You've decided you want to attend CukenFest London. But how can you convince your boss to send you? Well, we’re here to help.

I don’t know your boss, but if you want to learn from experienced BDD practitioners; if you want to meet smart, like-minded people to talk about the challenges of building high-quality software; if you want to build relationships with other people who value close collaboration between business and IT, then CukenFest London is for you.

Here’s our fictitious Q&A with your boss.

What's this conference about, then?

CukenFest is a two-day low key BDD and Agile conference taking place in London on April 19th-20th. It's been running since 2011 and used to be a conference just about Cucumber. But as the community has grown up, so has the conference, and it now focuses on how software teams can build stronger ties between business and IT.

If we send you to this conference, how does that benefit our team?

CukenFest is the perfect place to learn how teams practice BDD, and meet other people who have trod the path we’re going down. The first day is packed with loads of talks which cover the costs and benefits of BDD, techniques to break down user stories, and innovative practices like mob testing. I expect by the end of it, we’ll have more confidence in what we’re doing, and we’ll have met a bunch of people we can connect with after the conference who can help us with our journey.

What big-name speakers have they got?

Dan North, Ulrika Malmgren, Nat Pryce, and Liz Keogh. But the line-up isn't exclusively big-name speakers - sessions from new speakers tend to be just as surprising, insightful and informative. CukenFest has a great track record of choosing good speakers.

Wait, that’s the first day, but the second day is just open space. What's the ROI of that?

This format allows attendees to drive the agenda of the second day. Anyone can pitch a session or just turn up. Sessions can be a discussion, a lightning talk, a workshop, or a hacking session. The benefit comes from having the right people in the room who care most about the problem they are solving. It was the most engaged part of the conference last year.

Which other types of people will be there? I wonder if there are other companies doing similar things.

The CukenFest audience reflects the modern software team, a mesh of people with different expertise and experiences. I’ll be surrounded by developers, testers, BAs, and product owners. Teams from large banks, small digital agencies and SaaS businesses will attend, all trying to find ways to build shared understanding between business and IT.

Will you be able to learn enough about BDD at this conference alone?

Just before the conference, they will run a Behaviour-Driven Development training course, BDD Kickstart. It’s a comprehensive introduction to the concepts, techniques and tools which make up BDD. It also looks like I will be taught by the creator of Cucumber and author of The Cucumber Book, Aslak Hellesøy.

Can I go then?

Sure! I’m sold!*

*While we can’t guarantee this result, we hope this information will help you convince your boss. If we can help in any other way, please email us.

Learn more about CukenFest London

Here are some concrete examples of attendees finding value in attending CukenFest:

It was the best conference I ever went to, no doubt. Great talks and an open space with inspiring participants.
CukenFest is a welcoming community event where you get to learn about different aspects of what makes a software product team perform and tick. This includes code, tests, collaboration and arguably most importantly - culture. Tim Coremans, BNP Paribas

We’ve only just started on the BDD journey and it’s easy to get a bit overwhelmed. I came back from CukenFest feeling re-energised - listening to the talks and talking to other people in the community reinforced for me that this is a mind shift for everyone involved. Angela Relle, Met Office

I’ve learned lots of useful techniques at CukenFest, even though the projects I’ve been involved in have rarely involved Cucumber. It’s about the techniques, not the technology. Nat Pryce, author of Growing Object-Oriented Software: Guided by Tests

Buy your CukenFest London ticket today.