Speaking at
DigiFest 2024
We are thrilled to share our speaker lineup for Eastbourne DigiFest 2024. Our speaker schedule will run across three rooms throughout Thursday 10th October - our main stage in the Welcome Building’s Shackleton Hall, plus two more intimate workshop spaces, the Orwell and Johnson Rooms.
The full running order for the day will be made available nearer the event date.
Read on to explore more about our speakers and their themes (and check back as we add further details!).
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As part of “The Lush Hour”, Rowena will speak with Alex about the early days of Rowena’s beauty career, her role in establishing and growing Lush to the global cosmetics retailer it is today, and in shaping the brand’s ethical foundation.
Discover her passion for pioneering sustainable packaging solutions and her enduring commitment to ethical sourcing.
Rowena Bird
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Drawn to the beauty industry from an early age, Rowena trained and qualified as a beauty therapist before fortuitously joining the creators of Lush in their small manufacturing company of the time, Constantine and Weir (C&W) and the team has been together ever since.
Co-Founding Lush in 1995, Ro has had many roles within the business, ranging from opening stores and training on customer service standards to overseeing Lush’s expansion with business partners and coining the term creative buying. It’s this that inspires Lush’s team of ethical buyers, who are responsible for sourcing all the raw materials and establishing direct relationships with farmers. Ro is passionate about pioneering new materials and methods to create compostable, recyclable or refillable packaging where necessary, and going naked where it's not.
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A look back at the history and ethics of British cosmetic global brand Lush, then a look forward into the future with exclusive insights into new innovations in AI, Web 3 and the Metaverse plus a look at Lush’s first consumer hardware product: BathBot.
Adam Goswell
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Adam Goswell leads technology research and development at Lush. He’s at the forefront of innovating the company’s approach to tech, and is currently heading up the development of new tools using AI, machine learning and augmented reality. Most recently, this has included developing AI technology to help remove packaging from cosmetics.
Adam has a background in design and UX, which means he is passionate about all things digital, including digital ethics. Adam ran Lush’s first digital ethics campaign alongside campaign group Access Now, on Black Friday 2016, which saw Lush shut down its website globally to raise awareness of internet shutdowns.
Lush is increasingly part of the global tech community, providing open source solutions where before only closed/proprietary technology existed. This is in line with a company ethos that aims to give more than it takes, act transparently, push innovation and transform industry standards.
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More details soon.
Simon Leslie
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More details soon.
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Alex brings his expertise in podcasting to the fore as he asks our visiting co-founders “How do you get to where you want to be?”. He aims to inspire and empower others to turn their dreams into reality and fulfil their true potential.
Alex Chisnall
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When podcast host and entrepreneur Alex Chisnall launched Screw It Just Do It 6 years ago, two downloads illustrated no one listened except his wife and mum. Today, it’s in the Top 1% of all podcasts globally, with 500+ episodes and listeners in 180+ countries. He went from working as a flight attendant for Virgin Atlantic to becoming Sir Richard Branson’s #1 business advisor at Virgin StartUp.
Throughout his journey, he has had the privilege of interviewing extraordinary individuals such as Steven Bartlett, Lewis Howes, Jamie Laing, Fleur East, James Haskell, Lord Bilimoria, and the founders of billion-dollar brands like Lush & Ted Baker.
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Join Mo from Watch This Space and Grace from Silicon Brighton as they explore the importance of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) in the creative, digital and tech industry.
They will highlight current research and provide practical advice on what you can implement today to encourage DEI within your businesses. You will come away with a better understanding how different people working together can create better outcomes, and how you can create the environment to facilitate positive change.
Mo Kanjilal
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Mo Kanjilal is Co-Creator at Watch This Sp_ce, a multi-award-winning diversity and inclusion company.
During a career in international technology corporations leading global teams, Mo worked on creating diverse, inclusive teams. After working in smaller companies on similar initiatives, she co-created Watch This Sp_ce during the pandemic. The company works with organisations across sectors to help them understand why inclusive teams matter, what changes they need to make and how to help people work better together.
Mo is also a TedX Speaker, Charity board Trustee, a Non-Exec Director, and Author. Watch This Sp_ce’s first book ‘The Inclusion Journey’ will be published by Kogan Page in August 2024.
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Whether you are a business director, marketing team member or studying, a clear understanding of SEO is essential.
Why?
Well, can you swallow the fact that you could be wasting all your time and budget developing a website, only for it to remain invisible in Google search results?
Can you immediately recognise if your website has been SEO’d properly?
You will after this workshop - without getting techy.
