Google Test Automation Conference - Why NYC?

The first question I got about the conference was asking why we decided to host it in New York this year. If you remember last years event, it was called the London Test Automation Conference, and was hosted in... London. One reason the last conference was in London was because I am in London. It was the easiest way to make the conference happen and allow me to keep an eye on how it was going. When I started work on the conference, I really didn't know what I was doing. I also didn't know about any of the resources that were available inside the company to pull the thing off. It was only after we announced it that people started pitching in to help. Another reason for the last conference to be in London was because I had just moved to Europe to build Google's testing teams in Europe. At the time I started talking about a conference I had exactly one employee in Europe, and I needed a way to get the word out about testing in Europe. I thought a conference was a good way to do that. This year the situation is much different. First I have the support of a great team to put this conference together from the start. Also, many of the people who ended up helping out with the conference last year are back again this year to make it a success. Consequently I don't feel like I need to physically be in the same sight to ensure that it all works. More importantly I have some very strong ideals that I want to maintain in the Google Test Automation Conference. One of which is that the conference attendees should be at least 60% new attendees from year to year. If you have ever been to a more traditional testing conference, one of the first things you will notice is that the same people seem to be at all of them. While there is value in an ongoing conversation, there is also the risk of the conference becoming an inward looking group. A clique, if you will. I don't think that is productive for a conference, and I don't want to see it happen at the GTAC. By moving the conference to a different continent every year, I can ensure that most of the people who attended last year in person, probably won't be able to attend this year. Since we will continue to record and publish the talks on Google Video, everyone who wants the information will have access to it. Also we support an email list for people to use to discuss the topics and ideas that crop up at the conference. I want to get fresh ideas and new perspectives aired at this event, and I want to pull people in who wouldn't normally travel to a testing conference. We can do that by moving the conference around the world. So, this year we are going to be in the United States in New York City. We'll be able to pull in people from all over North America. We're also still just a six hour plane ride from London, so it's not impossible to attend from there.