We understand that it is difficult to take time off for almost an entire week to attend a conference. While the event and learning is very useful, we all still have to maintain a proper work flow.

That's why at CFUnited we have created several work stations which provide a quiet and private area for attendees to work. All provided for FREE.

This is not an internet cafe, instead it is supplied with power strips, tables, seating, coffee, snacks, and excellent wireless Internet. We've upped the expectations this year.

If you have to check in to work and get those billable hours completed on time and under budget, we want to make sure we help you keep your end of the deal.

We are focusing on your needs and your companies needs.

Please register today you have everything to gain.

Areas highlighted in Orange are designated work rooms for multiple work stations.

This entry was posted on February 10, 2009 at 2:31 PM and has received 3667 views. There are currently 6 comments. Print this entry.

Congratulations to Clark and Hal, Brian, Andrew, Jeff, and Sean!

Here are the next round of topics announced for CFUnited 2009. Next month we will announce 5 more.

Clark Valberg and Hal Helms "Dancing with the Devil: Dealing With Difficult Customers"

Ah, customers: business would be great if we could just get rid of them! The humor in this statement is the absurdity of it, yet it's easy to understand the feelings that prompt it. In this session, Hal and Clark (who believe they've had MORE than their share of difficult customers) explain how the term "difficult customer" often is often misapplied; more often the problem is that a bad dynamic has been established between developer and client. Using real-life case studies, we'll share specific techniques we've found to be successful in both (a) avoiding problems in the first place and (b) turning "difficult customers" into enthusiastic fans.

********************

Brian Rinaldi "A CF Developer's Guide to the Mate Flex Framework"

Learn how to use the Mate framework when building a Flex application that connects to ColdFusion. Mate was developed by Nahuel Foronda of ASFusion and is an easy-to-use and powerful framework for Flex development. It will feel comfortable to many ColdFusion developers who use common MVC frameworks. This session will show you the basics of using Mate in a Flex/AIR application.

*********************

Andrew Schwabe "Flex and Google App Engine"

This is a presentation on how to build a simple application with flex on top of google app engine (GAE) which uses python and python AMF.

*********************

Jeff Tapper "How not to code flex applications"

Having worked on hundreds of various flex applications, I've had a chance to see all sorts of bad practices in use. In this session, we will look at several mistakes: common ones, amusing ones, ones which got someone fired, and talk through ways of making you a better coder, or at least one who makes a better caliber of mistakes.

*********************

Sean Moore "Flex Best Practices"

This presentation is based on my experience developing internet based applications. I wrote two articles on Best Practices for the Adobe Flex Developer Center on the Adobe.com website last year. This presentation cover many of the topics and bullet points from my articles. The presentation is meant to help developers write more maintainable, scalable, clean, organized code and develop Flex projects in the same manner.

This entry was posted on February 4, 2009 at 2:48 PM and has received 2603 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

Congrats to Phillip Ciske for winning $200 in January's Blog Bling contest! Check out Phillip's blog http://www.phillipciske.com/blog/

Those of you who didn't win this today no worries we are picking random winners each month. For more details about the contest visit CFUnited Blog Bling Contest

This entry was posted on January 30, 2009 at 2:46 PM and has received 2657 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

We want everyone out there to help us spread the word about CFUnited 2009! I'm asking all of you to post CFUnited blog bling on all your sites and in return you will be entered into a drawing to win MONEY!

Yup that's right, no prizes.. no discounts.. but cold hard cash.

Just fill out the form, and submit a valid URL. At the end of each month between January - July 2009 we will randomly pick a winner from the submitted URL's with CFUnited Blog Bling and the winner will receive $200!

Winners will be announced on the CFUnited Blog at the end of each month.

The earlier you post CFUnited blog bling the more chances you have to win. So what are you waiting for go pick out your CFUnited Blog Bling http://cfunited.com/go/spreadtheword

Submit your URL here http://cfunited.com/go/survey/167

This entry was posted on January 21, 2009 at 7:09 PM and has received 3409 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

We are so excited to announce our newest sponsors.

