EuroPLoP is the European conference on software patterns. It's been held annually since 1996 in Southern Germany in a former monastery. The quiet setting contributes much to the collaborative atmosphere.

There are no talks and presentations. Rather, participants discuss each others papers and give each other feedback. The contributions are mostly pattern papers documenting observations the authors have made in their practice. Because the feedback will be incorporated in the papers after the conference, the final papers reflect many people's expertise. There are other session formats as well. And most importantly: EuroPLoP is always a lot of fun!

I was a member of the EuroPLoP programme committee from 1999 to 2003, conference chair in 2000 and programme chair in 2001. Since 2003 I've been the president of Hillside Europe e.V., the non-profit organisation that runs the conference.

Formerly named OT, SPA is a conference that takes place anually in England, earlier in Oxford, now near Cambridge. SPA stands for "Software Practice Advancement".

SPA features a variety of mostly interactive session formats, ranging from workshops and tutorials to so-called goldfish bowls. SPA focuses on all aspects of software development, including technology, people and processes.