Over the years, the tech industry has seen significant shifts, from the rise of remote and hybrid work models to the increasing emphasis on work-life balance. Successful managers have had to adapt to these changes, navigating the challenges and opportunities brought about by new technologies and evolving employee expectations.

At this Tech Leaders Roundtable, we’ll discuss how we’ve navigated these changes over the years, adapting to the evolving wants, needs, and success factors of our teams. We’ll then explore the strategies to ensure teams are positioned to thrive in an ever-changing environment.

Event Details

• Topic: Working Culture in Technology Teams – The Evolution of Hybrid and Remote Working and How we Structure our Working Environment
• Date: Wednesday 30 April
• Time: 7:30am arrival; 8:00am discussion
• Location: Hotel du Vin, 11 Bristo Pl, Edinburgh EH1 1EZ
• Register: Complete our registration form to secure your spot

Our Chair

Having worked in a variety of Tech related roles for over 25 years, Sarah Thomson leads the Tech department at People’s Postcode Lottery. As Head of Tech UK, Sarah’s role is to provide leadership to the team and to oversee the development, delivery, maintenance and support of the technology that enables the local Business, as well as working together with peers in the other markets, to deliver the Postcode Lottery Group Tech strategy. The Postcode Lottery Group is a non-profit organization that operates charity lotteries worldwide to raise funds for good causes and social initiatives.

Sarah lives in Edinburgh and outside of work enjoys spending time with family and friends, staying active, reading and travel.

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Navigating Post-Military Careers: A Journey of Growth and Support in the Gen Dit Network

In this episode of the Defence series, host Harry is joined by guest Chris Shaw, an inspiring former Royal Marine who shares his journey of transitioning from the military to a civilian career.

Chris discusses his experiences in project management, sales, and business development, emphasising the importance of understanding your strengths and finding the right industry fit.

The conversation also highlights the incredible work Chris is doing with the Gen Dit Network, a support group he co-founded to connect the military community with valuable resources and opportunities. Chris shares insights on the upcoming Gen Dit event in Bristol, emphasising its value for networking and personal development.

If you’re interested in entrepreneurship, career development, or supporting veterans, this episode is packed with valuable advice and stories. Don’t miss out on Chris’s top tips for military service leavers as they navigate their future careers!

In today’s rapidly evolving technological landscape, businesses face mounting pressure to integrate advanced digital methodologies. The adoption of frameworks like React, Angular, and Node.js is reshaping operations, driving efficiency, and enabling innovative solutions. However, the journey towards modernisation is fraught with challenges, including the seamless integration of emerging technologies, managing technical debt, and balancing innovation with sustainability.

In this Roundtable Discussion, chaired by Matthew White, we’ll confront these challenges, sharing knowledge and experiences that will help to overcome them and enable the effective implementation of modern engineering practices at enterprise scale.

Sign up now to secure your free spot at this exclusive event.

Event Details

• Topic: Challenges and Strategies for Implementing Modern Engineering Practices at Enterprise Scale
• Date: Wednesday 2nd April
• Time: 7:30am for arrival & networking; 8:00am for discussion
• Location: TBC, Central Manchester
• Register: Complete our registration form to confirm your spot

Our Chair

With over 25 years of engineering and delivery experience, spanning both private and public sector, and a wide variety of environments from laboratories through to insurance and digital marketing, Matthew White has a wide portfolio of skills and experiences to bring software projects from concept to reality.

With a strong background in lean and agile engineering, he has managed everything from small product inceptions through to large engineering departments comprising multiple cross functional teams; helping to shape digital transformation and ways of working, to optimise delivery at scale.

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Secure your free spot by completing our registration form.

Join us for Data Bristol’s March Meetup, where we’ll be exploring Data Culture and Discovery Graphs.

