I’m passionate about technology and have been speaking about various related topics for a long time… most recently about blockchain, cybersecurity, identity, cloud & technology strategy and Fintech but a long history of software development and Microsoft platforms for over 20 years.
Most of my previous talks are listed below.
Nov 20th 2022 – Jersey Finance
Your phone is your weakest link!
High risk common phishing and social engineering attacks and best practices for protecting your mobile device and personal data.
Jan 28th 2022 – Data Protection Day
Invited by Santander to give a talk about privacy
Jan 28th 2021 – Data Protection Day
Online Privacy in a Post Covid World, updated for the Jersey Data Protection Association
The coronavirus pandemic has had seismic effects across society and business as a whole and the challenges it has brought to data protection are huge. The speed of change required and the unpredictable nature of pandemics had made it a once in a lifetime experience for many practitioners. This session highlights the key takeaways and considers what the ‘new normal’ really means in practice.
Dec 2nd 2020 – PrivSec Global
Online Privacy in a Post-Covid World
Presented to a global audience (over 10,000 conference attendees).
This talk will cover a series of changes in the global privacy landscape and the increased risks that have emerged from the Covid-19 pandemic.
- Is it ever acceptable to trade privacy for the “global good” of humanity?
- What impact does increased government surveillance have?
- Can safeguards ensure we don’t end up in a dystopian Orwellian future?
A number of solutions to traditional as well as new privacy concerns will be presented including top tips for keeping yourself safe online.
Apr 16th 2020 – Digital Activism & Political Engagement
Invited to participate in a panel at the Own Your Data Foundation conference alongside Brittany Kaiser.
- How can creative activism defend data privacy and protect our digital rights?
- How can citizens get involved in and contribute to ongoing efforts in this space?
Jan 30th 2020 – Data Protection: Risks, Rights & Solutions
Presentation for the Jersey Office of the Information Commissioner’s Data Protection Week.
Also arranged a screening of The Great Hack and interview with Brittany Kaiser.
Jun 25th 2019 – Annual CyberCrime Conference (Chair)
https://www.bppevents.com/events/cybercrime
The breadth of the challenge linked to cybercrime can sometimes be bewildering. Often senior managers and financial services professionals have more questions than answers on how to prevent cybercrime. This event aims to answer some of the burning questions and will serve as a road map for risk management frameworks.
This conference will feature speakers from local industry as well as global cybercrime leaders fighting to raise awareness of the current cybercrime risks within the financial services industry.
May 2nd 2019 – Jersey Finance Fintech Demo Day
Brief summary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FaVxvtRYR8
Atam ID Technologies provides products and services for consumers and businesses that require identity verification. Atam kiosks use the same technology as is used in major airports including infrared and ultraviolet scanners for verification of passports and national photo IDs. This sensitive verified identity information can be securely transferred to the Atam ID app and re-used online. Atam kiosks can also be used to instantly issue pre-paid debit cards, issue and/or top up sim cards, or output identity cards. For a complete demonstration including biometric facial verification bring your passport to the event.
Dec 2018 – Pushing Beyond Your Limits
A talk on behalf of Cancer Research UK about various challenges (personal and physical) and fundraising initiatives I’ve been involved with to inspire others
- Most limits are self imposed
- No shortcuts to success (goals) and that’s ok
- Step by step. Little and often
- Embrace the journey
- Exercise is the best anti depressant
Jun 26th 2018 – Annual CyberCrime Conference (Chair)
The breadth of the challenge linked to cybercrime can sometimes be bewildering. Often senior managers and financial services professionals have more questions than answers on how to prevent cybercrime. This event aims to answer some of the burning questions and will serve as a road map for risk management frameworks.
This conference will feature speakers from local industry as well as global cybercrime leaders fighting to raise awareness of the current cybercrime risks within the financial services industry.
May 8th/9th 2018 – 1st Algerian-British Cybersecurity forum (Algiers)
Delivered a 90 minute session in French.
Quoi de neuf avec les guichets automatiques bancaires (GABs)?
Au cours des dernières années, il y a eu des progrès significatifs dans la technologie des GABs.
L’intégration du passeport et de la carte d’identité peut améliorer l’expériencede l’utilisateur, permettant aux clients d’annuler et de réémettre instantanément les cartes bancaires perdues, ainsi que de réduire le risque de fraude.
L’utilisation des derniers logiciels de gestion permet aussi de réduire les coûts avec moins d’agents nécessaires à la gestion des GABs.
Au cours de cette session, Aonghus Fraser, PDG d’ATAM ID, donnera un aperçu des dernières technologies disponibles, y compris les lecteurs biométriques et l’intégration des passeports / cartes d’identité.
What’s new with bank ATMs?
