In this session we will look at Exploratory Testing and work through some ideas which could prove useful to you.

We will look at what it means and how to explain it. We will look at different ways of keeping your notes, augmenting your testing with various tools and getting the most out of your time spent. We will do this through discussion and practical exercises, essentially, we will be Exploratory Testing, perhaps not as you know it.

More and more Security Testing is becoming part of the tester’s role and so we need to equip ourselves with the knowledge and tools to take on this challenge. A good tool for beginners and experienced security testers is the OWASP ZAP tool (voted best security tool 2013 by toolswatch.org) so in this session we will be using the OWASP ZAP tool to conduct a security test against a deliberately vulnerable web application through a series of guided exercises that will take you from knowing little or nothing about ZAP or security testing and give you a grounding in using ZAP for Security Testing that is beyond the majority of other ZAP users.

In this session we will cover:

• Passive and Active Scanning
• Fuzzing (yes it’s a real thing)
• Using Contexts and Forced User modes
• Running manual tests using ZAP
• Scripting ZAP with Zest
• Integrating ZAP into existing automation

By the end of the session you will be able to take what you have learnt and apply it directly to your own projects and most likely get a reputation for being a scary tester.

This will be a hands-on session so you will need a laptop (min 2 GB RAM) and privileges to install software and about 20 GB of free disk-space. To maximise the time available in the session, you should consider installing the following software before the workshop:

• VirtualBox
• OWASP ZAP

Interested in effective techniques for testing JavaScript web apps? Then come along to Carlos Ble's workshop!

You will learn:

• How to use Firebug and Chrome development tools for debugging
• Basic overview of the JavaScript language
• Basic overview of jQuery
• Online tools: prettifiers and json formatters
• Automated testing with Cucumber.js, Casper.js and Selenium

Want to take part in a hands-on workshop and get an overview of mobile testing? Stephen Janaway will explain some of the common mistakes that are made when starting to test mobile, and will give you the opportunity to put into practice what you learn straight away.

We are increasingly moving towards mobile devices to fulfil our day-to-day computing needs. More smartphones are sold than PCs but many people are unclear on what changes to test strategies are needed when working with mobile.

We'll spend a majority of the session testing a mobile application across a variety of platforms, and reporting the results in real time to the rest of the group. All you need to bring along is an open mind and as many mobile devices as you can get your hands-on.

How often have you found yourself stuck for ideas or thinking "why am I running tests", whilst testing? Have you found yourself repeating the same type of test ideas again and again? Do you find it difficult to explain your reasoning to others or to be able challenge what someone is saying? If this is the case then this workshop is for you.

This workshop will provide you with a set of tools that you can take back and implement straight away in your testing profession as well as learning skills for your everyday life, by using interactive creativity, critical thinking games, and easy to remember techniques.

The focus is on freeing up your mind to allow creative ideas to flow and then re-evaluating those ideas using critical thinking approaches. These are the concepts that you will take back with you to use in your daily working environment.

If that is not enough to convince you, then how does the idea of getting some freebies to take away with you help?

You can read about these concepts in more detail on John's blog.

Want to find out how to use the Selenium Webdrive API? Then come along to Richard's workshop!

The Selenium WebDriver API is a very powerful tool when it comes to browser automation. Its most common use is for check/test automation, but it has a lot more to offer a tester then this.

He will cover the basics:

• Opening different browsers
• Selecting locators
• Interacting with the web page

He will then explore what you can do with this knowledge and create some tools that can be used throughout your testing approaches.

Attendees will be encouraged to code along, but it isn’t required.

If you do want to code along you will need:

• Windows (VM ok).
• Visual Studio, Express version is free: http://www.visualstudio.com/products/visual-studio-express-vs
• Firefox / Chrome installed.

Come along to this highly interactive workshop that will explore the: 'Convincer Strategy'.

As testers, it's your job to convince somebody that there is a bug in a program (or not?) and most of the time it's unequivocal by using a variety of tools that produce consistent and undeniable evidence to support a claim that a bug either does or does not exist within a set of code.

But sometimes it's not so clear cut. What then?

How do you convince others of something?

Together we will discover what it takes YOU to be convinced of something and then explore how other people also become convinced.

The Convincer Strategy combines a range of unconscious inter-personal skills combining Communication & Influence that are applicable in every context whilst dealing with other people:

• Team meetings.
• Managing your boss/team leader.
• Collaborating more effectively with colleagues. I - mproving interpersonal relationships: Partner/Significant other.
• Parenting.
• Networking etc.

At the end of the session you will be more informed about WHAT other people need in order to become convinced of something and more importantly, HOW you can quickly and easily recognise it so that you can present the information in ways that they are are more willing to accept.

If you are looking to take a short excursion away from the regular conference subject matter and wish to dip your toe into the world of interpersonal experience, then do come along to this short workshop that will update your firmware about how the world is and may provide you with new insights as to what's really possible...

This is a practical hands on session which will cover:

• Getting your tests running in multiple threads.
• Supporting multiple driver selection.
• Supporting automatic download of the driver binaries.
• Supporting remote WebDriver connections.
• Looking at explicit waits and how they can improve reliability.

Language is Java, pre-reqs are:

• JDK 7 installed (probably get away with 6)
• Maven installed
• IntelliJ