CFUNITED: Making the Decision

by Ryan Hartwich

I attended the CFUnited conference in suburban Washington, DC this summer and enjoyed the chance to socialize with fellow developers and learn from the experts and well-known people in the community. Was the trip worth my time and money and will I attend a future Teratech conference (and in particular, CFUnited)? Who benefits from attending a conference like CFUNITED? The issues of time and money — the criteria by which most people evaluate conferences — are usually not covered in conference reviews. An examination of these aspects of the conference will help you plan for a more valuable conference experience.

I attended an earlier incarnation of the conference in 2003 when the attendance was roughly one third of what it was this summer. At the time the conference was in a significantly smaller hotel that was unable to cope with the relatively large size of the conference. This year's conference was far more professional and spacious. As a rather picky individual, I was able to identify over a dozen areas that could use improvement (and I shared these in the attendee surveys). Perspective attendees should know that the majority of these 'problems' were rather minor and casual attendees shouldn't be concerned. These nit-picks are not a reason to avoid CFUNITED, and did not cast a pall on my conference experience. I cover some of these issues in an article I am writing for CFDJ, but they are not the focus of this article.

Time

I left Kansas City on a 6am flight the day before the conference in order to attend a user group manager event Teratech scheduled for fellow community managers. Between the four days of the conference and three days of staying with family in the DC area, it made for a rather long trip. As a contractor, leaving work for so long was a major inconvenience since I didn't have anyone else covering for me at the office. For a normal attendee who comes in for three business days and one weekend day, the time is well spent. Each conference day is a full day starting around 8:15 am and easily going to 5pm, sometimes later (10pm one night).

Cost

This is a critical issue that depends largely on your circumstances. The last few years I have been a W2 employee working as a contractor for the end employer. I get paid by the hour worked and each day that I miss work means I loose hundreds of dollars in income. The direct cost of a conference is only a fraction of the true cost to me. I took seven days off of work and an average attendee will lose 3 1/2. The cost of my time off well exceeded my $250 airfare, discounted/early bird registration and shared hotel costs (I found a roommate, something I highly recommend for individuals who want to meet someone new and save money).

Attendees will generally fall within 4 categories:

• Fully Funded — Your employer pays for you to attend and gives you 'training time' (paid) off work. This is by far the best option for attendees and only somewhat questionable for the employer (see 'Who Should Attend')

• Semi-Funded — Your employer pays the majority of your direct costs (transportation, hotel, registration, expenses) but expects you to take vacation time or assist with some costs. This is the best option for employers who want to encourage you to attend and to actively participate (since you now have a vested interest). I suspect this happens rarely since most employers are probably hesitant to push employees to share in the costs.

• Independent contractors/consultants — Fully self-funded, but as a consultant with your own business you can use business expenses as tax deductions and use the networking time and skill growth to benefit your bottom line.

• Hobbiests/1099 Contractors, Unfunded W2 Contractors — You pay 100% of your costs and the only benefit is the learning and networking you walk away with. As a contractor, you probably can't justify increasing your bill rate from the intangible learning and networking experience you receive. While personally beneficial, it is difficult to directly utilize your conference experience towards finding future jobs.

Sadly, I came in as a mixture of Independent contractor and unfunded W2 contractor. I'll be paying 100% of my costs with minimal chance of increasing my income, but since I run a business doing side development work, I can expense my costs, thereby cutting my tax obligations.

The Bottom Line

Will I attend a future CFUnited? Possibly. Much of my attendance is based around moving my cost from a direct cost to one I can justifiably expense as an independent contractor who can recoup the investment.

I had a difficult time deciding to go to CFUnited this summer. I enjoyed my trip three years ago but wasn't confident that I recouped my investment (I paid the entire cost and as a contractor lost pay without being able to raise my rates). Since my experience and rates have increased since then, it isn't as difficult getting work as it used to be. Now, three years older, I am in the unenviable position of deciding, What do I want to do when I grow up?

Several factors affected my decision to go. By attending as a user group manager, I was better able to interact with my peers and evaluate my future as an independent ColdFusion developer versus an entrepreneur. The Flex 2 and framework sessions exposed me to new technologies. Additionally, I enjoyed the conference in the past and figured it would be both fun and a good way to justify visiting family in the Washington, DC area.

One of my goals while attending was to see if I felt like a consultant or like an employee and to determine if the way I picture myself is what I want to do long term. Having an opportunity to meet a wide variety of people with similar skills, who work in different environments helped me to refocus on my long term goals.

I'm rather outgoing and yet still found myself returning to the same small groups of people. Learn from my mistake, branch out, and meet others. Knowing more people makes it far easier to communicate with them later and discuss problems and get help from your peers.

Who Benefits Most?

To benefit the most from a conference, you need to be more of an extrovert. One of the advantages of a conference is that you get out and meet your peers. You talk to them in both a formal and an informal setting, where you can learn and teach at the same time. Ideas are thrown back and forth. Those who go without a good idea of what they want to learn and do will miss out on the networking and interaction with other developers, which is a significant part of the experience. Some people will work towards getting their technical questions answered by peers, others will work on finding clients and contractors, and others will be there purely to learn from the technical sessions.

The networking aspect of CFUNITED is significant. From the minute you walk in to the conference center you are able to interact with fellow developers. There is a massive hall filled with vendor booths and a few targeted directly to the developer (House of Fusion's table included a large library of developer-centric books for browsing). There is ample time throughout the conference to talk with your peers and interact. There are a few sponsored happy hours to facilitate the process, though I would like to see a little more emphasis placed on helping attendees extend their social circles. Teratech has done a good job of making the conference casual in nature and easy for people to interact.

Introverts who go to the conference without direct goals (like find a solution to X problem or evaluate Y upgrade) won't get nearly as much value for their money, as a significant benefit is through one-on-one communication with others. Enthusiasm is paramount. Attendees who go purely to placate their bosses or in an attempt to use their allocated budget to go on vacation will gain minimal benefit.

All prospective attendees should analyze why they want to go to a conference (Adobe MAX, cf.Objective(), CFUNITED, etc.) and what they intend to gain from it. A clear understanding of your personal/professional goals and what your employer will gain is paramount in making the right decision.

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