100 Months of Technical Sessions
On November 18, 2022, HENNGE celebrated the 100th installment of Monthly Technical Session (MTS)! On this very special occasion, I represented MTS organizers in presenting a look back to the 8-year history of the event.
What is MTS?
MTS is a platform for members to share knowledge with their peers. Each speaker gives a talk for 10 - 20 minutes, followed by a Q&A session. Occasionally, there are also lightning talks (5-minute talks, often without a Q&A session afterward) at the end of an MTS.
1st Era: May 2014 - September 2016
In the 1st Era, MTSs were held on 10F.
MTS #1 was held on May 30, 2014. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to find any photos or videos of this inaugural event.
I did find a video of MTS #3 (July 25, 2014), probably the first MTS to be recorded on video.
MTS #6 (October 24, 2014) is the first MTS to be recorded in a blog post on HDE Blog. HDE Blog is the precursor to HENNGE Blog, the Medium publication you are currently reading.
The 1st Era includes the only months in which no MTS was held, i.e.
- December 2014
- August 2015
- November 2015
2nd Era: October 2016 - September 2019
In the 2nd Era, MTSs were held on 5F. This is the longest Era so far.
MTS #27 (October 21, 2016) is the first MTS to be recorded in a blog post written in English, still on HDE Blog. MTS #44 (March 23, 2018) is the first MTS to be recorded in a blog post on HENNGE Blog.
On September 21, 2018, HENNGE (or rather HDE, i.e., the company name at the time) celebrated the 50th installment of MTS!
3rd Era: October 2019 - February 2020
In the 3rd Era, MTSs were held on 4F. This is the shortest Era so far.
You probably already figured out the reason why.
4th Era: March 2020 - April 2022
Yup, COVID-19 happened. So in the 4th Era, MTSs were held on Zoom.
For the first few months of the 4th Era, MTS organizers tried to hold MTSs both on 4F and on Zoom, i.e., hybrid MTSs.
However, by the time MTS #73 (August 21, 2020) came around, it had been decided to keep holding fully-remote MTSs, due to the increasing number of COVID-19 cases and the complexity of holding hybrid MTSs.
5th Era: May 2022 - Today
In the 5th Era, MTS is held on both 4F and Zoom. This is going to be the setup for MTSs in the foreseeable future.
By the 5th Era, the number of COVID-19 cases had decreased and MTS organizers had figured out an approach of holding hybrid MTSs. Today, MTS organizers are experienced enough in holding hybrid events that they share their knowledge with organizers of other events in HENNGE.