How good it is to meet people in person again
I am a big advocate for online meetings.
I’ve done them extensively, and not only since the Covid crisis started. Living and working from Israel, while having customers worldwide, there’s no real way around it.
But there is something different, orders of magnitude stronger and more powerful, about meeting in person.
Getting back out there!
Last week I attended my first in-person conference in over 2 years – Testing United in Prague. It was actually the first time I left home since February 2020.
The conference was nice.
I got to meet again with some cool testers, I also attended a number of very interesting presentations, and I got to met in person for the first time a number of colleagues with whom I had interacted previously in projects such as the OnlineTestConf.
Overall a great experience.
The event, and specially the interactions, also helped to re-energize me.
This was surprising, as I had not realized I was so low in energy beforehand.
It was only after getting a double-espresso-shot-worth-of-motivation that I noticed how drained I had been before.
And I am pretty sure this is not uncommon with others as well. Maybe even with you (whoever you are, wherever you are).
What about you?
I know the pandemic is not over. As I am writing this, the infection index is slightly rising in Israel as well, having passed the 1.0 mark a couple of days ago…
But I believe we should keep our eyes open, and whenever we get a chance (a safe chance) to attend an event in person, that we should jump at the opportunity. I am pretty sure you will also get a boost out of it, to help you get out of any somber mood you may be at this time.
Look for a conference, even a meetup event, happening around you. If there are none, organize one – I will be happy to help you, remotely if you want.
There are also plenty of events starting to take place in person, you can go to this site maintained by Chris Kenst that lists all the conference (both online and in person), so that you can attend and/or even send your talks as proposals.
In short, get off the couch, take off your training pants and ware a pair of jeans, and go to talk with some testers in-person.
I’m pretty sure you will thank me for it later 😉
