We recently reread the article on Fusion Authority that Ben Nadel wrote in 2007 about why he didn't attend CFUnited for many years.

Read how Ben overcame his fears and what his first time was like, plus tips for first time attendees at http://www.fusionauthority.com/reviews/4704-the-road-to-cfunited.htm

And thanks Ben for sharing your experience!

BTW, that was Ben's first year and we think Ben is doing really good for himself now. He's been nominated for several categories in the Community Achievement Awards and now he's even speaking this year! What could CFUnited do for your career?

This entry was posted on July 21, 2009 at 11:01 AM and has received 4356 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

Thank you Adobe and Adam Wayne Lehman for sending the list of topics today. We look forward to meeting the CF team!!

ColdFusion 9 and ColdFusion Builder Track and Topic Descriptions

Schedule of Topics:

Wednesday, August 12, 2009 - 1:30:00 PM
"ColdFusion 9: What's New" Adam Wayne Lehman

Wednesday, August 12, 2009 - 4:15:00 PM
"ColdFusion 9 & Flex 4: Application Development" Ryan Stewart

Thursday, August 13, 2009 - 8:30:00 AM
"ColdFusion Builder: Getting Started (Bring Your Laptop)" Bhakti Pingale & Dipanwita Sarkar

Thursday, August 13, 2009 - 9:45:00 AM
"ColdFusion 9 & AIR: Developing Offline Applications" Praveen Gupta

Thursday, August 13, 2009 - 2:00:00 PM
"ColdFusion 9: An Introduction to ORM" Terry Ryan

Thursday, August 13, 2009 - 3:15:00 PM
ColdFusion 9: Advanced ORM" Manju Kiran Pacchhipulusu

Thursday, August 13, 2009 - 4:45:00 PM
"ColdFusion 9 & LiveCycle ES: SOA Development" Greg Wilson

Friday, August 14, 2009 - 9:00:00 AM
"ColdFusion 9: JavaScript & AJAX Driven User Interfaces" Bhakti Pingale

Friday, August 14, 2009 - 10:15:00 AM
"ColdFusion 9: Working w/ MS Office, Sharepoint and Exchange" Hareni Venkatramanan & Terry Ryan

Friday, August 14, 2009 11:30:00 AM
"ColdFusion Builder: Building Extensions with CFML" Adam Wayne Lehman

Friday, August 14, 2009 - 1:30:00 PM
"ColdFusion 9: An Insider's Guide" Hemant Khandelwal

Friday, August 14, 2009 - 4:15:00 PM
"ColdFusion 9: Server Administration" Mike Collins


The plan is to definitely have these topics recorded via Connect for attendees to view at a later time so that you don't miss out on all the great topics.

Thank you Adobe!!

This entry was posted on July 20, 2009 at 5:55 PM and has received 11253 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

Its Demo Mania!!! (formerly known as "Demo Derby", but the name was misunderstood)

At CFUnited, on Friday August 14th, we will have a series of Demos from anyone in the community willing to show off their their cool app in 7 minutes or less.

Fill out this survey to enter. http://tinyurl.com/demomania-cfunited

Not everyone will be accepted but everyone will be mentioned

How your app makes it on stage: Must be new. Must be cool. Must be able to demo in a short amount of time.

Types of Projects include: Website Apps, Air Apps, iPhone Apps

Oh yeah, You must be attending the conference to enter and watch ;-)

http://tinyurl.com/demomania-cfunited

This entry was posted on July 14, 2009 at 8:19 PM and has received 4089 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

Charlie Arehart is doing a pre-conference class on ColdFusion Builder. Announced today.

CU250 - Charlie Arehart - Getting Started with CFBuilder, for those coming from Dreamweaver, CFStudio, HomeSite, etc.

Register now

You've heard the buzz about ColdFusion Builder (code-named Bolt and referred to hereafter as CFBuilder), now get a walkthrough (hands-on from your own laptop if you bring one) from someone who's been down the same path, coming to CFBuilder from other non-Eclipse-based CFML editors like Dreamweaver, HomeSite, and CF Studio. In this day-long class, Veteran CFer Charlie Arehart will introduce you to CFBuilder, presuming you have no prior experience with it or Eclipse/CFEclipse. (Indeed, if you do have experience with those editors, this is not the class for you!)

Whether you want to or are being told to use CFBuilder, it's clearly the CFML editor of the future, and you'll come away with a clear appreciation of its strengths and capabilities. You may even, like Charlie, grow very quickly to like it.

