The clock is ticking down to BALIFE2021!

So here we are 43 days, 21 hours, 59 minutes and so many seconds away from launching our first-ever “Business Analysis Learning and Innovation Festival Edinburgh” …aka BALIFE.

By the time you read this blog, who knows, maybe it’ll be 40 days or even 35 days and so many hours and minutes! It’s as if time has started to accelerate!

As I write this a group of volunteers, with full-time jobs of our own, are currently up to our necks in extra work. To get this, our very first BA learning festival in a day, off the ground.

And we couldn’t be happier, because today all our hard work starts to come to life as we complete our training on our virtual platform and start to upload the wealth of information we’ve already gathered. Suddenly, BALIFE has transformed from a pipedream to something very, very real.

We’ve been talking about this for a few years now, after attending other conferences, combined with many years of building a great community of BAs in Scotland and the North through IIBA and other meetups. And in that time, a few like-minded BAs realised there was a gap to be filled.

Let’s face it… we all prefer to stay more local and even the best of us needs encouragement to travel to these bigger conferences!

What’s more, we felt we could work alongside such conferences by running a smaller single-day event, showcasing the learning opportunities gained from coming together as BAs for a learning and innovation event.

Coincidently, IIBA had also been considering the merits of such an event and were keen to get involved… and so a partnership was formed.

First, we had to come up with a great name and of course, being BAs, we went about this methodically, drafting a mission and then extracting the name.

The first part of the name was pretty easy: “Business Analysis”!

Then, it was all about the two key themes, “Learning and Innovation”.

But how to turn this into a nice acronym? (which as we know is key to the success of any product!)

After a bit of head-scratching and a few rounds in the pub, we had it: Our event was going to be held in Edinburgh, the ‘home of the festival’ (with the largest arts festival in the world every year) and so it became “Business Analysis Learning and Innovation Festival Edinburgh” – BALIFE! Perfect!

With the name and logo set, we worked through 2019, confirmed a date for early June 2020, booked a great venue and arranged an array of amazing speakers. Busy as we were, our excitement levels were high, and we were all systems go… then… well, we all know what happened next.

After a few months of lockdown, it was clear the conference would be a no go for face to face, and so we decided to cancel and regroup for the following year, hoping by then face to face would be possible.

2020 passed and following a well-earned rest, we picked up the challenge again, but this time we made the decision to go with a fully virtual event.

And so here we are today!

We are now in the final stretch, still with a long list of things to do, selling tickets and facing the very exciting prospect of being about to (finally) showcase BALIFE!

So, what’s in it for you, the BA?

Well, as a BA I’m sure you’ve heard others say or even thought it yourself:

“I don’t join formal meetups because so many people don’t understand what BAs do as a job”

– or –

“Where are the Business Analysts at these things?”

Those days are over, because BALIFE is designed by BAs for BAs and like I said earlier, it’s all about learning and innovation… in Business Analysis.

The 15 presentations and 2 brilliant keynote talks have been brought together based on the experiences of working BAs, who are facing the same issues and challenges that many practicing BAs face today.

In essence, the subjects have been picked with you, the BA, in mind, showcasing old and new techniques that are important and relevant to our community, including reflecting on you as an individual and the importance of self-resilience.

During the BALIFE ‘festival in a day’, you will have access to 15 amazing and varied presentations over 3 different parallel tracks entitled:

Thinking about Design
The Human Touch
Driven by Process

On top of this, we have two brilliant keynote speakers in Tom Meade and Michael Christon, both with a unique message. Tom is a former CIO and true IT leader, whilst Michael is an unconventional business trainer and a master of language. Michael’s keynote promises something quirky that’s not to be missed!

You will have the opportunity to meet and chat with speakers, other delegates, sponsors, and committee members in an active learning environment. Attending could also earn you IIBA Credits toward your next certification.

And that’s not all. If you fancy it, you can even join us for a (virtual) Gin tasting afterwards!

As a committee of BAs, we’ve learnt a lot as we’ve set about bringing BALIFE to you, not least about collaboration and connectedness. We know you’ll learn so much more when you join us at BALIFE, your BA festival in a day.