CFUnited Blog

CFUnited Museum and Open Mic Night

Hello Talented CFUnited Attendees!

CFUnited is about great topics and learning as always. But its also about networking. When we network we find things that we have in common, whether its about our favorite hardware or our favorite SciFi shows. We build connections with people we have common interests with.

http://cfunited.com/go/survey/171

We came up with an idea that is unique for us and will prove to be an interesting experiment.

Museum and Open Mic Night for our talented community.

Let us know if you'd like to participate. You can bring 1-3 pieces of artwork (or photographs). If you would like to start a jam session on stage with a few others, we'd like to see that too. Magic tricks, poems, sculptures, etc are all welcome.

Scott Stroz will be our Open Mic Night host and one of the performers
http://www.boyzoid.com/blog/index.cfm/2009/6/18/I-Will-BeerPerformingat-CFUnited

Please fill out this form by July 31st to be added to performances and to enter your artwork.

http://cfunited.com/go/survey/171

Adobe Community Achievement Awards

Nominate the Best in the Industry for the Adobe Community Achievement Awards. Formerly known as the CFEmmys, Todd Sharp has reintroduced to CFUnited a chance to recognize those who display excellence.

Please enter your nominations by June 8th

Everyone is eligible and feel free to nominate yourself. Todd will narrow down the results and CFUnited will provide the list to the public before the vote on winners begins.

http://cfunited.com/go/survey/172

Simon Free and Ben Nadel on CFUnited Video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MBocBdDw7g0

Call for Women Speakers

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.

Do you have your CFUnited blog bling? We are picking February's winner 02/27/09!

We are giving away $200 at the end of each month to one lucky winner who has CFUnited Blog Bling on their blog/ website!

To enter the contest pick from the CFUnited Blog Bling, then fill out this form to submit your URL. At the end of each month between January - July 2009 we will pick a random winner from the URL's entered into the contest. Anyone can enter the contest and you can submit as many URL's as you like to enhance your chances of winning.

We are picking February's winner on 02/27/09 after 3pm, so go get your CFUnited Blog Bling now!

CFUnited Blog Bling Contest

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

CFUnited Topic Survey - VOTE NOW

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

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/

Survey results have us thinking

The survey feedback about the CFUnited 2009 event was extremely helpful. We realize that attendees want something reasonably priced and near city atmosphere. Having a venue that is easy to get to and metro accessible was important to travelers. We also saw that at the top of the list were Wireless Internet, Newer sessions, Good food, and Free Stuff.

Some of the great feedback we heard:

"Better learning opportunities. Maybe longer sessions, or more in-depth sessions."

"Content that can not be had anywhere else but CFUnited, but with so many other events, I am not sure that is possible."

"Having it spaced out a little in time from [other events]...I like the idea of going in July or early August"

"Having the convention at the hotel we are staying at"

"I have enjoyed the conferences but maybe a few more hands on sessions would be beneficial."

"Lower overall cost, the hotels in DC were really expensive and were too far away from the conference center itself which made networking hard"

Thanks Everyone! Either way attendees want a newer venue and newer sessions. Everything else is being considered highly. The decision on venue is going to be very rough, and we will cater to everyone's preferences as much as possible. I hope you like our decision, which will be announced in next week's newsletter.

Sean Corfield mentioned on his blog recently "it looks like CFUNITED 2009 will be significantly improved over CFUNITED 2008 and very focused on "the preferences and the needs of the attendees". I shared one of the potential venues with him. It is a possibility that I just can't pass up this deal because of all the free stuff and amenities they are offering and at that price! Even though not all the preferences are being accomplished. I hope everyone feels the same way and likes the new venue!!!

Get your very own Adobe ColdFusion 8 tag poster

We are happy to announce that the Adobe ColdFusion 8 tag posters are being shipped out to a CFUG near you.

You will want to get your hands on one soon.... as you can see the CF8 tag posters are a great addition to office decor ;)

The User Groups have been sent a limited number of tag posters, so we are offering to send you your very own for free!

Just fill out the following survey and you get your tag poster in the mail.

http://cfunited.com/go/survey/cf8-tag-poster

Due to cost of shipping we are only mailing free tag poster to US residents only. If you reside outside of the US and would like a tag poster just send us a request to nafisa(at)teratech.com and we can figure something out.

The posters were created with the joint efforts of TeraTech and Adobe.

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