Event Details

• Date: Wednesday 19 March
• Time: 18:00 – 21:00
• Location: iO Associates, St. Bartholomew’s House, Lewins Mead, Bristol, BS1 2NH
• Registration: Sign up via Meetup.com to secure your free spot

The Talks

Discovery Graphs by Alex Cole

Data discovery projects often reveal a chaotic and intricate data landscape—how can we untangle this mess and communicate it effectively? In this talk, I’ll introduce graph databases and share how I’ve leveraged them to create interactive, structured visualizations of the data landscape. I’ll demonstrate how these tools can highlight data lineage, manage complexity, and provide meaningful insights to stakeholders.

Data Culture Renaissance by Cayleigh O’Dwyer

Sharing the key components required to bridge the gap between people and the ever changing world of Data & AI.

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Connect with fellow South West tech leaders on Wednesday 23rd April from 16:00 at the Tech Leadership Collective of the South West, organised by iO Associates.

Event Details

• Date: Wednesday 23rd April
• Time: Arrival from 4pm. Talks from 4:30pm
• Location: iO Associates, St. Bartholomew’s House, Lewins Mead, BS1 2NH
• Who: This iO Meetup will suit tech leaders including: CTOs, CIOs, CEOs, Founders, Directors, Heads of and Managers
• Register: Complete our registration form to secure your spot.

An opportunity to network with fellow tech leaders in the South West area before a thought-provoking talk from AND Digital’s Stuart Munton.

The event will be held under Chatham House Rule, creating a trusted environment that encourages open discussion.

The Talk

The Convergence – how AI is changing Agile Roles, Teams, and Practices (Stuart Munton, Chief for Group Operations & Technology at AND Digital)

“The Convergence” is a future-facing interactive discussion about the profound impact of AI on Agile Product Delivery. Ushering in an era where AI Transformations become the focal point, surpassing the current realms of Agile and Digital Transformation strategic approaches. The session explores the evolution of key team roles, showcasing how currently compartmentalised roles are converging into new hybrid forms.

We will focus on specific roles, including Engineers, Product Managers, UX Designers, and Delivery Managers, providing practical examples and case studies to illustrate these AI driven changes. We will discuss how “The Convergence” of roles is changing our approach to shaping team capabilities, how it will increase in speed with which teams will need to form / reform, and how this will significantly alter the daily activity of people in these fluid AI augmented micro teams.

During the session we will touch on the wide range of AI approaches that are currently available and how you might make sense of the appropriate options in this rapidly evolving landscape. This is not a ‘one-size fits all approach’, however indecision is increasing the risk of non-AI augmented teams and organisation being left behind.

Our Speaker

Community and Curiosity are Stuart’s core values which have led him through his 20+ year digital career. Starting with pivotal Agile and Digital transformations for major players like ASDA / Walmart and the NHS, he became an agile advocate back in 2004.

Stuart joined AND Digital as a 10 person start-up in 2014 and led the set-up and evolution of their way of working as they have grown to 1500+ consultants. He has honed practices for ~50 of AND’s clients across various industries – Retail, eCommerce, Insurance, Leisure, Hospitality, Media, Publishing etc. Currently, as Chief for Group Operations & Technology, Stuart leads AND’s internal technology functions consisting of AND’s Information Technology team, AND’s Business Platform Engineering team, and AND’s Security and Quality Standards team. He is also regularly involved in AND’s complex and scaled Agile engagements.

Alongside AND, Stuart co-founded the Agile Reading meet-up, creating a space for agile enthusiasts since 2020 and has been speaking at international conferences (e.g. Agile on the Beach, Global Scrum Gathering, ACE Krakow, XP2023 Amsterdam, ScanAgile etc.) from 2021 onwards. Stuart lives with his family in Reading Berkshire where he is a coach and semi-retired player at his local rugby club and is a lifelong Leicester Tigers rugby team fan.

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Exclusively open to South West-based tech leaders, we only have limited spaces available, so sign up today to secure yours.

We do our best to make our events accessible. Please let us know if you have any special requirements by emailing hello@iomeetups.com.

Join us for Data Bristol’s February Meetup, where we’ll be exploring Data and AI.