Many who tried in the past to make the transition from those other CFML editors to CFEclipse (a close cousin to CFBuilder) struggled, partly from the significant differences between the editors, and partly from a relative lack of guidance (and indeed a sense of not belonging) for those making the transition. You were generally expected to tough it out and "get with the program".

Adobe has done several things to address those challenges in CFBuilder. There's still room for improvement, sure, but they've also added still more powerful features that make it all the more worth the transition, including many not ever provided in the other CFML editors. Charlie will gently guide those using the other editors to appreciate the power and even the simplicity of CFBuilder.

More Details and Outline

This entry was posted on July 14, 2009 at 11:32 AM and has received 3276 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

Aaron Wolfe and Lance Smith "Handling Errors with Error Handling: has been canceled. :-(

Douglas Knudsen moved Saturday time to 8:30am

Mike Nimer changed description "Unit and Functional Testing your Flex Apps" http://cfunited.com/2009/topics#topic-301

Todd Peters changed title/description "Coordinating Ajax Development Across the Organization - An End-To-End Software Toolset" http://cfunited.com/2009/topics/353

Darren Pywell changed title/description "CSI: Who killed CF" http://cfunited.com/2009/topics/348

Dan Wilson's "Practical Refactoring: Making Bad Code Good" moved from Friday at 4:15pm to Wednesday at 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM

CHECK YOUR PERSONAL SCHEDULER!!

This entry was posted on July 13, 2009 at 6:23 PM and has received 2167 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

Thank you to all our Track Chairs and Co-Chairs.

These are the people who have volunteered their time to help me provide guidance for our speakers. Our objective is to make sure our tracks have the best and most accurate content possible.

AIR and UI Development -ROB RUSHER & JOSH ADAMS

Best Practices -SCOTT STROZ & SHLOMY GANTZ & SEAN CORFIELD

ColdFusion (advanced) -TERRY RYAN & RAY CAMDEN & CHAZ CHUMLEY

ColdFusion (basics) -TERRY RYAN & SCOTT STROZ & RAY CAMDEN

Configuration,Testing & Deployment -JOSHUA CYR & DOUG HUGHES

Databases -NATE NELSON & JEREMY KADLEC

Flex (advanced) -ANDREW POWELL

Flex (basics) -PETER BELL & BRIAK KOTEK

Frameworks -SEAN CORFIELD & ADAM HASKELL

Managing Projects -SHLOMY GANTZ

OO Development -CHAZ CHUMLEY & BRIAN KOTEK

This entry was posted on July 9, 2009 at 8:02 PM and has received 2251 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

Do you have it all?

I brought in a celebrity to speak at CFUnited. I saw Janine Driver in DC in June and she's hilarious and has a ton of great tips for business professionals. She will show you how to climb the ladder in your career. She's trained many in the government and law enforcement agencies, now she's reaching to business professionals like us. (See the link to her recent TV show appearances below)

For all you "LIE TO ME" show fans: Janine Driver's mentor is Dr. Paul Ekman, the inspiration behind the new hit TV show.

Her topic is "The New Executive Presence"

Speaking Times:
Thu. 3:15PM-4:15PM
Fri. 9:00AM-10:00AM

Janine Driver, Body Language Contributor for NBC's The Today Show, has been dubbed the "Lyin' Tamer" and that's L-Y-I-N Tamer because...she knows when people are lying! Janine is a world-renowned body language expert, international speaker, author and life coach. She has been seen on the Big Idea with Donny Deutsch, CNN, the History Channel, ESPN, Fox News Live and many more. She is the author of The Masters of Success and will release her second book with Crown Publishing, "YOU SAY MORE THAN YOU THINK: A 7- Day Plan on How to Use the New Body Language to Get What You Want", February 2010. Janine's background is as fascinating as the subject matter she teaches. By day, she spent more than a decade as an award- winning Federal Law Enforcement Officer for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), training 30,000+ cops, lawyers and judges in the fine art of separating fact from fiction. By night, she thrilled audiences as a stand up comic who shared the stage with Chris Rock, Robin Williams and Ray Romano. Today, Janine teaches her recently de-classified body language strategies to thousands of businesses around the globe! Her motto: "If I can teach cops to get the bad guys to confess, then I can teach YOU to easily get the people in your life to say 'YES'!"


Watch videos of her recent appearances on TV

I decided to bring in something a little different to this conference. I hope everyone enjoy this rare experience.

This entry was posted on July 9, 2009 at 4:27 PM and has received 7795 views. There are currently 2 comments. Print this entry.

