Some of you may recall that this is my first year serving on the board of the Agile Alliance and … OH MY … have I been busy.   In my typical go-big-or-go-home style, I’ve taken on chairing our first ever virtual conference, OnAgile, alongside the almighty Declan Whelan. This year’s theme is “Navigating the Future: Emerging Technical Trends and Practices”.

I like to think of OnAgile as the world’s most convenient Agile event … and you can’t put a price on convenience, right?. In fact, there are many an impediment to avoid by attending a virtual conference and OnAgile is no different. With that in mind, I have for you “The Top 10 Impediments You Avoid at OnAgile”.

1. Experience an amazing speaker line-up without having to get up from your cushy ergonomic chair or even leave your plush 10,000 thread count bed (if you choose to stay in bed, beware laptop burn which would create a whole other impediment). It’s like having the likes of Martin Fowler, Gene Kim, and Liz Keogh over for lunch, except you get to control their volume and even mute them on occasion.
2. No need to miss your morning stand-up … unless of course you really wanted an excuse to.
3. No need to beg your boss to fly you across the country to attend a live conference.   In fact, you are doing him a favor … better yet, you are doing the company a favor. And, at the cost of a couple extra-large pizzas, you could always choose to foot the bill yourself and avoid talking to your boss altogether.
4. No pat down from the TSA because you forgot to leave your Snoopy toe nail clippers at home.
5. Clothing optional! That’s right! So you missed laundry day because you were in flow for 12 hours on your latest side project. No clothes, no problem! Go commando for all we care. However, if you will be experiencing OnAgile from your office, we strongly encourage the use of clothing.
6. No waiting in line to ask a question behind that guy that brought along his 10,000 lines of “dirty” code for Uncle Bob Martin to “clean” up.
7. So your all-too-diligent ScrumMaster has you already booked to groom the backlog on May 14^th. Don’t fret! You don’t have to experience OnAgile live to experience OnAgile. All of the speakers’ presentations and content remain available to you to access over and over again for up to 90 days.
8. With a front row seat to OnAgile, there’s no chance of getting caught next to that guy that came straight from an all-nighter at the conference party.
9. No more racing to get to a conference room to see Jez Humble before it fills up. Trying to convince the volunteer that you are fine to stand the whole time never quite works out. At OnAgile, everyone gets in to see the speakers.
10. With a super-modern virtual conference platform displayed on your monitor, you will look plenty busy when your boss stops by to give you a new assignment or your spouse asks you to take out the garbage.

If you are interested in avoiding all of these impediments and then some, be sure to register for OnAgile 2015 at http://agilealliance.org/programs/onagile-virtual-conference/. The event will be live on May 14^th and then available in a recorded format for 90 days thereafter.