talk-data.com

Calling all Power BI & Data enthusiasts

We've been invited to run a special User Group event at Data Decoded conference at Manchester Central

• Enjoy thought-provoking PBI talks and demos from industry experts and peers.

Date and Location: 📅 Date: 21st October 2025 🕠 Time: 5:30 PM – 7:30 PM 📍 Venue: Manchester Central Convention Complex, Petersfield, M2 3GX We are in the Data Governance, Risk & Compliance Theatre

October's PBIMCR x DataDecoded event will feature 3 lightening talks

Talk 1: Chris & Craig Morrall co-founders from Tugger Tugger is the only end-to-end provider built specifically for Power BI, helping developers and teams streamline the process of turning raw data into meaningful reporting. We specialise in making connections to platforms such as Xero, QuickBooks, and HubSpot simple and reliable, without the need for ongoing custom API development or manual data prep. With Tugger, the heavy lifting around extracting and organising data is handled for you. Our built-in data warehousing ensures that the data is centralised and structured in a way that’s ready to use in Power BI, so you can focus on creating dashboards and delivering insights rather than troubleshooting connections or managing refresh cycles. Security and compliance are at the heart of our approach. Tugger is built with enterprise-level security, so you can be confident that data pipelines are robust, protected, and compliant with industry standards. By combining seamless data integration, built-in warehousing, and enterprise-grade security, Tugger gives Power BI developers a trusted foundation to build powerful, scalable reporting solutions for their organisations.

https://www.linkedin.com/company/tuggerapp/

Talks 2 & 3: Johnny Winter

Dumb ways to Pie!!

Pie charts! The visualisation everybody loves to hate. Why do they have such a bad reputation? Are they really bad practice? Are there any times when you can use a pie chart? Join us as Johnny goes into detail on the things you should think about when creating Pie Charts in Power BI!!

The Importance of Community and Networking Being part of the data community has opened doors, created opportunities, and shaped Johnny’s career in ways he couldn’t have imagined. In this session, Johnny will share how networking and community involvement have helped him grow as a data professional, from building connections and finding mentors, to staying ahead of industry trends and boosting his professional profile.

**To attend, you must sign up for free Data Decoded tickets and register on Meetup to join the community.**

Enjoy food, drinks, and plenty of networking with data community afterwards at The Brotherhood of Pursuits and Pastime bar, 2 Mount Street, Manchester, M2 5WQ (which is a 5 minute walk away)

Network, learn, ask a question, meet other folks - these are all things that happen at user group events. These events are a really great opportunity to socialise in an informal learning experience.

Remember to tell your friends and the people you work with; make sure you register as soon as you can.

In-Person only event. Not being recorded.

Please complete the registration form with your full name and organisation you are from - we collect this information to give to building security to let you into the event.

17:45 – 18:00 Intro and updates 18:00 – 19:00 Juliana Smith: Uncovering the Secrets of Dashboard Design.

Great dashboards don’t just show data—they guide users to insights effortlessly. In this fast-paced session, we’ll unlock the power of alignment, white space, and page scanning patterns to create visually stunning, easy-to-navigate and accessible Power BI dashboards. Learn how to hack human perception with smart design choices, so your audience finds what they need before they even realise they’re looking for it! Expect real-world examples, and plenty of “aha!” moments. Ready to level up your dashboard game? Let’s go!

19:00 – 19:15 Break & Pizza 19:15 – 20:15 Ian Pike : Fabric Conference Community Conference 2025 - Summary of what was the updates from Vienna A look at all the new announcements from FabCon Vienna. What things to look into further and some deep dives into an updates I can demo

DevOps Society Meetup – Thursday 9th October @6PM

Location: Colony Fabrica, 269 Great Ancoats St, Manchester, M4 7DB

We’re excited to invite you to our next DevOps Society Meetup, hosted at Colony Fabrica in Manchester. This event brings together the DevOps, AI, and cloud-native community for an evening of conversation, learning, and networking.

A huge thank you to Colony for providing the venue, and support!