This session with Emma Pearce will strip back SEO to ensure it is no longer a mystery.
And you can confidently grasp what it is all about, understand what you need to do (or ask someone to do) and, importantly, identify if the fundamental aspects have been completed.
Don’t miss this opportunity to finally ‘get it’!
Emma Pearce
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Emma Pearce is an experienced Marketing Consultant and SME Marketing Speaker. She has been running her marketing agency, based in the Eastbourne area, for over 16 years.
Pearce Marketing helps SME business owners and Directors to feel confident in their marketing strategy and get results.
Specialising in marketing strategy and customer feedback, as well as delivering a flexible service for traditional and digital marketing implementation.
Emma has an excellent reputation as an engaging speaker that always provides practical takeaways. Last year at DigiFest she received fantastic feedback for her LinkedIn workshop. This year she is back with unmissable SEO tips.
Her career includes roles with national and multinational companies in the UK and overseas.
Visit the Pearce Marketing team on their stand in the exhibition area. They are happy to help with some free marketing advice, as well as offering to provide a free, plain-English, Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) check for your website.
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Suitable for Instagram newcomers and those refining their business on the app, this session provides practical tips and actionable insights on how to build a presence on Instagram.
Holly Newman
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Founder of With Love Media, Holly Newman is a single mum who has built a global business organically using Instagram only. She enjoys teaching others how to do the same.
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What happens to our digital selves after we're gone? Join Digital Legacy Owl for a revealing 30-minute talk on understanding and securing your digital legacy. Discover the critical impact of your digital footprint on loved ones in the event of your passing and learn proactive strategies to manage your digital legacy effectively. Whether it’s social media accounts, digital photos, or email archives, your digital assets need a plan in place.
This presentation will equip you with the tools to ensure your digital legacy is handled according to your wishes, safeguarding your personal data and easing the burden on your family. Don't leave your digital life to chance - learn how to take control today!
Karina Dey
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Karina Dey is a Violinist, holding a BMus (Hons) degree from The Guildhall School of Music & Drama in London. She has performed at concert venues including The Royal Albert Hall and Barbican Hall.
In 2017, trading teaching in London for a role as a resident performer on cruise ships, Karina explored various musical styles whilst sailing to Japan, Mexico, USA, Alaska, Europe and the Caribbean.
In 2022, Karina moved to East Sussex, taking charge of The Seasons Art Class Eastbourne franchise at The Cavendish Hotel, hosting three annual Art Exhibitions.
In 2023 Digital Legacy Owl was launched through the EDEAL LEAP programme. The start-up explores topics on digital afterlife, digital legacy and best practices.
Karina's other ventures extend to SVAABA, an art hire project, and Strings Attached Violins, offering performances for weddings and functions.
Beyond music, Karina enjoys tropical house beats, rollerskating, and savouring Mediterranean cuisine. Karina’s instrument is a 1987 Nayden Ganchev handmade violin, affectionately named the "Bulgarian Stradivari".
For further information, visit www.karinadey.com.
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More details soon.
Samantha also joins us for the Navigating Funding for Start-Ups panel.
Samantha Harland
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Samantha Harland is an experienced programme leader, business advisor and innovation consultant known locally for her leadership in government-funded business support initiatives and her expertise in fostering business growth.
With a rich background in FMCG and global corporates, she excels in designing transformative business support programmes and has delivered business support for the likes of Digital Catapult, Wired Sussex, Plus X Innovation & NatWest.
Samantha’s approach integrates practical insights with strategic thinking, empowering startups and scale-ups to navigate and excel in rapidly changing markets.
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More details soon.
Brian Drinkwater
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Brian has worked in the Creative Digital & Technology (CDT) sectors for over 30 years including stints as a freelancer, as a media production lecturer, within television and production working to senior leadership level in operations, and as a board director.
Since moving to Eastbourne in 2016 Brian has launched Kyle Partnership, a CDT consultancy, and is a keen advocate for CDT businesses and educational institutions throughout Sussex.
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Not awareness, not clicks: you can get sales from Instagram for any business, whether a law firm, a tech startup, or a phone company.
Join this workshop to learn about the benefits of running Instagram Ads and how you can get real leads and sales which actually help your business.
Garry James
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Garry is a marketing professional who lives locally on the South Coast. He has worked in marketing for tech companies, entertainment companies and B2B companies. His frank and friendly approach to marketing focuses on results instead of marketing fluff.
He is currently CMO at FOUNDRY, a fast-growing coworking brand, with their first location in Eastbourne.
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We've been sold a myth of quantification and forgotten that behind every data point is a human interaction.
