Conference Recap: STARWEST Virtual+ 2020

With in-person events needing creative alternatives, many have shifted to virtual environments – including Techwell’s annual STARWEST conference. This year, the conference, now dubbed STARWEST Virtual+, was transformed into a digital experience, with booths, keynotes, and sessions all being held online from October 5th-8th. Throughout the event, participants and sponsors were able to interact through two virtual expo halls.

One of the halls, hosted in Gather.Town, immersed attendees in a video game-like simulation where they could create customized avatars and wander around various sponsor booths, which contained prize giveaways, company trivia, and networking opportunities. Concurrently, a more traditional booth experience where attendees could view comprehensive information and assets provided by each sponsor was put on in a separate hall.

Over 75 talks were held over the course of the event’s four-days, where industry professionals engaged in conversation about topics such as agile testing, AI, automation, and more. These talks encompassed a variety of presentation sessions, but also informative full and half-day tutorials, interviews, and keynotes. The tutorials, which are the most popular aspect of the STARWEST conference, allowed participants to get an in-depth understanding of subjects most relevant to them.

As part of the sessions, presentations by both Senior Manager Nate Custer and TTC’s CEO of Americas Chris Rolls were streamed as well. In his talk, Machine Learning in Testing – A Pragmatic View, Nate covered the intricacies of ML, its role within software testing, and where ROI can be found for those looking to adopt. The topic of machine learning/AI is often met with much hype, but it’s imperative for organizations to dissect how they can properly evaluate when ML is the right answer for them, which Nate walked through.

Additionally, Chris was featured on the STARWEST News Desk to speak with Coveros’ Jenna Charlton about TTC’s long-standing mission, our services, and our new partnerships with Appsurify and UsableNet. Jenna, who was one of five keynote speakers featured, closed out this year’s conference by discussing the importance of leveraging exploratory testing techniques when designing for accessibility and inclusion.

Though a new way of hosting the conference, the virtual experience still allowed for the insight and engaging connectivity of one held in person. Thank you to everyone who stopped by TTC’s expo booth in both the traditional hall and Gather.Town. We’re committed to staying on top of the latest trends in software testing and sharing our experiences with our peers.

To learn more, visit the STARWEST website.