In recent years there have been significant advances in bank automatic teller machine technology.
Passport and identity card integration can improve the user experience, allowing customers to instantly cancel and re-issuing lost bank cards, as well as reducing the risk of fraud.
Using the latest management software can also reduce costs with fewer agents needed to manage an estate of bank ATMs.
In this session ATAM ID Chief Executive Officer Aonghus Fraser will give an overview of the latest technologies available including biometric readers and passport/identity card integration.
Oct 18th 2017 – 2017 Channel Island Cybersecurity Summit
As Group Chief Technology Officer for C5 Alliance, Gus leads the strategic technical direction for the company and for our clients. Utilising his experience, Gus’ talk will address the imbalance of cybersecurity knowledge at board level and empower attendees to consider ways in which they can engage with cybersecurity practices to de-risk their businesses and future proof their strategy. A real must for C-level executives.
Jun 29th 2017 – Cybercrime Forum – The Current Cybersecurity Threat Landscape
In this session we will cover the top threats to businesses in the Channel Islands with examples of the nature of the threat (e.g. Ransomware, Phishing) and approaches to mitigating the risks facing your business. We will also cover common misconceptions and myths about approaches to cybersecurity and what you can do to protect and prepare your business.
May 25th 2017 – Private Wealth Conference Technology Panel
Technology: The power to transform
Mar 1st 2017 – Channel Islands Trusts Conference
Trusts & Fintech – digital strategy & relevant innovations in Fintech
Dec 8th 2016 – Leadership Forum
Keeping up with technology: mandatory for success
A half hour talk delivered to senior leaders at the Jersey International Business School.
Nov 11th 2016 – IoT Smart Island Panel
Jersey has established an Internet of Things working group which includes a cross-section of utilities, the department for Infrastructure and tech companies. This panel discussion hosted by IOT Analyst Ian Hughes invites experts to discuss their own company initiatives, then give thoughts on what a smart island economy could invest in. From marine research to wearable and digital health tech, Jersey is building its tech start-up economy and has a collaborative innovation initiative to build a smarter future including an IOT testbed for inward investment.
Nov 1st 2016 – Finvention
I was pleased to support PlainSail in the first unveiling at a FinTech startup conference in Guernsey
Jan 25th 2016 – IoT Showcase
Invitation to Microsoft to present our IoT solutions including the Jersey Bus Tracker.
Oct 7th 2015 – Collab365
Azure Infrastructure and Storage 101
In this session some of the core options for Azure storage and Infrastructure as a Service will be covered. What level of redundancy is built-in? What does geo-redundant really mean? What backup and restore options do I have? What is the difference between Blob, File, Table and Queue storage? What does Premium mean? What is the difference between SQL Azure and building my own Virtual Machine in Azure and installing SQL? What networking options do I have for a hybrid cloud scenario? What options do I have to “lift & shift” servers (either Physical to Virtual or Virtual to Virtual) to Azure? How much will this actually cost me?
If you have been considering Azure Infrastructure as a Service and have been asking yourself any of the above questions and more, this session will aim to answer them.
Apr 22nd 2015 – SharePoint Evolution Conference
Advanced SharePoint Integration with the Azure Service Bus and Dynamics CRM
In this session we will briefly recap the limitations of the native Microsoft Dynamics CRM and SharePoint integration and also a custom point-to-point integration.
An overview of the Azure Service Bus offering and a real world scenario will be demonstrated with SharePoint 2013 Online and CRM 2013 Online. If you are considering integrating SharePoint with any other Line of Business application, this session is for you. An understanding of the merits of tightly vs loosely coupled systems is essential in making decisions about SharePoint integration with your other platforms.
[Blog post here with slides & code].
Nov 29th 2014 – SharePoint Saturday UK
Selecting the right client-side development approach
Developing SharePoint solutions has evolved significantly over the past few years, not least because of the impact of Office 365, where traditional server-side farm solutions are not an option. The constraints of the app model and the shift of code from server to client side has resulted in a number of innovative approaches to SharePoint development.
This session will provide an introduction to some of these approaches including use of Knockout.js and Angular.js in a SharePoint context. The options available will be compared and contrasted, highlighting the pros and cons with demos of key elements. Choosing the wrong framework can have a significant negative impact in terms of productivity, maintainability and efficiency. If you are currently developing or considering developing SharePoint solutions using JavaScript frameworks this session will provide an overview of the options available to help you make the right choices.
Sep 27th 2014 – SharePoint Saturday Jersey
As the co-organiser of SharePoint Saturday Jersey I will be introducing the day with an informal keynote alongside my colleague Mark Macrae.
