Control Flexslider from outside element.

I have a Flexislider that I would like to control from outside the element. I tried this:

var myslider = $('.slider').flexslider({
    animation: 'slide'
});

$('button').click(function () {
    myslider.flexAnimate(3)    //Function: Move slider - (target, pause) parameters
});

But that returns TypeError: Object [object Object] has no method 'flexAnimate'

Then I stumbled upon this thread (https://github.com/woothemes/FlexSlider/issues/125) which indicates this is the proper method:

$('button').click(function () {
    myslider.flexslider(3)
});

However I don't see how I can specify the speed of the animation. I want the change to be instant for that event only.

I guess I'm wondering how one accesses the slider API as mentioned in the docs from outside the slider element

slider                        //Object: The slider element itself
slider.container              //Object: The ul.slides within the slider
slider.slides                 //Object: The slides of the slider
slider.count                  //Int: The total number of slides in the slider
slider.currentSlide           //Int: The slide currently being shown
slider.animatingTo            //Int: Useful in .before(), the slide currently animating to
slider.animating              //Boolean: is slider animating?
slider.atEnd                  //Boolean: is the slider at either end?
slider.manualPause            //Boolean: force slider to stay paused during pauseOnHover event
slider.controlNav             //Object: The slider controlNav
slider.directionNav           //Object: The slider directionNav
slider.controlsContainer      //Object: The controlsContainer element of the slider
slider.manualControls         //Object: The manualControls element of the slider
slider.flexAnimate(target)    //Function: Move slider - (target, pause) parameters
slider.pause()                //Function: Pause slider slideshow interval
slider.resume()               //Function: Resume slider slideshow interval
slider.canAdvance(target)     //Function: returns boolean if slider can advance - (target) parameter
slider.getTarget(dir)         //Function: get target given a direction - "next" or "prev" parameter