Testival 2022

Testival 2022

The second weekend in September this year is reserved for Testival, a conference we are proud to host and sponsor.

The conference was launched in 2010 under the name ViaQA and so far it has been attended by more than 400 experts in the field of software testing. The conference has been held throughout Croatia, and the last one was in Zabok in 2019. My colleague Branimir and I participated in the one in Vukovar in 2018, which was a new and valuable experience for us. What especially impressed me was that the conference is not held in the classic format where the lecturer gives a presentation, but in the so-called “unconference” type so that all the participants have the opportunity to suggest topics for discussion.

For reasons already known to all of us, the conference could not be held live for the last two years. Holding an online conference was not an option because of its format and the wish for conference participants to meet, connect and continue communication after the event. As the situation for the event organization finally improved, Branimir and I impatiently awaited whether the conference would take place this year. Time passed, so we decided, with the support of our company, to offer help to the Testival community. We offered to help with finding the venue, but also with all the other organizational tasks. Thus, the decision was made to return Testival to Osijek this year, where it has been held twice so far.

The conference will be held at the newly renovated Stara Pekara venue and will begin on Friday, September 9th in the afternoon when, after the introductory part, participants will suggest the topics. The schedule is determined after voting on the proposed topics. On the first day of the conference the participants may meet, socialize, and exchange experiences in an informal environment (including food and beer).

The schedule of the second day of the conference is set the day before, and the main focus is keynote speakers and their talks. At the previous Testival events, these were well-known names from the world of testing. Between sessions, participants can relax by playing board games, sharing different skills, and listening to lightning talks.

The ending to this hopefully great event is going to be reviewing the conference content and giving feedback.

The final result of Testival is always better interconnection of the local testing community as well as shared experiences, new acquaintances, and transferred knowledge that conference participants bring and apply in their business environments. We believe it shall be the same this year and we are truly honored and excited in being able to contribute to making that happen.