The Sunshine PHP Conference has announced their opening keynote speaker for this year's conference (in Miami, Florida February 8th and 9th) - Rasmus Lerdorf, creator of the PHP language.

SunshinePHP Developer Conference is proud to announce the opening keynote speaker Rasmus Lerdorf. In February 2013 when it is cold in most places around the world, it is still sunny and beautiful in Florida. So come down to Miami for a few days and enjoy sun, community, and learn all in one great conference.

Tickets for the event are already on sale with an Early Bird price (pre-November 30th) of $159.95 USD. If you're more inclined towards speaking at the event, their Call for Papers is only open until December 1st so hurry and get those submission in!

The PHP community has a new conference that's been announced - Sunshine PHP, a conference being held in South Florida during the first part of February (the 8th-9th) in 2012.

With such a large PHP community in Florida it's about time someone organized a PHP developer conference here, so this is it! We will be hosting some of the best speakers, latest technology, and up to date news in the industry. So register now while space is still available, and if you are a speaker please submit your talks before the call for papers ends on Dec. 1st.

Their Call for Papers is now open through December 1st. The conference hasn't selected a location yet, but chances are it'll be somewhere near Boca Raton/Ft. Lauderdale. You can follow them on Facebook or Twitter for the latest info.

If you're interested in hearing about MongoDB (and PHP) and are living on the southeast coast of the US, you're in luck - Derick Rethans is making a tour of the area and hitting several major user groups along the way.

It has been a while since I have written anything. In the last few months I have been busy rewriting the connection handling parts of the MongoDB driver for PHP. [...] Some time ago, my friend Ligaya Turmelle suggested that I should come and talk at the JaxPHP/JaxWeb, the PHP and web developers usergroup in Jacksonville, Florida. And while I was there, why not visit a few other user groups too?

From September 18th through the 24th, he'll be visiting the following cities (and bringing swag with him):

• Boca Raton, Florida
• Orlando, Florida
• Jacksonville, Floria
• Atlanta, Georgia
• Nashville, Tennessee

The South Florida PHP User Group has announced their December 2011 meeting - happening on the 14th at 7pm - with a look at how far PHP has come in 2011 and some of the things coming up. Rasmus Lerdorf will be presenting.

For our "FREE" (yes, all of our meetups are free) December meetup we have a special guest, Rasmus Lerdorf, visiting to talk about "PHP in 2011". Rasmus Lerdorf, the inventor of PHP, will talk to us and give his perspective on the prospects of his brainchild. "PHP in 2011": A look at the state of PHP in 2011 and how it fits into the current technology stack followed by an overview of what you should and shouldn't be doing along with a summary of new and upcoming features in PHP 5.3 and PHP 5.4. This will be a 90 minute talk with an extensive Q&A session will follow.

To RSVP for the event (held at Nova Southeastern University), head to their Meetup page. There's already about 40 people signed up, so be sure and get your name in quickly to reserve your spot!

If you're a PHP user group leader (or member for that matter) and would like to have your group's upcoming meetups posted here, send us the information! We love to share!

Adam Culp has written in to tell us about the South Florida PHP Users Group that's been formed for the area. They're going on about a year's worth of meetings now and show no signs of stopping.

The South Florida PHP Users Group is geared toward uniting and growing the PHP community of South Florida. With monthly events in the Palm Beach, Boca Raton, and Ft. Lauderdale areas.

The group currently meets at the Revelex Corporation offices and holds their meetings on the second Wednesday of every month. The meeting for September (on the 14th at 7pm) will feature development environment tips you can use to quickly and easily get things set up. You can find complete information about the group on their meetup page (or the coming-soon Soflophp.org site).

Charlie McClaskie has written in to tell us about a new PHP user group that's formed (and will be meeting next week!) in the south Florida area, in Ft. Lauderdale - the South Florida PHP Users Group.

There is a new PHP User Group in South Florida being hosted at The Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale on the second Tuesday of every month. [...] I have thought about starting a PHP users group in the area for a few years, and have had many in the PHP world-wide community urge me to finally get one going. So, here we are. Please join us and help grow the South Florida PHP community.

Their next meeting, happening on October 12th, will be a talk given by Adam Culp about security in PHP. He'll cover some of the common pitfalls new developers fall into and some of the new methods that experienced developers could learn from.

You can find out more information about the meetup from the event's page and put in your RSVP if you're attending.

If you're headed to the Florida Linux Show and are hoping to find a bit of PHP there, you're in luck! Members of the PHP Women group will be attending!

If you happen to be in Jacksonville, Florida on March 9th be sure to drop in and see us at the Florida Linux Show. We should have a small booth set up to sit and chat about whatever you wish.

The Florida Linux Show is a yearly event that focuses on business and Open Source software (and finding the right match for both). This year's Jacksonville event will be held at the UNF University Center on March 9th, 2009. You can find out more about the event on their website.

The PHPWomen have posted some updates about them and their organization, including their new incorporation status.

Updates include:

• A server move for the site (temporary until a more permanent home is set up)
• They are now a not-for-profit incorporation organization in the state of Florida (including a try at becoming a tax-exempt entity)
• The voting process for the elePHPant World Tour contest has started.

You can find out more about the group on their website including their mentoring programs, a history of the group and their mission.

For those that weren't able to attend this year's CakeFest (2008), you might want to check out Felix Geisendorfer's summary of the event that happened in early February down in Orlando, Florida - complete with lots of pictures.

Since I'm not much of a story teller I'll make this a picture post (my hosting company should really re-think that unlimited bandwidth package, haha).

He has shots of several of the attendees (including names known to most of the CakePHP community), the location for the conference, shots of the "off time" during the conference and some alligator kissing.

I just want to say thank you to all of the folks who came and especially those who have been involved with the logistics of all of this. It was a pleasure to meet everybody and I'm looking forward to the next CakeFest in Argentina.

As mentioned on the Zend Developer Zone, the CakePHP group has officially announced this year's CakeFest Conference being held in Orlando, Florida.

With the recent launch of CakePHP 1.2 beta, the Cake world is now more active than ever. What better way to keep up with the latest than joining CakePHP's core team and prominent developers in three exciting days of CakePHP programming talks.

You can get full details about three day event from the conference page including a way to submit your talk proposal (it ends January 21st, 2008 so hurry!) and information on the area and a link to signup.