Conferences have been around for as long there have been companies. People have an intrinsic need to gather in groups to talk about what they do. Quality Assurance and Software Test people are no different. Conferences have popped up all over the world for such topics as automation, load and performance testing, vendor specific conferences, and just general QA conferences. Some of these are quite large and are attended by thousands of professionals. Some of these larger conferences invite well known speakers and vendors and have workshops that can cover many topics.

Some conferences also can take on the feeling of an extended sales call. You can be inundated with new product news and session after session on why certain products are needed by your company. Does it make a difference if a conference is vendor specific?

The price can also range from free to thousands of dollars. It is worth it to attend these conferences? If you have attended one and benefited from it, why was it beneficial? Is it possible to attend a lower priced conference and still learn a great deal? Or are conferences just a way for an employee or two to get out of town for a few days, stay in hotel, and eat out while making a token appearance at some of the sessions?

-- Lawrence Nuanez