As part of the start of the PNSQC 2026 Call for Papers, we’re excited to invite the community to a full day of free, in-person workshops in Portland. Held the day after the PNSQC Quality Jam, this Free Workshop Day is designed to sharpen practical skills, spark new ideas, and bring the QA community together for hands-on learning and connection.

Join us for an interactive day led by experienced practitioners and thought leaders, featuring two workshop tracks with sessions offered in both the morning and afternoon. Whether you’re strengthening your core testing skills or exploring how AI is shaping modern quality practices, there’s something here for you.

Registration on the PNSQC website is required.

You can register for the full day, or choose only the workshop options that fit your schedule. Space is limited, so we encourage you to register early and help spread the word.

Morning Workshops (8:30 AM – 12:00 PM)

AI Orchestration: Dual Stewardship with John Cvetko. Explore how humans and AI can collaboratively manage quality, risk, and decision-making in modern systems. QA Re-Bootcamp with Heather Wilcox & Bhushan Gupta. Refresh foundational testing skills and examine modern quality practices through engaging, activity-based learning.

Afternoon Workshops (1:00 PM – 4:30 PM)

Integrate MCP into your workflow with Joe Petsche. We will work with a variety of MCP servers to connect your quality apps and find ways to do your job better and faster. Come with your apps and we will connect in to your scenarios too. Writing Practical Test Plans, Fast and Easy with Wayne Roseberry. This workshop teaches a pragmatic, lightweight approach to writing effective test plans—fast.

There will be morning refreshments, and we'll take a group lunch, giving you plenty of time to connect with fellow quality professionals throughout the day.

It’s time to kick off the 2026 Call for Papers with a Quality Jam! This will be an evening of lightning talks to inspire and be inspired for new proposals on software quality — a jam session to get together as a group and hear a variety of perspectives.

The speaker lineup for this year is:

"Testing the Future: From Testing Code to Testing Intelligence" with Premi Vinayagam from Jama software "The OWASP Top 10 Isn’t a Vulnerability List—It’s a Mirror: What 2025 Tells Us About Supply Chain Security" with Caroline Wong "Test Plans Made Easy: Saying a Lot By Saying Very Little" with Wayne Rosenberry "Data-Driven API Test Case Generation Using AI and Model Context Protocol" with Joseph Petsche "Formally Secure Hardware with Rust" with Calvin Deutschbein "Lessons Learned in AI Engineering" with Mitch White "Software Quality by Example as a Senior Engineer" with Mark Kleinhaus

Make a New Year's resolution to build your career by increasing your quality know-how and skills, and make some new connections with other software quality professionals.

The first hour will provide time for networking and a chance to share some food and drink.

This event is hybrid - we'll be returning to the University Place Hotel, and we'll also stream it online, all for free!

Live technology demonstrations will be available from Wowrack, a global Hybrid Cloud IaaS Company, and Nimble Storage. This will be a unique opportunity to learn about some of the most exciting technologies in one convenient location.

Come meet the local representatives in a laid back, low-pressure environment. You'll enjoy great conversation, learn about each of their cutting-edge solutions and let's not forget, you will have plenty of opportunities to win fantastic prizes like a $50 Amazon Gift Card!

Register now for your chance to learn more about datacenter best practices and enjoy happy hour with your IT peers.

The 43rd Pacific Northwest Software Quality Conference will be held October 13-15, 2025. The conference theme is "QI: Increase your Quality Intelligence" - many aspects of quality go beyond testing. Quality is relevant to design, manufacturing, code, applications, user experience, writing/prose, and many other areas that may not be obvious. We invite everyone to submit talks on a broad range of subjects and issue this challenge along with it: "What can I do to increase the overall quality intelligence of myself, my team, and the greater community?"

PNSQC 2025 is both an in-person and online event, even offering a FREE virtual track to watch our keynotes and invited speakers. Early bird pricing for our full conference lasts until September 15th!

Register online at: https://pnsqc.org/register

Tracks Include - Quality Engineering (Process & Methods, Tools & Technologies) - Management, Leadership, People & Enterprise IT Quality - AI and Emerging Technologies

Our industry learns from working with education, healthcare, manufacturing, government sectors, and more. What can those other industries learn from us? Come and find out at PNSQC 2025.