Thoughts on conference design

Next week is the European Testing Conference. 

We do a lot of things to make this conference better 

European Testing Conference
Feb  9^th & 10^th  (Pre-conference Trainings on the 8^th)
Helsinki, Finland
25% off discount code: FRIENDSOFLLEW

Here are some of the things we do to make a better conference for the attendees:

1)   Facilitate meeting other people

We all know that one of the best parts of conferences is the people you meet but it can be hard to strike up a conversation with complete strangers. 

Knowing this, we set up 2 events structured to introduce you to new people.

a)    Speed Meeting:
This occurs at 11:00 the first day and is the only session at that time. The whole conference sits and talks to a new person for 5 minutes. Then rotates and does it again. 45 minutes later, you have talked to 9 new people. Sometimes that is enough to help you find the right person, sometimes it’s one of friends of those 12 that you get introduced to. Either way the conference becomes a lot friendlier afterwards.

b)   Facilitated Discussion
Later that day we will do on other 45 minutes of round table discussions (8 people per table). This will follow the lean coffee format and allows people to talk about the subjects they are interested in with each other. It is also a chance to speak with the speakers your are interested in, as each speaker will facilitate one table.

2)   Workshops
One of the challenging things about workshops is it’s hard to actually go to them when there is the easier choice of just listening to a talk. The lazy part of us wins out so much of the time despite our best intentions. Know this, when never run the workshops sessions at the same time as normal lecture sessions. So you don’t have to decide *if* you do some hands on learning, you only have to decide which one you want to do.

3)   Hallway track
Meeting new people and doing hands on learning has a way of stirring up ideas. Many experienced conference goers talk about the ‘Hallway Track’ as valuable part of conferences but new people often are let out on this aspect. Knowing this, at 14:15 on the last day, we set aside 3 sessions of open space, where you can announce the topics you’re interested in and then hold mini-sessions with like minded people. This helps in ensure everybody gets the most out of the new ideas they have had.

We hope you agree that these steps help to create a better conference and hope to see you there!

We also do a lot to make it better for the speakers, but that's another blog post.