This workshop will cover the predictably irrational nature of decision making and explore how you can influence behaviour change by going with the grain of human nature.
Joe Egan
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Founder and Managing Director of Pacer, a Customer Experience specialist Shopify Agency, Joe started his career in Marketing Strategy and has spent the last 10 years in Ecommerce.
During that period, Joe's experience has taken him from Sydney to London and finally back home to Eastbourne where he now runs a remote-first agency servicing brands in the UK, US and Europe.
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We've all been there. The blank stares. Shuffling of feet. A sudden pathological interest in staring at their feet or their hands. Your carefully curated slide deck of facts, figures and features that should have ignited everyone's interest in your latest "Technology push to better things (TM)" hovers on the your slide pleading for "Any Questions", succeeding only in lighting up a room of confusion, yawns, or downright despair.
Whether your technology sinks or swims doesn't depend alone on your facts, figures and features. People need more. They need to know why they care. They need stories.
Being great at encouraging adoption of technology is a complex game, and complexity is best navigated with storytelling. In this workshop, Russ Miles will share the secrets of how to build your own technical stories to woo, win over and build excitement and adoption around your next business-game-changing change.
- Learn why story matters so much to navigating technology change
- Learn how to craft your stories that can be rolled across many channels to drive interest and adoption even from the most non-technical of stakeholders and customers.
- Explore how to critique and improve your existing technology stories.
Russ Miles
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Russ Miles is a technical product owner at Clear.Bank, author with O'Reilly Media, and former engineer and engineering consultant to Apple, Amazon, AWS, Disney and Netflix (and many open source companies of his own).
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More details soon.
James Byford
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James Byford is Founder and Director of the Adventures and Wisdom Institute. AWI is a radical new institution focused on supporting innovators through the fusion of arts, technology and enterprise.
Its first major initiatives include research and development with young people to redesign creative industries work experience across East Sussex, Brighton and Hove, funded by Arts Council England and providing support to Arun’s creative and digital businesses through Arun District Council’s allocation of the Shared Prosperity Fund.
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Do you have an audience, or a community?
If you’re in the arts, hospitality, tourism or tech industries, chances are you have an audience. But what would happen if that audience became a community, and what’s the secret to transforming it into one?
During this session we’ll explore why you should build a community, and some secrets to making it successful.
Rose Radtke
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Rose Radtke is a brand and community strategist on a mission to help people-driven organisations discover and articulate who they are, and grow their audiences authentically and organically. Her philosophy evolves year-on-year as the world changes, but belonging always remains at its core.
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This talk takes John's career as a case study and imagines how it could be disrupted by AI.
Taking things back to first principle thinking, John will look at how we can reimagine ourselves.
John Haynes
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More details soon.
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Join Mo from Watch This Space and Grace from Silicon Brighton as they explore the importance of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) in the creative, digital and tech industry.
They will highlight current research and provide practical advice on what you can implement today to encourage DEI within your businesses. You will come away with a better understanding how different people working together can create better outcomes, and how you can create the environment to facilitate positive change.
Grace Prior
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Grace is the Co-Founder of Silicon Brighton, a not-for-profit with a mission to put Brighton and the South East on the map as a technology hotspot by supporting the local digital meetup scene.
Grace’s aspiration is to build bridges across all digital communities around the world to grow the case for increased investment, as well as engineer opportunities for collaboration on a global scale. She’s a champion for diversity in the sector, and is passionate about changing the face of the industry.
Grace has had an eclectic career – from working in a marketing role at a global real estate firm to hotel management, to executive search before moving to Brighton after the pandemic. She has experienced the power of community in all facets of her life, from her role as a Trustee for the Clock Tower Sanctuary, the only drop-in centre in Brighton & Hove for people experiencing homelessness, to becoming a member of Brighton Sailing Club.
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More details soon.
Tom Fielder
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More details soon.
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Practical, commercial and strategic insights shared from a career working in and advising startups, CEOs and senior operators across various industries, geographies and scales.
Greg will also act as moderator on our Navigating Funding for Start-Ups panel discussion.
Greg Mccallum
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Known as the 🚫🐂💩 Startup Mentor and Commercial Advisor, Greg Mccallum works with Founders, Founding Teams and Senior operators globally to assist with launching, scaling and/or improving startups and scaleups.
Greg has a background in running high-performing global sales and marketing teams, executive leadership and is a multiple-time founder and current Co-founder & CEO of Observic, the fully remote skills audit service and platform.
He is also the host of the Founders Unplugged podcast and author of The Handy Little Book of Sales Terminology.
