The STARWEST Virtual Attendee Experience

K1

Tariq King
EPAM Systems

KEYNOTE | The Rise of Generative AI: Judgment Day

It’s been over 70 years since Alan Turing defined what many still consider to be the ultimate test for a computer system—can a machine exhibit intelligent behavior that is indistinguishable from that of a human? Originally coined the imitation game, the Turing test involves having someone evaluate text conversations between a human and a machine designed to respond like a human. The machine passes the test if the evaluator cannot reliably tell the difference between the human versus machine-generated text. Although the Turing test generally serves as a starting point for discussing AI advances, some question its validity as a test of intelligence. After all, the results do not require the machine to be correct, only for its answers to resemble those of a human. Whether credit goes to artificial "intelligence" or imitation, we now live in an age where machines are capable of generating convincingly realistic content. Generative AI does more than answer questions, it writes articles and poetry, synthesizes human faces and voices, creates music and artwork, and even develops and tests software. But what are the implications of these machine-based imitation games? Are they a glimpse into a future where AI reaches general or super intelligence? Or is it simply a matter of revisiting or redefining the Turing test? Join Tariq King as he leverages a live audience of software testing professionals to probe everything from Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs) to Generative Pre-trained Transformers (GPT). Let’s critically examine the Turing test and more because it’s judgment day—and this time, we are the judges!

K2

Aprajita Mathur
Guardant Health

KEYNOTE | Bootstrapping a Tester's Journey

Have you ever felt stuck and considered changing your career path as a tester because your opinion didn’t matter, or the popular opinion was “anyone can test !”? During this keynote, Aprajita Mathur will share her personal experience of feeling stuck in an endless "loop", regardless of role or position. During her journey, Aprajita missed opportunities and epically failed because she lacked the tools, attitude, or mindfulness to become unstuck. So, what does it take to bootstrap yourself? Aprajita will share the five concepts attendees need to keep building upon during their career to achieve growth, along with how to use them to rise to the next level.

W1

AI/ML*

What Can ChatGPT Do Your Testing Organization?

Tonya Jackson, CSAA

W5

Test Automation*

Riding the Hybrid Car—Our Continuous Test Automation Journey

Shai Srinivasan, Markel Insurance

ITP1

Industry Technical Presentation

Lowering IT Infrastructure Costs with Simulation

Christopher Colosimo, Tricentis

ITP4

Industry Technical Presentation

Padawan to Jedi: The Journey to Mobile Testing Maturity

Katie Kemper, Kobiton

ITP8

Industry Technical Presentation

Assessing Release Readiness: Leveraging 5 Essential Test Reports

Punit Samtani, QMetry

W9

API Testing*

Comprehensive API Testing Ecosystem

Sachin Avasthi & Shailaja Patel, IBM

W10

Exploratory Testing*

The Theatre of Exploratory Testing: Going Off Script

Philip Daye, Insider Intelligence

ITP9

Industry Technical Presentation

Mission to Continuous Quality: Igniting Testing Excellence with BlazeMeter & Perfecto

Mimi Benach, Perforce

ITP12

Industry Technical Presentation

Enabling Quality Breakthroughs

Kayla Hildebrandt, TTC Global

W13

AI/ML*

How AI Like ChatGPT & Bard Will Change Testing & DevOps

Chris Navrides, DevTools, Inc.

W14

Test Leadership*

Building a QA Department With a New Vendor in a New Management Role

Neeta Sonnakul, Council for Affordable & Quality Health

ITP13

Industry Technical Presentation

Have You Written Your Last Test Script?

Kevin Parker, Appvance

K3

Alison Wade
TechWell Corp.

KEYNOTE | Lightning Strikes the Keynotes

Throughout the years, Lightning Talks have been a popular part of the STAR conferences. If you’re not familiar with the concept, Lightning Talks consists of a series of five-minute talks by different speakers within one presentation period. Lightning Talks are the opportunity for speakers to deliver their single biggest bang-for-the-buck idea in a rapid-fire presentation. And now, lightning has struck the STAR keynotes. Some of the best-known experts in testing will step up to the podium and give you their best shot of lightning. Get multiple keynote presentations for the price of one—and have some fun at the same time.

