CAST 2011, Day 2, A Brief Summary

Again, I had intended to write this last night.  It is amazing top be how mentally and physically drained I am byt the end of each day at conferences.  So many smart people it seems impossible to keep up.

Right, so, people.  Had some really nice hallway conversations with Elana Houser, who was in the BBST Foundations course with me.  We did not always agree with each other in the course, she is, however, a very good thinker.  Lynn McKee, Nancy Kelln, Selena Delesie and had nice chats and gave great insights on discussion topics.  I also brifely met Karen Johnson - OK folks, she is smart and wise - doesn't always come in the same package. 

Amazing talk(s) with Michael Hunter - Yeah, the Braidy Tester guy.  He really is as good and inspriational as his blog posts seem.  Oh, now then, let's see, Had some Fantastic chats with Ajay.Balamurugadas. Ben Yaroch is crazy smart and a hard worker - really. Michael Larsen really DOES have as much energy as his podcasts make it seem like he does.  Let's see.  Also had some good visits with Justin Hunter, Paul Holland, Bill Matthews and Johan Jonasson - Phil McNealy is a good person to know as well. 

One of the highlights for me was seeing the Emerging Topics track come together and be a reality.  Some of the speakers had a bit of a rough go.  Many had never presented outside their own company before - WHAT a daunting task!  Yeah - Present a 20 minute idea in front of some of the best testers around.  YEAH!  Still, everyone made it through the experience, good information and ideas were shared - even if folks were a little nervous.

I had a chance to drop in the tail end of the Open Season of the BBST Experience track.  Cool Q&A session, lots of energy.  The Lightning Talks, which I dropped in on after the BBST talk ended, were interesting - ideas and "quick hits" with ideas.  Fun.

I ended up having an interesting conversation with Felipe Knorr Kuhn, Gary Masnica, Phil McNealy and Lanette Creamer.  Job Titles, Job Roles, What to Do, How things work... highly enjoyable, mentally invigorating.  This set me up for a good session in the EdSIG - Education Special Interest Group. 

Michael Larsen, me, some dozen other people talking via Skype with Rebecca Fiedler and Cem Kaner (who could not be at CAST.)  Good ideas, much meaty discussion - look for another blog post on that before too long. 

It was an amazing day. 

Oh, I did not get elected to the Board of Directors for AST.  Now, some folks tried to console me, I was unconsoleable.  Well, technically, literally, there was nothing to console me about!  I believe that each of the five candidates were eminently qualified to serve on the board and three were selected.  This is good. 

So, this morning, I find myself sitting at a table (starting this blog post actually) and Michael Hunter sat down to chat and have a little breakfast.  Griffon Jones dropped his pack and went for a little breakfast, but got tied up.  As it was, Michael and I had a great visit before we headed off to Michael Bolton's workshop on Test Framing.  That, too, is another blog post.