On Thursday 21st October, a few of us attended the first ever Manchester Tech Festival. We had been looking forward to the event for a while, it was the chance to learn new things from other people in our community, make new connections and potential clients; and make ourselves more known amongst the techies of Manchester. We met in the morning at Piccadilly station, which was a refreshing change from our usual commute to Stockport, and then made our way over to the beautiful Victoria Baths.
When we entered the venue, we were greeted with smiles, lanyards, and lots of freebies! We made our way over to the expo room, got our morning coffees and had a quick nosy around the stalls. It was very busy, and slightly overwhelming at first, but we eventually found our feet.
Next, we headed to the Main Stage for our first talk of the day. Shaf Choudry took centre stage to discuss his research on 'Halalgorithms: Hollywood, Tech Ethics and Biased AI'.
The talk covered why representation on screen is a tech ethics issue and how Shaf's 'Riz Test' delivered insights that outline a supply chain of data from the TV industry which influences the future of tech.
This topic enlightened us on the racism and discrimination throughout TV which can be caused by AI and how this technology needs to be changed and adapted.
After this, we remained in the Main Stage and listened to Kieran Hewitson discuss his research on 'Leadership Lessons from Unlikely Places - Eminem: Common Hooligan, or Exemplary Leader?'. This talk enabled an outlook that we have never had before by examining the way that Eminem gained followers all over the world, just by being himself.
Next, we moved to the Technical Stage, where we listened to Ryan Cormack discuss 'TypeScript Beyond the Stack'. This talk was more technical, and code based which we enjoyed a lot. It allowed us to see how other people work and the ways in which work best for them. The talk discussed how we need a way to get our code from our computers to our client's server. Ryan discussed the basic concepts behind AWS Cloud Developer Kit (CDK) and how it allows us to get a full stack TypeScript application up quickly and easily and running in a language we are familiar with.
Still at the Technical Stage, we then listened to Kurtis Hardy and Michael Monk's talk titled 'Growing Pains: Modernising a Monolith'. The pair discussed overcoming large company updates and how to create a brand-new front end using React and Tailwind, with a shiny API in .NET. This talk was memorable as before the speakers began, they cracked open a beer together and then went on to discuss their topic.
Straight after lunch, we decided to head over to the Start-up and Scale-up stage where Ross Mackenzie was discussing 'Surviving Being a Start-up Leader'. This was a fantastic and engaging talk which reminded us that we are all human, not machines. Ross also had some great thoughts on the difference between being an entrepreneur or a professional hobbyist. The talk allowed us to reflect on our personal relationship with business.
Next, we headed back to the Technical Stage to listen to Keith Myers discuss 'Using Immersive Technology vs The Metaverse'. Keith discussed the ways we can use immersive experiences to connect to others and see life though someone else's eyes. It was a great talk outlining how alternative reality has the potential to deepen human understanding, drive empathy and wow us.
Our final talk was led by Bill Thompson, titled 'Pass Me That Lobster: Conjuring Up the Metaverse'. He discussed the creation of avatars and how this could eventually lead to artificial intelligence and allow us to instantly carry out actions through our avatars.
To wrap up the day, we headed back to the expo room where one of the organisers gave a moving speech on the meaning behind the black and yellow Manchester Tech Fest logo. He discussed how the black and yellow symbolises the Manchester worker bee and Factory Records. The Manchester worker bee reminds us how hard working and motivated the people of Manchester are and emphasises the togetherness of the Manchester tech community. Factory Records reminds us of all the Manchester bands that only became big because they were inspired by other Manchester bands. This link encouraged us to continue to learn from others in the tech community and to strive to inspire always.
After another quick walk around the expo room, we gathered our things and headed over to the afterparty. We were greeted with a variety of free drinks, friendly faces, and a fantastic live music act. Later, we also helped ourselves to an open buffet involving pizza, mini burgers, and lots of picky bits!
We thought we would do a quick pros and cons list of our day to show our readers the ups and downs of a tech festival!
Pros:
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Amazing, confident, and insightful speakers - every speaker was proud and confident of their research which enabled every talk to be exciting and engaging - there was never a dull moment
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Friendly and proud organisers - approachable and was very clear that they planned the festival because they are so passionate about tech and being a community
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Beautiful venue
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Self-Care room - the festival provided a quiet room to go in if things got too overwhelming or if you just needed a break from the noise
After Party - obvious pros were the open bar and free food - further than that, it was a friendly atmosphere to ease ourselves into networking
Live music - provided with entertainment into the night
Cons:
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Venue was out of the city centre
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Venue was VERY cold - we should have known an old swimming bath would be freezing!
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A lot of recruiters - be prepared to be constantly approached and asked if you are hiring and/or looking for a new job
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After Party was far away from main event
Overall, we had a fantastic day, and we couldn't be more thankful to the organisers and every single speaker for working so hard and very clearly being so committed to the festival.
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