My Adventures at Leeds Digital Festival

Now I’m not bias or anything but I do agree with the word on the street that Leeds is truly the digital capital of the North. London has always had dominance over digital (like with most things) but with increasing living costs combined with the tear-inducing expenses of running a business in the capital that dominance is slowly diminishing. It’s a no brainer if you ask me, it completely makes sense that more and more people are setting up home in good ol’ Yorkshire where the air is fresh and digital innovation is even fresher.

Stuart Clarke, the Festival Director at #LeedsDigi17 hit the nail on the head when it comes to Northerners and their modesty, “it is something of a Yorkshire trait to shy away from telling people how great we are and how well we are doing as it is seen as boasting.” It’s true, we don’t like to brag, but our growing digital expertise is definitely something that needs to celebrated and shared with the wider world.

The North’s largest digital festival, 2017 has been bigger and better, with over 100 events taking over the city and around 10,000 attendees turning up to get their digital juices flowing. Our constantly evolving digital culture culminates in this annual get together with the best of the best from the digital landscape, sharing their thoughts and insight for the upcoming year.

With so many experts, influencers and digital geniuses speaking this year, it was tough to choose which events would be the best fit for us. However, I narrowed down my choices and decided on two great events that quickly sold out.

Social Media Masterclass with Becky Boyd

We navigated the maze that is Leeds University and was soon picked up by a friendly Santander official who guided us to a secret hideaway within the university. We were greeted by Becky herself and a selection of tea, coffee and pastries (yes, this is my kind of my masterclass).

I went along with our social media specialist Saf, keen to discover what Becky thought were the new and upcoming trends and best practices for social media management across a range of different industries. Becky Boyd, a self-confessed social media geek, led this informative session, imparting her wisdom on the best strategies to adopt for businesses and clients.

It was a great talk, discovering new social media tools to investigate and some social media fails and wins from key brands that taught us a few lessons on delivering campaigns which can work for our clients and their target audiences.

SEO Conference – Leeds Love Search

It’s true, we do love search. And we were all so excited for this conference, we decided to lock up the office and take a team trip into the city for the afternoon. The conference was held in the super alternative and quirky Headrow House – coincidentally one of my favourite spots for a drink on a weekend so I felt very at home.

We joined some of the city’s key SEO experts for presentations and panel discussions on the key areas of search we need to be aware of in 2017. From how to gain quality links to responding to the growing artificial intelligence which is changing how we search, it was an insightful conference that left us all loving search that little bit more.

Leeds Digital Festival is all about digital lovers and experts coming together and celebrating the evolving online world.

And after attending some really great events, I already can’t wait to see what next year has to offer.