M-SParc ... a very special place!
The North Wales Digital Skills Festival 2021 ran from 22nd to 27th November. It was organised by the team at M-Sparc (Menai Science Park). M-Sparc is a ground breaking technology and collaboration space in Anglesey, North Wales. And M-Sparc has very close links with the local community and in particular to Bangor University.
I must admit, I hadn’t heard of M-Sparc prior to my involvement with the Skills Festival. I had been contacted by the Microsoft MVP co-ordinator in the UK. And she asked me whether I’d be interested in getting involved, as I live on the border with Wales. Although she didn’t know this, my youngest son was born in Wales. And I have lived in Wales at different points in my life. So I immediately said ‘yes’, I was delighted to get involved. I was even more excited when I began to see the wonderful work being done at M-Sparc.
The team
While I was preparing for my session, I decided to speak with the team. I needed to understand what they wanted to achieve from the Festival. And more importantly, how I could help them. My first call was with the Marketing Events and Engagement Officer Jamie Thomas, who was co-ordinating the sessions. Jamie was super helpful. He explained the high level requirement and helped me find a good spot during the programme.
Next, I connected with Pryderi Ap Rhisiart. Pryderi is the Managing Director at M-Sparc. I found it really helpful to understand the vision for M-Sparc. And also the way in which M-Sparc supports the local economy. Lastly, I got in touch with a contact at Microsoft with a local connection to Anglesey. My Microsoft contact gave me some great ideas on how to engage with the community.
Power Platform 101
The purpose of my session was to provide an overview of the Microsoft Power Platform. In my session I would be explaining it’s features, it’s uses and the career opportunities it can present.
I started by explaining how the Microsoft Power Platform provides a rapid application development platform. I went on to explain how the Power Platform empowers collaboration. Power Platform allows business users to build and collaborate with pro-developers on solutions using low-code tools.
I then went on to describe each of the key elements of Power Apps, Power Automate, Power BI and Power Virtual Agent. I explained how they can be used by organisations large and small to provide enterprise class capabilities. And then I gave an outline of how the Power Platform can be seamlessly connected with business applications. And I discussed how this enables delivery of exceptional end-to-end solutions.
My session was targeted toward further and higher education students, graduates and those working in industry. Hopefully I was able to convey how awesome the Power Platform is, and inspire some future developers!