MK Geek Night

#24 Apr 12 2018

Team MKGN to welcome these brilliant speakers to the MK Geek Night lineup for April 2018, and we're very grateful for their time. 

MKGN #24 will be held on Thursday April 12th, 2018 - doors open at 19.00 with our first speaker on stage around 20.00. The talks usually finish around 22.00 to 22.30, but do hang around for drinks and chat.

Topics, speakers & schedule

Timings are approximate

Alison Coward

Building An Effective Team Culture

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Workshops are a great way of encouraging creativity and collaboration in a focused way. But they can be so much more than a one-off event. Great workshops can also influence your team’s culture and improve how you work together for the long-term.

In this talk, Alison will explain what she means by “workshop culture”, how you can create it in your team, and of course, leave you with some practical tips for facilitating effective workshops.

About Alison

Alison Coward is the founder of Bracket, a consultancy that helps ambitious, forward-thinking teams to build high-performing, collaborative cultures. She is a strategist, workshop facilitator, coach, trainer, keynote speaker and author of “A Pocket Guide to Effective Workshops”.

She works across corporates, start-ups, agencies and public institutions and her client list includes Google, D&AD, Barclaycard, Wellcome and Channel 4. With over 15 years’ experience of working in, leading and facilitating creative teams, Alison is passionate about finding the balance between creativity, productivity and collaboration so that teams can thrive and do their best work together.

Alison Coward
Strategist, trainer and workshop facilitator

David Bailey

Play

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Play is one of the objectives for BBC UX&D this year. David will share how the BBC’s design department benefits from incorporating play into their work, and what you could learn too.

About David

In the late nineties, whilst managing a skateboard shop and promoting club nights, David stumbled into a career in graphic design. He cut his teeth with world renowned agency The Designers Republic and what followed was 16 years, both with TDR, and later his own studio, Kiosk, producing cutting-edge art direction and design for the music, arts, games, fashion and broadcasting industries. 

In 2012, D&AD included David in its list of ’50 British Creative Greats’ which included the likes of Rankin, Storm Thorgerson and Paul Smith. 

In 2013 he joined the BBC as Creative Director of the organisation’s Global Experience Language, (GEL). His team facilitate and publish the ongoing development of their shared design framework which underpins the design of the BBC’s entire online output.

David Bailey

Eva Martina

Girls Code MK - A Year On

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"Because, Diversity!" and suddenly the room goes quiet. But seriously, why should we care about getting more women into the web & software development industries?

Girls Code MK is a Milton Keynes meetup that supports women in learning how to program. We meet every other Tuesday at the National Museum of Computing. Join us.

About Eva

Previously an e-commerce manager for an international startup, Eva is now a web developer in the making. She is originally from Slovenia, with a Master's degree, a dog, and two cats. She enjoys studying, teaching and organizing co-working and co-learning events. She likes indoor climbing and beating her cat at table tennis. Currently living in Milton Keynes with her partner and loving it!

Eva Martina

Barry Wiech

If You Can't Measure It, You Can't Improve It

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Barry will share Domino’s experience with real-time monitoring, what to measure and what you can change for it to become effective.

About Barry

Barry is the CIO of Domino’s Pizza PLC – MK Geek night’s favourite pizza!

Barry joined Domino’s Pizza PLC ten months ago, moving here from Australia. He was previously Chief Information Officer Parmalat Australia and at Domino’s Pizza Enterprise Limited (Australian Master Franchise). He is still waiting for summer to arrive.

Barry’s background has included managing multimillion-dollar budgets in the Finance, FMCG and manufacturing spaces, driving e-commerce, mobility, digital innovation and online customer experiences, and is considered an expert in providing a practical business viewpoint on the cost, quality and time implications of implementing technology solutions.  Barry is a proactive contributor in leveraging technology to generate a positive and engaging culture for organisations in addition to driving profit and shareholder value higher.

Barry Wiech

Matthew Kay

Website Engagement: The Metrics You Should Be Tracking

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Too many organisations aren't tracking important metrics which can help decide whether your website is a success or not. This talk will dive beyond the basics - showing that in a few simple steps you're set up to measure user engagement - not just page views.

About Matthew

Matthew is currently Head of Operations at Aira – a UK based digital marketing agency specialising in SEO, PPC and content-driven digital PR campaigns. With over 10 years of industry experience, he has directed strategic digital projects for the likes of PwC, Nestlé, AXA, Volkswagen Financial Services & Costa Coffee.

Matthew Kay
Upcoming events
  • #48 June 6 2024