We have announced the topics that will be repeated on Saturday, August 15th at CFUnited! you can now fill in your scheduler to reserve your seat in that session. Topics were picked based on most popularly selected sessions during the main event. Also, based on which speakers are available on Saturday.

http://cfunited.com/2009/schedule

This entry was posted on June 19, 2009 at 5:21 PM and has received 2874 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

Chaz Chumley - Consultant, Instructor, Author, Husband and Father. Chaz has been specializing in web development and database design since 1995. He currently resides as CIO for w3Consultants, an Internet Application Development & Hosting company as well as an Instructor at the University of Nevada Las Vegas teaching XHTML, CSS, JavaScript, Fireworks, Photoshop and ColdFusion. Chaz is also a contributing author and partner at CommunityMX as well as a User Group Manager for the Las Vegas Adobe User Group and a guest speaker at such conferences as Todcon and CFUnited.

CFUnited session: Building Desktop applications with Coldfusion 8 and AIR

1. Have you spoken at CFUnited in the past?

I have spoken the past 3 years as well as CFUnited Europe. If you had a choice between conferences, CFUnited is defintiely the best for networking, learning and sharing information with your peers and experts in the industry.

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

Web designers and developers who are interested in AIR and not the type you breath then feel free to stop by my session. We have lots of fun and being from Las Vegas, end the session rolling a little dice for prizes.

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

If having fun is a project then...YES.

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

Simon Free is always a blast to listen to. Even if you get nothing out of his sessions you will be leaving in tears. He's is so funny and a great presenter.

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

Frameworks, Refactoring and the best one of all... How the hell do I make money doing this?

6. Where can people find you at CFUnited?

All of the above... Regardless of what time it is I am always open to people dragging me out for a drink.

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

What hasn't changed. I have been doing a lot of Open Source development (Drupal, PHP). Wait did I say that

8. What is unique about CFUnited?

Networking. Unlike other conferences where there are too many people. CFUnited always has just the right amount and if you dont leave without having met someone new then you were sleeping the whole time.

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

I coach youth sports. I am coaching my daughters fastpitch softball Allstar team and Pop Warner football.

10. Who are the best conference organizers in the business?

Stellr - Liz and Nafisa and of course Elliott.

This entry was posted on June 12, 2009 at 2:01 PM and has received 3425 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

RJ Owen - Senior Developer at Effective UI. RJ was the lead developer on projects for Dow Jones, Random House and the Discovery Channel and contributed to ebay Desktop and the Adobe Video Workshop. In late 2007 RJ was featured on the Scoble show discussing RIA development and is passionate about the way that software affects and can improve people's lives. He is certified as an Adobe Community expert in Flex and co-authored the O'Reilly shortcut "Flex 3 Early Evaluator." RJ runs a flex blog called A Better Experience at rjria.blogspot.com, holds a degree in Physics and Computer Science, generally does well on standardized tests, and lives in Colorado.

CFUnited session: Flex 4 Components

1. Have you spoken at CFUnited in the past?

I have never, even once, spoken at CFUnited. Last year I was sworn to silence. I would tell someone, it's okay - you can get through this.

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

People should attend my session if they want to learn about what's new in Flex 4, or how they can use Flex to build some sweet UI's onto the hearty back-ends they're used to building in CF.

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

< mysterious >If I did, I most certainly wouldn't reveal them on the internet. You'll just have to come and see for yourself.< /mysterious >

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

I'm looking forward to Jun's session and David Tucker's session. They both know a lot about a lot of things, and I like learning things from people who know them.

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

I'd really enjoy listening to two gentlemen (or ladies) diplomatically argue the merits of the multi-party system of government favored in Europe compared to our rather intransigent tradition of only two.

6. Where can people find you at CFUnited?

I will most likely be in the pool, trying to see how long I can hold my breath.

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

Well, Liz, I'm glad you asked. Last week we watched our friends' dog. It's a pretty nice dog, so it went well, generally, but it yipped a lot at night, and I'm a light sleeper, so that was a little rough. You know what, why don't we just catch up at the conference?

8. What is unique about CFUnited?

It's the last great bastion of hope for a dying world in need of a hero. There are a few mediocre bastions around, but you won't find any other great ones. Especially not around WADC.

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

When I'm not working, I like reading, playing video games, and occasionally playing sports in my free time. When I'm working, I prefer to spend my free time playing scrabble over a nice glass of 2% milk.

10. How do you feel about Law and Order?

It is my firm belief that there are too many crime dramas on evening television, but of those crime dramas, Law and Order is pretty good, I guess.

This entry was posted on June 10, 2009 at 3:42 PM and has received 3018 views. There are currently 1 comments. Print this entry.