Category: Conferences & User Groups
RIA Unleashed Referral Contest - Anyone Can Win!
Posted on Oct 05, 2010
Crunch time is here for RIA Unleashed with 36 days remaining until the event! I think we have probably the best lineup ever or this event but, as always, I rely on the community to help me spread the word about it. In the past 3 years, I have always had some form of referral contest for attendees to win a nice prize. This year, I am going to do things a bit differently and remove the registration requirement for the contest. This means, even if you can't come to RIA Unleashed (though you should...where are your priorities?) you can still win the prize!
This year's prize is a copy of Adobe Flash Builder Professional 4 along with a copy of Adobe Flash Catalyst CS5 (i.e. both items go to one winner). In order to win, you can can request a tracking link to use on a blog post, tweet, Facebook post or whatever via the comments below and I will email it to you. This will allow me to determine exactly how many registrations you referred. Alternatively, I have been collecting the referral information in the registration form since registration began and will use that as well (note, you can combine both methods and that's probably the best way to maximize your chances). I will determine the winner by the most referrals when registration closes. One final rule, you must refer at least 3 people to attend the event to win the prize.
P.S. Feel free to use the banner in the left hand sidebar for your site if you like.
Continue Reading →Are there any relevant ColdFusion sessions at RIA Unleashed this year?
Posted on Sep 15, 2010
Absolutely! While I think it's a great event for getting a range of topics across the Adobe spectrum. Nonetheless, there is still an entire track purely dedicated to CF while Flex, Flash, AIR, Mobile and everything else split the remaining 3 tracks. This means that ColdFusion probably gets more dedicated sessions than any other language at the event. Given the recent demise of CFUnited, RIA Unleashed now becomes the only East coast event with ColdFusion content (and its in Boston...what could be better!). In response to a concern I heard expressed, I just wanted to give some context to some of the sessions since perhaps the session titles don't make it 100% clear the relevancy of the topics. So forgive the lengthy post but here are some details about about why I think these sessions are both relevant, important and useful to ColdFusion developers. Oh, and don't forget to register!
Continue Reading →Attend both 360|Flex & RIA Unleashed and Save Big $$
Posted on Sep 08, 2010
Were you having a tough time deciding between attending RIA Unleashed in Boston or 360|Flex in DC? Did your boss say the budget only fit one of the two? Well, it's time to relax because now you can tell your boss that for a measly extra $50 you can get all 4 days of 360|Flex and 2 days of RIA Unleashed. The best part is you can get all the pre-MAX good stuff at 360|Flex and then catch up on all the newly announced stuff from MAX at 360|Flex. Plus, you can't beat the extra opportunities to have a beer with your fellow developers - but we don't need to tell your boss that part. For all the details on how to purchase the combined ticket, go to http://www.360flex.com/blog/2010/09/360flex-and-riaunleashed-2-great-events-great-together/.
Continue Reading →Win a Free 2-day Pass to RIA Unleashed 2010
Posted on Aug 12, 2010
There are officially less than 3 months to go before RIA Unleashed 2010 in Boston and I am enlisting the community to help me spread the word about this conference. By doing so, you will have a chance to win one of three 2 day passes I will be giving away. All you need to do is tweet and/or blog about what you are most looking forward to at RIA Unleashed 2010 or your favorite moment from last year. You can actually get a total of 4 entries into the contest. Here are the rules:
- You get 1 entry for a tweet including your favorite moment from last year or thing you are most looking forward to this year. Your tweet must include a link to http://riaunleashed.com. Please include either the hashtag #RIAUnleashed or @riaunleashed for me to track.
- You get 1 entry for tweeting about this contest including a link to this post. Please include either the hashtag #RIAUnleashed or @riaunleashed for me to track.
- You get 2 entries for a blog post including your favorite moment from last year or thing you are most looking forward to this year. Your tweet must include a link to http://riaunleashed.com and a link to this contest post. Please comment on this post with the URL of your blog post so that I can track entries.
- I will pick 3 winners at random based upon all entries (yes, you can only win once) on Monday, August 30th.
Now, perhaps you already bought your ticket or you want to buy it now to ensure you get one of the few remaining early bird tickets in the event you don't win. Don't worry. If you already bought a ticket, I will refund you the ticket price. If that ticket was a 1-day pass for Friday, you will receive the cost of that ticket back plus an upgrade to a 2-day pass. So, what are you waiting for? Buy your ticket today and get blogging and tweeting!
Continue Reading →Come to Beautiful Boston for RIA Unleashed
Posted on Aug 03, 2010
I just finished touring the awesome conference facilities at Bentley University for RIA Unleashed and can share that we are officially adding a fourth track for the Friday conference day. This means that you'll have your choice of any of 5 to 6 hands-on sessions during the each of the morning and afternoon time-slots and 4 sessions during most of the conference day sessions. All of this currently costs only $150 for both days if you caught me at CFUnited and grabbed a discount card with the code THECARD on it (woops...did I let that slip out ;) - code is for 2-day ticket only and gives you $25 off the regular price which essentially gives you the conference day for free). Oh, and don't forget that these prices include lunch both days and a party Thursday night (yes, there will be drinks and food).
Obviously, if you are in the Boston/New England area, this is a no brainer, in my opinion. Even if you factor in a night at the hotel, you're talking $250 or so in total expenses to attend a 2-day conference with hands-on training. However, many of you may be thinking that Boston is too far and that the trip might be too costly. Let me state clearly that nothing could be further from the truth. You can fly or ride to Boston, enjoy the conference and a 2-night stay at the hotel for a combined cost that is less than most conference entrance fees. Using the current sale fares on JetBlue (which is my personal favorite airline - so this is all-bussiness class seating. note: I cannot confirm that you can actually get the prices listed, I am just using them for example purposes), here's some example costs (excluding taxes and airport fees):
- From Washington, DC - $98 round trip airfare + 2 nights at $99 + $150 conference fee = $446
- From Pittsburgh, PA - $78 round trip airfare + 2 nights at $99 + $150 conference fee = $426
- From Raliegh-Durham, NC - $98 round trip airfare + 2 nights at $99 + $150 conference fee = $446
These are just a couple examples. Now, let's imagine you are coming from New York City. Well, you have a number of other options including the Bolt Bus (among others) which would be as follows:
- From NYC, NY - $20 round trip bus fare + 2 nights at $99 + $150 conference fee = $269
Honestly, at any of the above prices I can't imagine your boss not seeing the value in this event. Plus, you will have a great time and meet lots of people. You could even make a weekend out of it and enjoy the rest of Boston. Now, if you are considering attending for the first time, keep in mind we have always sold out and don't expect this year to be any different. Also, keep in mind that the hands-on session day has a cap on attendees because of the nature of the presentations. What this means is, buy your tickets ASAP! Hope to see you there. This is going to be a fantastic event!
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