The story of RTC2020 program – next step of a (s)heroes journey

 

“Vera, RTC would be delighted to have you as the chairperson of RTC2020” – this is how my  journey started, with an invitation.

An invitation that afterwards reflected into a story, one about heroes, stories, experiences, mainly because of my passion for superheroes and learning. Once launched, the conference theme turned out to be very successful. With 254 submissions, we found ourselves facing our first challenge – selecting the best 24 sessions.

Creating an interesting, inspiring and informative program for a conference is quite a challenge – and perhaps the most important job of a program chair. With people being remote, we had to make use of all communication tools possible to overcome misalignment’s. Actually the team was spread on both hemispheres of the Earth across 3 continents with me being in Germany, one Andrei in Asia, Andrei C traveling to South America, Cristina in Barcelona and 5 other reviewers located in Romania across 4 different cities.

Selecting the keynote speakers is also part of the chairperson job description. With RTC, the chairperson gets to choose 4 inspirational talks for the conference day. One particularity of the event is having 2 keynotes simultaneously which gives people a choice and allows us to explore a wider variety of topics. 

We looked for a diverse selection of (s)heroes with unusual journeys – who lived to tell the tale and also wanted their stories to cover a wide variety of topics with meaningful impact on Testing.     

It was a wonderful experience talking to all those great keynote speakers, hearing about their journeys and what they like to share with us! As a result, the attendees  will have the opportunity of hearing Sharon Steed subject matter expert on empathy at work, Tanja Vos PhD professor in software testing, Elizabeth Zagroba & Joep Schuurkes sharing “Everyday Acts of Heroism” or Gwen Diagram sharing her super stories on leadership in testing.

Building the conference program was the next big thing. With more than 10 proposals per conference slot, we immediately knew we had to rise to the expectations. To begin with, all the (s)heroes in the team took it upon them to challenge all the abstracts in order to find the most suitable, one by one. 

Afterwards we compared our results to create a program, which includes a variety of topics and approaches. We wanted you to have the opportunity to see established and well known (s)heroes as well as new faces and we wanted them to attack small as well as big challenges. 

We  aimed  the topics to be diverse and to cover  multiple areas you all might need for your own (learning) journeys – from more technical approaches to a more human and teaching approach. 

Few facts about RTC2020 program:

  • There are no 2 speakers with the same role within their company
  • 15% of the talks are highly technical, 20% requires some knowledge while on 65% of the sessions, everybody will get it
  • 40% of the speakers are doing public speaking as part of their lives while 45% of them feel very confident being on the stage. 
  • 2 speakers are having their first conference talk and will be coached by “Tech Voices” mentoring program
  • The most popular superhero mentioned by speakers is: Batman 

The speakers list is public , the program is live and the registration is open. We put a lot of energy, enthusiasm and passion in this program and now we are really excited and hope you all like it!

Hope to see you at #RTC2020

24 feb 2020

Vera Gehlen-Baum

RTC Chairperson

5 reasons why you should attend RTC this year

Every spring Romanian Testing Conference is the event that gathers hundreds of quality lovers, software testing enthusiasts, manual testers, automation experts, men, females, teenagers, companies, sponsors, people who want to learn more, hear more, interact more, all sharing a common passion – software testing.

Every spring we see new faces, we hear new stories, but we also see familiar faces that have been with us during the years.

And every spring we are so happy and grateful to have all these people joining us in creating the biggest software testing conference in Eastern Europe.

If you’re asking yourself what makes Romanian Testing Conference so special, you are in the right place.

Here are the top five reasons why quality lovers should attend Romanian Testing Conference 2019.

#1 International Networking

You can get direct access to our great speakers and get insights about their job, their experiences, their testing stories and why not, get inspired by their way of doing things.

We truly believe and encourage communication and the RTC event can be a good opportunity for everyone to speak with testing specialists across continents and make friends.

With more than 600 attendees expected this year, you can have excellent networking opportunities and gain visibility on what the others are working with.

#2 Unconf

Also, in 2019 we’re introducing Unconf, where you get the chance to have the ultimate “backstage experience” and be the one who drives the conversation.

Remember telling you about our belief in communication?

Oh well, at Unconf you have the spotlight. This workshop will take you on a journey, figuratively and literally, to help you understand how you can overcome your fears of sharing that story, experience, or idea with others.

#3 Top Notch Topics

Among all these, we’re discussing about  test automation, exploratory testing, web security, visual testing, blockchain, testing in AI, leadership and how to manage crisis situations and these are just a few of the topics we are preparing for 2019 edition.

#4 5 keynotes, 8 Workshops, 12 tutorials

In 2019, Romanian Testing Conference comes up with a big variety of workshops and tutorials. Attending one of these, puts you in the same room with industry leaders and gives you the chance to learn from them new skills, new techniques, new ways of thinking, gain proficiency and become better at solving various situations.

Oh, did I mention about having fun? 🙂

#5 Diversity

We fight for gender equality and diversity in our event that’s why our stage has no gender nor colour.

What’s more beautiful than having such an equilibrium between females and males participants: 👩‍💻👨‍💻44.3% females and 55.7% males?

A good measurement on how successful your event is, is to analyse the participant’s returning rate.

We are proud to have 48% rate of returning participants! So, if you plan to see your old friends testers, now is your time.

Did I say five reasons? Oh, there’s actually one more.

#6 Connected Events

We love to create new challenges and take each year a step forward and be better than we were the previous year. At RTC we keep the fire of curiosity, innovation and creativity always burning, that’s why each year we’re creating new concepts around our main event.

If in 2018 we introduced the XTesthaton, a unique concept in the testing community, which combines testing skills and unconventional situations, in 2019 Unconf is introduced. Also, before the main event in June, every two months we’re organising the RTC Meetup, where we are bringing the testing community together, share ideas and knowledge and offering a stage for new voices.

Is an event considered to be successful without the after party, some cocktails and good mood? We have it this year too! In the conference day, when the curtain falls, every participant is invited to the after party to continue chatting and enjoying a more relaxed atmosphere.

Hope to see you in June!

Listen to Laura Oniga – Business of Software Testing (Podcast Host – Johan Steyn)

ABOUT LAURA ONIGA

With more than 7 years of professional experience in the business and IT domains, Laura prides herself for having gained a rounded set of skills and competencies – the blend of IT smarts, teamwork, conceptual thinking, and business acumen is what allows her to successfully solve problems and cut through complexity.

Throughout her career, she purposefully studied the craft of solution testing, as a risk discovery and mitigation enabler.

She is studying methodologies, heuristics, and approaches that allow her to persuasively talk to how companies can manage risk in their solution life-cycles and to how frameworks can be designed in order to meet the growing expectation and appetite for professional approaches to risk management.

Her mission and value-add statement are to design, coordinate and implement a more deliberate and defensible approach to solution testing and technology and business risk management.