Why You Should Attend Conferences, especially Scotch on the Rocks

Conferences are a great place to meet fellow developers, techies and managers. It's such an awesome experience to meet some of the leaders in the ColdFusion community, but it's just as great to perk the interest of others who have finally decided to check out just what all this ColdFusion malarky is about.

Having organised Scotch on the Rocks twice (with 2008 being the third time), and having attended CFUnited in Washington D.C. in the summer of 2006, I can thoroughly recommend getting involved even just as a delegate. I've met so many great people at conferences; people I had spoken to on IM, folks whom I only knew by name, and those I discovered for the first time. I've attended some great techical sessions, and most importantly I've extended my network of contacts. It's great to be able to just hit up someone like Tim Buntel on IM and say, "Hey Tim, I've got a problem... can you help?".

It's something I try to preach, with somewhat success, to the Scottish ColdFusion User Group. Your job doesn't have to be your life, but by getting involved in the community, and attending User Group meetings and conferences, you can actually make your day job that little bit easier. Getting involved can mean getting out the door at 5.30pm every night rather than 12 hours shifts and additional weekend work. I'm serious.

I'm deviating from the intended message of this post a little, but I don't think anyone reading will mind too much.

So, it's great to attend conferences; you and your company can gain a lot. However, what I like about Scotch on the Rocks is the fact it's more than just a conference. You've got Edinburgh in it's entirity right in front of you. One of the things I didn't like about CFUnited was the fact I got to see nothing of Washington. The conference was great, but it's in the middle of nowhere. Sometimes you need a little break - hey, maybe you want to grab a quiet beer to talk some business with a contact. Maybe you need to do a little shopping to find something to take home for the wife. Maybe you don't care about the conference and you're just in town for the tourist stuff - as long as you buy you're conference ticket, we don't care :)

When you walk out of the George Hotel you see this... all of this is within 5 minutes reach. Edinburgh Castle. The Scott Monument. Princes Street for shopping. There's a million pubs you can sneak into. There's galleries and theatres all around. Edinburgh really is a wonderful place.