EuroSTAR 2023 Call for Speakers

For three decades, the EuroSTAR Conference has been the leading software testing conference in Europe, attracting delegates and speakers from around the globe. They have one thing in common: all of them are on a quest for knowledge, eager to learn, trying to improve themselves and their testing, and expand the testing community.

The EuroSTAR 2023 speaker submissions are now closed.

Thanks to everyone for submitting, the submissions are now being reviewed by community reviewers and the programme committee. Sign up to our newsletter to stay up to date on all the EuroSTAR 2023 conference news, including programme announcements and special offers.

We may think that the hard part of working in software is the technology and tools.

We would be wrong.

Technology is a large part of the work we do, but relatively speaking it’s the easy part.

We’ve solved technical problems before, we’ve figured out which solutions to use for a given context, and we have fantastic tools and patterns at our fingertips. The actual challenge is, and has always been, all the social interactions that go into the work in a team, company, or between companies and their customers.

Understanding the customer’s needs is much harder. It’s what separates a failed or acceptable project from a great project. There needs to be collaboration between the developers, the testers, the operations team, and many other roles and groups. We need to explain to the users and the customers what we have constructed, delivered, and how it is meant to be used. We need to listen to their feedback with empathy and understanding.

People work together in teams. People have managers and project leads; there’s sales, and marketing. Our work and our day-to-day lives are filled with social interactions and communication.

Topics we are looking for

Don’t be fooled into thinking that tools and technology submissions aren’t welcome. Communication and interaction take many shapes and forms.

How do we interact with the software? What are the tests performed communicating back to us?  How does a human communicate with a machine, and then back to another human?

The tools and languages we use influence our work and the shape of the organizations, the interactions, and the communications.

Below are some suggestions on topics that are welcome. But don’t let that stop your imagination from telling a great story of thoughts and experiences you’ve had.

● Communication
● Software testing
● Test automation and its role in the work we do
● Team building
● Creating healthy organisations
● The pandemic, increased remote work, and its impact on how we work with it
● Communities
● Group dynamics
● Leadership & Management
● Recruiting good testers and developers
● Methods of collaboration
● Accessibility testing
● Internationalisation and localisation testing
● Diversity, equality, and inclusion

Talk Types

Conclusion

The conference theme this year is “Software Development is a Social Activity”. I attend EuroSTAR year after year in large part for the social aspect. Apart from the sessions, I enjoy meeting new people, old friends, interactions, discussions and relationships being built – friendships that in many cases may last for years to come.

Software development is an activity that not only affects software testers, but also the people around us.

One of the things that struck me when talking with the participants of this year’s EuroSTAR conference was how important physical interactions with other people really are. The last few years of virtual events and conferences online have driven home just how important it is to share space and be with other people.

Regards,

Kristoffer Nordström
EuroSTAR 2023 Programme Chair

Note: If you would like help writing a proposal to increase your chances of success, see this handy submissions guide.