Platinum Sponsor

Adobe Systems Inc. http://www.adobe.com/

Silver Sponsors

Integral http://www.intergral.com/

Railo http://www.railo-technologies.com/

BlueRiver http://www.blueriver.com/

On3 Solutions http://on3solutions.com/

Savvy Software http://besavvy.com/

This entry was posted on January 21, 2009 at 3:28 PM and has received 3425 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

A couple of weeks ago Joe Rinehart shared some difficult news with us. You can read more on Joe's Blog.

What got me is how the community came together to help out a friend. I got choked up when Scott Stroz contacted a bunch of my "speaker buddies" to contribute our time to put together something for Dale Rinehart and help them get through this difficult time.

Joe is such a great guy and we've been conference buddies for a while, plus I adore his little family.

So I hope everyone goes and helps donate to this fund.

I have another story for you...

When we were at MAX, I told Joe he should be a keynote presenter at CFUnited! He was a little surprised but open to the idea. I contacted him about a week ago to chat and he said he had a good idea for the keynote. I was so excited when he explained that he'd do something about how people can get inspired to become better at their jobs by spending time away from their day-to-day work. He intends to interview members of the development community and tell their stories, showing how activity away from your everyday job can in fact *improve* your productivity and satisfaction with your work.

I think that's going to be an awesome a Keynote, Joe.

This entry was posted on January 16, 2009 at 1:50 PM and has received 1789 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

For groups of 3 or more we have a 10% discount. However, if you really want to send more people from your company I'm willing to make you a deal of a lifetime for registering early.

CFUnited is running on its own income and we want to bring the best event we can by reserving the best vendors and lock in the lowest deals for our attendees. To do this we create Early bird rates for those who want to save big and help with our early deposits.

If you are willing to help, we may just be willing to make an offer. Same with Sponsorships.

Thanks for the early support! Contact me this week to get an offer.

This entry was posted on December 16, 2008 at 1:38 PM and has received 5359 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

Finally! The topic survey for 2009 is open until December 20th 2008.

http://cfunited.com/go/survey/166

Not all topics will be accepted. And not necessarily will these categories become the tracks. We will only be accepting 70 topics for now.

This is the first time EVER that we are choosing the topics through the community picks.

On the survey you can download the PDF of all the topics and descriptions. Do not copy the information on this PDF without the permission of myself and the speaker. These have been submitted to CFUnited directly.

Thank you to the speakers who submitted on time. Thank you to the advisory board for helping me categorize and make changes.

I'm really excited about these topics. So good luck and let speakers know how excited you are about their topics. Blog about your choices so others know and feel free to twitter that you voted. Spread the word!

CFUnited 2009 is going to be Stellr!

http://cfunited.com/go/survey/166

This entry was posted on December 4, 2008 at 1:26 PM and has received 7751 views. There are currently 3 comments. Print this entry.

Experience Day 2 through my eyes and thoughts now...

The day started with a couple cups of coffee... I don't usually drink coffee but for some reason it becomes a necessity at conferences.

I totally planned on recording interviews while I was there. I had no time and no one else really did either. So I'll recap everything instead.

I blogged about Day 1 before attending a CS4 show down. I got lots of ideas for how I could improve designs and create movies in photoshop. Yes... I said Photoshop. I was too excited because I don't like to use Flash if I don't have to. I used to generate simple Fireworks animated GIF images for banner ads but CS3 didn't come with it. Now Photoshop does simple animation and can incorporate video. Its about time!! So keep an eye for Nafisa and I to make some cool stuff to elevate the experience when visiting CFUnited.com.

I made my way up to the third floor to get into the keynote. I got even closer this time (7 rows back from the stage). I thought to myself, this is it. What I've been waiting for. This better be good. OMG, you could sense the CF developers holding their breaths. It was as if Adobe was crossing their fingers that all their hard work for the last 6 months would pay off. It all came down to this.

It wasn't just the content of what they wanted to share with the general session. It was the way they did it. It was fun and entertaining and it was seamless. Started with Design to Video then to Development. The way life was intended. So what stood out? Photoshop new features, Flash made simple, Flex Builder 3, Bolt which is like Eclispe, Centaur's enhancements, and the fact that Adobe really seems to have been listening to the general public. I think everything that has been suggested by the community is being taken seriously. Tim Buntel and Ben Forta looked so snazzy. Reminded me of Men in Black. It was too cute.

