A Lot Going On in Bloomington Around BF/BF

If you’ve been to BFusion/BFlex in the past you know that we keep you pretty busy, so you’ll think I’m nuts for suggesting more, but you’d throw things at me if you found out later that I kept this from you. So here we go:

  • You already know about the great sessions at BFusion/BFlex, but stay tuned for information on Saturday night BOFs as well. If you have an idea for a BOF you’d be willing to lead, drop me a line bob@bflex.info.
  • We are partnering this year with The Combine a tech conference in the days preceding BFusion/BFlex. It has a wonderful lineup of speakers and an eclectic schedule of events. If you would like to attend The Combine contact me (bob@bflex.info) and I’ll see if I can hook you up with a discount code.
  • You don’t have to be a participant in The Combine to take part in Ignite Bloomington 3. If you’ve never been to an Ignite event you should plan on going. They are 5 minute presentations of 20 slides. Slides advance automatically every 15 seconds. The topics are all over the place. The first one I attended had presentations on learning to read gang tag graffiti, the history of scotch whiskey and a proposal for a city-wide developers challenge. I missed the second one, but there was a presentation by young boy (aged 8?) about the items he keeps in his utility belt (think superhero utility belt). Ignite 3 takes place at 8pm on Friday, September 10th, the night before BFusion. It will be in Alumni Hall in the Indiana Memorial Union on the IU campus. If it is like previous Ignites, tickets are free. BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE. If you act NOW there is still time to submit your own proposal to give an Ignite presentation. According to this post you can submit proposals to present through 11:59pm tonight (Sunday, August 22). Sorry I didn’t tell you sooner. Just saw it on FB this morning.
  • Maybe a five minute presentation is just a bit too little, too passive for you. Maybe you want to get in the trenches and flex your Flex muscles, fuse your ColdFusion skills or flash your … well, you get the idea. This year BFusion/BFlex, in partnership with The Combine, is hosting Dev Derby! Dev Derby is a day-long programming challenge where teams of developers representing different programming languages—PHP, C#, Ruby, ColdFusion, and Java—work to create an application serving a real-world need. It is a full day commitment but prizes, glory and bragging rights await the worthy winners. ColdFusion guru Adam Haskell will be leading the CF team. If you’d like to be a part of his squad or, heaven forbid, one of the other teams please submit your name soon. It doesn’t say on the site, but I think they plan on closing applications at the end of the week. NOTE: We are working on a deal to let all Dev Derby participants into BFlex for free on Sunday so this is a great way to be a part of the BFusion/BFlex/Combine/Ignite/BOF/Free Love scene without any cost.
  • Lest you forget, this is a college town. There is a lot happening all the time, but of particular note is the opening festival for IU’s Themester. Live music, free food, crazed college students a week or two into the semester…what’s not to love about that? Themester is a cool concept. Check it out. This year’s theme is “sustain.ability”, something that is always important to the BF/BF staff.

Those of you who come to BFusion/BFlex know that I love to show off my town. Bloomington is a great town with a lot going for it. If none of the above tickles your fancy there is so much more. Check out the campus events calendar, the calendar of the world-renowned Jacob’s School of Music, the city events calendar (looks like you could catch David Bowie at the Movie in the Park) or the student news events calendar (Hmm, awesome local artist Krista Detor at the Buskirk Chumley Theater on Saturday). Yeah, we have too many calendars, but I want you to have too many options.

Obviously we’d love for you to come to BFusion/BFlex, but if you get here and there is just too much other stuff going on and you can’t make it by, we’ll understand. Just don’t forget to stop by the Chocolate Moose before you leave town. I’d be a terrible host if I didn’t insist on that!

Bob Flynn
Event Director, BFusion/BFlex