Kit - Download (PDF)

FITC Leadership Team

Shawn Pucknell, Founding Director
Rick Mason, Director of Technology
Erin Kelly , Director of Operations

Shawn Pucknell - Founding Director
With over ten years of hands on experience in almost every aspect of the new media industry, creative guru and entrepreneur Shawn Pucknell's path began at Maclaren McCann Interactive. As Senior Technical Developer, his dedication and creativity helped contribute to the division’s growth from four employees to 140 in just three years. While there, he worked on high-profile client accounts, including General Motors Canada, Cathay Airlines, Royal Bank, Molson Breweries, The National Post and Rogers. Later, he applied his talent as a Senior Flash Technologist at Blast Radius in New York where he focused his efforts on the award-winning lego.com site.

An entrepreneur at heart, Shawn co-founded Ten Plus One, a two-man multimedia shop based in Toronto. In just 12 months, it grew to 16 employees and produced digital work for well-known clients, including CBC, TVO, ATI, Fuji films, Mercedes-Benz, Virgin Records, Four Season Hotels, Phizer and Compaq. Shawn's next move was as Director of Operations for Play at Joe’s Inc., a game company where he coordinated the production of the first Sudoku software package in North America as well as titles for MLB.com.

A respected figure in the new media industry, Shawn founded and remains the manager of FlashinTO, the Toronto Flash User Group. At 2,000 members, it is the largest Flash user group in the world. Shawn was also the lead author for the Macromedia Press title "Flash MX 2004 Demystified" and has won 12 Interactive advertising industry awards, including two gold Canadian Marketing Awards and an entry in the British Design & Art Direction annual. He is frequently called upon to present and judge at industry events across North America, including the SXSW festival and the Canadian New Media Awards. He also guest lectures and sits on the Interactive program advisory committees at Sheridan, Seneca and Humber Colleges.

Shawn founded FITC in 2002 and has successfully led the development and expansion of the FITC brand throughout North America and internationally. He also is the owner of Function13 Store & Gallery, the director of the Rich Media Institute of Canada, and a Luminary at Relish Interactive.

Rick Mason - Director of Technology
Rick Mason graduated from the Image Arts - New Media program at Ryerson University where one of his professors quickly hired him to work for Pangaea NewMedia. At Pangaea, Rick moved from junior developer to production manager to technical director all the while working on dynamic Websites for clients such as CHUM Radio Network, CHUM FM, Shelternet, CRCA, and Cultural Careers Council of Ontario. Rick was also a lead developer on Revista, an asset management and presentation tool used by several Toronto companies.

After the dotcom bubble burst, Rick spent his time freelancing. That is when he happened to run into Shawn Pucknell. Little did he know at the time where this chance meeting would lead. Through his association with Shawn, Rick is now one of the Directors of FlashInTO - the Toronto Flash User Group - and the Technical Director for FITC. He currently spends his days building Flex-based administrative tools and ColdFusion applications for NOW Magazine, while at the same time staying on top of current events in the tech world by cruising through several hundred RSS feeds. Rick writes regular video game reviews for NOW.

Erin Kelly - Director of Operations
Erin Kelly, Director of Operations for FITC, is the glue that holds everything together. After graduating with a Bachelor of Social Sciences from the University of Ottawa, Erin moved to Toronto where she launched her career as an event producer. In doing this work, she found a passion for bringing people together, acting as a catalyst for inspiration and innovation – a pursuit she shares with the team at FITC. For this reason, Erin got behind the company’s vision and has since then been an integral part in its growth and expansion. She has helped to manage the companies operations during a period of strong growth and expansion to new parts of the world, managing the company’s operations and coordinating logistics for each and every event. Erin provides a keen attention to detail and high level of service -- attributes which ensure an unforgettable experience for those attending or associated with FITC events.