The Changing Landscape of Conferences

The pandemic changed the conference landscape forever. There were already several online conferences, but within a matter of weeks, there were many more. And rightly so, they were very much needed. It was a difficult time for everyone and the opportunity to connect with the community online was welcomed.

I personally very much embraced online conferences from a business perspective but also as an active community member, I needed to connect with people. It partially filled the void left by the abrupt stop of physical conferences.

Online conferences are here to stay.? Ministry of Testing is committed to delivering at least three a year and they continue to leave a positive impact on our community. Speakers who otherwise couldn’t speak due to many reasons can now talk at TestBash, such as at TestBash Autumn. People who can’t travel to attend conferences for a plethora of reasons now can attend conferences.

The same has happened to our working lives, many people can now work from anywhere and have many more opportunities due to companies all over the world hiring remote workers. Things had to change and they did.

Sometimes change is forced, and other times change is intentionally actioned. When it was possible for physical conferences to return, I asked myself this question: ‘What do I now want from a physical conference?’. I asked this because online conferences were partially filling the void for me.

I was getting to hear great insight, discover new things, learn and interact with community members. But I missed that physical connection, the hallway track, the socials, the interactions without video delay and the hands-on learning. I missed people.

So, I challenged the team to change TestBash. TestBash was nine years old, we’d run thirty two very successful events, the biggest conference brand around. And I said change it. For one very simple reason, after watching online conferences on my own in silence, I didn’t want to sit in a room full of people in complete silence listening to a talk. I wanted to interact with people. I wanted what online wasn’t giving me. I wanted the connection with people.

Our in-person TestBash is now a multi-format conference, which means we have four streams of different formats. One is talks, one is 99-minute workshops, one is speaker ask-me-anything and the other is 30-minute activities. You can stay in one format for the whole two days if you like, or you can mix and match. Here’s what it looks like for TestBash UK 2023. This is no small change, it was a huge change, a risky change, but we took a leap based on our own feelings and the communities.?

We took action to change TestBash, it felt like the right time, a reset of the physical conference because the landscape had changed. It paid off last year, the feedback was brilliant, and this year's edition is already selling well.?

Others have done the same, last week I attended Agile Testing Days Open Air, a conference held on a fake beach by a lake in Cologne. The venue was not your usual hotel or conference centre, it was an environment chosen to encourage connections between people. It worked.

I think conferences need to continue to change and move with the new landscape. I'm glad we are doing that at Ministry of Testing. More changes are required as we all settle back into physical conferences.?

So I’ll end with a request: How has your conference landscape changed? What are you now looking for in a conference?

– Richard Bradshaw , CEO (BossBoss) at Ministry of Testing?

???? And don’t forget, you can experience those four different streams that Richard mentioned at TestBash UK 2023. You don’t want to miss out on this incredible opportunity to learn and connect with fellow testing professionals in person. Grab a ticket. ???

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