South Coast Summit 2025
- Jon Russell
- 2 days ago
- 3 min read
I travelled to Farnborough last weekend for the South Coast Summit, a Microsoft conference.
The buzz was there from the start. Security on the door, check-in, the stands, the speakers. The whole thing was alive.
Friday night kicked off with the Community Spotlight Awards. Capgemini had strong representation across the categories. Stuart Baxter won Social Impact for his incredible work driving a vehicle to Ukraine’s front lines. Sharon Smith took Rising Star. A well-deserved win, and more on her later.
Capgemini also had a stand. I wasn’t officially part of the crew, which gave me the freedom to wander and catch up with people. Some of them I work with but rarely see in person.
The keynote set the tone. Scott Durow took the stage. A legend in the Power Platform space, Scott shared a personal story about his childhood and path into tech. It hit home. We’ve walked similar roads. And the best part? You can go up to Scott afterwards and talk. That’s what makes these events powerful.
My first session was with Keith Atherton (or KEETH as my kids call him) and Mellisa Hale. They spoke on testing and deployment pitfalls. Themed on Aliens, complete with white coats. It worked.
Next came first-time speakers from Capgemini. Bart Bartosik, Diwa Wardak, and Laiyba Mahmood. They told their stories about starting in tech, the value of mentors, and leaders who support you. I listened closely. As I move towards people management at Capgemini, I took a lot from them.
In their session I met a lady called Ellie Timberlake, she explained how after 20 years of teaching she was trying to move more into the Power Platform space. This is my favourite kind of challenge and I was able to introduce her to various different people, some of which like Sarah Guest from The Mentoring Hub, have had a similar path and are very successful not only in speaking but also in her Power Platform role. It's connections like these that make my time at conferences, I love being the enabler and helping people network and join the dots.
I also went along to a panel session hosted by Capgemini's Simon Owen, with DEFRA's Emma-Claire Shaw and Network Rail's James Connelly. We got into an interesting discussion about how events like South Coast Summit could do to entice more of the end user base to come to conferences like this, and to see how the community is thriving.
I caught the end of Emma-Claire Shaw’s talk on Power Platform adoption to enablement. She gets it. The pain points, the blockers, and how to explain them in a way that makes sense to everyone.
By then my brain was overloaded. I took a break. Future attendees, here’s my advice. Don’t cram every slot. Recharge. Grab lunch. Talk to people around the stands. Pick up some merch. Try the Lego competition. Though, fair warning, if I’m entering, I’ll “win.” (Truth is, I’ve never won one, across all the conferences. Never. Boo).
The final session of the day matched my earlier favourite. Parvez Ghumra on ALM. If you want to learn Azure Pipelines and proper practice, Parvez is the guy. He knows it all and he doesn’t let things slide. His talk on solution management and layering was spot on. Halfway through, the fire alarm went off and we ended up outside on Farnborough airport’s taxiway. At least it felt like one.
I wrapped up with more networking. Spoke to Scott Durow again about his keynote. I’m going through ADHD titration, and Scott’s openness about neurodivergence really meant something. More people talking about this matters.
After a quick hotel reset, I headed to the Holiday Inn for the South Coast Summit quiz, hosted by Keegan Chambers and Andrew Bibby. I joined team Blink182. The rule was sequins. Photos exist. Ask if you dare.
That’s what I love about South Coast Summit. It’s inclusive. It’s safe. You hear technical and non-technical stories that stick.
And I need to end with Sharon Smith. Sharon and her Mentoring Hub team are doing brilliant work. Her story is immense. If you need mentoring in tech or want to learn how to step up as a speaker, talk to her. She’s building something special.
Find out more: https://heuristicdev.co.uk/the-mentoring-hub
