Lightning Talks

We're excited to announce the speaker line-up for our upcoming
Umbraco Manchester Lightning Talks event!

Join us at CTI Digital for a fast-paced evening of insights, laughs, and community, featuring five speakers sharing short talks on everything from AI and accessibility to coding culture and marathons.

Expect a warm, friendly atmosphere, free food and drinks, and a chance to connect with fellow Umbracians and web folks.

Daniel Nelson (Cantarus) - "I'm sorry Dave I'm afraid I can't do that": Human-Computer Interaction and UX Design in fiction

From 2001: A Space Odyssey to Hackers, film has portrayed the way humans interact with technology in a myriad of ways. In this lightning talk, we'll explore how fiction and reality have influenced each other, the (in)practicalities of holograms, and provide a pop quiz on the best and weirdest UIs across movies and TV.

Ollie Picton (Enjoy Digital) – Vibe Coding: Think It, Code It

Ollie lifts the lid on how Enjoy Digital is using “vibe coding” — getting code from conversation using generative AI.
He’ll share the tools, pitfalls, and approaches they’ve discovered while shaping real working code through natural language and iteration.

Phil Whittaker – From Manual to Magical: AI-Powered Umbraco

Umbraco just got smarter. Phil demonstrates how Model Context Protocol (MCP) gives AI the full picture of your CMS setup — unlocking 190+ endpoints to automate tasks, understand structure, and supercharge productivity. A peek into the future of Umbraco workflows.

Shivansh Mathur (City of York Council) – The Accessibility Debt in Products: What AI Can (and Can’t) Fix

Shivansh explores the growing issue of accessibility debt in digital products, how AI can help bridge some of the gap, and — importantly — where it falls short. A timely reminder of the human-centred thinking still needed in inclusive design.

Grey Muir (Cantarus) – Proving the Concepts behind Proof of Concepts

A brief exploration into the philosophy behind Proof of Concepts. Grey will discuss why they’re useful, how to keep focused without going off track, and which ideas are worth pursuing. It’s a reflective, practical look at how to make PoCs meaningful without letting them spiral.

Dan Lister (Umbraco) – I ran the Manchester Marathon — Here Are 26.2 Things It Taught Me About B2B SaaS

What do long-distance running and enterprise software have in common? Nothing — but that won’t stop Dan from making connections. From quarterly OKRs to stakeholder alignment and Kubernetes, expect a hilarious (and sneakily insightful) talk about software, endurance, and poor life choices.

🗓️ Agenda

18:30 – Doors open, food, drinks & social
19:00 – Lightning talks begin
20:45 – Open social & chat

📍 Entry:

Go to reception — someone will be there to guide you to the meetup space at CTI Digital.