If you're primarily a developer looking to sharpen your entrepreneurial skills (a "Developer-Entrepreneur", if you will), or an Entrepreneur looking to sharpen your development skills (an "Entrepreneur-Developer", if you will), then this post is for you.

Former Philly CFUG manager Steve Rittler and I are starting a new local Philly conference for, you guessed it, Developer-Entrepreneurs and Entrepreneur-Developers: Philly Merge. The idea is pretty simple: Take these two types of people, put them in a room together, give them some opportunities to learn and network, and let magic happen. Whether you've got no idea where to start, or you're already bootstrapped and just want to get tips from local pro's, join us on July 15th at Wharton to fill in the blanks.

July 15th at Wharton

We've got content lined up from local attorneys, accountants, business consultants -- and yes, software developers. We'll provide lunch and snacks throughout the day. We're even thinking about lining up something social but almost entirely unrelated, like an Eniac tour (no promises!). And what's it going to cost you? $29 bucks.

Tickets are on sale now!

It's going down on Friday, July 15th, at the University of Pennsylvania (Huntsman Hall). I'll be there. Will you?

If you're undecided or just want to get an occasional email when there's news to share, you can subscribe for email updates on our website.

This year is the first time that 360|Flex will be held on the East Coast, so if you're a Flex developer in the area, you should consider going. It will be in the Washington D.C. area on September 19-22, and tickets start at $599 ($430 each for groups of 4 or more).

Not only that, but you can get a combined ticket to both 360|Flex and RIAUnleashed (in Boston, November), for significantly less than the cost of registering for each event separately -- a great deal if you were considering going.

I've also just got word that Philly CFUG members can save 30% by using discount code: phillyftw

Since CFUnited announced that 2010 will be their last year, a couple of people have approached me with the idea of starting a new ColdFusion conference in the Philadelphia area.

Why not? We have 3 CFUGs nearby: Philly (of course), Pittsburgh, and New York. And the Maryland CFUG (revival in process) isn't that far away, either. Heck... we Pennsylvanians and New Yorkers head down to DC for CFUnited without thinking twice. It should work the other way around too, right?

But creating a conference would be a significant investment, and you know how much I like surveys... so we put one together to gauge interest in our hypothetical new conference. So do me a favor...

Take the survey!

... and then pass it around to every CF developer you know. Even if they're from San Diego or Scotland. If they would consider coming out, then we want their opinions. Share it on Twitter and Facebook, and email it to your grandma with a giant multi-colored font and animated gifs. Either include a threat that if she doesn't forward it to at least 100 of her friends that she'll have bad luck for the rest of her life, or say that if she does forward it Steve Jobs will send her an iPad. Or both. And then try to explain to her what an iPad is...

(P.S. We're thinking about Flex too, so if that tickles your fancy, be sure to take the survey!)

CFUnited is, by far, the biggest ColdFusion conference available in our region. Well, it will be for one more year. They've announced that they are closing up shop. If you weren't already planning on going, I would recommend trying to make it this year. In fact, they even extended early-bird pricing until July 15th to help make that easier.

I suppose all good things must end. I'll be sad to see it go, but happy for the opportunity to check out other CF conferences like NCDevCon and CFObjective without fear that I'm missing something at the CFUnited.

One of our members, Nathan Mische will be presenting as part of Wharton's Higher Education Web Symposium, and asked me to pass the word along. He will be presenting as part of a session on web frameworks.

If you work as a developer in the Higher Education space, you might want to consider attending this conference. It's local, inexpensive, and looks like it will be providing a wealth of information.

NCDevCon is a web development conference held in late May at North Carolina State University, in Raleigh, NC. Oh, and it's free for anyone to attend. Planned topics include ColdFusion, Flex, AIR, Web Design, JavaScript, CSS, and Ajax. The organizers say that they have figured out how to reach an audience of people who are interested in learning ColdFusion, Flex, and-or AIR, but have little to no experience with those languages yet -- a feat few have been able to accomplish to date.

I spoke with Daria, a Philadelphia local, PhillyCFUG member, and a past presenter at PhillyCFUG, about the conference because she went last year and is planning to attend again this year. Read on for the full interview.

Adam: Last year was the first year that NCDevCon took place, and it was called CFinNC. What was the single biggest reason you chose to attend?

Daria: It was, and still is, FREE!

A: That's always a plus, and even more so these days with the economy in such bad shape. Any way to get free training is definitely worth considering. You're attending again this year; what is it that's bringing you back?

D: Well, free is still a motivating factor, but it's also to catch up with all the friends I made there last year. As an out of town attendee, I ended up hanging out with all the speakers at the conference hotel.

