CFUnited Blog
Farewell to CFUnited, Early Bird Extended
The word has just come down from the powers above that 2010 will in fact be the last CFUnited. I have not hesitated or procrastinated to pass this news along to you, though it is a little tough to announce. CFUnited has a special place in my heart. I have been involved over the years in some way or another as a guest, a partygoer, a volunteer, an intern, an assistant, and now as Conference Manager. I am truly blessed to have been a part of the experience. I have made so many friends at what I like to call "Summer Camp for Developers." I have learned so much from this tight knit community of uber-smart people. I can say with all honesty that I am only in this Manager position out of love for the people and the joy brought from watching such a diverse group united by a common thread. Through this past year the lyrics of NOFX have played again and again in my head... "It isn't for the money, no it isn't for the fun. It's a plan, a scam, a diagram for the benefit of everyone... The cause, we're just doing it for the cause!" I think I can speak for both Tara and myself when I say we were just doing it for the cause, and what a worthy cause it is!
I will try my best not to gush or get all "Bridges of Madison County" on you and just keep it short and simple. But I will say this, if you are not yet registered for CFUnited, you should rethink that. This is your last chance to get down with something amazing! CFUnited is like a beehive buzzing with ideas and collaboration. The developers leave with the knowledge, tactics, and connections to pollinate the community and grow their business and organizations to be strong, healthy, and successful. Furthermore, let it never be said that brilliant people don't know how to party. Aside from the rich, informative content and the invaluable networking opportunities, CFUnited is where self-proclaimed geeks party like rock stars!
With this sudden news coming so abruptly, we insist on extending the Early Bird pricing till July 15, 2010. We fully intend to go out with a bang in true Stellr style and we want everyone to be there to give CFUnited a proper farewell.
If you still have yet to register, please do so now! As always, if you are eligible for a discount code (check out our prices page), please contact info (at) cfunited (dot) com.
Thanks!
Whatever the case, you all were awesome. Keep up the great work. I'm willing to bet that this 10th CFUnited will be the best out of all of them.
Bugger!
Good luck in whatever your next project is.
I know you girls have been working hard for the last year to make this happen. I can appreciate how hard it is to run a big fancy event in these trying economic times.
I'm sorry to hear the final nail is in the CFUnited Coffin. Best wishes to you and your team in future endeavors.
Here's to making this the best CFUnited ever!
Dan Wilson
However, I know Adobe is still dedicated to the CF community and I am working hard to make sure other community run conferences do well. This book may be ending but a new book will be written.
Will people join me in making next week "CFUnited Spirit Week"?
Where your CFUnited T-shirts (you know you have like a dozen of them)
I love you CFUnited. You taught me a lot. You made me laugh and cry. You brought me the best friends ever. You allowed me to express my vision. You opened doors to bright future.
Thank you everyone who allowed CFUnited to change your life. I hope this type of event continues in some other way shape or form. I'll be at CFUnited and I will work hard to help Cara and Tara to make this the best CFUnited ever!
With the recession we lost a lot of money last year on CFUnited. We have cut expenses to the bone (and beyond in many cases), Cara and Tara have been reaching out to new attendees and sponsors and I hoped that with the economy picking up this year we would make up for last year. That hasn't happened yet so I wanted to let everyone know ahead of time that this would be the last CFUnited. We will make the best one yet!
@Sid
Unless a couple of hundred extra folks register in the next few weeks, a very big new sponsor appears or someone buys the event and takes it over then this is the final CFUnited of its kind. We have done everything we could to keep it going.
It has been a wonderful journey over the last 12 years and we couldn't have done it without the support of the CF community, speakers, sponsors and attendees! Thank you.
Michael
You guys have had a great run and it was an honor to be involved since back in the day when it was a one-day event with everyone sitting in a single auditorium on the campus of NIH, listening to the same speaker.
Today CFUnited is a multi-day, multi-track event that attracts the best speakers in the industry and is by far the largest and most recognized CF conference in the world.
Hats off to you and to the many others who have helped make CFUN/CFUnited great throughout the years.
Ed Sullivan
And Cara, Tara & Elliott, thanks for all your dedicated and hard work on CFUnited 2010, I'm looking forward to the event!
Thanks again to Michel, Liz, Nafisa, Cara, Tara, Elliott, Alison, and all other hidden heroes.
