Most of the posts on the conference programme were held by Equinor’s own people, who wanted to share their skills with others. The organizing team tries to stay up to date on who’s working on what and then ask them directly.

“It’s becoming easier and easier to get people to host a workshop for each passing year,” he says.

One very popular workshop this year came to be by pure coincidence when Thorvald visited the Stavanger office.

“I was standing by the coffee maker and discussing 3D-printing with some colleagues. Then, Carsten walked by and someone told me he’d been doing a bit of it. So I simply asked him if he would hold a workshop, and he agreed to do it right then and there,” he says.

Who’s Carsten you ask? None other than Equinor’s Vice President IT – but he wasn’t asked because of his title or standing, it was simply coincidence.

“We didn’t have that more “physical workshop” that day and really needed it. That was the reason I asked him. But the fact that our own VP agrees to do it tells me that he thinks the conference is important. I’m really happy that he agreed to do it,” Thorvald says.

After all, everyone in Software Innovation have the opportunity to spend up to 20% of their time on gaining new competence. You can do it either through learning from others or sharing your own knowledge with your colleagues.

During the Developer Survey presentation at EDC Carsten was clear on his expectations around actually using this time to expand your skills.  

It’s not cheap to host 165 people over a three-day conference but Pål believes that it’s worth it, and not just in the long run. One of EDC’s biggest advantages are the discussions and talks that happen outside of the conference rooms.

“When the “smalltalk” happens is when you might learn about what your colleagues are struggling with or what they’ve accomplished. They might be problems your team is facing or a problem that your team has solved, and in turn you can help each other,” Pål says.