Hollywood baby, yeah! I'm heading to LA to present at Adobe MAX on Document Driven Applications.

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ColdFusion Product Manager Jason Delmore has just announced he'll be giving a session at MAX Europe in Milan on "ORM in CF9". And he'll be using Bolt to show you how much fun ORM can be!!!

Unfortunately I can't make it to MAX, so go heckle Jason for me!!!

Lately I've been doing a lot of work involving improving workflows, and in particular using ColdFusion 8's new PDF features to do just that. 

A nasty example of poor workflow is in trying to place an order for a good or service, or even internally, trying to request a new computer. You typically have to fill out a number of forms (get a quote, purchase order, etc), you then have to get signatures from X number of people depending on what the good/service/requirement is and how much it costs.

Part of the workflow problem is getting hold of Purchase Order numbers, getting the right people to sign the forms (even more difficult if they aren't necessarily in the same building, or even the same country).

Even when you reach the invoice stage, finance departments aren't that keen on paying out (then again, who is) and you typically have to pick up the phone, write an email of take a walk to the department to find out why your goods/service/requirement hasn't materialised.

I'll be talking about how to improve your workflow in Munich at the end of this month at the ColdFusion Camp event.

We at Fuzzy Orange will be rolling a workflow solution into a project we are doing for the Glasgow School of Art's Centre for Advanced Textiles (CAT) department and interestingly, the guys we're working with at CAT are involved in some other workflow concepts.

Andy McDonald, a research student at CAT is working with Dr.WooHoo on this, and Dr.WooHoo is covering a session at MAX North America on using Flex and Air to Automate CS4 Workflows.

Dr.WooHoo will be talking about building cross-platform applications that integrate CS4 (InDesign, Photoshop and Bridge) into your workflow.

Working with Andy we've already been exposed to some of his ideas, which also includes a project code named "KimonoBuilder", which you can see a little sneak peak of at the following online interviews [1][2].

Knowing Andy McDonald personally, in addition to just how awesome Dr.WooHoo is, I can't wait to see what these guys come up with. If you're going to be at MAX NA, I'd urge you to attend this session. "Crazy shit", in a good way of course, springs to mind.

The sessions for MAX Europe, Milan were announced today.

From a ColdFusion perspective it seems even scarcer that 2007, with just the 3 sessions dedicated to ColdFusion. There's another 3 sessions that may feature CF, but they are more general and will either talk about other server side technologies as well, or will focus on Adobe as a whole.

Lab wise, we have 3 focused on ColdFusion, with another that will undoubtedly touch on it (it's being given by Ben Forta).

Lastly, there is one post event training session that covers CF (which costs an additional €300 I believe).

In all, it's a very poor allocation of sessions, especially in comparison to MAX NA in San Francisco, where I believe there is 17 dedicated CF sessions, plus the labs, etc.

Additionally, at this point there is only one European based speaker talking on ColdFusion. Admittedly, not every session has a speaker assigned to them yet; ColdFusion Powered Ajax and Architecting ColdFusion for Scalability and High Availability being the ones in question, however it does give the impression that either there is a lack of European based ColdFusion speakers (though maybe few submitted themselves), OR the team behind MAX Europe rejected the talks.

Having spoken at MAX Europe last year I was hoping to be chosen again, but alas neither of my talks were picked; ColdFusion Server Monitoring and Improving Your Workflow with ColdFusion and PDF. Such is life.

There's still plenty of good talks in regards Flex, AIR, LiveCycle, and a healthy number on the CS products so everyone's mileage of the sessions is going to vary.

From a CF perspective, and that's my baby, what with me being a Certified Developer, Certified Instructor and Community Expert for CF, plus Fuzzy Orange being a Solution Partner and Authorised Reseller specialising in ColdFusion... it's a poor showing.

I've not yet bought my ticket, as I was waiting to see if I would be chosen as a speaker (hint to MAX organising team - let us know if we've not been picked. Cheers!) and it's kinda looking doubtful that I will actually make it, mainly due to the fact I get married November 8th and my honeymoon could well conflict with the conference. My lovely missus had agreed to postponing the honeymoon if I was chosen as a speaker, but as that hasn't happened.....

Maybe I can talk her into going to San Francisco :)

MAX Europe is now over and I thought I would lay down some initial thoughts on the conference as a whole.

It's been a great first conference in Europe for Adobe, and it will undoubtedly get better, but there are certainly a few things they need to tackle... and I hope all of this comes across as constructive critisicm.

