- Women and Conference Keynotes [Fiona Charles]
- Nice girls don't get the Keynote [Anne-Marie Charrett]
- Competent People and Conference Keynotes [James Bach]
- Becoming a Regular Keynote speaker [Paul Gerrard]
- Conferences and women of merit [Maaret Pyhäjärvi]
As a woman, I like to see women in keynote speaking roles. I feel they are more likely to speak about experiences that I can relate to. I like to hear from my role models in the community. I feel that having women keynote speakers sets the tone of the conference as clearly welcoming for women attendees, which improves my networking experiences.
As a conference organiser, I know it can be hard to find speakers outside of our own professional network. Because we tend to feel most comfortable with people like us, our professional networks tend to contain a high proportion of people like us. If we only utilise our networks to select keynote speakers we are likely to end up with a set of speakers that is not very diverse. And I'm not just speaking about gender diversity, or simply physical diversity, but also diversity of ideas.
That said, I feel some sympathy for organisers who feel they don't know who to ask. I wanted to do something practical to help. So I've compiled a list women who are experienced speakers, many who have delivered previous keynotes, to consider for keynote positions at your next testing conference.
I have tried to offer suggestions from around the world. If these women are unavailable, or you feel that they aren't suited to your conference, they are still likely to have a network from which they could suggest other awesome women in their region. Get in touch with them to expand your horizons and those of your conference attendees.
If you are not a conference organiser but you would like to hear from these women, you could suggest them as a speakers to your local conference convener or organising panel. Be proactive. Create the change that you want to see.
Don't tell me that there are no fantastic women in testing who can keynote at your event.
*****
Alex Schladebeck
Head of Test Consulting at BREDEX GmbH, Germany
LinkedInTwitter - @alex_schl
Presentations
Example Talk - EuroSTAR Conferences: What Agile Teams Can Learn From World of Warcraft
Amy Phillips
Head of Test at Songkick, United KingdomTwitter - @itjustbroke
Speaking History
Example Talk - London Continuous Delivery MeetUp: Testing in a Continuous Delivery World
Anna Royzman
QA Manager at Liquidnet Holdings Inc., USATwitter - @QA_nna
Example Talk - Software Test Professionals: Anna Royzman on Tester Awareness
Anne-Marie Charrett
Lead Test Engineer at Tyro Payments, Australia
Example Talk - EuroSTAR Conferences: Coaching Software TestersChristin Wiedemann
Regional Manager at PQA Testing, Canada
LinkedInTwitter - @c_wiedemann
Example Talk - A1QA Interview with Christin Wiedemann
Dawn Haynes
Principal Trainer & Consultant at PerfTestPlus, Inc., USATwitter - @dawnmhaynes
Example Talk - CAST 2013 Keynote: Introspective Retrospectives: Lessons Learned and Re-Learned
Denali Lumma
Senior Manager of Engineering at Salesforce, USATwitter - @denalilumma
Example Talk - San Francisco Selenium MeetUp: Keeping Selenium Tests 100% Blue
Dorothy Graham
Software testing consultant, speaker and author, United KingdomTwitter - @dorothygraham
Presentations
Example Talk - STAREAST 2012 Keynote: What Managers Think They Know about Test Automation
Elisabeth Hendrickson
Engineering Director at Pivotal, USATwitter - @testobsessed
Example Talk - AgileEE 2011 Keynote: Agile Testing, Uncertainty, Risk, and Why It All Works
Emily Bache
Software Developer, Consultant, Conference Speaker, Sweden
LinkedInTwitter - @emilybache
Example Talk - EuroPython 2014 Keynote: Will I still be able to get a job in 2024 if I don't do TDD?
Fiona Charles
Software test consultant, teacher, writer, speaker, Canada
LinkedInTwitter - @fionaccharles
Speaking History
Example Talk - EuroSTAR Conferences: Thinking Strategically About Testing
Gerie Owen
Business Solutions Analyst at Northeast Utilities, USATwitter - @gerieowen
Example Talk - Belgium Testing Days: How Did I Miss That Bug? Overcoming Cognitive Bias In Testing
Goranka Bjedov
Capacity Engineer at Facebook, USA
Example Talk - PNSQC 2011 Keynote: The Future of Quality
Isabel Evans
Independent Consultant, United KingdomExample Talk - EuroSTAR Conferences: Working Ourselves Out of a Job A Passion for Improvement
Janet Gregory
Agile Coach and Process consultant at DragonFire Inc., Canada
Twitter - @janetgregorycaSpeaking Engagements
Example Talk - AgileVancouver Keynote: I Don't Want to Talk about Bugs - Let's Change the Conversation
Johanna Rothman
Management Consulting, USA
SpeakingExample Talk - StarWest 2012 Keynote: Becoming a Kick-Ass Test Manager
Karen N Johnson
Director of Mobile Quality at Orbitz Worldwide, USATwitter - @karennjohnson
Presentations
Example Talk - StarWest 2012 Lightening Talk
Katrina Clokie
Automation Test Coach at Bank of New Zealand, New Zealand
Example Talk - Interview on CASTLive 2014: Building a testing community
Lanette Creamer
QA Engineer at Sinclair Broadcast Group, USA
Leah Stockley
Independent Context Driven Testing Consultant & Trainer, Singapore
Lisa Crispin
Tester at Pivotal Labs, USA
PresentationsExample Talk - Agile Testing Days 2012: Debunking Agile Testing Myths
Liz Keogh
Lean / Agile Consultant, United KingdomTwitter - @lunivore
Example Talk - ACE! Conference Keynote: Superheated Test Tubes and Anti-Bumping Granules
Louise Perold
Test Lead at Rand Merchant Bank, South Africa
Lynn McKee
Software Quality Professional, CanadaSpeaking History
Example Talk - EuroSTAR Cofnerences: Inspiring Passion in Test Teams
Maaret Pyhäjärvi
Test Specialist at Granlund Oy, Finland
LinkedInSpeaking History
Example Talk - Scan Agile 2015 - Breaking Illusions: Testing is your most valuable asset!
Maria Kedemo
House of Test, Sweden
Nancy Kelln
Owner and Principal Consultant at Unimagined Testing, Canada
LinkedInTwitter - @nkelln
Speaking History
Example Talk - Interview on CASTLive 2012: Robots, Heuristics and Oracles
Parimala Hariprasad
Delivery Director at PASS Technologies, India
Selena Delesie
Management Consultant for Leadership & Agile Practices, CanadaTwitter - @sdelesie
Example Talk - Square Pegs in Round Holes
Trish Khoo
Test Engineer at Google, USA
LinkedIn
Twitter - @hogfish
Example Talk - CAST 2014 Keynote: Scaling up with Embedded Testing
LinkedIn
Twitter - @Ulrikama
Example Talk - Web5Conference: Amplify your awesomeness with testing
NOTE: If you would like to be added to or removed from this list, or have any links or details updated, please let me know via email - katrinaclokie at gmail dot com - or leave a comment below
Twitter - @hogfish
Example Talk - CAST 2014 Keynote: Scaling up with Embedded Testing
Ulrika Malmgren
Quality accelerator at Magine TV, SwedenTwitter - @Ulrikama
Example Talk - Web5Conference: Amplify your awesomeness with testing
NOTE: If you would like to be added to or removed from this list, or have any links or details updated, please let me know via email - katrinaclokie at gmail dot com - or leave a comment below