Will there be another TestBash Home next year?! I hope so!!! Loved the talks and the community! Would love to be more active now that I have had my first taste and know what to expect!
It’s nice connecting with everyone around the world. I hope so too!
I’d love for it to happen again next year. I get that this was a pivot due to the coronavirus crisis, but the £50 ticket and the fact it was virtual made it more accessible to people who may not otherwise get a chance to attend conferences.
I would also like to see this format repeated. I normally can’t afford to attend conferences. The low price and online format made it much easier for me to take advantage of it.
I have kids so it’s hard for me to get out to a conference for a couple of days, so this was perfect.
@thetif, same here! Only reason I was able to attend! Would definitely do it again!
If we can figure out how one of us doesn’t have to stay up for 25-30 hours straight to be backstage boss, it’s certainly something we’d love to explore too
Maybe have some people sharing backstage boss duties? Preferably with overlapping shifts so that backstage boss 2 (BB2) is on for a couple of hours before BB1 signs off for some sleep. That way BB2 knows about any potential problems that BB1 might have run into along the way. Rinse and repeat with as many BBs as needed - as long as you have enough of them.
I loved the conference, and I think the 24 hour format was an awesome way to make sure everyone got to attend at least some of it live. Personally, once the talks are all up, I’ll be checking in to about half of part 2, all of parts 3 and 4, and some of part 5 where things went kind of insane on my end of the screen. Then I’ll be rewatching a few of the talks I did see live because they were just that great (although I maintain that nothing can ever top Alan Page’s bug tennis demonstration from Philadelphia).
We’d love to do that. Unfortunately, not all bosses have strong enough internet connections for the tools that we explored in the run up to TestBash Home. Richards is the strongest and it struggled a lot with most of the options (struggle meaning speakers couldn’t be heard, a lag time of over a minute - ridiculous for attendee interaction, restrictions with the number of people on screen, pixellated slides). We’ve got lots of retrospecting and research still to do and we’re hopeful that something transpires from that so watch this space I guess
Well, as a non-boss, I wouldn’t mind being a volunteer backstage boss for a portion of the time involved - I don’t know how well my network connection would hold up to backstage boss duties, but I didn’t have any serious lag issues during the testbash.
@heather_reid, thanks for the perspective. The mere bystander would never know what happens behind the scenes. Running division events for my last company I always took a moment to recognize all the behind the scenes effort that was put into making a successful event with those in attendance oblivious. Thanks for such a great event and much props for y’alls hardwork and dedication that made it so successful. In retrospect those “glitches” are bigger in your mind than the audience, that’s from my experience as an event planner. You’ll always get your negative Nelly’s, but this last point is a compliment in saying that I have no complaints and I hope y’all give yourselves a great big pat on the back – the event was a huge, overwhelming success! One of the things I’ve found helpful is having diversions planned for when things don’t go well, like mini Plan B, C, D, etc. Even having attendees create the diversion themselves by having a slack based activity or something in The Club (i.e. a scavenger hunt or something along those lines). Anyway, just some ideas. Much love to y’all. (I’m from Texas y’all )
We’re baaaaaaack!