Innovate & Renovate: Evolving Testing

Test Side Sorry

I know it’s been quiet here lately. A big Test Side Sorry for that. A lot has happened the last months, and many things occupy my mind and time.

Eurostar 2011

One of these is Eurostar, Europe’s largest testing conference which took place in Manchester in november. I had a great time meeting new people and catching up with others. Finally meeting people from twitter in person is one of the best side-effects from conferences I know. It feels like meeting old acquaintances, in a way. 

The test lab vibe was great, as always. I saw some great track sessions, and there were loads of things happening behind the scenes as well: video tapings, special and fun sessions that will be published the coming months. I even spotted a smoke machine or two on a Thin Lizzy soundtrack. The conferring didn’t stop at 6 pm – Manchester pubs were test-infected for a while.

At the gala awards dinner, in the magnificent setting of the Manchester Monastery, Julian Harty received the Testing Excellence award. Geoff Thompson also revealed next year’s programme chair.

Eurostar 2012

Rewind three weeks. Lorraine – Eurostar’s conference manager – calls me during my daily commute to inquire if I would be interested in becoming the programme chair for 2012. I barely manage to steer clear of a ditch. And I apologize to that old lady I almost ran into. Back to the call. I hesitate at first, ask some time to think it through. Seconds later I realize: “wait a minute, what was I thinking? Of course I’ll do it! Yes, there will be work involved. But it’s all good.

Eurostar will turn twenty in november 2012. I will be the host of this special edition, taking place from november 5-8 in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Twenty years, that is quite something. No longer a teenager, and old enough to party.

My partners in crime for this conference are James Lyndsay, Julian Harty and Shmuel Gershon, and I can’t stress enough how honored I feel that they accepted to be on the team. Our first task was to come up with a theme. Since our aim is to craft a learning conference, focusing on innovation, renovation and creativity in testing, we decided on:

Innovate & Renovate: Evolving Testing

The call for submissions is now open, by the way. I look forward to receiving your ideas.