I just arrived in Beijing, making a detour coming back from MAX Japan to spend 3 days in China (in Beijing and Hangzhou, and then leaving via Shanghai) for Flex and AIR related meetings and presentations. This is my first time in China (I have visited Hong Kong and Taiwan previously, but never Mainland China), and I plan to spend some time tomorrow seeing the sights.

Passengers arriving in to China must complete a "Health Quarantine Declaration Form" identifying any ailments and diseases they may have by checking the appropriate boxes. For some reason I found the range of diseases listed very amusing. The list started with snivels, cold, and vomiting, and progressed to venereal disease, leprosy, HIV/AIDS, open pulmonary tuberculosis, and ended with psychosis. (I just can't help but wonder how many people check that last box).

I've presented training sessions hundred of times, many of them hands-on sessions, and many of them sessions that were simultaneously translated in to other languages. But I had never attempted a hands-on session with simultaneous translation before - until today, here at MAX Japan. And it was quite the experience. The session went well, it was the same Hands-On ColdFusion Powered Ajax that I presented in Chicago and in Barcelona, but with a twist. My hand-out notes were translated into Japanese, and the attendees were using the Japanese version of ColdFusion (with Japanese Dreamweaver on Japanese Windows). Getting the machines set up was fun enough, but the real challenge was providing help. I was looking at ColdFusion error messages in Japanese and trying to figure out what they meant by the few English words and the Java stack trace, clicking on Windows and browser dialog boxes by trying to remember what button was in where, typing on a Japanese keyboard (finding : and / and # and % was fun enough, but the tiny space bar meant I kept hitting keys that switched languages), dealing with invisible embedded characters that threw off the compiler ... as I said, quite the experience. In addition, some of the instructions seemed to get lost in translation. For example, the instructions said to "Type the following between <cfcomponent> and </cfcomponent>", and several typed those exact words into the CFC. And so on. Fortunately the session run for 2 1/2 hours (instead of the 1 1/2 in MAX US and MAX Europe), so we got through all of the content. Still, it made for an interesting afternoon!

I just arrived at the Hotel Nikko in Tokyo, venue for MAX Japan which starts tomorrow. I have several sessions that I need to present, and so before I do anything else, I need to walk around and figure out where everything actually is. I'll be back ...

It's hard to believe that MAX Europe was two weeks ago, and MAX U.S. just two weeks before that. And now we get to do it all over again ... I am about to head out of here for the 13+ hour flight from Detroit to Tokyo for MAX Japan. After that I'll make a slight detour via China (for meetings in Beijing and a presentation in Hangzhou).

Futsal is an indoor version of Soccer, and the game is hugely popular in Japan, where many companies have employee teams. Adobe Japan created the Adobe MAX Cup 2007 Futsal Tournament (with the final game set to coincide with MAX 2007 Japan later this week), and teams from Adobe, Intel, Microsoft, SAP, Yahoo!, as well as several Japanese companies, are all taking part. And it's not all about fun and games - the tournament is supported by a variety of sites and applications, and the Adobe Japan team used the opportunity to leverage Premier Pro, AIR, AMP, Flash, Flex, Flash Media Server, and of course ColdFusion (which powers the official Adobe MAX Cup 2007 Futsal Tournament site).

I am in Amsterdam's Schiphol airport, about to head back to the U.S. After last night's Brussels event we drove for 2 hours to The Hague for the Netherlands Adobe Business Exchange. Again, I presented ColdFusion 8 to a very appreciate, interactive, and engaged crowd (very few of whom are yet running CF8). And now I get to spend a few days stateside before heading to Tokyo next week for MAX Japan.

We're in the middle of the MAX Awards here at MAX Europe in Barcelona. Next up is Sneak Peeks (I am going to be presenting the CF/AIR sneak), and then comes the party. In addition to the keynote yesterday, and the Sneak Peek momentarily, I also presented a hands-on ColdFusion Powered Ajax session, a session on ColdFusion and AIR, and a (rather heated) BOF discussing ColdFusion in Europe. It's been hectic, and we're not done yet. Still, this has been an amazing first MAX Europe, and planning has already begun for MAX Europe 2008.

MAX Europe started this morning, and it's great to see the crowd and feel the enthusiasm, especially as this is the first MAX here (prior attempts never materialized). The opening keynote here starts at 11:30am local time (any minute) - the stage is ready (and massive), the room is full, the music is blaring, lights are dimming, the intro video is starting to roll ... wow, is it just two weeks since we did this in Chicago? Definite sense of déjà vu!

I just arrived in Barcelona for MAX Europe 2007 - I got here later than I had hoped, but, I'm here, and we're now prepping for tomorrow's opening keynote. The venue is right off the beach, and my hotel room overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the east. Not that I expect to do much sightseeing, but hey, I least I can see the sea!

I am on the way to the airport to catch a flight to Amsterdam, and then on to Barcelona for our very first MAX Europe. See you soon!