Format of the Meetup: 6:00pm – 6:30pm — Networking on arrival, with pizza and drinks provided by ReVybe IT. 6:30pm – 7:10pm — First speaker will take to the stage 7:10pm – 7:20pm — Break for refreshments and networking 7:20pm – 8:00pm — Second speaker will take to the stage 8:00pm onwards — More networking at the venue and then at a nearby pub

Timings can vary depending on the length of the Q&A after each talk!

We are delighted to welcome two fantastic speakers to our event at Colony Fabrica.

SPEAKER 1 - Matt Houghton - Data & AI Architect @ CDL

AWS Community Builder \| AWS Ambassador \| AWS Gold Jacket Certification All-Star Matt is an Architect at CDL Software, where he spends his time undertaking R&D and working with customers and internal teams on their most complex challenges. He is an AWS Community Builder, AWS Ambassador, and holds every AWS certification. In 2021, Qlik recognised Matt as one of their 50 Global Luminaries for his measurable impact with data and community contributions.

Talk Title: Ensure the Security and Reliability of Your GenAI Workloads with Amazon Bedrock In this session, Matt will explore emerging risks associated with GenAI-based workloads and share strategies for testing, securing, and monitoring them using Amazon Bedrock. He’ll highlight and demonstrate some of the latest features announced for Amazon Bedrock, showcasing how they can help you design more effective and reliable GenAI workloads.

SPEAKER 2 - Ben Clark - DevOps Consultant Ben Clark is a DevOps consultant with over a decade of experience leading platform engineering and automation across large enterprises. He specialises in distributed systems, ML-Ops, and data engineering. Ben also maintains open-source projects at sudoblark.com and is pursuing a BSc in Computing and IT, focusing on the mathematics of machine learning and its application to constrained and embedded systems.

Talk Title: A Hands-On Introduction to Quantisation: From Neural Weights to Edge Deployment This session builds a working understanding of neural network weights using simple perceptrons, then explains how quantisation reduces model size and computation. Ben will walk through the practical steps of deploying a quantised model to a Raspberry Pi, demonstrating how these techniques make neural networks viable on constrained hardware.

Please RSVP to book your spot. Space is limited, so it’s first come, first served! We look forward to seeing you all there.

Ben & Vytas – Co-organisers.

WARNING -> Sign up on TicketTailor here -> https://www.tickettailor.com/events/opendatamanchestercic/1417909

As Halloween approaches, Open Data Manchester, HER+Data MCR, PyData MCR and Rust Manchester invite you once again to our annual Data Horror Stories event on 30th October!

In today's world, algorithms predict our preferences, chatbots engage in surprisingly human-like conversations, and AI systems make crucial decisions affecting millions. But what happens when these technologies don't work as intended? Join us for an evening of real-world cautionary tales and data-driven insights

We're calling on data professionals, tech experts, anyone who's encountered tech troubles to share their most unsettling experiences. Has a coding error caused chaos in your organisation? Did a data breach leave you sleepless? Perhaps a digital campaign went horribly wrong? We want to hear about it.

• Have a story to tell? Email sam[at]opendatamanchester.org.uk to secure a speaking slot.
• Prefer to remain anonymous? Submit your story, and we may present it without revealing your identity.
• Feeling inspired on the night? We'll have quick-fire slots available for impromptu speakers. Just let us know when you arrive.

Join us for an evening of eye-opening stories, thoughtful discussion, and practical solutions to address the challenges posed.

About

HER+Data MCR is a community working to connect, inspire, support and empower the NW UK’s Women in Data. It brings together anyone who identifies as a woman or non-binary and has a connection to data. We talk data science, analytics, research, visualisation, software, applications and experiences women share working in male dominated environments. Follow us on Meetup or Linkedin.

PyData MCR is the Manchester chapter of the International PyData Community. For Manchester based data people, to share and learn new things. All open data tooling welcome. Follow PyData MCR on LinkedIn or on Meetup.

Location Northcoders, M1 7ED