cf.Objective() 2012 In Review

Better late than never, I bring to you some of the A/V captured at cf.Objective 2012. I didn’t think they could top cf.Objective 2011, but they sure did! I saw many old friends, met some virtual friends face-to-face for the first time, and got acquainted with people I had not known at all. This was definitely a great conference for networking, learning, and fun. You’ve been waiting long enough. so let’s get down to the events…

Lightning Talks

The Lightning Talks event, hosted by the legendary Bob Silverberg, is one of the most popular at cf.Objective from year to year. It’s a social event that gives everyone an opportunity to get up and speak before the rest of the community regardless of their background as a speaker. It’s essentially an “open mic”, except that there’s a challenge to keep your presentation timed to around 6 minutes, and you must include a slide deck.

We usually don’t know what the A/V setup is going to look like at this event, so it’s never without its challenges. On the bright side, redistributing them to you also affords me the opportunity to edit out slide deck system crashes and other oddities. The first speaker was impromptu and unannounced. He was a few seconds into his talk before we realized it, so there is a little bit of music. Hang in there, though, it goes away. His extemporaneous speech about 3D printers was great, as were the rest of the talks. I think you will enjoy this.

CodeBass Radio Podcast – Episode 3 – cf.Objective 2012 Lightning Talks

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To subscribe to the CodeBass Radio Podcast, visit the show page. (Check out the other CodeBass Radio shows while you’re at it. We’ve got quite a bit of tech talk, and now there’s even a show about table gaming hosted by Wired’s GeekDad, Michael Harrison!)

cf.Objective() 2012 Lightning Talk Speakers

• James Husum – 3D Printers
• Tim cunningham – Beer
• Charlie Arehart – ColdFusion Server Optimization
• Dan Wilson – Owning a Business
• Billy Cravens – Cystic Fibrosis
• Jim Priest – Breaking up with your IDE
• Dan Skaggs – Amateur (HAM) Radio
• Steve Neiland – Questioning Authority
• Mike Henke – Honor Flights
• Gert Franz – Motivation
• Christian Ready – Astrophysics

Runtime Expectations Live

We’re such great friends, in general, that it is always awesome to gather with Ben Farrell and Adrian Pomilio on-site. Fewer things in life have been more fun, though, than broadcasting with them from conferences and events. We make it a point to interview people that don’t necessarily get to be heard all that often, and we also have enjoyed interviewing immense well-known personalities.

At cf.Objective 2012, the show included Sean Corfield, Matt Woodward, Christian Ready, and Jim Priest. A bonus for me was getting to interview John Whish. John is a very talented developer and author from the United Kingdom. I so rarely get to meet and visit with my fellow developers from across the pond in person, so I particularly enjoyed that. You can visit the Runtime Expectations website to hear that episode, as soon as you are done here.

Adrian also managed to interview the promotor of an MMA Cage Match that happened to be on-site the same day. You may have a more detailed report of this event coming at you soon…

 

CFHour Live

I am always pleased to be part of those rare opportunities when Dave Ferguson and Scott Stroz can do a show together in person. In fact, I think this was the first official full-length show done in that manner since Scott took on the co-host position. A bonus was that their producer, Matt Gifford, was able to join them from the United Kingdom. I don’t know if they could tell through my stressed out, pokerface demeanor at the time.. but I was incredibly proud to be up on the keynote stage with them monitoring this broadcast. Matt handled the production end like a champ, and Dave has seriously come into his own as a host. Scott is Scott. (Need I say more?) They had a very worthwhile parade of guests on the show. I recommend you hop over to the CFHour website and have a listen, if you’ve not already done so.

Women In Tech Breakfast

It had been awhile since I hosted an event without the added complexities of broadcasting, so I agreed to host the Women In Tech breakfast. I met a lot of great developers I had not come to know before. I learned that the number of women in attendance at cf.Objective 2012 had grown to about 36 from a total of 25 the year prior.

The fact that sessions given by women are somewhat rare in our community has been the topic of debate lately. I have had a lot of insight behind-the-scenes these past couple years, where conference coordination is concerned, and here is my take on it. Women speakers are rare, because they rarely submit to speak. What would be the reality if an equal number of women submitted as did men? Who knows, but does it matter at this point? YOU CAN’T WIN, IF YOU DON’T PLAY. Women – stop waiting for others to step up. “Represent yo’self!”

This was an amazing group of very accomplished women I had the pleasure to interact with at this breakfast. I hope to see many of them speaking next year. Some of us punctuated the event by attempting to emasculate Ben Nadel. After careful evaluation, I don’t think that’s possible. It was fun to try.

Tim Cunningham’s Fishbowl Session

Soon, if not already, no conference will be complete without one of Tim Cunningham’s Fishbowl sessions. Basically, Tim picks subjects for the rest of the community to duke it out over! You might call it an “airing of grievances”. Ok, I’m being a little dramatic.. but it really does provide a forum for everyone to speak their minds with regard to the hot topics. Tim starts with a chosen panel of people, and if an audience member approaches a chair.. out the occupants goes. It’s great fun, and everyone learns something new.

Which is which?

big thanks

Eternal thanks to Jared Rypka-Hauer, Steven Hauer, Jim Louis, and the cf.Objective Steering Committee for having CodeBass Radio as a Media Partner again this year. It is never less than a stellar experience.

more.. more.. more..

Check out the Flickr photostream, and add whatever pics you have!

WHERE ARE YOU??

What better way to sum up another good conference than with the usual reminders to GET INVOLVED. Attend conferences.. there’s RIACON and NCDevCon coming up! Volunteer some time to a community project, such as adding to the library of CFScript Community Components. Keep up with any number of podcasts and publications. Become active on Twitter. Tune in to your community! It is like no other. Support and resources abounds!