CFUnited Blog

Adobe MAX Day 1 reactions

Hello World.

This is my take on MAX so far. I was extremely pleased with the the over all feeling of MAX today. It was a great experience checking in and finding session rooms. Now granted, I heard some sessions were in another hotel that had some people confused but I didn't experience that problem yet.

Breakfast. It was actually good. I loved the little breakfast sandwiches and fruit. Nice touch. I went to look for a pleace to sit and eat but found out there wasn't any where to sit. I was pleased to find Jason Delmore and Tom Jordahl sitting on the floor in the middle of the room because I was planning to do the same. I realized early on that most developers are used to sitting on the floor for some reason. After about 5 minutes, more Adobe folks came to join us and some community members we recognized. We sat in a big circle and talked about everything we've experienced last night.

Keynote. We all got up and made our way to the keynote. Ok, correction, we litterly rushed to the entrance like a tornado was behind us. It was a race to the front. Nafisa and I sat about 15 rows back from the stage with other community leaders. I even ran up to give Ben Forta a big bear hug. I swooned when I saw Kevin Lynch on stage. (its a harry potter thing) I was well aware that no CF stuff would be talked about yet so I didn't get dissapointed. I did find a few things inspiring but nothing that had me going gaga. I was more occupied with not having Wifi access on my ipod touch. So I resorted to twittering on my cell phone. If you didn't hear about everything at the Keynote go to http://adobe.com/keynote And lastly, I realized as it was ending someone yelled out "Bingo" which was an inside joke I later found out about. (If you guys pull that while I'm on stage I'll clobber you) lol, but it was really funny. I was making my way out and got into a big crowd again so I hopped over the chairs and I got a few hoot and hollers. I'm not dancing on chairs yet guys. At least I was a little graceful (ok, but I didn't fall). My wonderful Mr. Potter was charming as usual and very classy. Although, I'm excited for tomorrow's keynote when I get to see my main squeeze, Mr. Forta. There is so much buzz and wonder about what we will find out next. I'll be twittering constantly under "cfunited" as fast as my fingers can go. (Hopefully the wifi is up then as well @adobemax)

Lunch. Very good. Very organized. I was late in line because I just had to stop by all the booths on the way. But I was pleased to still have plenty to eat. Thanks for the creme brule, it fulfilled my craving.

Sessions. A little weird. You check in with your badge. If you are not on the list, you have to wait... which is understandable. But I was on the list but my badge didn't register on the scanner. It actually said "Sorry, you are not permitted" or something like that. I wanted to tell that machine to fly a kite. I understand how it is though. Not everything works all the time. The few I've attended so far have been pretty ok. I'm actually here to network and do interviews. I've had lots of good luck so far but now my camera is dead again. I've gone through 4 batteries just today. Sorry if I didn't catch you.

Exhibits. I want more free stuff. I feel like Adobe has all the cool stuff this year. Tshirts, stickers, etc. They know what we really want. BTW, the CF tshirt rocks. It has a guy holding a bottle of beer. Awesome.

Other stuff. The game lounge is cool. The snacks rock. The support is excellent. AV is good.

Generally great as expected. Again, I'm looking forward to tomorrow. The night is still young though! See you pals later.

Last note. I had to share this point. Everyone who knows me, the first thing they say is "I love the new venue for CFUnited"! Sweet. Exactly what I was hoping for. Its all for you folks. And if you tell me I'm doing something right I'm encouraged to keep going. Thanks for the support.

Until tomorrow. -Liz

PS- Sorry about putting this under Admin, I forgot my personal password. I'll change it when I get back to the hotel.

Which attendee was this? Your wish came true

I know this is going to sound funny...

During the last few events, I've heard people complain about chairs of all things. I know when I go to events my back is a wreck because of those awful chairs they use.

On one of the survey forms this past CFUnited someone wrote a detailed suggestion about having more comfortable chairs.

