protip: How to have a very good panel debate at your conference

I was part of this panel about “making the programming pain stop” along with Kevlin Henney and others. It was such fun!

One of the things that helped it succeed was the fact that Johannes (the panel moderator) asked the panelists to meet together an hour before the panel started and to start discussing interesting questions together.

Banter started as we got to know each other and when we finally got on stage it was just… fun. People were less shy to speak and tackle each other and overall feeling of “flow” had started.