cf.Objective() Platinum Sponsor News
March 9, 2011
From the desk of Jared Rypka-Hauer, Founder and Chief Instigator, cf.Objective():
The Past
In 2005 some key things happened that brought about the creation of cf.Objective(). I attended CFUnited for the first time. I had never been to a technology conference and it was a foundational experience in my career. I started learning "Advanced Techniques" in programming, including Object-Oriented Programming and framework use. I also started blogging. As I looked around for learning resources to support my education and writing, I realized that the landscape for advanced ColdFusion-related learning material was not just bare, it was more like "scorched earth". I remember blogging about the idea of creating an advanced developer conference, but the idea really went nowhere until some months later.
It was at that point that a friend called my bluff. The next thing I knew I was a conference organizer and cf.Objective() was born.
We debuted in March 2006 to widespread accolades.
The Present
Since those early days cf.Objective() has had a great partnership with Adobe... they were instrumental in helping launch the conference and they have provided content, speakers, and support ever since. They even announced new ColdFusion 8 features at cf.Objective() 2007. The only thing that never changes, however, is that things change.
For 2011, however, Adobe and the cf.Objective() management team were unable to negotiate a sponsorship agreement acceptable to both parties. As a result, Adobe will not be sponsoring cf.Objective() this year. To be clear, however, we love Adobe, and we love ColdFusion. The tag line of cf.Objective() 2011 is "The World's Only Enterprise Software Engineering Conference for ColdFusion Programmers" and this will not change.
cf.Objective() was created with the support of its attendees and has never depended heavily on sponsorships to run successfully. Even without a platinum sponsor cf.Objective() will go on. Sponsors, just like attendees, will change from year to year... so while we appreciated our past partnership with Adobe, it was never a requirement for the conference to be successful.
The Future
The only regard in which this could greatly affect anyone is in the way that information is relayed from Adobe to attendees... and even that is being handled. First, Adobe have assured us that any of their employees who wish to attend or speak are free to do so on their own. They have also specifically stated that they see their community leaders, Adobe Community Professionals (ACP) and Adobe Community Champions (ACC), as their official representation at our humble community conference. They have been very amicable throughout this whole process and have been as supportive as they can be without the sponsorship in place.
We started this conference to fill an educational need for ColdFusion programmers by providing them with high quality, Enterprise-class ColdFusion-related content and the past six years it has proven to do exactly that. We have grown to include many of the best speakers and attendees in the field. cf.Objective() is a premium resource for the top end of the industry's talent. We have no intention of changing that.
Ever.
The End
PS - This year we have expanded our content offerings and have many new, exciting things in store for our attendees. We have more sponsors than ever before. Registrations are up... in fact we're already ahead of last year's numbers and the conference is still two months away. There will be announcements as conference time draws closer... so stay tuned and prepare yourself for the biggest and best cf.Objective() you've ever seen!
