CzechDreamin ‘24

Last week I packed my bag and headed to Prague ????

My first time visiting this wonderful city and I will be back soon that’s for sure!?

Friday was CzechDreamin , well what can I say! Wow, just wow! This event blew me away and met and exceeded all of my expectations!?

From the get-go, the communication was superb, and the agenda presented an incredibly tough choice among all the outstanding sessions. The venue was easy to navigate, and the atmosphere was positively electric! It's evident that the organisers poured their hearts and souls into ensuring this event was meticulously curated to meet the needs of every attendee.?

A huge shoutout and heartfelt thanks to Martin Humpolec , Kristyna Turner , Petr Mudroch ? , Lukas Razim , Ekaterina Obolenskaya , and Michal Furmanek for their dedication and hard work!

My agenda

Keynote?

Starting the day with Domenique Sillett Buxton , Astro’s talented mum, was truly inspiring! Her willingness to share her journey with us was a gift, and her insights on "finding our purpose" and "differentiation in a sea of sameness" were incredibly powerful. I’m excited to see where her creativity will take Astro and his friends next. It was fantastic to have such a talented person setting the scene and motivating us with her vision.

Customer Journey Mapping?

Next, I joined Sarah Kelleher to hear her insights on customer centricity and identifying the true hero ???? of the story. As a huge fan of process improvement, I appreciated the benefits of the model she suggested and am eager to apply some of these lessons to my own work. On a personal development note, I was highly impressed with Sarah's presentation style and have drawn a lot of inspiration from this session!

Skola Improvizace

After Sarah’s enlightening session, I headed to the breakout area for a breather and was approached by Ond?ej Ne?as . He asked me to choose a card, and the one I selected read, “ask someone you don’t know to give you a challenge and accept it” – so I did! He challenged me to meet his colleague Luká? Venclík and learn more about improv. Little did I know that this brief encounter and conversation would lead to such a great lightbulb ?? moment for me!

The fear of failure is a subject I have been exploring personally for the last few years, but Lukas’ interesting perspective has really got me thinking about it from a new angle. THANK YOU!

Crossing the chasm

My afternoon kicked off with a session by Antone Kom on Salesforce adoption techniques. Measuring its success is something I’m actively working on right now, so this session was incredibly helpful. Anton’s ideas will definitely be coming back to the office with me!

Product Management v’s Product Owner

Georgy Avilov delivered a very engaging session on this topic, and I really appreciated his slides, which clearly demonstrated the importance of the process and how each stage is essential to achieving success. Parts of the session made me laugh, and it was reassuring to hear about others facing similar challenges and their suggestions for positive change.

The Key to Project Success?

Next up in my back-to-back afternoon sessions was Barbara Laskowska and her strategy for success. Building the right foundations, fostering relationships, and maintaining authentic curiosity are key to establishing trust and setting your project and team up for success. Barbara's positive vibe and upbeat personality are truly infectious!

7 Deadly Sins

Sticking to the project management track, I joined Pei Mun Lim to hear her thoughts and experiences on avoiding common pitfalls for success. As always, Pei brought her energy and passion, quickly getting the room laughing out loud. Her advice on successfully managing projects and handling situations when things go south was truly insightful.

Engaging Online Workshops

Luká? Vav?ín definitely kept everyone engaged with his session. The tips he shared were very helpful, and it was great to learn about some new tools that I am keen to try out when I’m back at my desk. The AI assistants he discussed are super helpful, and I can see many benefits to adding this technology to our tool belts!

Don’t just “screenshare”!?

Todd Halfpenny continued the presentation topic and bravely took on the challenge of a live demonstration of OBS Studio. This platform was new to me, and I think I’ll need to watch a few YouTube tutorials before attempting it myself! Todd’s captivating presentation had my attention from the get-go, and I really enjoyed learning about something completely new. At this time in the afternoon, it was a great energizer, and I’m taking my hat ?? off to you, Todd, for embracing the live demo challenge and coming out victorious!

Building Confidence as an Architect?

To cap off my day, I attended Charly Prinsloo 's session to listen to her experiences and journey. Her openness and honesty were a breath of fresh air, and I wholeheartedly appreciate her willingness to share thoughts on what is really important in combating the negative internal dialogue that many of us face when presented with a problem.

Summary

This trip has been incredibly enriching for me, both personally and professionally! I've developed a deep appreciation for Prague and all the wonderful people I've had the privilege to spend time with there. Now, as I return to the UK, I'm eagerly looking forward to the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead in the coming weeks.