Join our latest roundtable event for the Tech Leaders Collective – Data & AI Manchester, where Blanka Elek, Head of Data & AI Enablement at Reach Plc, will lead the discussion on the evolving landscape of AI Governance.

AI Governance is rapidly becoming one of the most pressing topics for data leaders. This session will explore how companies at different stages of maturity can approach governance, increase awareness, and respond to new challenges and frameworks as they emerge.

This roundtable offers a valuable space to share ideas, learn from peers, and discuss how leaders are addressing one of the sector’s most urgent and complex issues.

Event Details

• Topic: Navigating AI Governance
• Date: Wednesday 24th September
• Time: 7:30am for arrival & networking; 8:00am for discussion
• Location: Dakota Hotel, 29 Ducie St, Manchester M1 2JL
• Register: Complete our registration form to confirm your spot

Our Chair

Blanka Elek is the current Head of Data & AI Enablement at Reach Plc, the UK’s largest commercial news organisation. She brings extensive experience in establishing data governance functions that deliver robust yet pragmatic guidance, striking a careful balance between effective risk management and enabling business value.

In recent years, Blanka has focused her expertise on building AI Governance capabilities to help her organisation navigate the rapidly evolving landscape of AI regulation. Her efforts in unlocking the value of AI while maintaining compliance led to her and her team being shortlisted for the 2025 DataIQ Award in the category of ‘Best Data Governance with AI Initiative.’

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Practically AI is a new Manchester meetup for professional software engineers, engineering leaders, and software-engineering-adjacent professionals (platform, SRE/DevOps, product) who want to ship AI in production.

We’ll focus on applied, production-ready workflows: AI-assisted coding (Claude Code, Copilot), AI-driven dev environments and orchestration (MCP servers, CrewAI, LangGraph, PydanticAI), automated testing and CI/CD with AI, AI-powered ops/observability, and infrastructure automation.

Expect concrete demos, reusable code, and practical patterns you can put to work the next day.

Details

• Topic: Mastering The Subtle Art Of MCP: Fine-Grained Control Beyond API Wrappers
• Date: Thursday 18 September
• Time: 18:30 – 20:30
• Location: Matillion, Stanley St, Salford M3 5GS

Talk

Led by Umbraco’s Phil Whittaker, this kick-off session looks at the Model Context Protocol (MCP) from a practical engineering perspective. Rather than stopping at “wrap an API,” we’ll explore how to design MCP servers that actually work in production – when to simplify schemas, how to shape tools and resources so models can use them effectively, and what to watch out for with context, pagination, or host quirks. These lessons come directly from building the Umbraco MCP server, now used by hundreds of developers in the Umbraco community.

By the end, you’ll have a clear sense of the common pitfalls and a set of proven design patterns you can apply to your own MCP projects. Expect real-world examples, reusable templates, and a short checklist to help you standardise how your team approaches MCP.

Agenda

18:30 – Doors, pizza & mingling
18:50 – Introductions
19:00 – Phil Whittaker: Mastering The Subtle Art Of MCP: Fine-Grained Control Beyond API Wrappers
19:45 – Q&A
19:55 – Open social & refreshments
20:30 – Close

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What does a future-ready tech strategy really look like?

At our latest Tech Leaders Collective event, hosted by iO Meetups, we gathered senior technology leaders to explore some of the most pressing challenges in modern tech strategy, from the build vs buy debate to onshoring, offshoring, and the evolving role of AI in enterprise systems.

Featuring a powerful case study from Mike Downing, CIO at WPA Health Insurance, this summary captures:

• Why WPA chose to build critical systems in-house, and the ROI of that bold decision
• What’s behind their shift from offshore development to UK-based tech teams
• How they’re embedding AI across their operations (with real examples, not just theory)
• Why “legacy” isn’t just about systems, it’s about mindset
• Honest insights from the room: what other tech leaders are actually thinking

A practical, unfiltered look at the real decisions shaping tech strategy today, and what it truly takes to modernise with purpose.

What does a future-ready tech strategy really look like?

