DougHughes.net

I wanted to take a moment and let those developers in the ColdFusion community who havent already heard know that this is the last year for CFUnited. Sadly, Ive heard that its lost money the last few years and apparently its being shelved. Who knows if this will be a permanent thing or not, but its safe to assume it is.

What does this mean? Well, it means that if you havent gone before, that this is the last chance for you to come to the largest and most focused ColdFusion conference in the world (at least that I know of). Not only that, but there are also always presentations about related technologies like Flex, JQuery, and more.

Here are some of the reasons I think you should go:

• I know most of the speakers and I can tell you that theyre all freakin smart. Some of them are downright prolific in their talent. All they want to do is share that information with you, the attendee. Furthermore, all of these people are very approachable and love to talk about ideas, problems, concepts, and more. Buy them a beer and youll have a smart friend for life! Could you ask for a better resource?
• The networking opportunities are very good as well. For the last few years Alagad has sponsored CFUnited and I think weve done well meeting new potential clients and making our name and our development services known to the community. Clearly this is valuable for businesses. However, for the individual it can be even more valuable. We all know the market is very shaky right now. I assure you that the more people you know in the business the better your prospects are for finding new work, should you need to.
• The reverse is true too. That is to say that if youre looking for ColdFusion talent, this is where to find them. The conference attendees are all passionate enough about ColdFusion to either convince there employers to send them or to pony up their own hard earned cash.
• Theres no better place to find out about the latest and greatest news from the ColdFusion community. CFUnited is historically where Adobe makes major announcements or demos new and exciting technology. Go and get ahead of the curve.

You should also know that today, July 15^th is the last day for early bird pricing. There are also special offers for those who are unemployed. Find more information about this here.

So, why am I writing this entry? Some of you in the community already know that I wont be at this CFUnited. Sadly, thats true. I simply cant make it this year. I really wish I could, but the stars are not aligned in my favor. I suppose Im hoping someone else will go in my place and get all the benefits Im sadly going to miss.