Conference Theme: Accentuate the positivity

Having a sense of positivity is more important than ever

When I was younger, at the end of a school week, here in the UK there always used to be a TV programme on at 6 o’clock on a Friday night that showed clips from old films starring Charlie Chaplin, Laurel and Hardy, or Harold Lloyd. I found that no matter how bad the week had been, within a few minutes I’d forgotten it all and was laughing along with whatever antics were happening on the screen.

I was never sporty at school, so I could never impress people with my physical prowess. I found out very quickly that you couldn’t be intimidating if you were captain of the school chess team (which I was!). My one option was to try and make people laugh. It probably drove my teachers crazy, but it was my coping mechanism then, and it still is today. If I’m in a new group of people, being the introvert/extrovert I am, my only option is to try and raise a smile – to use humour to break down barriers and provide an ‘in’.

I do it in social situations, at work, at conferences. I know if I can make someone smile then it’ll all be okay…

I use humour to make the people I’m working with feel more comfortable. If I’m interviewing someone, or having a first meeting with a new line report, then I want to put them at ease, and humour is the best way to do that. Even if it’s a lame joke about the weather, or (more recently) a comment about what is obviously a lockdown beard, the idea is the same – let the other person relax. Let them be at ease. Let them know that, hey – we’re all in this together…

I think this year it’s been more important than ever to look for the humour in what we do, look at the positive side of a bad situation to make it better, look at how even the small changes can make a big difference. To accentuate the positive in what we do; how we do it; and even in who we are.

So for this year’s theme we want you to think about “ACCENTUATE THE POSITIVITY”

We’re looking forward to hear your stories and experiences on how using a positive outlook, humour or softer skills, has helped you and your colleagues travel an otherwise tricky path. Tell us how you our your team managed to overcome obstacles and come through the other side smiling and all the better of it.

During this time, more than any other, with so much around us that is difficult to deal with, having a sense of positivity is more important than ever.

And maybe, just maybe, if we can smile together, if we can look ahead to the good times we know we will get back, maybe, just maybe, it really will be okay.

Here are a variety of facts about Kevin. Bizarrely enough, they’re all true…

• • Kevin has been involved in Testing for more than 20 years. He’s still learning…
  • Kevin once played the British number one rated chess grandmaster, and didn’t lose.
  • Kevin is not a big fan of tomatoes.
  • Kevin has a YouTube playlist that’s been viewed a third of a million times.
  • A painting of Kevin hung on display in the Royal Academy of Arts for many months.
  • Over a two year period Kevin watched more than 1200 films.
  • Kevin once went on a team building event to Vienna, where his team drank all the port in the hotel.
  • Kevin had his own library built in his garden as he had too many books.
  • Kevin is mildly allergic to cats.
  • Kevin writes comedy in his spare time and has been a finalist in competitions run by the BBC and BAFTA.
  • Kevin once participated in RTC XTestathon event and almost won!
  • The best bug that Kevin ever found only ever occurred on Friday afternoons.

Remember the feeling of watching a talk at a conference and thinking: “I have done something great and revolutionary, too!” or “Hmmm, I would have done that differently”,  ooor “I wonder how it feels like when a room full of people clap at the end of your own talk…” Well, you don’t have to wonder anymore, because you now have the chance to experience it yourself! We invite you to join the 10th ANNIVERSARY edition of Romanian Testing Conference, RTC2021, by sharing your experience and thoughts related to this year’s theme Accentuate the positivity. We appreciate proposals from every area of software testing, based on personal experience.  

SESSIONS: TALKS and DEMOs

We are looking for submissions for 2 type of sessions:

• Track talks – 45 minutes including Q&A session
• Demos – up to 90 minutes

TOPICS: Positive perspectives, new findings, intriguing facts, experimental ideas, mind-blowing ideas, Eurika moments,  new trends.

• You can choose from a large variety of areas:
• Testing in relatively new technological situations
• Career development in a changing industry
• Challenging the status quo
• Testing beyond what is viewed as “normal” testing
• Testing at the limits of our current understanding – new experiences and techniques
• New testing implementations, new strategies, new challenges
• Learning
• Soft skills

SUBMISSION: DEADLINE, CONFIRMATION, PROGRAM

• We are currently receiving your papers for submission for Romanian Testing Conference 2021.
• Submission deadline is  March 22nd, 2021 midnight (Romania Time – GMT + 2) 
• Announcement of call for papers results – April 5th 2021
• Speaker’s Confirmation deadline – April 12th, 2021
• Official program going live – April 19th, 2021

Well since you asked, in 2021 Romanian Testing Conference is looking to deliver content all year long.

For this, we have a separate call for papers that covers the tutorials and workshops that are going to be scheduled together with the speaker at a later date.

So if you’re interested reaching out to testers outside the conference space, this is the opportunity to do so.

All you have to do is submit your proposal(s) for workshops/tutorials and we will get back to you for details on when and how to schedule this at a later time in the year.

Got further questions about this?

Send us a message and we can take it from there. Workshop compensations apply and are discussed case by case. Do you find this mindbugging? We’ve already built a FAQ page to blow away the uncertainties.