Last week our benevolent dictator of the cf.O() Content Advisory Board (CAB) announced that the Call for Speakers and Topic Suggestion application is now open and ready for our submissions. I know I have started adding my suggestions already and have started voting as well. You should too.

As a member of the CAB I can tell you that this application was a HUGE part of the success that cf.O(0 saw last year in brining the attendees a fantastic line-up of sessions. It makes the planning process SOOOOOOOO smooth. Please, take the time to vote. You, the attendees of the conference, are the audience. We care about what you want to see. So if you want to have a hand in planning this stellar event, then get going.

From Bob's Blog:

The Topic Suggestion Survey and the Call for Speakers for next year's cf.Objective() are both now officially open. For more details please check out the announcement at the cf.Objective() site, or if you're keen to get started, visit the Engage app right now to suggest and vote on topics or to propose to speak.

This year at cf.Objective() we'll be trying something new with the Keynote address. Specifically, instead of being addressed by Adobe, you will be addressed by members of the community. I am proud to be one of those members, and I will be joined by an amazing group of people.

• Scott Stroz
• Raymond Camden
• Mark Mandel
• Bob Silverberg

We'll be talking about several topics, and you are not going to want to miss it.

Oh and we need speakers for the Lightning Talks!!

For those that attended cf.O() last year, you may remember that the Pecha Kucha was a HUGE hit. it was almost as well attended as the keynote address and it was a lot of fun. We are going to do it again this year, but this year we are calling it "Lightning Talks".

These presentations are fun, short, and can be on any topic that you want. If you are interested in presenting a Lightning Talk, go to http://engage.cfobjective.com/ and submit a topic.

Anyone can present a Lightning Talk. You do NOT need to be a cf.Objective() speaker already. This is a great opportunity to get up and try your hand at speaking to a group and having some fun.

And again, it can be on ANY subject. Lightning / PK talks that I have seen in the past include:

• The Evolution of the Air Cooled Volkswagen - Jim Leether - NCDevCon 2010
• People-centric software design - Ben Nadel - cf.Objective() 2010
• Stress Management - Doug hughes - NCDevCon 2010
• Life can be hard, or life can be easy - Jason Long - NCDevCon 2010
• 5 Bucks Is Change - Janet Kennedy - NCDevCon 2010

I'm looking forward to seeing everyone at cf.Objective() 2011

Hey, in case you didn't notice, the call for speakers for the super-awesome-fantastic-amazing cf.Objective() conference is now open.

you can submit your proposals here:

http://engage.cfobjective.com/

Even if you don't submit a proposal, you should definitely come to cf.Objective(). It is best ColdFusion conference there is. And remember that cf.Objective isn't JUST for advanced/enterprise developers. cf.Objective() is also about becoming an advanced/enterprise developer. So even if you feel like cf.Objective() might be over your head, if you're an experienced developer who wants to take the next step in your learning, cf.Objective() is the place for you!

So get on it!

I keep forgetting to do this. Sorry :(

I have given three presentations so far this year, and I will have 2 or three more et before the end of the year. Here are the slides for the first three in both Keynote and PDF formats.

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Tomorrow night at the Twin Cities CFUG meeting, Kurt Wiersma and I will each be presenting one of our cf.Objective() presentations. I think we each have three presentations to give at cf.O(). This is your opportunity to see two of the six early (or at all if you are not going to the conference for some bizarre reason). :)

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We had a great response to our contest to give away a seat at our "Building Secure CFML Applications" training at cf.Objective() next month. A total of 42 entries.

And the winner is

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Would you like to win a seat at the "Building Secure CFML Applications" pre-conference training at cf.Objective()?

In case you don't know, Pete Freitag and I are offering a full-day training on writing secure applications with CFML at cf.Objective() 2010 in Minneapolis. The training will be on Wednesday the 21st of April, 2010 (which is the day before cf.O() starts).

We are going to give away one seat at this training.

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In April I will be presenting a lot of things at cf.Objective(). Here is a short list:

Secure CFML training

Pete Freitag and I will be doing a full-day training on building secure CFML applications. We are going to be taking a fun, pragmatic approach to the topic.

We will start with an application that is full of vulnerabilities and we are going to hack that applications. We are actually going to deploy real attacks against the application to see how it works. We'll even use some hacker tools to automate attacks. By doing this we can better learn how to think like a hacker, which better enables us to code while thinking "how could this be exploited?".

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I hope everyone is aware of the cf.Objective() conference that takes place in Minneapolis/St. Paul every year. In case you are not, you should know that it is an absolutely AMAZING event.

cf.Objective() is touted as "The World's Only Enterprise Engineering Conference for ColdFusion Developers". I have been to two cf.Objective() conferences so far, and this year will be my third. I am very excited about it.

Two years ago, there was a two-day pre-conference training session held on the Mach-II framework. It was a very successful training (I believe they sold out every seat), but beyond that, it was a fantastic training. I attended it, and I loved it. I learned a lot. Last year they had ColdBox training prior to the conference. I did not attend that one, but I hear it was also great.

This year, the organizers of cf.Objective() are trying the pre-conference training again, but with more training sessions. This year there will be six!

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I received word last week that two of the topic proposals I submitted to the cf.Objective() planning committee were accepted. I am very excited and honored by this. It's nice to know that people think what I have to say is worth while.

You may have guessed that I will be talking about security, since that seems to be what I enjoy talking about most. But this year will be a little different.

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