At our latest Tech Leaders Collective event, hosted by iO Meetups, we gathered senior technology leaders to explore some of the most pressing challenges in modern tech strategy, from the build vs buy debate to onshoring, offshoring, and the evolving role of AI in enterprise systems.

Featuring a powerful case study from Mike Downing, CIO at WPA Health Insurance, this summary captures:

• Why WPA chose to build critical systems in-house, and the ROI of that bold decision
• What’s behind their shift from offshore development to UK-based tech teams
• How they’re embedding AI across their operations (with real examples, not just theory)
• Why “legacy” isn’t just about systems, it’s about mindset
• Honest insights from the room: what other tech leaders are actually thinking

A practical, unfiltered look at the real decisions shaping tech strategy today, and what it truly takes to modernise with purpose.

Real-world lessons from tech leaders, for tech leaders.

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Tackling Team Burnout in an
Ever-changing Tech Landscape

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With rapid innovation cycles, shifting priorities, rising expectations, and the ever-present buzz of AI adoption building the pressure on already-stretched technical teams – what happens when the pace of change outstrips your team’s capacity to cope?

Join us at our latest Tech Leaders Collective – South West Meetup with Liz Cochlin, CTO at Sero Homes, for an insightful and timely talk on tackling team burnout. Drawing on her own leadership journey, Liz will explore how tech leaders can better recognise and respond to the unique pressures their teams face.

Event Details

• Date: Wednesday 17th September
• Time: Arrival from 4pm. Talk from 4:30pm
• Location: iO Associates, St. Bartholomew’s House, Lewins Mead, BS1 2NH
• Who: This 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 Sero Home’s Liz Cochlin.

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

The Talk

Tackling Team Burnout in an Ever-changing Tech Landscape (Liz Cochlin, CTO at Sero Homes)

The tech industry moves quickly, with new frameworks, constant learning, high-impact decisions, and now, the rise of AI. Teams face immense pressure to stay current and productive while navigating shrinking budgets and rising expectations.

Organisations demand rapid innovation, high-quality delivery, and scalable solutions – often with limited resources and tight timelines. This mismatch between expectations and capacity creates ongoing pressure, contributing to stress in the workplace and increasing the risk of burnout across technical roles.

In this talk, Liz Cochlin explores how tech leaders can better recognise and respond to the unique pressures their teams face. From unrealistic demands and constant context switching to the emotional toll of an always-on culture, Liz examines the key drivers of stress and burnout affecting developers, engineers, data teams, and beyond.

The session then shifts to practical leadership strategies. What does meaningful support look like from the top down? How can we create team cultures that reduce stress, support recovery, and enable people to thrive – not just survive?

Drawing on personal experience and practical insight, this talk is a call to action for tech leaders committed to building more human-centred organisations, where people and innovation grow together.

After the talk, there will be the opportunity to break into small groups to reflect, share experiences, and explore strategies within your own contexts. We will then come back together to share key takeaways and questions as a group.

Registration

Complete our registration form to secure your free spot.

Join our latest roundtable event for the Tech Leaders Collective – Manchester Data, where Hemant Patel, Founder of Anumana, will lead the discussion on how we can drive greater social mobility within the data sector.

This is an important focus for Hemant, who dedicates much of his time to the Anumana Code Academy – a not-for-profit programme to help break down barriers into technology for children with disadvantaged backgrounds.

Together, we’ll explore:

• The current barriers to entry in data and tech for underrepresented communities
• How businesses can partner with grassroots initiatives to create real impact
• Practical ways to embed social mobility into hiring, outreach, and upskilling strategies
• The role of leadership in building inclusive data teams

This session offers a valuable space to share ideas, learn from others, and help shape a more accessible data landscape.

Event Details

• Topic: Making Tech More Inclusive – Addressing Social Mobility Challenges in the Sector
• Date: Wednesday 9th July
• Time: 7:30am for arrival & networking; 8:00am for discussion
• Location: Dakota Hotel, 29 Ducie St, Manchester M1 2JL
• Register: Complete our registration form to confirm your spot

Our Chair

Hemant Patel is the founder of Anumana and has a passion for ensuring organisations use technology to maximise the value they can extract from their data.