A: So everyone there must be pretty approachable?

D: Very much so. The CF community is very open to newcomers, and that's what this conference is about! Their goal is to get attendees that haven't worked with CF or Flex and want an introduction into those technologies.

A: And I believe you said that you're also planning on volunteering a topic. Is that correct?

D: After last year's conference, I came back enthusiastic and encouraged to follow through on my goal of doing presentations. I volunteered to present at my local CFUG and made a goal to present at a conference in 2011. When they announced that they were looking for presenters willing to give beginner or intermediate presentations for NCDevCon I decided that now might be the time.

A: I know you also attended CFUnited for the last few years. Have you attended any other conferences? How would you describe NCDevCon to someone who has attended CFUnited or other conferences and is considering attending NCDevCon? What are the biggest differences, and what good things do they have in common?

D: I haven't been to any other conferences besides CFUnited and NCDevCon, but can say that the quality of the sessions from both conferences is the same. One thing that NCDevCon has over CFUnited is the morning long hands-on "getting started" sessions that cover the basics of ColdFusion or Flex. [ The tentative schedule is available online ] Even though NCDevCon is focused on beginners, there will also be intermediate and advanced topics for the people who are more familiar with the technologies. I think the biggest difference between this conference and CFUnited is the number of advanced sessions. CFUnited is also a bigger conference and will have more international attendees.

A: I had heard that NCDevCon had a bit of a slant toward introductory and basic topics. How do you think that affects the overall atmosphere of the event, and your experience there as an established ColdFusion developer?

D: There were plenty of topics that interested me, even though I've been developing ColdFusion for a while. There were several sessions on the new features of CF9, object oriented programming, ORM, and so on. [ Last year's topics are available online ]

A: Was there anything that you were not expecting from the conference but that you ended up really liking?

D: I guess the thing that surprised me the most isn't something about this conference in particular. I didn't realize how much my involvement in the ColdFusion Twitter community would enhance my conference experience, but it did. Not only did it inform me on the after-hours activities, but it also made me more familiar to the other attendees and made me more approachable. I definitely recommend getting involved with the CF Twitter community in general.

A: That is a really great tip. I'm pretty certain I would not have my current job, or the accomplishments it's helped me make, without the networking I've done on Twitter -- specifically in the ColdFusion community -- over the last year or two. It's really shown me how important relationship building is when you want to advance your career.

Aside from the fact that the conference is free -- so the only costs are travel, food, and lodging -- do you have any advice for someone looking to sell their boss on the idea of sending them?

D: The quality of the speakers was superb. Where else are you going to get to hear from the gurus for free?

A: Indeed. Do you have any final thoughts that you would like to add?

D: If you know of someone that is interested in CF or Flex and would be interested in free training, encourage them to come along! Be an ambassador and help spread the CF love!

A: Excellent advice. And hey, you could even share a room to push the cost even lower than it already is. Thanks for taking the time to tell us about NCDevCon, Daria.

D: No problem!

If you missed the last post about CFObjective early-bird pricing and didn't get the deal you wanted, you're in luck! They've decided to extend the early-bird pricing through Sunday, February 14th. What are you waiting for? Go register!

After you've got your ticket, maybe you should stop by the PhillyCFUG discussion group to see if anyone would want to carpool or share a hotel room.

CFObjective is touted as *THE* ColdFusion conference that covers more advanced topics -- not just by the people that put it on, but also by its alumni. If you want to do a little less networking and a lot more learning, I have it on good authority that you want to go to Minneapolis, MN, to CFObjective.

Their early bird pricing ends this Friday, the 29th, so if you'd like to go and haven't convinced your boss to pay for it yet, now is the time! In addition to early-bird pricing, they offer group discounts as well as alumni and government discounts.

I've never been, and I probably won't be able to make it out this year, but this conference is at the top of my list for next year.

How cool would it be to get to attend CFUnited for free?

You've got a chance: Fill out their State of the CF Union Survey and you could win a free ticket. The survey only takes a couple of minutes to complete, so it's worth a shot.

You've only got 3 days left to get the lowest possible price for CFUnited 2010!

I didn't have the pleasure of attending last year, so I'm not familiar with the Landsdowne Resort, but I've been to CFUnited a few times prior to that and always found it to be beneficial for training, researching what I should learn next, and of course networking. It also doesn't hurt that you get to spend a few days hanging out with a bunch of like-minded geeks in such a fun and diverse location as Washington D.C.

I'll be there, and I hope you will too. Early Bird registration prices end on January 8th, so today is the day to prod your boss and let him or her know how much you want to go! And don't forget, as a member of our user group, you get $50 off of the registration fee!