Andy Allan wrote on 05/08/08 12:48 PM

The fact there's already 3 European CF conferences doesn't put them off?

And Adobe would rather back a new one than get more behind any of the existing ones?

Fair enough.

John Wilker wrote on 05/08/08 1:08 PM

Having just done that with our event, I can say it's an eye opening experience. Best of luck. If there's anything Tom or I can do to share what we learned, let us know.

Andy Allan wrote on 05/08/08 1:49 PM

The simple fact is, we're struggling already with 3 CF conferences. What you need to remember, and this is where Teratech messed up with CFUnited Europe, is that Europe is a completely different market to the US. Over here, the need/desire/expectations of conferences, especially in the CF world, just isn't there.

What I can't understand is the need to re-invent the wheel.

If the requirement is there to have a general CF conference (CFUnited?) and an Enterprise conference (Scotch/cfdevcon/cf.O) then let's do that.

The conference name doesn't matter one bit.

But let's have two great conferences rather than 4 half assed ones.

Justin Carter wrote on 05/08/08 2:23 PM

I would love to see a (mostly) CF-specific conference in Australia. WebDU is an excellent conference, and I'm bummed that I won't be there this year because I'm travelling around Europe (so I'll be attending Scotch!), but we could definitely do with more CF presentations downunder. I think part of the problem is that we probably need more speakers from the US and/or Europe to fill an agenda with more than 1 track...

Still I think most Aussies would openly welcome an opportunity to attend another (or alternative) conference.

P.S. Dale Fraser is bound to ask for it to be in Melbourne, but it's only 4AM in Oz so that post probably won't appear for at least another 4 hours :) LOL...

P.P.S. I think Adobe should look into working with the various conferences to record video footage of the presentations. That way everyone - including people outisde the US/Europe - can benefit.

Andy Allan wrote on 05/08/08 2:46 PM

Justin, you make a good point about speakers.

As you can see from the Scotch line up, we have a good number of US based speakers heading over, as did CFUnited Europe.

There is definitely a limited number of speakers in the UK/Europe for one reason or another, and that's something cf.O() would need to take into consideration - they would have to ship a good number over.

And that's bloody expensive right now.

Also, looking forward to meeting you at Scotch. I'll be the one in the kilt :)

Kay Smoljak wrote on 05/08/08 6:22 PM

cf.Objective() in Australia - bring it on. The more great conferences the better.

Rae Buerckner wrote on 05/08/08 6:36 PM

cf.objective() in Aus I'd love to see that, just yesterday I was sitting next to a Java programmer over a knowledge management web 2.0 lunch, and I mentioned CF, his response was I've heard that's dead here, my response was you're mis-informed. It would be great to get some international speakers here!

Sean Corfield wrote on 05/08/08 6:48 PM

I'd be hugely in favor of cf.Objective() down under and I definitely think there's a market for a CF-only conference in Australia.

Europe is a tricky proposition and I suspect that a joint cf.Objective() event (with one or more other UK-based CF conferences) would be more viable than trying to *add* another event. As it is, I'm over in the UK twice this year, speaking at both Scotch and cfDevCon so I'll have a better sense of the market and the tone of each conference by October :)

Going out into mainland Europe to do a CF-only event would be a different story altogether but it doesn't hurt to raise the issue and talk about it.

Chong wrote on 05/08/08 7:17 PM

Would love to see a CF only conference down under... it would definitely give CF some much needed exposure if there is one... I believe we only have one conference where CF is a major topic though not the main focus (webDU).

When will we know if there is going to be one or not? or some sort of formal area where we can discuss or track the 'official' thoughts of running one?

Trent Shepherd wrote on 05/08/08 10:00 PM

A cfml specific conference would certainly compliment webDU. Having overseas speakers speaking engaging about methodologies and leveraging the power of cfml (via java) will only help to give cfml quantification.

Rachel wrote on 05/09/08 11:28 AM

Who said anything about CFO-Europe being in the UK? What about Germany, Spain, Italy, France? That's an honest question, perhaps there's little market for conferences outside UK.

Right now a lot of US speakers are traveling to EU and AU to speak at conferences, but the ideal scenario would be to "grow" some new ones (or bring them out of the woodwork) in those countries. It IS an extremely expensive way to run a conference, shipping everyone in from overseas. But having more conferences, and expanding existing ones should help to grow the community and thus the speaker pool in other areas.

I do think that if CF.Objective() is considering the UK for its Europe conference, they would benefit from partnering with Scotch on the Rocks (I haven't been there, but I sort of see it as CFO's European counterpart) rather than inventing an entirely new conference.

Conference organizers will hate me for this but... to all the speakers who are tired of the rigorous conference season, just say no sometimes! As an attendee, there is no benefit to seeing the same speaker give the same talk in three different places. If speakers are selective about the conferences they do (I'm not saying they aren't, I'm sure they are at times), then that helps stratify the market positions of each conference, promotes healthy competition, and gives attendees clearer choices.

Ben Davies wrote on 05/18/08 11:06 PM

I'd definitely support cf.obj() down under. I go to WebDU every year but there is rarely the time to cover much in the single CF track. Worse still, you often need to make a devil's choice between CF and other excellent sessions offered in web design, flash, flex and now air. And I've been drooling over the topics and presentations that have been posted from this year's CF.objective().

Getting the talent to show is an important consideration, but maybe the re-use of some sessions from the main cf.objective() and the use of up-and-coming talent (who saw the same presentations in the US) would mitigate this?

+1 for CF.objective() in AUS.