RoboCon 2023: intermission
Intro
Woah, we’re half way there!
RoboCon 2023 Helsinki left us craving for more. Luckily the RoboCon Online conference is just one week away!
In this blog text I am going to open a bit how the Helsinki conference went and what to expect from the online conference experience.
Onsite in Helsinki
The third week of January we had the RoboCon Helsinki conference. However, the week started on Tuesday with workshops. There was a possibility to learn different topics hands-on in a small group. There were many good topics such as, Browser library, Robot Framework Advanced and Robot Framework APIs, to mention a few.
The week continued with the newly branded Open space -day (old Sprints) on Wednesday. This is a day for the community to come together and discuss or advance any topics somewhat related to Robot Framework they want. The day began with some suggestions for topics of the day, after which people were split into smaller groups according to their interest. During the day some people continued the learnings from the workshops, like a discussion group on the CI/CD pipelines whilst some came up with completely new topics. After lunch we re-grouped and some people switched to different topics.
The actual conference was then Thursday and Friday. We had some more than 200 people onsite. Both days we had a really good breakfast, lunch and some afternoon snack as well as all day coffee. The days started at 9 am with the opening talks and ended around 6 pm. The atmosphere during the conference was extremely friendly and warm. Thank you all participants for being part of that!
The talks offered something for everyone depending on your skill level and knowledge. We have pre-released two talks! Check out the talk on Listener API in theory and practice and API testing with Robot Framework to get a look and feel of the conference talks. This year besides great talks, we had some extra emphasis on community time.
During these “Community sessions” people could meet one another, meet the event partners, check the job openings and find like minded people to talk about topics suggested by the participants in the discussion area, such as RPA, Libraries, Camunda etc.. Moreover, during the longer lunch breaks we had also some demos by sponsors and a help clinic dedicated to help people with their real life RF related issues.
The Vala after party concluded the conference week. However, a small group of brave people tackled the extreme challenges in the Finnish cabin still during the weekend.
Online in Gather.Town
What fun, we still have the second part of the conference ahead of us! So what to expect?
The RoboCon 2023 Online is on the Gather.Town platform, which is a retro video game like set-up. However, instead of a game we will actually have our conference there! So you can move around in the conference venue with your avatar, chat and have calls with the other participants, speakers and the event partners. Check out the preview of the platform!
What about the content?
First of all, we have recorded all the talks from the Helsinki conference, but we also have 9 completely fresh talks coming up! Moreover, each talk will have a live Q&A where you can ask your questions. The Q&A is conducted by our host Joe Colantonio who is a true professional. We will also have a live kick-off about the Robot Framework Foundation and a live panel discussion about Robot Framework tool with the host and the experts. What panel discussion you may ask? Well, a perfect transition to the Open Space day!
So the first two days are talks, but the third day is the Open Space day. There is a possibility to bring your own discussion topics, or you can do hands-on work on some project with a smaller group to improve the Robot Framework tool, the ecosystem and the community. The Open Space concept is mostly self-organized, but there will be a kick off talk and a few predefined topics to get started with.
Be part of the conference, experience RoboCon 2023.
Why should you join the conference if you were already in the Helsinki conference?
First of all, you can attend free of charge with your onsite tickets. Secondly, there are outstanding new talks. Moreover, this is a great opportunity to re-watch your favorite talks or some talks which maybe were a bit over your head the first time around, especially with the live Q&A this is an excellent opportunity to capitalize on the learning. Besides, it is fun to catch up with old and fresh acquaintances from Helsinki and make completely new ones! There is nothing like a common topic of interest to bring people together.
Furthermore, the Open Space day is an awesome place to test out your new ideas and hone them with the community or just advance some topics you see important. Or just have a relaxed and fun day with the community members in the Gather.town!
For those who did not attend the Helsinki conference, you really have no excuse. Make a difference. Learn, be active, be out there -from the comfort of your home.
See you at the conference!
Yours truly,
Miikka Solmela
Executive Director, Robot Framework Foundation
P.S. If you don’t have a ticket, please use this link for a 20% discount.