Apr 17th 2014 – SP24, www.sp24conf.com
Office 365 Public Websites: The Good, The Bad & The Ugly
SharePoint has been capable of providing enterprise grade websites for a number of versions, however these were typically associated with enterprise costs. With the latest release of Office 365, SharePoint 2013 online makes many of these features affordable and available for everybody. This overview of Web Content Management in SharePoint Online will cover the new features available and demonstrate the ease of use of SharePoint 2013 online for everybody from designers and developers to web content editors (The Good). The pro’s and con’s will also be presented, including limitations where escalation to senior Office 365 engineers has resulted in a brick wall (The Bad) and those with workarounds (The Ugly). Whether you are building a new primary website for your organisation or a small microsite, an understanding of the benefits and limitations of SharePoint 2013 Online is essential.
Nov 9th 2013 – SharePoint Saturday UK, Hinckley, UK
Building Public-Facing Websites with Office 365
SharePoint has been capable of providing enterprise grade websites for a number of versions, however these were typically associated with enterprise costs. With the latest release of Office 365, SharePoint 2013 online makes many of these features affordable and available for everybody. This overview of Web Content Management in SharePoint Online will cover the new features available and demonstrate the ease of use of SharePoint 2013 online for everybody from designers to web content editors. The pro’s and con’s will also be presented, including limitations with workarounds and real life examples where escalation to senior Office 365 engineers has resulted in a brick wall. Whether you are building a new primary website for your organisation or a small microsite, an understanding of the benefits and limitations of SharePoint 2013 Online is essential.
Sep 27th 2013 – Jersey Law Via the Internet Conference, Jersey
Improving the Information Lifecycle with Collaboration Technology
Before information evolves into its final published format fit for consumption, a number of parties are usually involved in its lifecycle, whether primary legal resources or secondary legal materials. From inception, draft versions of documents are circulated and collated – analysis or commentary may go through several iterations where feedback is incorporated. Technology can provide significant efficiencies and dramatically improve the user experience when working on documents with multiple parties. This presentation will cover a number of simple yet effective practices for efficient collaboration using Microsoft SharePoint and Microsoft Lync. Workflow, version control, merging documents and new ways of communicating will be demonstrated, showcasing examples to simplify and improve the information lifecycle and publishing to a wider audience.
Jun 17th 2013 – Office 365 Business Briefing, Microsoft, London
Building your online presence with SharePoint 2013 Online
SharePoint has been capable of providing enterprise grade websites for a number of versions, however these were typically associated with enterprise costs. With the latest release of Office 365, SharePoint 2013 online makes these features affordable and available for everybody. This overview of Web Content Management in SharePoint online will cover the new features available and demonstrate the ease of use of SharePoint 2013 online for everybody from designers to web content editors. The pro’s and con’s will be discussed so whether you are building a new primary website for your organisation or a small microsite, an understanding of the benefits and limitations of Office 365 is essential.
http://office365businessbriefing.com/
Apr 17th 2013 – SharePoint Evolution Conference, London
Building Secure SharePoint Extranets with Claims-Based Authentication
This session will cover secure SharePoint extranet topology options, focussing on a number of examples created for government to service citizens, suppliers and partners. A variety of membership providers including Microsoft Dynamics CRM and SQL Server were used to along with Active Directory Federated Services (AD FS 2.0) to provide internal users with seamless access to the public-facing SharePoint farm in the DMZ. Services provided to citizens on one of the platforms will be presented including booking a driving test, making a planning application, and paying tax or invoices online, each of which had their own particular back-end or 3rd party integration challenges. A look at what’s new in SharePoint 2013 in terms of “Claims First” will also be covered and how integration with trusted 3rd party identity providers such as Windows Live ID can be implemented.
Feb 21st 2013 – C5 Alliance Breakfast Briefing (Moores Hotel, St Peter Port, Guernsey)
Feb 20th 2013 – C5 Alliance Breakfast Briefing (The Royal Yacht, St Helier, Jersey)
Automating Business Processes with SharePoint & Workflow
Our presentation will cover examples of relevant client work to date, demonstrations of workflow and automation in SharePoint 2010, an overview of SharePoint 2013, improvements made and a taste of the new 2013 platform.
- Making the case for Business Process automation
- Workflow options in SharePoint 2010
- SharePoint Designer Workflows
- Nintex – Workflow for Everyone
- Integration and contrast with Microsoft CRM
- An overview of SharePoint 2013
- Creating workflows with SharePoint Designer 2013 & Visio 2013
Dec 8th 2012 – SharePoint Saturday UK (Nottingham)
BI for the masses with SQL 2012 and SharePoint 2010
This session will cover the major Business Intelligence improvements that SQL 2012 brings and how SharePoint 2010 can be configured to provide self-service access to this traditionally specialist realm. The following will be presented, with demonstrations using real data:
- SharePoint & SQL Integrated Reporting Services
- PowerPivot
- Power View including Bubble Charts and the design tools
- The BI Semantic Model (BISM) and impact of tabular data
- SQL 2008 R2 vs SQL 2012
- Azure Data Market
Jul 18th 2012 – C5 Alliance Breakfast Briefing (The Old Government House, Guernsey)
Jul 17th 2012 – C5 Alliance Breakfast Briefing (The Royal Yacht, Jersey)
Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 in the Real World
This session will leverage our experience of successful implementations and demonstrate scenarios where this technology can support your organisation’s activities efficiently.