• It appears that a lot of the original speakers have been replaced at the last minute - this includes the talk I ended up giving on ColdFusion Server Monitoring and troubleshooting. Now, this isn't a huge problem if the replacement speaker knows their stuff - I like to think I do - but there were some sessions where the speakers had definately been put to the sword.
• Because of the numbers, lots of hotels were required, and this meant people were spread all over the place ... the furthest "MAX" hotel was a 40 minute walk. Other hotels were right across the road. Not a big deal if you've got some nice scenary or something to keep you occupied, but to dump my bag I had to walk 20 mins to and from the hotel and it was a building construction site the entire way.
• Putting "similar" talks on at the same time. There was around 8 ColdFusion talks, and on Tuesday afternoon at 4pm, four of them were scheduled against each other. This didn't just happen with CF sessions. Poor organisation.
• Introductary talks on the last day... There was an Intro to AIR talk on Wednesday, which is after other talks such as AIR APIs, Air persistant storage, AIR synchronisation. Again, poor organisation.
• The lack of intimacy.... there were 1,200+ folks at MAX Europe, and it's very hard to get time with people. This is not a problem restricted to MAX (though I imagine it was much worse at Chicago than Barcelona), but one of the things we have found with Scotch on the Rocks, is that people like intimacy as they get the chance to talk to the Product Managers, the speakers, other delegates. It's a tough one though, as Adobe have such a huge designer/developer base. Not sure if there is much you can do here.
• Power.... depending in which session room you were in, the power supplies were on the other side of the room - which meant that speakers couldn't plug their laptops in and with how often people were using their laptops their batteries were looow. Power extensions should have been provided.
• Rooms were really hot and stuffy.... or freezing cold. Maybe I'm being pinikity here but during one of the AIR talks, Mark Drew, Sean Corfield, Kev McCabe and myself were in the front row and we did nothing but yawn - absolutely nothing to do with the talk, it was just so damn warm!!!
• Food was ... poor. Having a little taste of the local cusine is a good thing - but every day, and at every evening event??? Come on. It was tapas or nothing.
• Lack of cuttlery. OK, this is fairly minor, but when you're having to use a spoon to eat food that really needs to be skewered ... well, it's a little tricky.
• Room organiser/helpers. Not sure what it was like on the first day, but certainly by end of play Tuesday (when I gave the talk) the person who was supposed to help me with my set up - even if it was just the microphone - had disappeared and was no where to be found. Thankfully I'm not entirely stupid and can take care of myself, but still , it was very unprofessional.
• Evening events were average. The band were OK, and the poker was fun but ... it was seriously nothing special. We bailed out just before 10pm (when the beer ran out) and headed off to find a little pub that did the most amazing food!!!
• Ran out of beer - nuff said.

OK ... so that's a fair sized list. However, I hope's all taken constructively. As the organiser of Scotch on the Rocks, believe me, I know how difficult conferences are too run and my own opinion is that you need to know the bad, otherwise how can you fix it.

I'll finish by saying, well done to the MAX Europe organising team for putting on a good show. Negative items aside, I thoroughly enjoyed myself, and I'll follow up by posting on the good!

I'm just about to leave for Edinburgh airport, where I'll be dumping my car in the long stay car park before heading to the terminal building to head for Barcelona.

My flight is at 2.15pm, but I have a change at London Gatwick (I'll be there for 2.5 hours), and I'll finally arrive in Barcelona tonight around 9.30pm.

I'm meeting one of the Scotch on the Rocks organising team, Jatin, at the airport - he arrives a wee bit earlier than me - and then we're on a cab out to the hotels.

Although I won't get to see any of Barcelona, I have been before, so I'm not too bothered.

I'll also be presenting the ColdFusion Server Monitoring and Troubleshooting talk at 4pm on Tuesday. If you can't make it to the talk, feel free to grab me elsewhere - look for the fuzzy orange tshirt.

Here's what I'm up to at MAX Europe.

Monday:

• Project San Dimas
• General Session
• Working with Persistent Data in AIR
• Using AIR APIs
• Local Database Access with AIR
• CF BoF

Tuesday:

• General Session
• Leveraging CF with AIR
• Building AIR apps using Ajax and Aptana
• AIR Security
• ColdFusion Server Monitoring & Troubleshooting (ME!!!)
• Sneaks

Wednesday:

• Adobe Platform Roadmap
• Inspire Session: Buzzword
• CFEclipse

I'll be leaving just after lunch time on Wednesday as I have a 6pm flight back to Edinburgh.

By a twist of fate, I will now be at MAX in Barcelona.

Not only will I be attending, but I am now giving the ColdFusion 8 Server Monitoring talk at 4pm on Tuesday.

I hope to see some folks there, as it turns out that Sean Corfield, Ben Forta, Dirk Eismann and Ted Patrick are all speaking at the same time.

I'm not sure how many sessions I will attend but I'll definately be getting involved with the ColdFusion BoF that is due to run on Monday.

I've got lots of things I want to discuss with Ben Forta, and the others who attend. I may even give away a couple of Fuzzy Orange tshirts.

Also, it will be nice to meet up with some folks again, including Ben, Sean, Mark Drew, etc in addition to finally meeting up with Sumi Lim and Kristen Schofield from Adobe.

Now, if only I can find my passport ...

Free Scotch on the Rocks 2008 Ticket that is.

If your coming to Adobe Max Europe next week then you'll have the chance to win a free Ticket to Scotch on the Rocks 2008 in Edinburgh, Scotland & A T-Shirt (L & 3XL Only).

All you have to do is come and find Kev Mc on Monday 15th October 2007 and be the first to say "May the Scotch Be With You" after 7pm. (This should give everyone a fair chance.)

If you don't know he he'll be wearing a Scotch On The Rocks Promo T-Shirt and have short hair.

There is a picture of him :

And if it helps his Simpson's Avatar is here:

We will of course throughout the run up to Scotch on the Rocks 2008 be giving away tickets at the mini tours and other occasions so there's still a chance for those of you not able to attend Max this year.

Tickets and Prices will be released in November so watch this space.

May the Scotch Be With You

Well, it's finally confirmed. I won't be at MAX Europe.

Instead of being in Barcelona I will be in London giving ColdFusion training.

A real shame, but these things happen.