The conference gods have answered your prayers. I couldn't believe it when I walked into Lansdowne Conference Center and saw the room chairs. I asked if this was a joke because all the chairs are Ergonomic! I sat in one of them and thought to myself - this chair is better than the one I have a my home office!

See proof here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/stellr_photos/2961488333/in/set-72157608251436415/

I know to some people this doesn't make a difference. But to others having comfort while away from home is important.

So to whoever made that suggestion, thank you. I'm glad we could make one more attendee happy.

BTW, there are many more wishes we are granting this year. I hope its your wish, too! ;-)

CFUnited Registration Announced!

Dates: August 12th-15th 2009

Pre Conference Classes: August 11th 2009

Location: Lansdowne Resort and Conference Center

If you've attended any CFUnited event in the past you can get the Alumni discount,$100 off the current price. Therefore, now through December 31st, the cost for 3 day registration is only $599!!!

Check out our new registration system. Now you can edit your personal information and even register multiple attendees.

http://register.cfunited.com

Prices are at http://cfunited.com/go/prices

The hotel and location of the event is the Lansdowne Resort. See more details here. http://cfunited.com/go/travel

Stay tuned to the CFUnited.com/blog and check out all the new announcements about CFUnited 2009! We are making some outstanding changes.

also check out photos from flickr! http://www.flickr.com/photos/stellr_photos/sets/72157608251436415/

Also, feel free to ask our Advisory Board what they think.

CFUnited 2009 Call for Speakers

I'm challenging you!

The greatest feedback from 2008 is that attendees want fresh topics.

We want new and creative topics and in depth descriptions. Suggest a topic yourself or suggest a topic for someone else to speak on.

http://callforspeakers.cfconf.org/

The idea is that on December 1st we will put all the topic suggestions together and let the community vote. Everyone will have to vote by December 19th. The person who suggests the topic that is voted the most popular will win a special extra gift or free ticket.

Here's what attendees want at CFUnited (from survey):
Integrating new technologies
Hands-on sessions
CF and Flash Integration
Full life cycle development using many of the open-source tools out there
More Flex sessions
Latest technologies
Discussion topics
Advanced material
Code Samples
Some beginner to intermediate talks on using IDEs for coldfusion
Keep the technical quality and variety high
Enterprise level topics
More Advanced CF sessions
CF/Flex topics
Integrating CF with BlazeDS/AIR/Flex
Report Builder
Continuous Integration, ANT, Subversion, Flex
Why upgrade to CF8 for government employee
Centaur new features
Real world presentations
New keynote

http://callforspeakers.cfconf.org/

CF_Underground San Francisco - Early bird ends in 2 weeks

CF_Underground SF's early bird ends in 2 weeks, October 31, 2008 with a registration price of only $50! The first 20 attendees to register receive a CF_Underground beer mug, and all registered attendees receive a free ColdFusion 8 tag poster.

CF_Underground SF is a pre MAX event, it will be held on Sunday, November 16th 2008 from 1pm - 5pm at the Adobe headquarters in San Francisco, and then will resume from 5:30pm - 9pm across the street from the Moscone Center at Cheiftain's Irish Pub with free beer and food.

Visit http://cf-underground.com/2008/ for more information on speakers and topics.

Thanks to everyone!

We created a short video to thank everyone for another wonderful CFUnited conference.

- CFUnited team

Liz & Nafisa (minus Elliott, we can't find him)

CFUnited Wednesday Adobe Connect presentations Part I

RAD OO, Peter Bell

Intro to CFML, Sam Farmer

Happy Earth Day

Happy Earth Day from all of us at CFUnited! We want to encourage everyone to take some time and appreciate the Earth. Think of ways you can start being more green.

As we announced a few weeks ago CFUnited is going green for this years conference. We will be doing everything we can to be environmentally friendly throughout the event.