I kept wondering why there wasn't as much applause as deserved, but what I think happened is everyone's minds were about to explode and their mouths were hanging open. It was like they shocked us to the point of turning us speechless. Or they were blogging and twittering non-stop.

The evening prior I told Ben Forta that I couldn't wait for Day 2 keynote. He kept giving me a "you'll see" kind of look. At lunch he walked over to me and we hugged then gave a big high five. I told him I was so proud and I couldn't be happier for the CF community.

I was so inspired by the time lunch came around that I kicked into full networking mode. I was like a machine. I should have just had a big billboard around my neck that said "CFUnited.com and Stellr.com"

The Afternoon was reserved for CF and Air topics for me. I know I'm a designer, but I have to stay in the know. Plus I'm someone who has to remind people that CF is doing so well and that no matter what level you are developing, you should learn CF and you can save yourself time and money. I believe in CF and I want to see it evolve just as much as you do.

Kristen Schofield did an excellent presentation "Be your own Ben Forta". I didn't know what that meant really but to me it was more like "Why CF?" She explained everything in the Evangelism Kit. If you've never read it before, go to: http://www.adobe.com/go/cfevangelismkit

You have to check out page 5 which tells us the future of CF. Centaur in 2009, Sully in 2010, and Link in 2011. I don't think Adobe has ever released their plans for anything other than the next release so this was a big treat. It kind of sets the tone for how I should prepare for each year.

In the new Evangelism kit she handed out at MAX it shows the cost savings from developing your applications in Java vs ASP.Net vs PHP vs CF. You can see that it saves companies almost HALF the cost if you develop in CF rather than Java (even though Java is free). Why? Kristen explained that it is easier to train in CF and the amount of time developing is also less. Not to mention the amount of mistake that can be made. She can correct me if I'm wrong but I think she said that for every 1,000 lines of code Java developers make 100-150 more mistakes than CF developers. I think the point is though that the less amount of code you have the less mistakes.

After that we had lots of questions. Some said they have trouble selling CF to their employers and this Kit is a great solution. Maybe we need more? I'm going to think about this and see how CFUnited can support the effort as well. Something with testimonials, more statistics, and case studies.

Another question was how to find developers to hire. My mouth dropped because I know if I send an SOS to the CFUnited community we can find just about anybody to pass along the information in a heart beat. And that's the other point I think Kristen was missing in her presentation. The CF community is very strong and there are many URLs and Blogs that can get you information and assistance quickly. We should be publishing this to the world, not just other CF people. I'm going to work on that idea too. That's why I'm doing this Executive Summit during CFUnited, which I'll share more soon with you folks.

My next session was Rakshith's "AIR with ColdFusion" It was good. I couldn't follow everything but I was paying more attention to attendee's reactions. Seeing what were their concerns and were they convinced. I'd say from the reactions now, yes. It looks like they have a few things to iron out but Adobe is on the right track. Their employee AIR app used CF. A great example and simple.

I shifted focus and wandered around the Unconference sessions. Looks like those were really popular. Some of the sessions were like the ones you'd see at CFUnited. Its was good to see something informal and work so well at MAX. I put out some CFUnited discount cards (Don't forget to use them by December 5th!) and CF Tag Posters of course.

I made my way down to the Community Pavilion to hang with the Community lounge folks. Including Rachel Luxemberg and Eddie Sullivan. You could see that we were all ready for a massage or something. The humor and laughter was contagious. I got a chance to talk with Rachel about the community. She really enjoys the UG managers and says she's enjoying it so far. I'm sure you all will keep her busy. Eddie is in a good place right now although he'll always be a legend amongst user groups. I also met Sumi Lim. The International community has always had me a little hestitant and we tried CFUnited Europe once. So I guess in a year or so I'll work with Sumi and figure things out a little better.

