Charlie Griefer

Adobe MAX 2009 is coming up fast (October 4-7), and thousands of developers, designers, and decision-makers will soon be descending upon Los Angeles, CA. Certainly, MAX is one of the more extravagant conferences... and while it's worth the price of admission, I wanted to let people know about a few upcoming events that might be a bit more "budget-friendly".

• ColdFusion in North Carolina 2009
  Location: Raleigh, NC
  Date: October 17-18, 2009
  Cost: FREE
  The Triangle Area ColdFusion User's Group, associates, and sponsors are organizing the ColdFusion in North Carolina 2009 Conference to be held October 17-18, 2009 on the Centennial Campus of NC State University in Raleigh, North Carolina. The conference will be aimed at ColdFusion and Flex developers and others who are interested in web design using these technologies.
• BFusion & BFlex '09
  Location: Bloomington, IN
  Date: October 24-25, 2009
  Cost: $10 per day
  Two days of hands-on training from the experts in Adobe Flex and ColdFusion.
• RIA Unleashed : Boston
  Location: Boston, MA
  Date: November 13, 2009
  Cost: $60 (See Brian Rinaldi's comment below for discount info!)
  New England's only conference focused on building rich internet applications using the Adobe Flash Platform including Flex, AIR, ColdFusion, Catalyst and other technologies. The event will be held at Bentley University in Waltham, MA, on November 13th, 2009, from 8:00am to 5:30pm.
  
  This year's event is expanded to a full day including 3 tracks - one focused exclusively on Flex and AIR, one exclusively on ColdFusion, and one on related topics such as user experience design and the business of web application development. One of the things that makes this event unique is that if you are interested in either Flex or ColdFusion, you will be able to spend your entire day (including Keynote addresses) focused on the technology of your choice. However, if your interests are broader, you can mix and match sessions from a variety of technologies. In addition, by having multiple tracks this year, RIA Unleashed : Boston will be better suited to a variety of skill levels from true beginners to advanced developers.

If you're local to any of these events, I'd definitely recommend registering/attending. The agendas look to be amazing, and the prices can't be beat (is it possible to read that last bit in anything other than a loud radio announcer voice?).

Not quite as "budget-friendly" as the others, but worth mentioning because it's a truly unique venue...

• RIAdventure 360
  Location: Mexican Cruise Ship (Departs New Orleans, LA)
  Date: December 6-13, 2009
  Cost: $300 (Conference), Cruise price varies by cabin
  A two day conference plus a 7 day fun in the sun cruise December 6th to the 13th 2009. What could be better? Plus your friends and family are invited.
  
  Travel from New Orleans to Costa Maya (Mexico), Santo Tomas De Castilla (Guatemala), Belize City (Belize) and Cozumel (Mexico).
  
  We are strictly limited to 70 attendees for this conference. Register now to secure your spot.
  The conference first day will be full of sessions from top speakers. The second day will be a panel discussion then a barcamp style interactive event with all of our attendees.