We’ve made some big changes to the program for Agile2022. Our conference chair Kevin Stevens breaks it all down and shares why this year’s conference will be different than in years past.
How do we do this again?
When we were starting the process of building the program for Agile 2022, I was terrified. We hadn’t held an in-person conference in two years. Did we even know how to do this anymore? But now that the program is 95% complete–there are always last-minute additions and changes–I wanted to tell you how we did it and what we were looking for.
Picking the themes
For the last several years, the program has been divided into three sections: People, Process, and Technical. While these are perfectly fine categories, they don’t really tell you what the purposes of the talks in the program are. They were all nouns. We needed something more descriptive. After numerous iterations, we came up with “Energizing People and Teams,” “Accelerating Products,” and “Enriching Organizations.” Each one makes a promise to you about what the goals of the track are.
Taming the wave
One of the things I remembered from my first couple of Agile 20xx conferences is that the sessions came at me like a wave, an unending stream of so much goodness to choose from. There were so many choices that I often felt overwhelmed, not to mention the “FOMO” I felt from missing the ones I didn’t go to.
In addition, splitting people into so many rooms meant that there were fewer opportunities for people to be in the same room. We wanted to increase the chances that at the social events at night you would run into someone you had seen in a session and have something to talk about.
We also wanted to give a different shape to your day by having different types and numbers of sessions offered. This was accomplished by adding what we called Featured Talks. These are sessions by some of the most well-known and admired people in the industry, talking about what they know best. We present four of these sessions at a time in some of the larger rooms.
A deeper dive
Finally, the other major change we have made to the program is the addition of Workshop Wednesday. These are double-length sessions that are very hands-on and interactive. The goal is to have enough time with a facilitator to get a good feel for the ideas they are presenting. If you feel good about what you have learned in that three hours, you’ll have a head start bringing those ideas back to your company.
In conclusion
There are many other smaller changes we have made to the program, including the addition of a Keynote Panel on Thursday before the conference party, a redone Agile in Action session for Friday morning, etc.
It’s been a long time since we were all in the same place together. I cannot wait to see you all in Nashville in July and for you to experience the program that we have put together. I am inordinately proud of it and hope you enjoy it as well.
– Kevin Stevens, Agile2022 Conference Chair
