Which testing conferences are on your radar in 2025?

Hi everyone,

there seem to be so many exciting testing conferences happening in 2025 — it’s hard to keep track!

So far, I’ve only locked in one event for myself: the Software Quality Days in Munich this May. But I’m currently exploring where else it might be worth going — and more importantly, where I might run into fellow testers and have meaningful exchanges.

Some of the events that have caught my eye include:

  • German Testing Day (May 13–14, Frankfurt, Germany)
  • JournĆ©e FranƧaise des Tests Logiciels (June 17, Paris, France)
  • STARWEST (September 21-26, Anaheim, California)
  • TACON (September 23-24, Leipzig, Germany)
  • QS-Tag (November 12-13, Frankfurt, Germany)
  • Agile Testing Days (November, 24-27, Potsdam, Germany)

I’d love to hear from you:
→ Any hidden gems you’d recommend?

Maybe our paths will cross at one of these events — I’d really enjoy connecting with others in the field!

Best regards,
Maria

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While I might not be going, I have favorites that stay: TestBash (I watch a lot of these online when they are posted, great content and even greater people in general), and Nordic Testing Days. I have also liked being at HUSTEF a lot.

I currently go where I speak, and I speak only where I am invited - helps keep more of my focus on the work I was hired for. :slight_smile: I sample a lot of talks online from developer conferences.

I will speak at BCS SIGiST Summer Conference 2025 | BCS on June 19th and was planning on listening for the online parts. The price of that one is very inviting.

There is a great list of conferences at https://testingconferences.org which you may already be aware of.

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Ones I know of, but haven’t been to, though I’ve applied to some:

expo:QA (May 21-22, Madrid, Spain)
Greatest Quality (May 23, Zurich, Switzerland)
HUSTEF (HUngarian Software TEsting Forum, Oct 14-16, Budapest, Hungary)
TAPOST (Theory & Practice of Software Testing, Apr 10-12, Riga, Latvia)
TestCon Europe (Oct 22-24, Vilnius, Lithuania)
TestJS Summit (website down, last I saw was Dec 7-8 2023, Berlin, Germany)
Tokyo Test Fest (Nov 14, Tokyo, Japan)

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Hi Maaret,

nice collection!

Imho, it feels better to get personal suggestions instead of rushing through pages with a bunch of listed events. Most of the conferences have good marketing agencies behind them. But the content of the presentations is much more important. But I like the overview of https://testingconferences.org/ though.

For how long are you attending conferences as a visitor or speaker?

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Hey Dave,

thanks for your collection.

I thought I already knew all the German conferences, but TestJS wasn’t familiar to me. But there doesn’t seem to be a direct successor in 2025.

What topics are you speaking about at your chosen conferences?

Maria

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See you at ATD! :wink:

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I’m not a tester per se, but a dev who believes in testing, so my talks range a bit wider, plus some non-computer stuff.

Ones I’ve actually done:

  • Mutation Testing – this is the main one I’ve pitched to MoT
  • Genetic Algorithms
  • My definition of software quality, and tips how to achieve it (mostly through various kinds of testing), in both full-length and lightning versions
  • Ruby Gotchas, i.e., gotchas in the Ruby language
  • A JS hack I wrote, to adjust contents of an HTML-based presentation, by changing parameters
  • Why we prepend instead of append to lists, when using immutable data (lightning talk)
  • Basics of brewing mead (history, types, how to make a small batch at home)
  • Basics of protecting yourself from spam (long ago, much harder now)
  • Basic firearm terminology and history, so you know what the media are getting wrong :wink:

Ones I’ve been pitching but haven’t yet had accepted:

  • Using Mutation Testing to build a test suite
  • Property-Based Testing
  • Doctests (tests built into the docs, in some languages such as Python and Elixir)
  • ā€œBug Magnetsā€ (code patterns that make it more likely that the next change will introduce bugs)
  • Ping-Pong Pair Programming
  • Breaking into speaking at conferences

In August I’ll also do for the first time, one on the scientific nitty-gritty of brewing mead.

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Oh, I forgot to mention, say hi for me to Software Quality Days. My talk on Mutation Testing was voted the third best talk there last year, in Vienna. I couldn’t come this year and take advantage of the resulting free admission due to a schedule conflict (plus I’d still have to pay significant travel expenses).

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The obvious one is TestBash with the Leading with Quality day before hand.

I’ll be at BCS conference and Leeds Atelier too.

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Hi @kristof,

they also sound quite interesting.
PancakesCon would be my favourite :smiley:
Maybe we shall initiate a new tesing conf like ā€œDefect & Donutsā€.

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Mutation testing would probably be my first choice if I would be a DEV. It“s a kind of whitebox approach, isn“t it? But now, as I think of it: would it also work - at least in a limited context - when editing the html via browser inspector before running UI based test automation on that dedicated page? Could at least make such automated tests more reliable.

Any my second choice would be ā€œBug Magnetsā€! Please give a ping, if this one is accepted.

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Ah, that“s sad. But there might be new chances!

Hi @rosie,
yeah, that“s very obvious :smiley:
Funny is: Brighton always reminds me about a pupil exchange in my childhood. Loooong ago.

Yes, mutation testing is definitely whitebox, or as some call it, clearbox. It’s about the actual nitty-gritty details of the code, not checking functionality. It assumes (despite what Benny Hill taught me happens then) that the code passes its test suite; otherwise it’s not very useful. Some tools run your tests on the unmutated code first, to make sure.

I am the Programme Secretary for BCS SIGiST Summer Conference 2025, so it is very much on my radar! It would be great to see you there!

In case there is other games-folk here, there’s the Games Quality Forum:

June 24th - 26th Lisbon, Portugal

I’m pretty sure it’s been said already, but TestBash — and now the addition of Leading with Quality — are definitely on my list. The speakers and topics are next level, and the atmosphere is unlike anything I’ve experienced elsewhere. I’m already missing it a lot.

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It may seem biased, but TestBash is definitely my favourite testing event, hands-down. I’ve lost count of how many I’ve been to, and they’re honestly excellent. If you’re more interested in personal recommendations than curated lists, TestBash is definitely it.

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I attended my first international software testing conference last year.

It was the testbash 2024 at Brighton, UK.

I was filled with a lot of nervousness, anxiety, and doubts about how will it be.

To my surprise, it came out to be one of the key highlights of my professional career.

Loved every moment, interaction, learning opportunities, and all things testbash.

Consider joining that. You will love it!

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Hey @qabymaria,

Thanks for asking.

Here’s what some folks had to say about TestBash in 2024:

ā€œGreat day at testbash definitely some very nice speakers, for first time attendance definitely recommend it. Wish I attended some of the workshops though that’s the plan for next year, keep up the good work!ā€

ā€œTestBash remains one of my favourite conferences to attend and speak at - there is something about the community around Ministry of Testing and TestBash that many other conferences just don’t have. I think it’s the focus on community-first rather than conference-first that is the key.ā€

ā€œAnother amazing thing about conferences like TestBash - You get to meet people in person who you’ve long admired.ā€

ā€œI attended my first professional conference this week and it was a blast. TestBash was awesome! There were a ton of great presentations and content, I participated in some group activities and met a few new people in the same profession I can reach out to.ā€

ā€œGreat to connect with industry leaders and testing experts at testbash organised by the Ministry of Testing. Great event and we were proud to have been sponsors of the evening social event.ā€

ā€œWhat a TestBash that was! So good to be back in Brighton & volunteered for the first time :scream: Thank you all you lovely people :rainbow:ā€

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