Major industry experts from around the globe gathered together to speak at the annual Thames Valley Chamber of Commerce International Technology Conference, the flagship event in the regional calendar.
Now in its fourth year this highly popular event brought businesses from across the corporate, national and SME sectors together including 3M UK plc, Ascot Racecourse, Cyber Advisor, Databasix UK, Ernst & Young, Generate UK and the University of Surrey. Representatives from the Department for International Trade and Thames Valley Berkshire Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) were also present as well as students from Henley Careers for a productive and insightful day at the Microsoft UK campus, Thames Valley Park in Reading.
Educational content, case studies and interactive panel discussions played a major role with robust ideas, presentations and insight making it to the forefront. Attendees also had the chance to network with peers and industry thought leaders before, during and after the break sessions, which also became the ideal opportunity to interact with the latest technologies displayed in the networking zone.
The original voice of Siri in the UK, Jon Briggs, opened the conference facilitating throughout the day and sharing not only personal but also learned insight about the technology sector with the captivated 200-strong audience. Many who instantly recognised Jon’s voice took to Twitter to confirm their suspicions: @Md2MD tweeted ‘Fascinating how familiar the voice of Jon Briggs the facilitator at #tvtechconf is whilst face completely unknown’ whereas David Frank from Microsoft commented ‘We are hosting the #tvtechconf and great that event compere is also the voice of #TomTom.’
For an engaging interactive experience Jon invited attendees to post questions on Twitter that were then directly put to speakers at the end of their individual presentations. Shortly after he introduced Paul Britton, CEO, Thames Valley Chamber and Chris Parker, Assistant General Counsel at Microsoft UK.
Providing an overview of their respective responsibilities and thanking everyone, Paul highlighted how the Chamber was “transforming digitally with technology playing a major role” and that the “Conference was a fantastic opportunity to showcase what’s great about the region” while Chris stated that there were “huge technical skills in the Thames Valley” with the “airport playing a key role” before adding: “we are delighted to, once again, host the TVCC International Technology Conference. It is always a pleasure to work with the Chamber, its staff and members and the event stands out as it truly highlights the Thames Valley’s pre-eminent place at the cutting edge of the digital economy.”
As well as Microsoft as hosts, other major organisations were also proud to become ‘partner sponsors’ including Vodafone UK, CDG, Pitmans Law, MHA MacIntyre Hudson and Byte Night.
