Software Cornwall Makes a Splash at Agile on the Beach
Last week (31st Aug – 2nd Sept) the Software Cornwall team along with many members attended Agile on the Beach 2016, the counties world leading agile conference held each year.
The event consisted of 3 days of socials and a 2 day conference with over over 350 attendees which allowed our members to make many new connections as well as extending the networks visibility. Software Cornwall created a great presence at the conference this year showcasing the community and its activities from the last year.
Delegates were welcomed in the main theatre each day by a video created by local Digital Advertising students in collaboration with Software Cornwall to disrupt the image of Cornwall and showcase the diverse array of tech businesses operating in the county.
The Software Cornwall stand manned by the committee and members throughout the event promoted members and their services as well as the new Mission to Mars robot that Agile on the Beach pledged during the recent crowdfunding campaign. Delegates were invited to suggest names with Ada, Cornwall-e included, and keynote Rebecca Parsons suggesting Grace after Grace Hopper.
“Rear Admiral Dr. Grace Murray Hopper was a remarkable woman who grandly rose to the challenges of programming the first computers. During her lifetime as a leader in the field of software development concepts, she contributed to the transition from primitive programming techniques to the use of sophisticated compilers. She believed that “we’ve always done it that way” was not necessarily a good reason to continue to do so.” source : http://www.cs.yale.edu/homes/tap/Files/hopper-story.html
The robot will be used in tech jams and the next Mission to Mars event held. the team are currently fund raising and co-ordinating volunteers for a prospective mission this October half term.
A number of members spoke at this years conference including Byran Wills-Heath and Paul Massey from Bluefruit. Toby Parkins and Lyssa Fee Crump of Headforwards and Software Cornwall ran Design a Degree 2.0 to help develop the educational curriculum further for a second year. UX expert Dan Goodwin from fffunction ran a workshop on testing user experiences, and Dave Longman of Headforwards gave a talk on agile teams. Mike Trebilcock of iamdigital, a collaboration between Cornwall College and Software Cornwall spoke on disrupting and growing skills in the tech sector. Being Agile, Packet Ship, Flowmo.co, SCSL Health, Pixxcell, Crowdfunder, student Tony Edwards, Mackerel Sky and Mube alongside other members gave their support at the event, with many others from the wider tech community attending including Bodmin College, Crypto Fintech, Research Instruments, MPAD and AgilePR. Thanks go to all for their support.
Software Cornwall stickers were distributed to delegates along with cupcakes from Invest in Cornwall, and gifts of locally brewed “Beer Driven Development” ale from Headforwards created especially for the conference. The conference showed off its location at socials with pasties at The Poly Gallery, a beach party with shanty singers at Gyllyngvase beach, and a trip to the Helford from Falmouth Bay in a chartered boat.
A number of new members joined at the conference, and many offered their help in future community activities too. Belinda Walock, Managing Director of Software Cornwall gave a lightning talk on Software Cornwall during the conference sharing the ambition to make Cornwall a tech hub, “where every day is Agile on the Beach in Cornwall”.
Paul Clark of Packetship and co-founder of Software Cornwall commented “It’s great to have the chance to share what the community have been working on from our learn to code Missions inspiring a new generation of engineers in Cornwall, to the serious business community that’s operating and growing rapidly in the county. Agile on the Beach is a great showcase for our community as well as a great place for local industry to connect, collaborate and learn.”
More photos can be found on our facebook page www.facebook.com/softwarecornwall
www.agileonthebeach.com – advance tickets are now available for Agile on the Beach being held on 6&7 July 2017.
If you wish to support Software Cornwall please contact [email protected] to connect