Event Details

• Date: Wednesday 26 February
• Time: 18:00 – 21:00
• Location: iO Associates, St. Bartholomew’s House, Lewins Mead, Bristol, BS1 2NH
• Registration: Sign up via Meetup.com to secure your free spot

The Talks

Unlocking the Potential of Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) with Advanced Patterns by Tori Tompkins

Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) is revolutionizing the capabilities of Generative AI by addressing critical limitations such as knowledge cut-offs, hallucinations, and lack of domain specificity. By integrating external knowledge sources with LLMs, RAG ensures outputs are more accurate, dynamic, and contextually relevant than ever before.

In this session, we’ll begin with why RAG is essential for building scalable, trustworthy AI systems and before diving into advanced patterns like Modular RAG for adaptable designs, Graph RAG for structured data handling, and Voice RAG for audio-driven retrieval. Additionally, we’ll explore Corrective RAG, Branched RAG, and RAG-Fusion to tackle complex, multi-modal challenges. Whether you’re new to RAG or looking to refine your approach, this session will equip you with the tools and strategies to harness the full power of RAG workflows.

Turning RAG into something production worthy by Chris Durow

In this session, we will explore how to seamlessly integrate Azure OpenAI, AI Search, and Cosmos DB into a single, efficient Azure Function. Azure OpenAI provides cutting-edge language models that can be utilized for a wide range of AI-driven tasks. AI Search enhances search capabilities with AI-powered indexing and querying. Cosmos DB offers a globally distributed, highly scalable database service. By wrapping these powerful Azure services into an Azure Function, we can create a robust, serverless solution that leverages the strengths of each component.

Attendees will gain insights into the architectural design and implementation strategies necessary for integrating these services. We will delve into practical examples and use cases, showcasing how to build and deploy an Azure Function that harnesses the combined power of Azure OpenAI, AI Search, and Cosmos DB. This session aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of how to create scalable, efficient, and intelligent applications using Azure’s advanced cloud services.

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Join us for South West Founders!

We are excited to be partnering with techSPARK for South West Founders – a monthly meet-up for people based in the South West who have been, are, or want to be tech start-up founders. The group aims to connect local entrepreneurs with co-founders and other like-minded people as well as tech investors to create an informal support network.

The Details

• Date: Wednesday 5 March
• Time: 18:00 – 20:00
• Location: Runway East, 1 Victoria Street Bristol BS1 6AA
• Registration: Sign up via Eventbrite to secure your free spot

The Discussion

For over two decades, Rich Lloyd has been at the forefront of software development, creating interactive content and games across various platforms, including PC, web, mobile, and mixed reality.

As a Director and Programmer at Blueflame Digital, Rich brings a wealth of experience in business, serious games and entertainment software solutions.

At this month’s South West Founders event, Rich will sit down with techSPARK’s Lucy Paine to discuss:

• The Evolution of Interactive Media: Insights into how the industry has transformed over the past 25 years and what the future holds.
• Entrepreneurial Journey: Lessons learned from establishing and growing Blueflame Digital since its inception in 1999.
• Innovations in Software Development: Exploring the latest trends in game development, virtual reality, and augmented reality.
• Collaborative Development: The importance of working closely with clients to deliver bespoke serious games and software solutions that integrate seamlessly with existing systems.

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Unlock the full potential of Google Analytics 4 (GA4) in this comprehensive, free 1-hour session designed specifically for developers. Whether you’re new to GA4 or looking to deepen your understanding, this event is perfect for you!

This is our latest event in series of training courses designed to fuel your career growth, brought to you by Fresh Egg in partnership with iO Associates.

Event Details

• Date: Wednesday 2nd April
• Time: 11:00 – 12:00
• Location: Zoom (link will be shared once you have registered)
• Who: Whether you’re a developer, team lead, or tech enthusiast, this one-hour session offers actionable insights to help you unlock GA4’s full potential.
• Register: Complete the sign-up form to secure your free spot.

The Talk

In this one-hour session, we’ll cover:

Intro to GA4

• Data collection (clientside, serverside)
• Data Structures (events and parameters)

GA4 API

• Reporting API
• Measurement Protocol
• Make an app to check on setups

GA4 – BigQuery

• Setting up BigQuery Export
• Data Structures
• Creating Reporting Tables
• Unlocking the full potential of your data with Python

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Spaces are limited, so make sure to register today to secure your spot!

