Improving your craftsmanship through conferences

In an upcoming TechBeacon article I recently wrapped up, I’m talking about how to create a team of test automation crafts(wo-)men. One of the tips I give is, as a manager looking to build such a team, to let your craftsmen attend conferences regularly. For me, attending conferences is one of the most important and influential ways to extend my craftsmanship.

As a delegate
As a conference delegate (visitor), there are several ways to benefit from the experience:

  • Get inspired by the talks and workshops. A good conference provides a mix of keynote talks from established craftsmen, as well as talks and experience reports from less experienced speakers. These are a good way to get some fresh views on your field of work or, in some cases, on life in general. What I also like in a conference is the offering of hands-on workshops. These are a good way of getting to know or of diving deeper into a tool that might just make your life a lot easier.
  • Interact with fellow craftsmen. Conferences are an excellent opportunity to get to know people in similar roles from other organizations, or even from another country. As with life in general: you never know who you’re going to meet, or what comes out of a seemingly random encounter at a conference. I’ve met people at conferences years ago that I’m still in touch with today. And since the conference attendee list often includes representatives from other organizations, you might even land your next job after an informal first encounter at a conference!
  • See what is available on the tools market. Larger conferences often include a sponsor exhibit, where tool vendors show the latest versions of their offerings. If you’re looking for a solution for a problem you have, most of these vendors are happy to talk to you and give you a demo of what they can do for you.

As a speaker
One step up from being a conference attendee is to start presenting at a conference (or two, or ten) yourself. Even if it might be a bit daunting at first, there’s much to gain from even a single public speaking performance.

  • Building your personal brand. Everybody has a personal brand. I didn’t realize this until fairly recently, but it is a fact. Delivering talks is a great way to show people what you know, what you stand for and what your ideas on your craft are, and in that way build your brand. And when people are looking for someone to work with or for them, a well-crafted personal branding will get you to the top of their wish list.
  • Make sure you understand what you’re doing. An often underrated aspect of presenting is that you have to make sure that you know what you’re talking about. As wise men have said before ‘you don’t truly understand a subject until you’re able to explain it to your mother’ (or something to that extent). Being able to give a clear, comprehensive and nicely flowing talk on a subject is probably the best proof that you truly know what it is you’re doing.

What I’ve been up to recently
After a fairly slow winter (at least in terms of conferences and presentations), the pace is slowly starting to pick up again. Last week, I delivered my new talk on trust in test automation for the first time, to a crowd of just over a hundred people at TestNet, the Dutch organization for professional testers. For a first time, I think it went pretty well, and I’m looking forward to delivering this talk more often in the months to come. I’ve submitted the same talk to a number of other conferences, and I’m very much looking forward to the response from the respective organizing committees.

It’s also less than two months until my workshop on REST Assured and WireMock at the Romanian Testing Conference. Another event that I’m very much looking forward to! It’ll be my second time speaking abroad (and the first time hosting a workshop abroad), and I’m sure it’ll be a fantastic experience after all the good things I heard from last year’s event. I was also pleasantly surprised to hear that the workshop is already sold out, so it’ll be a full house for me.

Finally, next to my blogging efforts on this site, I’ve been steadily publishing articles for TechBeacon (see my contributor profile here) and I’ve also recently published my second article on StickyMinds (see my user profile here). If you happen to have a few spare minutes and feel like reading my articles, I’d love to hear what you think of them!

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