Sean Corfield - Chief Technical Officer for Railo US. He has worked in IT for over twenty five years, starting out writing database systems and compilers then moving into mobile telecoms and finally into web development in 1997. Along the way, he worked on the ISO and ANSI C++ Standards committees for eight years and is a staunch advocate of software standards and best practice. Sean has championed and contributed to a number of CFML frameworks and was lead developer on Fusebox for two years.

CFUnited sessions: Living in the Cloud , CFML Discussion BOF

1. Have you spoken at CFUnited in the past?

Yes, this is my sixth time as a speaker I believe. CFUnited is the biggest CF-focused event in the world. No matter what your skill level, you'll find something to suit you. The networking opportunities - being able to discuss issues with your peers - is extremely valuable at a big event like this!

2. Why should people attend your session(s)?

A lot of people are curious about "cloud computing" but not many people in the CF community have tried to run their production systems on it. At Broadchoice, we developed one application specifically for Amazon's EC2 and S3 services and migrated another application from a traditional data center to Amazon's EC2. I'll be talking about the benefits and pitfalls - as well as looking at design considerations that make it easier to run applications in "the cloud". If you're thinking about "cloud computing" on any level, come and learn from our experiences!

3. Do you have any projects in the works that you will be revealing at CFUnited?

Yes, a couple of projects. But they'll be revealed at CFUnited so I can't talk about them yet. Another couple of reasons to attend!

4. Besides your topic, what other sessions are you looking forward to?

August is a long way off so I haven't even thought about which sessions I'm attending yet.

5. What are some of the hot topics you'd like to see at RoundTable discussions?

Open source development is one of my passions so I'd like to see that topic represented. I'd also like to hear people's experiences, good and bad, with unit testing, test-driven development and behavior- driven development.

6. Where can people find you at CFUnited?

I expect I'll be hanging out in the bar with the rest of the Railo team so folks can find us easily.

7. What's the latest news with you? Has anything changed since last CFUnited?

The big news is that I joined Railo Technologies US as their CTO in April and, along with Peter Bell (and others), we're offering support and professional services for companies - and individuals - using the open source Railo CFML server.

8. What is unique about CFUnited?

Apart from being the biggest CF-focused event in the world, it's the only place where you can meet CFers of all levels, from all industries. Did I mention the networking opportunities are extremely valuable?

9. What do you like to do in your free time?

Ballroom and Latin dancing. My wife & I started lessons at the beginning of 2009 and we're having a great time!

This entry was posted on May 13, 2009 at 3:49 PM and has received 2846 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

Hello Ladies!

A recent conversation has been sparked by Raymond Camden with someone who recently asked why conferences can't find that many women speakers. I think lots of conferences would like to see more women participate as a speaker.

See blog entry here: http://www.coldfusionjedi.com/index.cfm/2009/3/5/Open-Question-Women-speakers-at-conferences

CFUnited has seen increased numbers in women attending over the years and I think it adds a nice balance to the event overall. However, we don't see that many women submitting topics in the call for speakers.

Because of this recent discussion I have decided to open the call for speakers again for women only. I've open up 5 more topic slots starting today. Submit on the call for speakers until March 20th. http://callforspeakers.cfconf.org/ I'll post all the choices in a survey on March 23rd and let the community vote again for two weeks. And to further my support I'm going to submit a topic as well.

I'm glad to announce that Selene Bainum will be added as a speaker soon to a Database Track. And of course Dee Sadler is currently accepted as a speaker.

Thanks Ladies and I'm excited to see ideas for new topics.

Note: I will post on this blog what topics have been submitted from women already so that they get a chance too. And as they come in, I'll try to update this entry as well in the comments section.

This entry was posted on March 9, 2009 at 2:15 PM and has received 3602 views. There are currently 3 comments. Print this entry.

We got word last week that Vince Bonfanti will not be presenting at CFUnited this year. In his place for the Open Source Birds of Feather Session at 8:30pm on Wednesday the 18th, Adam Haskell will present.
http://cfunited.com/go/topics/2008#topic-1741

Replacing Adam Haskell as the speaker for the BOF, Improving Quality through Code Reviews and Mentoring is now Mark Drew. http://cfunited.com/go/topics/2008#topic-1745

The topic "IIS 7.0 for CFML Developers" is now canceled. Track Chairs are working on replacing the topic for the schedule. More information soon.

This entry was posted on June 2, 2008 at 7:26 PM and has received 3177 views. There are currently 1 comments. Print this entry.

Wondering what you'll be doing June 18th at 8:30pm? Hopefully you are attending one of these interesting subjects.

We still have a couple slots to fill, but so far here is what we've accepted. We think these will be of great interest to attendees of all sorts.

8:30PM - 9:30PM John Farrar "COOP on ICE, Cooler CF" - DC Convention Center

8:30PM - 9:30PM (or later) Raymond Camden "SciFi discussion" - Grand Hyatt

8:30PM - 9:30PM Nat Papovich "The Secret Club of Remote workers and Telecommuters, a.k.a. SCRAT - DC Convention Center

This entry was posted on March 4, 2008 at 6:13 PM and has received 3470 views. There are currently 1 comments. Print this entry.

I have 4 BOF sessions open from 8:00pm-9:00pm for June 18th. We are looking for interesting topics to fulfill the needs of those jet lagers and die-hard conference goers. If you have an interesting topic, please let Liz know by March 5th. All submissions cannot be accepted. First come, first serve, but if we don't think it fits we might pick the next good topic. Usually we are looking for discussion topics that are fun or interactive.

(Why do they call it Birds of Feather? Such a weird name)

contact liz(at) cfunited.com or comment on this blog. Thanks!

This is for CFUnited USA.

This entry was posted on February 28, 2008 at 6:12 PM and has received 3706 views. There are currently 1 comments. Print this entry.

Not listed yet is a new BOF we are adding. So new, it is only announced here!

Wednesday June 27th 2007
9:00pm-9:50pm

Frameworks BOF with Joe Rinehart. Subscribe to this blog entry for updated information.

Joe, Can you add a message about what this BOF will be? -Liz

This entry was posted on June 26, 2007 at 6:48 AM and has received 3756 views. There are currently 1 comments. Print this entry.

CFUNITED BOF (Birds of Feather) sessions have been announced on the following topics:

• Apollo and Flex fears debunked - Todd Cieplinski
• Managing Client Expectations - Abraham Lloyd
• Solo Coding - Charlie Arehart, Chaz Chumely, and Mark Drew.
• The Google Generation - SEO, Adsense, Adwords and more - Michael Dinowitz
• Using your Whole Brain for Developers - Michael Smith

Birds of Feather are informal sessions, often in the evening, where you can share detailed development ideas with speakers and fellow attendees.

This entry was posted on May 16, 2007 at 5:19 PM and has received 4147 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.