FunTESTic goes to EuroSTAR - part one

As I sit "relatively relaxed" on the couch this evening, 'Slanket' wrapped around me, can of 'RockStar punched' beside me and a piece of 'la Tur' cheese in front of me on the table, I thought that it would be a nice idea to blog about my upcoming EuroSTAR adventure, and so here I am, typing my first entry of my adventure.

I've finished some last preparations today for my TH8, thursday track: The Ethics Debate. In one of the earlier sessions it seemed a good idea to make some marketing means for the track in the form of so called 'Loesjes', so Julien (red; my co-speaker) and I tracked down some of these statements and I resized the posters to flyer-format and printed them. Tomorrow I need to cut them, but the prints are ready.
I went to the prizes shop today too, to get the engraved prize for 'the Best Debater' and it has become a pretty little cup!
Last but not least I went to the hairsalon and had my hair cut and remodelled, so I'm a bit more stylish for my 'big performance';-)

I't a bit weird though. Since 2004 I tried so hard to get to EuroSTAR as a speaker with various submissions and this year I finally got the chance! It's an odd feeling, especially when suddenly Dot Graham is on the phone telling that she is considering your submission to add to the program, but I'm so exited! And now it's only two days away and then I'll be on the plain to Stockholm, time has gone so fast since I started the preparations.
Making the slides, making an intro for the booklet, setting up a forum where the Ethics Debate can go further even after the session itself (http://www.atfreeforum.com/funtestic/), writing the scripts, approaching the mystery guest, etc. etc.

And then the 'preparations' as a visitor too. Luckily the flight and hotel are booked by my company, but it seemed a good idea to visit the city itself too, so I added some nights at the hotel and booked a flight for my husband to fly in on Friday. I figured out which program I wanted to see at EuroSTAR, and the travels from airport to hotel and from hotel to the conference centre and I still have to plan some things I really want to see, like the Vasa museum and the harbor.

I'm planning to update on my visit to EuroSTAR regularly; by Twitter (www.twitter.com/funTESTic)(and will try to tag 'esconfs') and on this blog, so if you don't have the opportunity to go yourself and it seems a fun idea to read some from my point of view, please check back in regularly!

My program at this moment:
Monday tutorial: Exploratory Masterclass

Tuesday tutorial: Chatterboxes and Cave-Dwellers: Understanding Extraversion and Introversion in the Workplace

Tuesday conference:Prioritising Tests? Use Your Gut Instinct; A Visual Approach to Risk-Based Integration Testing; If Only We Could Make Them Listen!; Burning Issues of the Day; and maybe Is "Agile" Distracting You?, but I'm not sure about the last track yet.

Wednesday conference: Incremental Scenario Testing: Beyond Exploratory Testing; Risk-based Testing - Details of our Success; The Power of Risk; Effective Bug Management - Challenges and Best Practices (not sure yet); Don’t Shoot the Messenger! (I'm track chair here so this is a certain visit)

Thursday conference: ISO 29919, my own track; The Ethics Debate, Program Test Management: A Survival Kit (if I don't need a big break then ;-) ) ; The Supertesters - a Slightly True Story

and off course I'll be visiting the expo and the keynotes!
so stay tuned for part two!