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In today's digital age, LinkedIn has emerged as an indispensable tool for tech leaders seeking to expand their influence, connect with like-minded professionals, and drive their organisations forward. This session, led by Dan, a seasoned business coach and LinkedIn strategy specialist, aims to unlock the full potential of LinkedIn for tech leaders.
Through this interactive workshop, Dan will share actionable insights, derived from his extensive experience as an executive mindset mentor and Master Practitioner in NLP, tailored specifically for leaders in the creative, digital, and tech sectors. Participants will leave equipped with the knowledge to transform their LinkedIn presence, enhancing their leadership capabilities and amplifying their impact within the tech community.
Daniel Andersen-Tuffnell
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More details soon.
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A web development-based talk: More details soon.
Lewis Hobden
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As Head of Engineering at custom software engineering firm Switchplane, Lewis spearheads mission-critical projects for clients, particularly in the sectors of construction, manufacturing, and insurance.
His dev-specific skills range from development (PHP, JS) and Linux-based infrastructure (Docker, UNIX systems) to cloud technologies (AWS, Azure).
In his 7 years at the firm, he's turned his hands to everything - evolving from an entry-level developer to an architect with leadership responsibilities.
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Take a real break over lunchtime at DigiFest with this “I am pausing” session. This immersive workshop includes experiencing a live Pause as well as learning about the nervous system and stress, plus time for a quick Q&A.
Hannah Godfrey
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Hannah has spent the past 15 years scaling high-growth SaaS businesses in New York, Silicon Valley, and London. Despite achieving great outward success, inside it was a different story and she experienced multiple burnouts. This led Hannah on an inward journey, and now she is passionate about changing the way we work and live, by embracing the power of pausing.
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More details soon.
Dan Wallman
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More details soon.
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More details soon.
Tyler Mortimer-Wise
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Tyler Mortimer-Wise is someone who has supported and helped young people, and adults, through TechResort. He is also apart of the Youth Advisory Board for Adventures & Wisdom Institute.
Outside of part-time work, Tyler is a freelance photographer and web designer.
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Feel like you spend all your time firefighting, being pulled from pillar to post? Frustrated that you can’t find the time to drive your business forward? Or are you doing all the right things but not seeing the results you deserve?
It could be down to your systems and processes.
In this session, Joel explores how systemisation turns chaos into order, and turns order into growth. Together we will cover:- Why good systems unlock growth
- Things to think about before you systemise
- How and where to start
Joel Fielder
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Joel founded Switchplane, an Eastbourne-based software development company, with his brother, Tom, in 2003. As CEO, his focus is more on the commercial side of the business, though he still enjoys writing code on a daily basis too!
Switchplane specialises in building custom apps and web platforms to bring about meaningful change for businesses across the UK. They have grown from a couple of desks in a converted garage to a successful, firmly established SME with a team of 11.
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This panel-based session offers essential insights for entrepreneurs seeking financial backing for their ventures. Hear from start-up advisors and founders, as they discuss their own experiences, tips and advice around fundraising and funding options. This session aims to equip start-ups with some helpful knowledge and tools to start their funding journey with confidence.
Start-up mentor and commercial advisor Greg Mccallum, will moderate the panel and be joined by: Fiona Anderson, Innovation and Growth Specialist; Samantha Harland, Business Advisor; Ben Dawson, Founder.
Fiona Anderson
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Fiona Anderson is a multifaceted, dynamic individual with a passion for innovation, social entrepreneurship, creativity and collaboration.
With a diverse educational and working background, Fiona has a wide range of skills and experience, having worked in Corporate Banking for 18 years, helping SMEs with their lending needs, to developing, delivering and managing an entrepreneurial accelerator and innovation programme in the UK. This combination of scientific knowledge and entrepreneurial spirit has shaped her unique perspective on assisting businesses with their own growth and expansion challenges.
Motivated by a relentless passion for innovation and creativity, alongside a drive to help start-up businesses accelerate growth, Fiona has a keen eye for creating opportunity, and has emerged as a catalyst for start-up businesses, leveraging her expertise to navigate the ever-evolving landscape of entrepreneurship.
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This panel-based session offers essential insights for entrepreneurs seeking financial backing for their ventures. Hear from start-up advisors and founders, as they discuss their own experiences, tips and advice around fundraising and funding options. This session aims to equip start-ups with some helpful knowledge and tools to start their funding journey with confidence.
Start-up mentor and commercial advisor Greg Mccallum, will moderate the panel and be joined by: Fiona Anderson, Innovation and Growth Specialist; Samantha Harland, Business Advisor; Ben Dawson, Founder.
Ben Dawson
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More details soon.