Nafisa and I skipped the Sneak Peek and Awards. We needed to go back to the hotel and take a break. It was just too much for one day and yet we still had to make our way to back for the evening event. We carried all the free tshirts, stickers, and CDs in our book bags that we could manage. By the time we got to the room we could have literally fallen asleep. At 7pm we found the buses to take us to the museum event. It was pretty orderly. I fell asleep in the bus because it was a 30 minute ride. But good thing because it was going to be a long night.

We (Nafisa and I) started out with the environment exhibit and things that show how the world is evolving to improve our planet. Got some itty bitty burger and chips and beer (Stella beer was my drink for the night... get it? Stella, Stellr... lol) Anyways, then we hit the African exhibit with music and mexican food, a funny combination I thought. Met up with Joe, Ray, Scott, etc. Then the insect exhibit had some beef and potatoes. I got another Stella. There was a pendulum next which we watched for 15 minutes just to see when it would knock over the next pin (because the world rotates on an axis). Grabbed some sushi. Met up with Todd Sanders. Walked up to the guy with tickets for the planetarium scheduled for later that night. Made our way downstairs to the awesome aquarium with a symphony band. Finished that then saw the albino alligator. Got another Stella near the swing band and contortionists. Decided to go to the other museum across the park. Walked past the oragami lessons after grabbing another Stella because we couldn't go outside with our other beers (what a waist, but its their rules and their waste of money). Then we tookd the elevator up to the 9th floor and saw a 360 view of San Francisco. Very cool. Met up with Rob Rusher and his partner Dan. Looked at the time, and ran back across to the other museum to the planitarium. And there was the HIGHLIGHT of my trip. about 200 attendees had tickets to view the most spectacular 3D show I've ever experienced, all without wear those 3D glasses. I'm definitely bringing the family back to see this someday. By the time the evening was over it was 11pm. Nafisa and I grabbed a drink back at the Marriott, then got a midnight strawberry shortcake a la mode. We reflected on the networking we did and the things we learned. Stellr is going to do very well. We have big ideas and a fresh style. Can't wait for 2009.

A big shout out to the 5 Taggers. ;-) (I bet you are wondering what and who this is)

Thanks Adobe for everything. Looking forward to working with you on future events. Thanks for the beer, the loud music, the endless tshirts, the food, the snacks, the video games... and, oh yeah, a confidence in my future with this industry!

Peace out.

PS- Left Wednesday morning, sorry to everyone I didn't get a chance to say goodbye. We'll post all the pictures and videos soon.

This entry was posted on November 20, 2008 at 4:02 PM and has received 3576 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

Thanks Scott Stroz, a new member of our advisory board, who told me to submit an entry about the travel for CFUnited 2009 TODAY.

Lansdwone Resort is not along the metro. We know this is one of the items attendees wanted, however we've made arrangements to make it as painless as possible.

Some of the reasons we decided to go with the new venue was because the cost of rooms in DC or even near the metro were very expensive and there aren't that many options for a venue that can hold a conference with over 500 attendees comfortably. Attendees have been hoping for lower guest room rates, better services, and perks. So we've arranged for some extremely great benefits for attendees which made the deal hard to pass up.

As far as transportation, here are the benefits: FREE Parking FREE Shuttle to/from the Dulles Airport FREE Shuttle to/from the Vienna Metro Station

The metro station is approximately 20-30 minutes away. And if you are looking at traffic which is undeniable on any given day and time, you are probably wondering how we plan to organize the event around this issue.

Commuters will have their own "Commuters Lounge" filled with breakfast, comfortable chairs, and a place to rest. If you try to beat the traffic and arrive early, we can see to providing early coffee and breakfast. Any favorite magazine requests?

Lets say you are running really late. First of all, I'll have the asprin waiting at the door if you give me a heads up. Also, I've decided to schedule the less popular topics in the AM and start the days later and end later. I think its gives everyone a fair chance. As a commuter myself in the DC metro area (I commute from Baltimore) I understand what its like.

I can honestly say that commuters will have one of the few pains as a result of 2009's event. But I plan to make up for it in many many ways and offer everyone benefits and luxuries.

If you have concerns or you think there is something else I can do to easy your pain, don't hesitate to ask. :-)

Be Safe.

This entry was posted on November 18, 2008 at 11:51 AM and has received 2246 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.