going forward - conclusions

[Gojko Adzic]

Hi,

first of all, thanks to everyone on the list who participated in the
thread about the future of the user group meetings. I spoke to Wendy
at Skills Matter today about the ideas and she is keen to support us
further as well, so here is where I am now with the ideas:

instead of monthly evenings, we should organise quarterly half-day
sessions with several sessions (possibly two tracks) and lots of time
for networking and socialising. This should make it easier for people
to justify attending and also make it more interesting to attend. I'm
thinking we kick off around 13:30, start a talk at 14:00 and let it
run till 15:00, network again and run another talk from 15:30 to
16:30, finishing just in time to grab some beers in a nearby pub
before the crowds start coming in. I'm thinking two tracks as I'd like
to run one for more polished or practical stuff - tool demos, talks
etc, and another track for half-baked ideas and interactive
brainstorming.

we'll keep the yearly full day exchange as a bigger event that has
more structure and more invited speakers. this year it is scheduled
for november, I think. So we'll run three quarterly half-day events
plus one full day event effectively.

I don't want to clash with the tester gathering that is happening mid-
May, so the first one could theoretically happen in early June or
July. How does this sound?

gojko

[emma christophers]

Hi Gojko

Excellent idea - well done.

Emma

[nader...@gmail.com]

Happy with this approach.
Nader
Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

[Mohinder]

Sounds good to me. With kind regards, Mohinder Khosla, PhD --- On Thu, 31/3/11, nader...@gmail.com <nader...@gmail.com> wrote:

[natha...@hotmail.com]

So no more events for 4 months?

I liked the evening format because I didn't need to take time off work to attend. I don't know if I will be able to get the time off for an afternoon event.

Are there going to be any more weekday testing tie in events?

FYI I always enjoy the tool demonstration events, especially when real examples are being used, such as problems faced when using the tool on a live project. I would like to take this further by doing some collaborations on testing tools to fully investigate how they turn out after extended periods of use and to fully explore their features and shortcomings. I think this would lead to substantial skills and experience building.

Is this something which would be possible as part of the group going forward?

[Gojko Adzic]

well theoretically we can run evening events but people aren't coming
to them any more. even the weeknight testing live, which is probably
the most interesting thing we've done for a while, attracted only 20
people. I don't see the point in running the events if we have such
attendance numbers.

gojko

On Mar 31, 10:34 am, nathan_b...@hotmail.com <nathan_b...@hotmail.com>
wrote:

[Mohinder]

If we can attract sponsors, could we make it 3 or 4 full day Openspace type conferences instead of 3 half day and 1 full day.I can help out with the logistics if there is need for that

With kind regards, Mohinder Khosla, PhD

--- On Thu, 31/3/11, Gojko Adzic <goj...@gmail.com> wrote:

[Gojko Adzic]

I don't know - my concern would be that asking people to take 4 days
off work per year to attend this might be too much. half-days seem to
be easier as you can do some work in the morning. what do others
think?

gojko

[Alan Parkinson]

I would find it easier to only take a half day away from work. Wouldn't
sponsorship still be required for a half day event? Maybe for food and beer.

If more time is required for content how about extending the afternoon
into the early evening. This could give people who can't take time off a
chance to see something.

Alan

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[Alan Parkinson]

Sounds good, would there be any lighting talks?

I think lighting talks could get more people participating and find potential subjects/presenters for longer talks at the next event. I would certainly have a go at giving a 5 minute demo/talk before I try a longer talk.

Alan

[Tony Bruce]

Weeknight Testing Live had 20 in London, don't forget the 40 that we're online and the 10 or so split between San Fran and Hamburg.

You could use the London Tester Gatherings as the place to go for a drink.  I hold them at The Shooting Star near Liverpool St station, it's not far from Skillsmatter, wouldn't be a clash and infact would be good idea to spread the word about the session that was just held.

Just FYI, the gatherings are usually sponsored and the 2 days of workshops at Skillsmatter are sponsored so sponsorship is doable and currently there are over 200 signed up for the workshops so people seem willing to take the day off for stuff.  Even if only halve actually turn up that'd be 100 people.

> Date: Thu, 31 Mar 2011 12:41:26 +0100
> From: alan.pa...@sportinganalytics.com
> To: agile-te...@googlegroups.com
> CC: goj...@gmail.com

[Tim]

I registered but couldn't attend in the end due to work commitments. I work in Slough so getting into town for 1830 can be a challenge. A half day thing would make it easier, and I could probably justify it as professional development (advantage of working for a large company). Also with a bit of notice I'd gladly try and drum up some trade with our QA contractors and permies...

Tim

Tim Wyatt Portal and Data Applications Test Manager

m +44 (0)7841415600

Telefonica O2 UK Limited

[David Richards]

Hi Gojko

this sounds more workable from my perspective.

Many thanks for your effort

DaveR

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