Join us for South West Founders!

We are excited to be partnering with techSPARK for South West Founders – a monthly meet-up for people based in the South West who have been, are, or want to be tech start-up founders. The group aims to connect local entrepreneurs with co-founders and other like-minded people as well as tech investors to create an informal support network.

The Details

• Date: Wednesday 5 February
• Time: 18:00 – 20:00
• Location: Runway East, 1 Victoria Street Bristol BS1 6AA
• Registration: Sign up via Eventbrite to secure your free spot

The Discussion

We’re talking about brand – your personal brand as a founder, and the brand of your organisation – are they connected, how do you define what you stand for, then prove it?

Brand – is all about how you make someone feel? It’s not your logo, your product or your website.

It’s the foundation of your organisation, and yet too often skipped over as you drive to get audience traction, investment or build your team

There’s a lot to unpack, and to help lead the conversation we’ll be joined by Emma Milington is CEO and co-owner of Modular.

The Speaker

Modular is an independent design and development company, based in Bristol. Modular combines strategic thinking and innovative technology with hearts and minds design, to create engaging brands, sustainable websites, apps and animations for diverse global audiences.

At Modular, Emma is passionate about bridging the gap between humans and technology. She loudly bangs the drum for customer centred, human first brands and products that build kinetic digital relationships and brand loyalty.

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Agentic AI introduces intelligent, goal-oriented systems capable of dynamic collaboration, decision-making, and problem-solving—unlocking unparalleled efficiency and agility in highly secure, mission-critical environments.

From enhancing operational resilience to enabling real-time adaptability, Agentic AI empowers Defence and National Security organisations to navigate complex challenges with precision and speed.

In this online Meetup, Futuria and Whitespace share their experiences, challenges, and successes with the integration of Agentic AI.

The Talks

‘Agentic AI in Highly Secure, High Assurance Organisations’ (Rob Price, Futuria)

Futuria was set up 18 months ago by a group of founders with a background in Defence and National Security. We have developed an Agentic AI architecture pattern that is designed for highly secure, high assurance organisations such as those and the wider Critical National Infrastructure. We are one of the few organisations in the world with live operational examples of multi-AI Agent teams working in dynamic, goal oriented manner. This is a brief introduction to a new way of augmented, accelerated working.

‘The Power of Human-in-the-Loop AI Agents’ (Paul Jenkinson, White.Space)

Paul will talk about the power of human-in-the-loop AI Agents and how AI Agents need to be given Contextual Intelligence to really unlock their power.

The Speakers

Rob Price, Co-Founder at Futuria

Rob is co-founder of Futuria, an Agentic AI platform that enables massive acceleration of core activities at the heart of the operating model of secure and highly regulated organisations. He is also host of the Futurise podcast, talking to CEOs of AI companies.

Previously Rob has fulfilled senior roles in global organisations ranging from COO, CDO, Managing Partner and Executive Director. He is one of the founders of the Corporate Digital Responsibility movement, hosting the CDR Manifesto on his website, supporting the EU funded CDR-Europe programme, co-author of the recent IEEE CDR paper and co-author of a highly cited 2021 academic paper ‘Towards an Equitable Digital Society’.

Paul Jenkinson, CEO and Co-Founder at White.Space

Paul is the Co-founder of Whitespace, a fast-growing UK technology company at the forefront of AI innovation. Whitespace empowers large regulated organisations to harness the power of AI safely through its cutting-edge Collective AI platform. The company operates across multiple sectors, including Defence & National Security, Healthcare, Financial Services, and Government.

With a career dedicated to scaling technology companies, Paul has played a pivotal role as an executive, adviser, investor, and founder. Over the years, he has advised more than 200 tech companies on growth strategies, including spin-outs, M&A, and IPOs. As CEO or CFO, they have led two publicly listed tech companies and seven VC-backed start-ups.