News Release
Global tech conference Agile on the Beach sold out for 4th year
Hundreds from the global agile tech community will be landing in Cornwall this July as the annual Agile on the Beach conference held in Falmouth sells out for its fourth consecutive year.
Organisers of the seventh Agile on the Beach have confirmed keynote speakers Diana Larsen from Oregon speaking on agile teams and James Grenning from Chicago on agile software delivery.
James Lewis, principal consultant at Thoughtworks, internationally renowned creative technology company will also be delivering the closing keynote at the conference. As an exclusive extra session, Dan North, originator of Behaviour Driven Development will be joining James Lewis to present an exclusive double act.
Keynote speakers will join 45 speakers selected from over 350 submissions received to present at the award-winning conference this year. Representing local to global, and micro to enterprise level organisations they will share their knowledge and experience with 360 delegates at the two-day event, taking place July 5-7 in Falmouth.
Agile on the Beach committee member Belinda Waldock said: “It’s absolutely fantastic to have sold out again this year so early. With additional demand, we will now expand to a capacity of 400 with additional studio space and rooms on campus. Over 75% of our speakers, and over half of our delegates join us from out of county so having accommodation available on campus again this year is ideal.”
Agile on the Beach will be welcoming experts from all over the world including Russia, Israel, USA, Germany, Netherlands and Romania, as well as many from UK cities including Cardiff, Manchester, Bristol, Leeds & London.
Belinda adds “Agile on the Beach is not just about software development, we look at ways businesses are using agile approaches to develop their teams, products and businesses too. We’re delighted to welcome speakers from banking, media and legal sectors this year to share their experiences.”
Agile is a project management methodology that grew from a community of software developers looking to work more efficiently, effectively and profitably through team working and collaborating with customers. It has since been adopted by many different organisations and sectors.
One of this year’s keynotes, James Grenning, was one of the 17 independent software practitioners who created the Agile Manifesto in 2001, a guiding set of values and principles still used across the agile community today.
This year’s programme will focus on four agile themes: Software Delivery, Agile Teams & Practices, Product Design & Management and Business Agility across 5 tracks.
Agile on the Beach was named as “Agile Event of the Year” at the Global Agile Awards 2016 for its quality of programme and popularity amongst speakers and delegates. The conference was cited as the clear winner of many dedicated Agile events happening around the world, with the judges commenting that Agile on the beach provided “an event which has real vigor and represents the true and less commercial spirit of Agile.”
Toby Parkins, Agile on the Beach committee member and director of Cornwall based sponsors Headforwards, said: “We’re hugely proud that over the past seven years we’ve built a globally recognised and sustainable annual conference in Agile on the Beach. People look forward to it all year round, we have a superb programme with excellent keynotes, who promise to be entertaining as well as inspiring.”
The conference attracts attendees from all over, from local tech companies Bluefruit, Crowdfunder and H Tempest, to international teams and the public sector including the BBC, Money Advice Service and the Land Registry. International businesses include Agile Business Consortium who will host this year’s business track and further global sponsors include Jet Brains, Equal Experts, Nagra Media and Deeson.
Local sponsors include Launchpad, the ERDF funded games start up incubator at Falmouth University and, Cornwall College Business who have recently launched their iamdigital software development apprenticeship, both courses include agile in their syllabuses. Other local sponsors include Plymouth University, Crypto Fintech, roweit, Software Cornwall, Being Agile, Pixxcell, Agile PR, Mackerel Sky, Matt Hollands Design, LumiraDX and Headforwards.
As well as 2 full days of over 40 sessions spanning its 5 tracks, the conference hosts 3 evenings of social events starting with a welcoming preconference quiz and pasty night. On the Thursday evening the conference hosts its beach party on Gyllyngvase beach with a stretch marquee, local food and drink, a flash mob of local shanty singers raising money for the RNLI and evening entertainment. Finally, on the Friday evening the team have chartered a Classic Cornish boat from Fal River on which to host their Retrospective supper with a trip along the coast for delegates staying on after the conference.
In its seventh year Agile on the Beach is again set to showcase the fantastic tech community in Cornwall and raise visibility of this fast growing cluster to the world.
For the full programme and to book tickets, go to www.agileonthebeach.co.uk
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