I'm looking forward to seeing everyone at this year's CFUnited!
And as the new era dawns with lots more local, low-cost CF-focused events, I look forward to seeing folks new and old at those events too. CFML continues to grow, it's community continues to evolve. This last decade of CFUN / CFUnited has been great, this next decade of CFML and conferences will also be great.
keep the name. maybe start a small rotation of venue?
mid-west, east coast. et..
Still, I'm not terribly surprised. Times are a changin'. The costs would need a serious restructuring to make it work, both from Stellr's costs and ticket/hotel prices. I don't how much Landsdowne costs Stellr but, from attending last year, I'm sure it's not cheap. That said, I believe the community will fill the void, and look forward to the future and what that will bring. I think that community run conferences are the future.
Cara, Tara, Elliott, Michael, and (from past years) Liz and Nafisa, thanks for everything you have done for the ColdFusion community and everything you will continue to do.
I simply won't know what to do with my late summer now. I've been a speaker at each event since it's founding, those early days at the NIH Lipsett auditorium.
My how far it came, and what great times it was for all the attendees, from all I ever heard...ok, the year at the Convention Center was a...learning experience... :-)
But the years at the Marriott and now the Landsdowne were by far the cream of the crop for CF conference facilities, and it was clear year after year how much effort went into the shows. CFUnited will be missed, indeed.
That said, lest anyone see this and lament that this is a harbinger of bad tidings in the CF world, let's not forget that there are SEVERAL other CF conferences that remain, some large, some small. I list them at my CF411.com site in the category on CF conferences, http://www.cf411.com/#cfconf (and of course the hundred plus other categories also all are testament to the ongoing vitality of the CF community.)
Indeed, I will speaking on this very subject (the vitality of the CF community) in my keynote session at the conference, as was mentioned in an earlier blog entry here.
It's of course now all the more poignant to realize that mine (on the second day) may well be the very last CFUnited keynote ever. :-(
I still say "may", because Michael did offer a glimmer of hope that things may change if a big sponsor or huge audience turned up.
I can't help thinking of the line from the movie "Dumb and Dumber". Some may recall that Lloyd (Jim Carey) was told by Mary that his chances of dating her were only one in a million, to which he replied "so you're telling me there's a chance!" :-) Let's keep hope alive.
Cara and I have not given up yet; we will continue to collaborate on other ideas and events.
And I can't wait to meet all of you at the final CFUnited!
Yes it is a money thing. I understand about investing to ride out a recession for the recovery and that is what I have done - cashing in all my retirement savings, maxing out all my credit cards and getting a second mortgage on my house to support the event. I have now used all my available funds and can not continue to support CFUnited beyond this year. I love CFUnited and the people and energy it brings together and I hope that the CF community will continue to gather together in some similar magical way in the future. If others have the means and passion to continue CFUnited in some other form then contact me directly michael (at) teratech.com or 301-424-3903 x110 so we can talk. We have an amazing team in Cara and Tara, detailed plans for running the event and wonderful attendees and loyal sponsors.
Either way, thanks for opening your kimono to share more, both on what has happened and how open you are to someone else stepping up. Let's see if that, or more sponsors, or more attendees may help to keep it going. Again, thanks for your supporting it through the years.
My money has mostly gone to support the conference - TeraTech programming is generally self supporting - but it does not have a reserve of cash to put into the conference either. I also want to thank our whole team who have made many personal sacrifices too to help keep the event going. I am inspired by them every day. I would not have done this unless I believed in and loved the event, ColdFusion and the community so much. I am sure we will have an outstanding CFUnited this year and co-create a memorable farewell on it's 12th year!
I hate that the only really good CF conference is going, though wow, Michael! I was awed to read how much you've done to keep it going, and it makes me a bit sad that you had to do so much to keep it going. At the cost of so much financial sacrifice, though, I can certainly see why it is ending, and I wish you all the best. We really do appreciate all you've done.
"I suppose they're all meeting virtually" I thought, "or perhaps they're just not meeting at all."
I assume the CF developer population survey is tied to this as well.
http://bit.ly/CFDevPop
Thank you TeraTech and everyone involved with making CFUNITED one of the best CF related conventions - ever! You will NOT be forgotten.