For a first-time event, the 1999 Allaire Developer's Conference provided a jam-packed two days of information and socializing for the more than 1,000 developers in attendance.
When several dozen ColdFusion developers from all over the country gathered for the first time in July 1998 in Fort Collins, Colorado, it was the start of a great idea: share their knowledge with each other and finally put faces to names they'd long known online. Organized by energetic and dedicated enthusiasts, the two-day gathering was intimate and informal, staffed by volunteers, with a collegiate atmosphere perhaps befitting its surroundings. Allaire's presence was limited to a couple of spirited and well-received keynote presentations. Those that went had a great time, but we knew that the next year would be even bigger and better.
In the year since, Allaire decided to organize its own conference, and plans began months in advance. There was an enormous amount of planning, organizing, and coordinating, and the results showed when on October 24-26, more than 1,200 ColdFusion Developers from around the world gathered in Allaire's home town of Boston. This time, there were even more presentations by Allaire and other leading CF developers, parties and presentations by several partner sponsors, and everywhere you looked you saw Allaire developers, support specialists, sales people, and management engaging in conversations with customers. What a difference a year had made!
Sessions and Workshops
The main reason most people attend conferences is to learn, and at the Allaire Developer Conference, there was ample opportunity for that! With more than 40 topics presented, sessions ranged from programming techniques to security configuration to performance tuning and lots more. There were great introductions to Jrun, and what is for many a whole new world of Java servlets and Java server pages. And, of course, a great deal of coverage was given to Allaire Spectra. If you didn't realize coming into the conference how important Spectra is to the future of the Allaire application platform, you couldn't conclude otherwise by the end.
While most of the presentations were 45 to 90 minute lectures, some with live demos, there were also many 90 minute "workshops" in which each participant had access to a computer (usually shared with one or more other students) to actually try the techniques being taught. Allaire had asked all participants to sign-up for their selected classes in advance of the conference, in order to avoid overcrowding, but it seems in the workshops in particular some people had slipped in unnoticed. After a few such sessions, the door monitors and instructors were more focused on preventing this problem.
Partner/Vendor Area
Another important component to any such conference is the opportunity to meet and learn about other vendors and partners supporting the environment. At this conference, the vendor area was very well organized with ample space for each vendor. No crowded rows of tables with plain old pipe and drape: each vendor had attractive display areas with space for visitors to gather on at least three sides. And, whereas often the focus of visitors is to simply gather the nifty toys and promotional materials handed out, in this case nearly every vendor had something truly useful to hold the attention of the average CF developer.
The vendor area also served as a general meeting place for everyone, with breaks, happy hours, and even an ice cream social all taking place in the space. This served to further support the vendors while also providing a convenient location to find old friends and make new ones. There was also a seating area outside this room, which doubled as lounge and breakfast area. It was sometimes quite crowded, given all the morning sessions began there. Some have suggested that this may be one of a few things that Allaire should consider more carefully for next year.
Room for Improvement
Given that Allaire organized the conference itself, rather than a conference hosting company, and being the company's first effort, I was personally very impressed with the conference (I've organized several myself in the past, so I can appreciate the monumental effort). Still, others have commented that there was room for improvement. Besides the crowding in workshops and the reception area, many felt that the need to pre-register (and the closing out of sessions that filled) often left folks with few choices, or ones that may not have interested them as much. Allaire will likely become more and more capable at judging what topics and speakers will draw crowds and can arrange larger rooms or more frequent presentations. While adding more days might solve the problem, that's always a balancing act dealing with many concerns.
Sadly, some of the speakers seemed unprepared and rushed, which was unfortunate because they were required to hand in their presentations weeks in advance. All handouts were arranged in a single large, well-organized binder. In this respect, it seems Allaire had done all they could in advance. It's just a matter of individual preparation (or to be fair, in some instances, the problems were typical last-minute technical problems). And some offered updated handouts to present new information. Again, there are pluses and minuses to asking for presentations well in advance in a fast-moving field.
All in All
It's easy for some to criticize, but given the relatively low cost and Allaire's Herculean efforts to provide something for everyone, I'd give the conference high marks. It seems everyone learned something new, or got to meet someone new, be it a fellow developer sharing similar concerns, or an Allaire staffer they've talked with often but never met, or a Team Allaire member, or other contributor to the Forums or CF-Talk who's saved their bacon late on a deadline. That may be the best part of a conference: the people you meet.
And seeing those people in a friendly, even jovial environment, is all the better. Besides the parties and socials held at the hotel, there was also the great night out at Jillian's, a large and wonderfully noisy entertainment spot in Boston. We took over the joint and enjoyed three floors of open bars, hors d'ouvres, dozens of video games, pool tables, and dancing to a live band. You've heard the saying, "A good time was had by all," well, it could certainly be applied to this conference.
And as we filed out of the conference and hotel at the end of the last day, it was clear we had indeed enjoyed a more perfect union of CF developers and could again look forward to next year being even bigger and better. I can't wait!