private void performSteps(String conflation) throws Exception {
    createClientCacheFeeder(NetworkUtils.getServerHostName(Host.getHost(0)), PORT);
    vm1.invoke(() -> ClientConflationDistributedTest.createClientCache(
        NetworkUtils.getServerHostName(vm1.getHost()), PORT, conflation));
    vm1.invoke(ClientConflationDistributedTest::setClientServerObserverForBeforeInterestRecovery);
    vm1.invoke(ClientConflationDistributedTest::setAllCountersZero);
    vm1.invoke(ClientConflationDistributedTest::assertAllCountersZero);
    vm1.invoke(ClientConflationDistributedTest::registerInterest);
    putEntries();
    vm0.invoke(ConflationDistributedTestHelper::unsetIsSlowStart);
    Thread.sleep(20000);
    vm0.invoke(ClientConflationDistributedTest::assertAllQueuesEmpty);

    vm1.invoke(() -> ClientConflationDistributedTest.assertCounterSizes(conflation));
    vm1.invoke(ClientConflationDistributedTest::assertValue);
  }
set the boolean for starting the dispatcher thread a bit later.
geode-core/src/distributedTest/java/org/apache/geode/internal/cache/tier/sockets/ClientConflationDistributedTest.java