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Max 2008 marks my 25th (differently named) CF conference as a speaker!

Note: This blog post is from 2008. Some content may be outdated--though not necessarily. Same with links and subsequent comments from myself or others. Corrections are welcome, in the comments. And I may revise the content as necessary.
Here's something I thought interesting. I just realized that Max 2008 marks the 25th CF conference I've been selected to speak at. I'm not talking about 25 conference, sometimes many years for each: I'm talking about 25 differently named conferences. I'll bet some people would be surprised to learn we've even HAD at least 25 differently named national and regional CF conferences over the years. :-) We have, and let's take a look.

I mentioned last night my delight in learning that I'd been selected to speak at Adobe Max later this year. It got me thinking: that was the one remaining major CF conference that I'd not yet spoken to over the last 10 years. I mentioned that I'd spoken at the MM and Allaire Devcons before it, but as I looked back in my records (carehart.org/presentations/, and elsewhere), I was surprised to see just how many there had been.

I can now say that (as of July 2008) I've been selected to speak at:

  1. Adobe Max (2008)
  2. CFunited (all 10, starting with when it was called CFUN and the DCCFUC before that)
  3. cf.objective (2008, 2007)
  4. Scotch on the Rocks (2008)
  5. Webmaniacs (2008)
  6. CFunited Europe (2008)
  7. WebDU (2007)
  8. CFUnited Express (2007: Atl, SF, Chi)
  9. Minimax (2007, 2005)
  10. CFDevcon (London) (2006)
  11. Powered by Detroit (2005)
  12. MX Vegas (2003)
  13. CF Europe (2003, 2002)
  14. MX On The Rocks, Denver (2003)
  15. Southern Cal Regional CF Conf (2003)
  16. Macromedia DevCon (2002, 2001)
  17. CF Underground (2002, 2001, 2000)
  18. MX/CFNorth (2003, 2002)
  19. Colorado Macromedia TechCon (2002)
  20. MXDC (2002)
  21. CF Edge Conference (2001)
  22. Fusebox Conference (2003, 2001)
  23. CF Odyssey, Bethesda (2001)
  24. Allaire DevCon (2000)
  25. The first national CF Conference in Ft Collins (1998)

Sadly, a lot of them were one-off events, but I always want to support conference organizers. (No one at the first CFUN would ever have imagined it would turn into CFUnited, for instance.)

And while I was invited to speak at CFSouth in 2001, I ended up being unable to attend due to my father's passing the weekend before.

I should note that there are still a couple more conferences that I didn't make or haven't made. No slight intended in not mentioning them. I'm just listing those I did speak at.

Add in user groups...for about 200 presentations!

Considering that I've spoken at some conferences for multiple years, that makes over 45 appearances total. And it's still more presentations, really, since I've often presented more than one topic at a single conference. Then if we count repeated sessions...it's been a lot of talks.

And of course, that's all in addition to all the presentations I've given to, wow, I count now nearly 60 different user groups around the country (and internationally) during the past 11 years! All told, again since I've often presented to a single user group more than once over the years, it looks like I've given nearly 200 presentations total across all CF user groups and conferences. (And that's not counting other conferences like SQL Pass, MS CodeCamps, Wireless Devcons, and then several other IT conferences during my 15 years prior to getting into CF in 1997.)

And I'm happy to say that they've not all been the same talk! :-) It's been nearly 80 different topics!

Details on past talks

If anyone's interested in the details of the talks, I list nearly all of them (with titles, descriptions, dates, locations, and links to the slides) at my site's presentations section. I can say that some are as valuable today as years ago, since I sometimes still point them to to people looking for discussion of a given topic (sometimes I've never ended up writing an article on a topic that I presented as a speaker.)

Not bragging, just looking back on a career, encouraging others, and giving thanks

I don't say any of this to brag. Not at all. It's really just rather unusual when one has a chance to stop and look back on their career (other than when writing a resume.)

You just do things day in and day out, and often you never realize how much you can accomplish with a slow and steady pace. Same with the more than 60 articles I've done, too. You just don't notice the pace while you're in the middle of it. Like the journey of a 1,000 steps, it all begins with the first. In that respect, I'd like to encourage any who've thought of giving a talk or writing an article to *just do it*. You never know where that first step may lead. :-)

Anyway, again, it's really nice to add Max as the capstone to this list. Thanks to all the organizers and attendees who've supported my presentations over the years.

For a real time warp, you can find out more about the various conferences I mentioned (including seeing speaker lists, topics, pictures, and more) at the CFConf.org site, which lists them all going back to 1998.

Look ma, I'm speaking at Max. Thanks, Adobe. :-)

Note: This blog post is from 2008. Some content may be outdated--though not necessarily. Same with links and subsequent comments from myself or others. Corrections are welcome, in the comments. And I may revise the content as necessary.
Well, I got an email from Adobe today confirming that I'll be speaking at the Adobe Max conference later this year in San Francisco. Of course I'm delighted and very happy to announce it.

A couple of folks had pointed out to me last week that I was listed on the site as a speaker, but I was waiting for confirmation before announcing it (just seemed prudent). Anyway, I certainly thank the powers that be at Adobe who selected me.

I mentioned in a note last week that I'd had the pleasure to speak at 5 other conferences earlier this year. I'm looking forward to adding this to the list!

My first chance to speak at Max, after 3 "Devcon"s

This is all the more special because while I've attended the last two Max's, I've not spoken at them. I did speak at the Macromedia DevCons in 2001 and 2002 (and before that the Allaire DevCon in 2000), but during my time with New Atlanta from 2003 to early 2006, well, I missed out on Max. :-)

The Topic: Derby

I submitted a few topics and curiously the one selected was:
"Using Apache Derby, the Open Source Database Embedded in ColdFusion 8"

Learn about the Apache Derby database included in ColdFusion 8. A full-featured database with a ten-year heritage, Apache Derby is fully transactional, easy to use, and standards based and has the advanced features you'd expect in any quality DBMS. Yet it's small, at only 2MB. In this session, you'll find out how to use Apache Derby within ColdFusion, as well as about tools that work with it and where to learn more.

I realize many have missed or dismissed the embedded Derby DB. I've made the argument before that it's very much worth your looking into. (And I was glad to see Scott Stroz promote it several weeks ago.) You'll definitely want to check out my resource page to learn more in the meantime.

Would love to take it further

So I'll see some of you at Max. If you attend my talk and like it, please do offer your feedback forms. I'd love to present at the other Max events. :-)

(BTW, when I use the term "look ma" in my titles, that's just in jest. I'm not really hoping my mom will see the entry: sadly, she passed away several years ago. I do miss her.)

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