MoTaCon spoiler edition: Groningen preview of three MoTaCon talks

# Quick summary Last week the Ministry of Testing Netherlands chapter ran a MoTaCon spoiler edition in Groningen. The evening featured three short talks, hosted by Jarsto van Santen and hosted at DUO, followed by dinner and audience discussion. Speakers tested material intended for MoTaCon, getting real-time feedback in a smaller, local setting.

# What happened The event served as a rehearsal space for MoTaCon talks while also being a standalone meetup. Attendees heard three distinct stories that previewed themes heading to MoTaCon: collaboration practices, the changing role of AI in development and testing, and dealing with fear in testing.

# The talks (short summaries)

• Fieke de Vreede: Fieke opened with a talk stressing that testers and developers achieve more when they work together than when they work against each other. She used personal experience, practical insights, and a brief English-language example to underscore collaborative practices as important for quality.

• René van Veldhuijzen: René presented a story about a self-correcting bug and explored what changes when AI becomes part of the development team. He introduced "Impy," an AI bug companion, and discussed both opportunities and challenges of working alongside AI in the development and testing workflow.

• Suzanne Kraaij: Suzanne debuted "The Fear-Factor in Software Testing." This was her first public outing of the talk and a rehearsal for MoTaCon. She reported that the foundation of the talk is solid but still needs polishing. The smaller audience and feedback were explicitly helpful because MoTaCon will likely be her largest audience to date.

# Practical takeaways for testers and presenters

• Use local meetups as rehearsal labs: Running a talk in a smaller venue produced useful feedback and reduced the uncertainty of presenting to a much larger MoTaCon main stage.

• Collaboration remains a working tool: Fieke's practical examples point back to basic, repeatable cooperation between roles rather than abstract prescriptions.

• Think through AI's role in workflows: René's story about a self-correcting bug and an AI companion suggests teams should consider how automation and AI agents interact with bugs, human oversight, and testing processes.

# Event details and context

• Host and venue: Jarsto van Santen acted as host, and DUO (Dienst Uitvoering Onderwijs) in Groningen hosted and provided dinner.

• Community tone: The meetup combined practical talks with time for discussion and feedback, reflecting a community-focused approach to professional development.

# Next steps for readers If you plan to attend MoTaCon or present there, consider testing material locally first. If you're curious about the presented topics, look for the full MoTaCon presentations on the conference program or reach out to the speakers through the Ministry of Testing community.