The MAX Europe "ColdFusion In Europe" BOF (mentioned previously) will be Monday evening, 7:00pm-8:00pm, in Room 121. I hope to see you there.

We will be co-hosting a MAX Europe BOF session entitled "ColdFusion In Europe". Yes, the topic is deliberately vague and open-ended because we'd like a completely open free-form discussion about ColdFusion in Europe - and we want to discuss it all, the good, the bad, and even the ugly. So, if you'll be joining us in Barcelona next week, and use (or want to use, or don't want to use, or used to use) ColdFusion, please drop by to share and discuss. I don't have an exact time yet, but it will be Monday evening. We hope to see you there.

We sold out MAX USA, and now we've sold out MAX Europe, incredible considering that this is the first European MAX ever. If you still want to attend MAX this year, MAX Japan is just a few weeks away, and is not sold out (yet)!

We saw a massive surge of MAX Europe registrations over the past few days, and there are only about a dozen slots left! So, quickly, register now before it is too late!

Tim Buntel and I will be presenting a ColdFusion 8 seminar in Stuttgart, Germany, on October 23rd, 2007 (the week after MAX Europe). Details posted online.

We are limiting MAX Europe attendance to 1200, just about right for our first event on that side of the pond. And Ted Patrick has just noted out that there are only about 100 places left. We are seeing 30-40 registrations a day now, so if you have yet to register, do so now!

Oh, you should still be able to use registration code ECM297 to pay 500 Euros (plus applicable taxes) for a full pass (a 300 Euro discount). If not, I have a few 10% discount codes up for grabs, so e-mail me directly.

I was unable to attend the "Promoting ColdFusion Outside of the ColdFusion Community" BOF at MAX last week. But Brian Meloche has posted notes that are worth reading.

During the MAX 2007 keynote this morning, Kevin Lynch let slip that we are working on the next major ColdFusion, codenamed "Centaur".

Peachpit and Adobe Press are handing out flyers at MAX 2007 promoting the new ColdFusion Web Application Construction Kit books. For those of you not at MAX, the flyer announces that you can save 35% by pre-ordering volumes 2 and 3 from Peachpit directly. Use coupon code PPT-PBM-1145.

Wow, what a day. This is the first opportunity I've had to get online all day! As many others have noted, MAX 2007 in Chicago is huge! The venue the sheer number of people, the number of concurrent events and sessions, the lunch room ... this is MAX on a scale never seen before.

During the keynote this morning I tag-teamed with Scott Fegette to show off ColdFusion 8 and Dreamweaver CS3 productivity. About a week before MAX we offered to help update the United Way Volunteerism site, installing ColdFusion 8 and implementing CF8 functionality and features. We partnered with Alagad (Doug Hughes' company) to churn out pretty impressive features in just days. Scott and I showed off some of these enhancements, and announced that the changes were all already live. Good stuff.

I also presented two hands-on sessions today, racing through the basics of implementing ColdFusion powered Ajax applications. The sessions were packed, well received, and run again tomorrow and Wednesday (although Adam Lehman will be presenting the Wednesday session instead of me).

We also hosted our annual "Meet The CF Team" session this evening, Tim Buntel and I shared moderating questions and comments directed at the full ColdFusion team, including engineers, QA folks, management, and even sales. The questions were varied, and the mod was upbeat and very positive.

And now, it's time to head down to the bar ...

I'm backstage, going through final prep for the MAX 2007 opening keynote. Each year we make this look clean and smooth and effortless - kind of. But if you've never seen what goes on behind the stage, picture a large area (the width of the hall) containing over a hundreds of piece of equipment and banks of computers, a mission control center that looks like a NASA control room, eight gigantic rear projection projectors, headset wearing producers and directors armed with clipboard buzzing around, technicians fine-tuning the colors and alignments of the massive screens, audio technicians wiring up presenters and performing last minute sound checks, final cue walkthroughs ... and it's time, this is it ... lights, camera ... keynote!

I am all packed up, and about to hit the road - driving to Chicago for MAX 2007. See you there!

This is a first! In 9 years (MAX, DevCon, etc.) we've never had to do this before, but ... we've sold out MAX 2007 in Chicago, and registration has been closed! Wow! I can't wait for next week, see you in Chicago!

The Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority (MPEA) is a municipal corporation created by the Illinois General Assembly. Its Board of Directors is appointed by the Governor of Illinois and the Mayor of Chicago. MPEA seeks to promote and operate conventions, fairs and expositions in the Chicago area in an effort to strengthen the local economy, and as part of this effort, MPEA owns and manages the McCormick Place complex (the venue for MAX 2007). And the MPEA web site is powered by ColdFusion. (Not that that would have anything to do with why we picked this venue, would it? ;-) Hummm).

The three official MAX 2007 hotels are all sold out, which is to be expected considering our record breaking attendance this year. But don't despair - use this hotels.com search and you'll find available rooms a mile or so away from McCormick Place (the MAX venue). And if you have yet to register, you have less than a week to go, so do so now!