How Do You See the Future of Agile Conferences?
Darren Hoevel
Organizational Transformation Leader, President, Chief Customer Success Officer, Certified Dare to Lead? Facilitator, Leadership & Agile Coach
It would be an understatement to say that the corporate landscape has changed significantly over the last four years. Regular lunch meetings, Meetups, happy hours, and a strong sense of community are but fuzzy, distant memories. And even when you try and get the band back together, things aren’t quite the same, it seems.
Agile conferences didn’t go unscathed either. As someone who’s part of a board trying to plan an in-person agile conference, I’m finding we’re faced with a couple of new headwinds:
?Dwindling Ticket Sales.
The word on the street (and what I've observed) is that attendance is way down. Why is that??
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Higher Costs.
With the new work-from-home reality and the open office space that goes with it, you might think it’d be easier to secure an inexpensive location to host a conference. That doesn’t seem to be the case. Apparently, venues have got their own expensive fish to fry, and we’re finding they’re charging more than ever before. Part of it comes down to supply and demand. COVID created a reduction of conference center capacity, which means space is at a premium. Agile conferences are hard-pressed to charge more when fewer tickets are being sold. Organizers just don’t want to take on that financial risk. In short, there are fewer savings (and profits, in some cases) to be had by everyone.?
So, What Next?
I realize I’m asking more questions than providing answers. Sorry, but I have a few more for you: How do you see the future of agile conferences? What will keep “us” together… or do we even need to stick together? Will agile conferences evolve into organizational design, change management, or product conferences? What trends do you see shaping their evolution in the coming years?
Better yet, what changes in our current community and conferences would best serve YOU moving forward? Let's get this conversation started!
Product Coach | I help enterprises create focus and ship stuff that matters
11 个月I’ve seen it but also conferences are down in general, likely due to the economic downturn which has dissproportionately affected the tech industry. So how much is due to the waning of agile (as an industry) and how much just to market conditions? ????♂?
Advancing the agility of government through high performing self-organized teams.
11 个月I would say this is all a natural part of the process. Contracting economies, inflation, shifts in the required skills for agility, all coupled with the fact that agile adoption is no longer seen as an overwhelming priority for business survival has inevitably led to the dwindling of long-established forums for industry engagement. I actually proposed a conference talk on this very subject and it was rejected! ?? "AI" as the top priority for business survival has fully taken over industry to the extent that you can't even talk about a problem on LinkedIN now without somebody chiming in about how they've magically solved whatever problem you're talking about with "AI". As is always the case with these cycles, the key to the future is to revisit the core basics that brought about success in the first place and then create a compelling new approach or experience that both has intrinsic new value and meets needs that aren't currently being met. Asking the questions you are asking is the right way to start and I look forward to hearing about your conclusions and insights!
I see the future of #agile conferences aligned with the future of -#agile itself: focusing less on such things as coaching and soft skills and more on what businesses actually need to make in order to sustain themselves. Profits. Designed correctly and implemented properly, a sustainable business model is a profitable business model.
Partnering with Organizations to Build, Support, and Promote Pervasive Leadership?│ Strategic Partner │ Change Facilitator │ Executive Coach
11 个月Another question: How are other conferences faring in this "post"-COVID era?
Coach and Program Manager focused on edge solutions for Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning workloads.
11 个月As you observed, the Agile community was built in meetups and exchanges between interested parties. I appreciated the opportunity to collaborate and learn with yourself and other active members of the community. Employer funded conferences need to demonstrate bottom line return on investment as a condition of ongoing support.