Here are some of our plans:

1. CFUnited Show Guide - If you've been to CFUnited in the past few years, you'll remember the 350 page show guide that you carried around thought the conference. The show guide included details about the conference, sponsor ads, and most importantly the power point presentation slides of each session at the conference. This year to spare some trees we have decided to skip the show guide and provide the power point presentations on the CFUnited website. We will release the presentations online approximately two weeks prior to the event. This will allow attendees to print their own materials if they choose.

2. Our Printer - "We've always been green. And now we're FSC Certified. Proof that our papers originate from sustainable forests." (ToddAllan Printing)

3. CFUnited back pack - CFUnited is known for providing someone of the coolest backpacks out there. This years back pack will me made of recycled materials, without lacking the coolness.

4. Evening event - Instead of busing our attendees to an evening event we will arrange an event within walking distance from the DC convention center.

5. The Grand Hyatt - CFUniteds main hotel, the Grand Hyatt DC, has an endless list of the ways they contribute to going green. The entire hotel has high efficiency lighting systems and allow control to energy consumption. Light colored roofs and low - emissivity glass that reduces heat gain. Voluntary towel and sheet reuse programs that allow the guest to determine if towels and sheets are to be replaced during their stay. (These are just a few examples from the long list of Hyatts green features)

6. Organic T shirts - It's tradition that each year at CFUnited attendees receive a custom made conference T shirt. Some of the favorites being the Purple & Yellow from CFUN08, Lime green from CFUnited 06 & blue baseball tee from CFUnited 07. This years shirt will be made of 100% organically-grown cotton. What does this mean you ask? Organic agriculture uses crop rotation instead of agrochemicals and artificial fertilizers, and biological pest control (lady bugs) instead of pesticides. Besides being organic, its a really comfortable and lightweight.

More will be added soon. Let us know if you have any other ideas!

CFUnited going Green

CFUnited going Green

There is a lot of energy and material that go into making a conference like CFUnited, so we thought why not do our part in making sure we do the best we can for the environment by going Green this year. The following are some of the ways:

1. CFUnited Show Guide - If you've been to CFUnited in the past few years, you'll remember the 350 page show guide that you carried around thought the conference. The show guide included details about the conference, sponsor ads, and most importantly the power point presentation slides of each session at the conference. This year to spare some trees we have decided to skip the show guide and provide the power point presentations on the CFUnited website. We will release the presentations online approximately two weeks prior to the event. This will allow attendees to print their own materials if they choose.

2. Our Printer - "We've always been green. And now we're FSC Certified. Proof that our papers originate from sustainable forests." (ToddAllan Printing)

3. CFUnited back pack - CFUnited is known for providing someone of the coolest backpacks out there. This years back pack will me made of recycled materials, without lacking the coolness.

4. Evening event - Instead of busing our attendees to an evening event we will arrange an event within walking distance from the DC convention center.

5. The Grand Hyatt - CFUniteds main hotel, the Grand Hyatt DC, has an endless list of the ways they contribute to going green. The entire hotel has high efficiency lighting systems and allow control to energy consumption. Light colored roofs and low - emissivity glass that reduces heat gain. Voluntary towel and sheet reuse programs that allow the guest to determine if towels and sheets are to be replaced during their stay. (These are just a few examples from the long list of Hyatts green features)

More green ideas will be added to this list shortly. If you have any ideas feel free to comment below.

Don't miss Flex Camp Boston, Dec 7

Flex Camp Boston is a full-day event featuring some top industry experts on Adobe Flex and AIR from both inside and outside Adobe. Come advance your Flex skills, meet members of the Adobe Flex team and network with local companies and fellow developers. Sessions will be geared towards developers with moderate to advanced level of experience with Flex and/or ActionScript. There will be plenty of giveaways, raffles and swag (and lunch). At $10, you can't beat the price! The event will be held on December 7 at the LaCava Center of Bentley College in Waltham from 8am to 5pm (registration from 8-8:30). For the full agenda, directions and latest announcements visit www.flexcampboston.com

If you are interested in sponsoring the first Flex event of its kind in New England, please contact Brian Rinaldi at [email protected].

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