WOMEN IN DATA 2016

Developing on the success of 2015

2015 saw the inaugural Datatech Women in Data event, which was heralded as a great success by a full house of more than 100 delegates. Our speakers were truly inspirational and provided practical guidance for new and experienced data professionals, both in their presentations and during networking sessions. The event received coverage in the press and we congratulate Keynote Speaker Payal Jain who was subsequently voted Number One Data Titan in DataIQ.

Watch videos of Women in Data 2016 speakers

2016: Inspirational Keynote Speakers plus unique opportunities to learn with data experts

As well as securing more high profile Keynote Speakers, we developed the Women in Data format to enable attendees to get even closer to some of the data sector’s trailblazers in breakout sessions.

Breakout sessions covered topics such as “Delivering the perfect data presentation,” “Aiming for the C suite” and a practical in R programming. This year attendees had an expanded opportunity to engage in a group Q&A session.

The venue

After filling last year’s auditorium, we selected a venue in the Grand Connaught Rooms that held twice the number of delegates and gave us more flexibility for the day’s programme, which also included refreshments, lunch and an evening drinks reception.

Your hosts: Roisin McCarthy and Rachel Keane

We were thrilled with the turnout for last year’s event and the overwhelmingly positive feedback that came from data professionals, new and experienced. The ripple effects throughout the year have been noticeable: how many of you have sought out a mentor in 2016? Those of you who know us will not be surprised that this year we set the bar even higher to spread the word further about the importance of data and careers paths for women. 2016’s Women in Data combined more of the motivational content that we all enjoyed so much last year, coupled with heaps of practical advice.

We enjoyed welcoming back those of you who came last year, and meeting more of you who are interested in data and who want to learn more about how the sector’s super-achievers have coped and developed their careers.

Download the Women in Data 2016 Brochure

This overview video captures the motivations of the Women in Data 2016 speakers and feedback from the delegates

In this video Georgina White discusses how data is used at British Gas, as well as the importance of team dynamics and temperaments as characterised by animals. Women in Data 2016.

This video captures Nadine Keane’s presentation on the excitement, challenge and rewards of being a data professional – which often happen all on the same day! She talks about personal experiences to help navigate a career progression in Analytics.

In this video Edwina Dunn – the Godmother of Data – discusses her career in data and promotes the importance of supporting today’s generation of data professionals and the next. Women in Data 2016.

Video of Sarah Hodgkins workshop at Women in Data 2016 in which she gives invaluable advice on career development.

In this video from Women in Data 2016 Emma Cosh speaks eloquently about her passion for visualisation and its importance to data presentation.

Rachel Keane and Roisin McCarthy introduce Women in Data 2016

Payal Jain, Chair of Women in Data, reflects on the year in data and the importance of Women in Data

Celia Wilson talks about the need for different temperaments in teams and her journey as a data professional and introvert.

Edwina Dunn
Founder and Chair of The Female Lead
Payal Jain
Managing Director and Chair of Women in Data 2016
Georgina White
Head of Insight British Gas Residential Services
Jackie Clayton
Global Analytics Academy Director, AIMIA
Emma Cosh
Visualisation Director

Sarah Hodgkins
Executive Coach
Kate Ross Smith
Data Scientist
Nadine Keane
Certified Analytics Professional
Celia Wilson
Director of Data Business partnering
Caroline Florence
Founder of Insight Narrator

The Topics

Georgina White

Driving Action with Insight and Data to drive commercial outcome

How to land great insight and drive action
Focusing on being a brilliant business partner

Celia Wilson

My confidence journey in data

Women are more likely than men to suffer from confidence and self-esteem issues, and women in data are especially likely to tend towards introversion. But for a career in data, confidence is an important skill: it gives us the ability to tell stories, challenge accepted truths, and generally rock the boat! So how do we close the confidence gap? Drawing on her twelve years’ experience in the data industry, Celia will talk through some of the tools and techniques that have helped, and role models that have inspired.

Emma Cosh

A Vizzable Career

How do you prepare for a career that doesn’t exist yet? Emma will talk about the decisions and inspiration that led her to data visualisation, and what it’s like to work at the crossover of art, science, and business.

Nadine Keane

Navigating the Analytics Practitioner to Analytics Manager Career Path

The data field is exciting, challenging and rewarding – often all on the same day! Keeping up with advances in data techniques and technologies definitely adds to the challenge, but also to the excitement. Managing data and managing people are two very different things, and both are hugely rewarding. Nadine will share tips and personal experiences for navigating career progression in analytics, including insights into the difference between individual contributor and manager roles in data.

Workshops

Caroline Florence

Begin with the end in mind: How getting a great brief leads to greater impact

“Failing to plan is planning to fail” (by Alan Lakein, author of How to Get Control of Your Time and Your Life).

This sounds sensible, but when everything is needed “yesterday” it is tempting to rush straight in to your work in an attempt to deliver an answer to the business in record time and tick the task of your to do list.

Time to think and plan, rather than do, feels like a luxury, not a necessity.

But imagine if you spent just 1 more hour a week planning and you used this time to think about, challenge and reconstruct briefs from stakeholders within your business. How more effective and impactful could your analysis be?

In this session we cover the tools and techniques to make the most of that planning hour to ensure greater value from your work.

Jackie Clayton

How to make headlines Delivering the perfect data presentation

How much time do you spend preparing to communicate your analysis? Communication can make or break a good analytical story. In this session we will look at the creation and delivery of your key message and how this can increase the impact of your work. It’s time to put yourself and your profile on the front page.

Sarah Hodgkins

Being a career activist

Where do you see yourself in 5 years? What do you need to do to get there?

Kate Ross Smith

R Programming Workshop

The usage of R has evolved dramatically over recent years and it is now one of the most widely used statistical programming languages. This workshop will cover the R landscape today and highlight many of the most popular packages (the so-called “Hadleyverse” or “tidyverse”). The workshop will focus on the language of R via the user friendly RStudio IDE, to perform a simple workflow, import data, and perform some manipulation and visualisation. Finally a reporting session will cover the markdown and shiny packages.

The Female Lead

The Female Lead aims to make women’s stories more visible and to provide positive role models for future generations. The Female Lead is multi-platform

An online resource featuring videos, interviews, news and views at thefemalelead.com.
A book of 60 remarkable women with original portraits by internationally renowned portrait photographer, Brigitte Lacombe and in-depth video interviews with each woman by documentary maker, Marian Lacombe.
An outreach programme targeted at younger women to offer alternative role models to those ever-present in popular culture.

Download The Female Lead information about scheduled launches