I’ve been thinking a lot about the future of TestBash recently, and I’ve recorded some Rackets to get my initial thoughts out there.
Future of TestBash Part 1
Future of TestBash Part 2
What Would Speaking At The New TestBash Look Like?
Please post any questions, I’ll continue to share more of this news throughout the week in more mediums.
As someone who has been in Test for 15 years and the only physical QA event I’ve attended has been a few dozen coffee meetups, I’m probably in the minority here, who has none of the brilliant energy of Testbash events for context.
And since anything I say is going to be wrong 73.6% of the time anyway… So I’m a bit disappointed about the change, but I’m just not the social animal who enjoys big events anyway. So I’m unlikely to be keen to travel now. I was super looking forward to Brighton in 2019, I kept thinking it would still be “on” and was in a mental bubble looking forward to my first ever big meetup. Having attended two large online events since, I am not seeing the value of going back to a big venue. However, I’m aware that I’m one of the few, most of us love the crowds, and I feel bad for the people who need the interactive feel of presenting to a room of live people instead of presenting a talk to a camera. I suspect this is what has improved the quality of our speaker presentations (I’ve never been to Testbash before this one so I cannot really tell, I’m guessing 73% of the time here.) But I’d like to hear from the speakers, how many found talking to a camera easier, I suspect good few did. It certainly diversified the presentations at any rate, and Richard and the team, you have been awesome in making that happen so seamlessly.
So yes, I’m sad, but I’m also glad that you are putting a plan together to make the community greater than before.
A lot of Venue based enterprises have had to re-invent themselves this year. I was sitting down at a pub last week where we had to send text message just to get beer. We have all seen a trend toward restaurants requiring you to use an app on your phone with hilarious results. This has been caused by the marginal revenues forcing food service to use fewer table waiters, as these are big overheads. Cutting costs. Food-service main reason for being, is possibly just about atmosphere, but the bottom line is that less staff is still better for their business model. Hence the push to do food ordering and paying digitally. Who would have thought.
So this got me thinking what if modernisation has gotten a push due to Covid, and that my trip to Brighton I was looking forward to, was really just carbon footprint. Regardless, I still look forward to the new model.
This is excellent Conrad, and why I’m glad I shared as soon as possible.
but I’m just not the social animal who enjoys big events anyway.
So while this is one big event, I want it to be views as many tiny events within the overall ‘big event space’. They’ll be options for everyones comfort and energy. Want to just sit and listen, stay in the AMA room. Want to social, join one to one activities, or <6, or >6 etc. Want some quiet time, head to the quiet room.
I feel bad for the people who need the interactive feel of presenting to a room of live people instead of presenting a talk to a camera
This is one of the trade offs. The buzz is different for everyone. For me the buzz comes from sharing, I’m going to get to do that all event long if I wish, not just for the 30min slot i’ve been allocated. Other’s it’s owning the stage and presenting, being the centre of attention. I feel I want to focus on those that want to share, and educate, and I feel this approach provides more reach for their talks with it being online, but then also more learning and deeper understanding for attendees, when they gets handons and interactive at the physical event.
Also, I’ve seen some decent tech coming that I think will help with that presenting into the void.
But I’d like to hear from the speakers, how many found talking to a camera easier, I suspect good few did.
This will absolutely be a 50/50 split. But aside from talking to the camera, I feel the other benefits are stronger, which is the stage is now more accessible to those who can’t travel. I’ll be having several talk slots that are just online and the speaker won’t be at the physical event. The format also allows me to have more talks, to give more people that opportunity to talk at a TestBash no matter the format.
@friendlytester I love this idea as I’ve skipped talks so I could spend time talking to people that I wanted to learn from.
And the #pennyposse would never have been born! @flex-tester AKA Penny Howard
I like the idea of having time to soak in information ahead of time. I was finding my head was so full that by the time I got back to work I’d forgotten many things. Of course re-watching the video after is valuable to refresh my mind; I’m super excited to try this new method!
Hello All,
after looking and reading about Brighton 2022. i want to contrtibute but have a few ideas is there a theme?
is there an option of you can use me for all the time availbe for the in person.