The following key areas will be covered during the briefing:
- What is Microsoft Dynamics CRM?
-
CRM 2011 – Business benefits of upgrading
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Business Process automation & workflow with CRM
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Integration with SharePoint & other Line of Business systems
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CRM Anywhere – Bring Your Own Device options (Windows Phone 7.5, iPad, Phone, Android, and Blackberry devices)
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The Microsoft roadmap and future of CRM/xRM
Apr 25th 2012 – International SharePoint Conference London 2012
Delivering a Search-Driven User Experience with SharePoint and FAST
Do you always know exactly what you are looking for? The traditional Search Engine model requires known and accurate keywords to return meaningful content. This session will cover best use of FAST technology including pipeline extensibility, lemmatisation, fuzzy logic and synonyms which can be combined with SharePoint to break that model and provide a compelling Search-Driven User Experience. An in-depth case study with lessons learned will also be presented including a live demo, in which everything ever recorded by the Government numbering tens of thousands of documents in a variety of unstructured, difficult and lengthy formats is successfully parsed and indexed to deliver a public-facing SharePoint site driven by FAST Search for a great User Experience.
Mar 21st 2012 – C5 Alliance Breakfast Briefing (The Old Government House, Guernsey)
Business Intelligence & SharePoint 2010
Mar 20th 2012 – C5 Alliance Breakfast Briefing (Pomme d’Or Hotel, Jersey)
Business Intelligence & SharePoint 2010
Feb 26th 2012 – British Computer Society (BCS Jersey)
Automating User Interface Testing
When, why and how to implement Automated UI Testing for improved quality and reduced human testing effort in the development of web applications (SharePoint included!). A number of options for creating, running, monitoring and measuring automated UI tests as part of the development lifecycle will be presented. Load Testing options and web-based solutions to assist will also be demonstrated.
Nov 12th 2011 – SharePoint Saturday UK
SharePoint Intranet Branding
Web Content Management and the branding of public-facing SharePoint 2010 Publishing sites are relatively well-publicised and documented. However the majority of SharePoint deployments are internal-facing and typically require a greater degree of flexibility for users to remain unconstrained by fixed designs yet maintain the corporate identity.
This session will cover some Out Of The Box styling tips using CSS and dive into using Control Adapters for re-styling core SharePoint components and better target them using CSS and jQuery. Rounded corners included!
Jun 23rd 2011 – Polycom’s EMEA Executive Briefing Centre
Perfecting Collaborative Working
By embracing the latest business tools you can quickly change from a reflective to a reactive organisation; communicate as it happens, collaborate in real-time and build a dynamic business operation using Microsoft’s integrated technology suite, centred on using Microsoft SharePoint, Microsoft Lync and Microsoft Office.
Apr 12th 2011 – SharePoint Best Practices Conference UK
Taking SharePoint Offline
Many clients need the facility to work offline on occasion, especially those with a mobile sales team, or those being upgraded to SharePoint from a Lotus Notes environment used to offline replication. The content that sales people need access to can be rich and bandwidth-intensive, which makes a good 3G signal or poor Wi-Fi connection frustrating for the salesperson to use, not to mention the client. This session will cover the pros and cons of the options available for offline SharePoint, and why/how to build a Silverlight 4 out-of-browser application driven by SharePoint 2010, solving connectivity issues and taking advantage of SPMetal, LINQ, WCF, Isolated Storage and Silverlight.
Feb 24th 2011 – Microsoft Scotland
Dynamic Business 2011
As Gartner predicted for 2011, businesses must adopt new technologies to recover from the economic downturn. Understand the ‘New World of Business’, the strength of integrated technology solutions and be part of a live demonstration of Lync, SharePoint and Office working in unity
Feb 2nd 2011 – Edinburgh Napier University Conference
A Career in Software Engineering
Guidance to final year Software Engineering students on the Microsoft Ecosystem and how to transition from being in education to a career as a professional software developer.
Nov 26th 2010 – Microsoft Scotland
SharePoint in Education
An overview of SharePoint 2010 to Scottish Further Education Colleges and how it can be integrated with Lync and Line of Business applications to enable better communication between students, teachers and administration.
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