The Fellowship of CF Conferences

Greetings, fellow Middleware-earth adventurers! 🌍✨ Let’s delve into the world of ColdFusion conferences — those vibrant meetings of minds, filled with knowledge, camaraderie, and the spirit of keeping ColdFusion alive.

Every year, CF conferences are held around the world, bringing together CFers from every corner of Middleware-Earth. Conferences are not only educational, but also a lot of fun, embodying the spirit of our ColdFusion fellowship.

“First thing is people. Whenever I go to a conference, it's my opportunity to catch up with friends new and old. Also just to talk geek, talk shop. It's great to get together with all these ColdFusion developers and tell stories, share war stories. There's a lot of smart people in the community.” - George “Gavin” Pickin , Software Consultant for Ortus Solutions, Corp [http://www.ortussolutions.com] (From CF Alive episode, "010 All things ContentBox (new API, ContentStore, Themes and more) with Gavin Pickin")

Find Out What’s New

Create a calendar of when conferences are happening and share it with the community, a sort of map of the Shire for your friends. It’s a fun and easy way to keep everyone up-to-date.

“I'm a big fan of the hallway track as a lot of people call it in conferences. I go to a lot of sessions. I also like to just talk to people in the hallway. I'll be at the Ortus booth and there will be a bunch of Lucee association members there as well and we're all looking forward to just talking with people. I get so many good ideas at conferences. I get a lot of feedback.” — Brad Wood , Software Architect and Platform Evangelist Ortus Solutions [https://www.ortussolutions.com/] (From CF Alive episode, "028 Design Patterns for amazing app architecture (16 patterns), with Brad Wood”)

Tips for Conference Success: Your Adventure Awaits

Here are some tips to help you be your best:

• Make a Plan: Schedule downtime before and after the event. Conferences can be as exhausting as a trek to Mordor. You’ll need time to recover.
• Inform Clients and Bosses: Let them know you’ll be off work for the entire conference to focus on improving your CF skills. Avoid spending your laptop and your hotel room. Like Frodo and Sam, get out there and mingle with the fellowship..
• Pace Yourself: You don’t have to attend every workshop. Meet up with friends, skip a lecture or two, and make new CF friends over coffee or a pint of ale at the Prancing Pony.
• Stay at the Conference Hotel: You’ll have more opportunities to meet people at second breakfast or in the elevators. Plus, if you need a quick nap, your room is only minutes away.
• Network, Network, Network: Everyone at the conference is a CFer or associated with ColdFusion. Talk to your fellow attendees. If you’ve never networked before, start with, “Hello, my name is __.” Ask about their work with CF—they might have insights into issues you’re facing. Because even Aragorn started as a stranger to the hobbits.

“It's a great community of people and they're very friendly. It's a small group, so it's very intimate and you'll be able to really make great connections. There's just a great spirit behind all the conferences.” - Charlie Arehart , Veteran server troubleshooter CArehart.org [http://carehart.org/] (From CF Alive episode, "013 Are spiders eating your servers? The impact of their unexpected load and how to counter it with Charlie Arehart”)

Meeting the CF Vendors: Strengthening Your Arsenal

There will be CF vendors and other companies present. They all can contribute to your CF success. Be ready to trade business cards, swap numbers, or connect on LinkedIn. Network with the speakers, who are often veterans and experts in the field. Let them guide you with their wisdom.

“I'm primarily looking forward to actually catching up with a lot of friends and colleagues who I haven't seen for a while. Conferences are always an amazing place to do that; especially the CF conferences. It's kind of like a family reuniting once a year. To sit down, learn new stuff, catch up, and just be together.” - Matt Gifford , Consultant Developer, Monkeh Works (From CF Alive episode, "049 OAuth 2 for Me and You (Social Login Lowdown) with Matt Gifford")

Deep Learning: The Treasure Trove of Knowledge

Conferences are an enormous source of new material on ColdFusion. Many updates and applications are released in tandem with these gatherings. Bring a recording device to capture important sessions (with permission, of course). This saves you from scribbling notes and allows you to fully focus on the speaker. Some conferences even record the sessions for you.

Conferences to Attend

Here’s a list of all ColdFusion-related conferences you should know about:

• IntoTheBox (US and LatAm)
• CFCamp
• Adobe CF Summit West
• Adobe CF Summit East
• Adobe CF Summit India

The CF Fellowship Awaits

Conferences offer great bang for your buck. You might even score some free swag! 

If you’re a first-time conference-goer, consider bringing a friend from the community along with you. Conferences can be overwhelming, and having a “conference buddy” — your own CF Samwise Gamgee — can help enhance the experience and make the journey more fun.

The connections you build and the knowledge you gain will offer a magical spell upon your CF career. 

“I enjoy going and meeting with everybody that I haven't seen since the last conference or the last CF summit. And the reason why is that's where I get the most valuable conversations going, especially regarding feedback. I think a lot of times, people are less open to putting in a detailed email with feedback that might take a long time to explain what they want and what things are bothering them about the CF.” - Elishia Dvorak , Technical Marketing Manager at Adobe (From CF Alive episode, “030 Everything CF Summit That You Need to Know, with Elishia Dvorak”)

🌟Onward! 

Next week, we’ll explore the oxymoron at the heart of ColdFusion. Get ready to dive into the intriguing paradoxes that make CF so unique and beloved by its community. Stay tuned for an enlightening journey into the world of ColdFusion!

P.S. If the maintenance of your CF application feels as endless as the watch of the Ents over the forests, do not despair, steadfast 'Treebeard of Technology'! Whisper through the leaves, send your message by the swift running waters of Entwash, or light a fire on the heights of Fangorn. As wise as an Ent in the face of change, we are here to support, modernize, and protect your ancient code. Together, we will tend to the deep roots of your project, nourishing it with modern insights and clearing out the dead wood of outdated practices. Let's breathe new life into your CF application, ensuring it grows strong and resilient, a towering presence in the digital forest. 🌲🌿