I haven't been a member of very many Coldfusion/Adobe-centered User groups, but the few I have participated in seem to have a common, perpetual and prevalent concern floating in the air: membership and attendance.

I have very recently had the privilege of being part of the resurrection of San Antonio’s own Coldfusion Users Group. It is being born out of the existing, more general, Alamo Area Multimedia Users Group due to the sudden influx of hardcore Coldfusion users. Our first meeting was two weeks ago. Nine of us sat in a library and talked about what we wanted to gain by participating in the group, who the group Manager would be, when we would meet, where we would host our site, etc. It was fast paced, and everybody in the room was SO zealous, it was contagious. All levels of skill were represented, and you could just feel the hunger for knowledge that the junior among us harbored. Being a brand new group, however, did not exempt us from the same question of attendance that even well established groups entertain: “How would we increase our membership”?

Here, O Best Beloved, is where the true heart of this post begins, as I found myself engaging in a session of combinatory play while looking at this scenario from a whole other perspective. My first inclination was to think of all the companies in town that I knew used Coldfusion, and then come up with ways to solicit their developers. Then came the epiphany that I must say seemed at the moment (and still does) to be absolutely brilliant:

If we want more Coldfusion developers, then why on earth don’t we just MAKE them ourselves?

We who are intimate with Coldfusion KNOW the deep level of satisfaction and sustenance that it can provide. We know that learning it is not so very difficult, we know the true power that it puts into the hands of a developer, and we know that if more people who already have a propensity for technology and problem solving were exposed to those basic truths, they would very likely adopt it in a heartbeat as we have we.

I raised my hand (keeping things orderly, you know) and when called on shared my idea with the group. The sudden silence and ambiguous faces made me feel as though I had just suggested that the emperor had no clothes, my idea appeared to be so foreign to them. In a moment, though, as they mentally extrapolated what investing the time to teach Coldfusion basics to newbies could mean, they heartily seconded the motion to do so (hammering out the details of who, where, and what will be fodder for the next meeting).

Now, I am not vain enough to think that no other User Group has ever come up with this idea. But again, in all the group’s I’ve had the privilege of sharing time with, and in the midst of all the apparent “worry” over attendance, I never once have heard anybody step outside the mindset of “bring in the Coldfusion developers!” and say “hey, why don’t we grow our own”? Isn’t it a marvelous idea, though? If I were a User Group Manager, or an Adobe corporate brain, and my prime directive was to increase User Group participation, I would be organizing and marketing free “Intro to Coldfusion” classes within my target area. I would put an ad in the Thrifty Nickel; I would post it on Craigslist; I would have all my existing members put flyers up on the corkboards at the office. Shoot, I would bring my kids! (we all know that even a child can learn Coldfusion…) I would follow the true spirit of Evangelism and I would preach Coldfusion to the ignorant and uninformed, not just those already converted. I’d gather as many people as would come and meet in a donated conference room with a few cookies and cokes in the back. I’d fire up my laptop and I would INSPIRE these people! The beauty of Coldfusion’s simplicity and elegant folding together with HTML would be revealed to them; the mystery of the request lifecycle would be elucidated to their previously darkened minds; the POWER of loops and conditionals would be handed over to them; and the secrets of interfacing with amorphous backend data would be made secret no more. When they would leave that one hour revival, those people would walk away filled with the spirit of Coldfusion, empowered and enlivened enough so that they would not soon forget what they had learned. That thin foundation would be the catalyst that would bring them back to the NEXT free session to add yet another layer, until they were brought to the point (as I was so long ago) where they could begin to add onto that foundation for themselves. The end result (in my optimist’s vision, anyway) would be a thriving, zealous San Antonio Coldfusion User Group whose collective affection for their craft would inspire all who approached us.

Wow. I think I’ve just cheerleaded myself to the point where I need to go sleep it off. Lol. But, my point is this, Coldfusion (and other Adobe-oriented) User Group Managers AND MEMBERS: If your membership and attendance leaves something to be desired, don’t be afraid to deviate from “the way we’ve always done it”; get creative, think outside the bun, and why on earth not make the time to grow a few of your own from scratch?  The process of introducing someone to Coldfusion and imparting your knowledge of it to them is SO rewarding and SO educational, most especially to those who are teaching. Everybody profits, the Group grows strong, and Adobe Coldfusion (and other products) lives long and prospers.

Doug out.