He has a breadth of experience building and leading analytical teams and capabilities across Financial Services, Manufacturing, Legal and other industries.

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This event is your chance to learn how specific architectural choices can reduce carbon emissions by 59%. These are real results that make a positive impact!

From faster load times to a smaller digital footprint, Ash and Lee share how modern CMS and hosting solutions empower you to create high-impact experiences for users, organisations, and the planet.

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.

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The Talk

Lee and Ash walk through the modern web architecture that underpinned how their collaboration with Umbraco and Netlify reimagined Agria Pet Insurance’s digital presence, putting sustainability and performance at the heart of the solution.

Including the use of Netlify’s global edge network, and how it led to faster load times, improved scalability, and a 59% reduction in carbon emissions — the equivalent of 4,104 fewer passenger flight miles per year.

Join us for this session to:

• Unlock the Future-Proof Stack: Dive deep into modern web architecture, which empowers developers to build high-performance, truly sustainable digital experiences.
• Engineer for Impact: Learn about the technical decisions that led to a game-changing 59% reduction in digital carbon emissions for Agria Pet Insurance.
• Build Lean, Build Fast, Build Green: Discover how building for sustainability directly translates to faster load times, improved scalability, and a more resilient web presence, making your projects stand out.

Join our latest roundtable event for the Tech Leaders Collective – Manchester Software, where we’ll be diving deep into one of today’s most pressing leadership challenges: how to effectively drive culture change.

In this session, Andy Norton, Director of Engineering at Flipdish, will chair an open and collaborative discussion, exploring ideas such as:

• Setting a clear, inspiring cultural vision from the top

• Earning genuine buy-in from teams on the ground

• Avoiding common pitfalls when shifting team mindsets

• Aligning processes, behaviours, and leadership to support change

• Measuring and sustaining cultural transformation over time

Complete the registration form at the bottom of this page to secure your spot.

Event Details

• Topic: How to Drive Culture Change – how do you balance top down vision with bottom up buy in
• Date: Wednesday 16th July
• Time: 7:30am for arrival & networking; 8:00am for discussion
• Location: Dakota Hotel, 29 Ducie St, Manchester M1 2JL
• Register: Complete our registration form to confirm your spot

Our Chair

Andy Norton is an engineering leader with experience across billion-dollar unicorns, a Y Combinator-backed startup, one of the UK’s most recognisable high street brands, and is a member of the Team Topologies organisation.

He believes the real unit of delivery is the team, and focuses on growing people, building strong engineering communities, and applying pragmatic product thinking grounded in lean, agile, and DevOps practices.

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Complete our registration form to secure your space.

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Connect with fellow South West tech leaders on Wednesday 25th June from 16:00 at the Tech Leaders Collective – South West, organised by iO Associates.

Event Details

• Date: Wednesday 25th June
• 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 WPA Health Insurance’s Mike Downing.

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

The Talk

Innovation at WPA Health Insurance – Build vs Buy and AI (Mike Downing, CIO at WPA Health Insurance)

In Part 1, Mike will explore WPA’s strategic approach to software development, including the rationale behind their Build vs Buy decisions, the evolution of their tech stack, and the major innovations that have powered the company’s growth. He’ll offer a candid look at the successes and challenges encountered along the way.

Part 2 will focus on the future, as Mike delves into WPA’s recent work with AI, from AI Agents and Copilots to practical use cases for Agentic AI and the emergence of vertical AI agents.

Join us for Data Bristol’s May Meetup, where we’ll be exploring DataOps and Streamlining Data Flows.

Event Details

• Date: Wednesday 21 May
• 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

DataOps: 10 years later by Steph Locke

I started talking about DataOps and where the future of our industry needed to go an astonishing 10 years ago. Today, I want to reflect on some key questions: how has our industry moved on, what’s key today, and where does the future lie?

Streamlining Data Flows: Integrating Power Automate with Microsoft Fabric by Laura-Jayne Adamson

Learn how to leverage Power Automate to seamlessly read emails and push data directly into Microsoft Fabric. This demonstration will highlight the simplicity of setting up workflows, extracting actionable insights from email content, and automating the integration with Microsoft Fabric for powerful data storage and analytics.