K4

Kristoffer Nordström
Northern Test Consulting AB

KEYNOTE | How My Testing Skills Served My Personal Life

Kristoffer Nordström faced one of the most challenging and emotional times of his life when his daughter was diagnosed with a rare and life-threatening disease. As a caregiver, father, and primary project manager, he had to learn everything he could about her illness, treatment options, and potential outcomes. The skills he acquired as a tester helped him manage this overwhelming amount of information, make sense of it, and develop a plan of action while still being a loving and ever-present parent. He asked questions, researched, and analyzed data to make informed decisions about his daughter's care. He also worked with different personalities, including doctors, nurses, and family members, to form relationships that helped his family navigate the complex medical system—he learned to juggle many tasks and prioritize them based on urgency and importance, just as he did in his testing work. During this time, Kristopher discovered woodworking, which became a source of therapy for him, a way to escape from stress and express his creativity. Once again, his testing skills, such as attention to detail, patience, and problem-solving, translated well into woodworking. The skills and traits we acquire as testers are not limited to our professional lives. As testers, we constantly learn, improve, and adapt; these qualities are invaluable in life. In this keynote, Kristopher will teach you how your testing skills can serve you and your personal life and help you navigate challenging situations, learn new things, and discover new passions.

T2

Test Management*

The QA Unicorn

Stephanie McSwain, Kickfin

T5

Test Automation*

Coded Automation Isn't Dead—A Deep Dive on the Page Object Pattern with Some Super Cool New Twists

Timothy Heck, MRI Software

ITP17

Industry Technical Presentation

Unleash the Power of Coded Automations and Generative AI with UiPath Test Suite

Dan Ryan, UiPath

ITP20

Industry Technical Presentation

TesterGPT: Generative AI (Tester vs. GPT)

Jonathon Wright, Keysight

T7

The Cloud*

Harnessing the Power of Ephemeral Environments

John Jenkins, Disney

T10

BDD*

Simplify Agile Testing Using SPOCK

Pradnya Adwankar, Discover Financial

ITP21

Industry Technical Presentation

Unraveling the Maintenance Mayhem: The Critical Role of Maintenance in Continuous Quality Assurance

Navroz Vadsaria, Avo Automation

ITP24

Industry Technical Presentation

The Power of Combining Dynamic and Static Analysis

Jan Aarsaether & Daniel Caruso, Qt Group

ITP28

Industry Technical Presentation

Moving Faster: Leading with Culture, Innovation, and Continuous Delivery

Stacy Kirk, QualityWorks Consulting & Erika Chestnut, Realtor.com

T16

DevOps*

Pipelines and Deployments and QA! Oh My!

Kathleen Naughton, World Wide Technology

T18

Test Planning*

Inconceivable! How the Princess Bride Teaches Planning

Mark Minson, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints

ITP29

Industry Technical Presentation

Finally, Accessibility Makes Sense

Kevin Berg, Evinced

ITP32

Industry Technical Presentation

Application Testing at Scale in the Enterprise World: Top 5 Things to Consider

Michael Palotas, Element34

T19

Data Testing*

Data Quality Engineering: Enabling Success of Data Driven Solutions

Dinesh Rajput, KPMG US, Advisory Services, Lighthouse

T24

Testing in Production*

Graceful Degradation—Failing with Style

Samer Naqvi, Global Logic UK & I

ITP33

Industry Technical Presentation

MLOps: Testing and Deploying Machine Learning Models and AI Models

Jeffery Payne, Coveros

K5

Hajer Ben Moussa
Coveros

KEYNOTE | Test Automation and Boxing: A Surprising Combination

Boxing is all about strategy, technique, and agility; the same goes for test automation. You may be surprised to learn that Hajer Ben Moussa is an avid boxer. To be successful in test automation, you need to have a game plan, the right tools, and the ability to adapt to changing situations. Hajer will walk you through a step-by-step strategy to build your test automation game plan. Join her as she gets you warmed up, lays out training tactics, and teaches you the how, when, and where of the fight so that your critical tests are the knockout punch in your belt. She’ll also reveal how to playback, analyze and learn from your results for the next round! Hajer will also share some of her painful Test Automation losses, the ones that left her on the floor down and out, so that ultimately you can learn from her playbook where automation can go wrong, causing delays, errors, and even financial losses! You will walk away thinking like a test automation champion.