"But I have nothing to talk about!": ideas for Testbash talks

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#1

A common thing I hear a lot from people who would like to speak at a conference is “I have nothing to talk about!”

And I’m sure we have topics that we’d love to hear more about!

So, let’s create a thread of talk ideas for Testbash, so if people are struggling to come up with something to talk about, they’ll have a place to get some inspiration!

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#2

Software portfolio - What you use, Why you use it? The good, bad and ugly.

Your project - What are you testing? Are you testing it differently to your last project? What techniques are you using? What is it you love about it?

Workflow - How do you come into your workflow? Are you involved at the start when the BA is writing requirements? How do you manage your testing? Is there QA? Do you work with the devs? What is good about it? Bad? What can be improved?

There is a few to get the ball rolling…

:smiley:

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#3

Here are some (but not all) of the topics which would encourage me to attend your talk:

  • If you have methods to help encourage communication in teams, I would love to hear about it.
  • If you have a new model for testing, I would love to hear about it.
  • If you have an interesting take on an old model, I would love to hear about it.
  • If you want to demonstrate a testing win, I would love to hear about it.
  • If you want to demonstrate how things went horribly wrong, I definitely want to hear about that!
  • If you want to explain how we (individually, as a group, or as a profession) can be more inclusive, I would go out of my way for that talk.
  • If you are experienced (or have done experiments) in coaching, I would love to hear about that.
  • If you want to talk about the challenges of being you in testing (in respect to race, sex, orientation, neurodiversity issues, or anything else), I would love to hear about it.
  • If you want to demonstrate how you would test a specific problem, I would love to hear about that.

I also have a love of talks where an issue is demonstrated with a (fictional) story, such as a fairy tale setting.

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#4

Great question!

I would like to hear more team interaction stories.

  • What did you do to introduce a new testing method or concept?

  • What do you do to encourage quality as a team sport?

  • What have you done to overcome common bias or attitudes towards your testing team?

Thanks!
Joe

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#5

Can you hold an energised conversation in a pub/cafe/group setting about something? There’s probably a talk in there.
Other things that I think are interesting:

  • Mentoring is always useful, I think.
  • How to retain staff.
  • How you chose a certain tool (the why, what you tried, what you like about this one, what failed).
  • Testing in different situations: hardware, highly regulated, when you’re the first tester
  • Strategy tips and tricks (defining a strategy, figuring it out, etc)
  • Testing for ethics/neurodiversity/bias
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#6

One thought I had earlier today for a potential talk is about my own experiences with Communities of Practice.

Whilst there was a great presentation at Brighton this year, I was thinking I could talk about the journey of making it, running it, and how some of it worked but other parts went badly, until it eventually stopped from lack of interest and support.

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