Conference for the region’s IT ‘do-ers’

A conference has been organised for the ‘do-ers’ among the region’s technology companies.

The inaugural Built IT Right conference is to be held on Thursday, April 4 at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Newcastle.

The conference is aimed at anyone in the North East building software, and will feature inspirational speakers and an exhibition. Confirmed speakers include Dave Farley, author and founder of Continuous Delivery Ltd, and Simon Brown, author of Software Architecture for Developers.

The event will be hosted by presenter, writer and comedian Timandra Harkness, who is currently presenting the BBC Radio 4 series FutureProofing. Timandra will also be one of the conference speakers.

Fiona Hobbs from Opencast Software, who is part of the organising committee, said: “Build IT Right is for ‘do-ers’ in the North East who are passionate about software development. It’s aimed at those at the coal-face of technology – the programmers and coders, the developers, testers and solution architects. We felt the region’s tech sector is big enough and ambitious enough to host this sort of conference – there should be no reason for us all to travel south for something similar.

“The conference will support and empower the developer community within the region and

provide delegates with a dedicated day away from their screens to expand their knowledge and be inspired by emerging trends. There will also be great opportunities to network.

“The aim is to give hands-on, practical advice on shared issues and problems, and the hope is that it will also be lively and great fun!”

The conference will have three strands: Development Process; Development Technologies and User experience/Research. It will start with a keynote speech from Dave Farley at 9.30am on April 4 and will be end at about 5.30pm.

It is hoped the conference will attract up to 300 delegates and that if it proves popular Built IT Right could become an annual event. Sponsors for the inaugural event include Opencast Software, Dynamo North East and Grid Smarter Cities.

Organisers are continuing to look for ideas for presenters, themes and topics. If you have an idea that might make a presentation, learning session or panel discussion, please send to [email protected] by the end of December.

As well as Fiona from Opencast, the organising committee includes Chris Howe Jones, from DevCycle Ltd; Helena Hill, Director of 49digital, and software ‘evangelist’ Jon McNestrie.

Further speakers will be announced and early bird tickets, priced £99 plus VAT, are available. Full price tickets will be available for £150, and for ticket information and more details, log on to www.bitrconf.org Ticket prices include lunch and teas and coffees during the day.