Lightning talks

Women in Tech York is a community! We're made up of individuals studying, working in, or interested in technology. We run events where attendees can share their knowledge and interests, as well as encourage and empower one another whilst building their networks.

Our events are not exclusive to women; absolutely everyone is welcome. You don't need to be a coder or consider yourself technical to enjoy and benefit from our events. We welcome all students and career-changers who are interested in learning more about tech and careers in the industry.

Events run on the second Thursday of the month.

As always, there will be a free buffet (vegan options available) thanks to our amazing sponsors Isotoma and Genio. Please let us know about allergies in advance.

Our monthly events are designed to compliment our goals:

⭐ Feel included – Join a space where everyone is welcome.

⭐Explore your options – Discover new paths, ideas, and technologies.

⭐ Grow your network – Connect with like-minded people

⭐ Learn something new – Gain insights from speakers, panels, and discussions.

Because we mix up the format each month, some events will be more social, while others might focus on talks or structured networking.

We're bringing you rapid-fire talks on a variety of topics. We're joined by:

🔬, the scientific director and co-owner of Labskin Limited. She has a PhD from Leeds University in oral biology and an undergraduate degree from Leicester University in medical biochemistry. Nicola has worked for some of the worlds smallest and largest companies, from start ups to global contract research organisations. In her talk, "Building a Business Out of Skin", Nicola tells her story of holding true to her beliefs, resilience, not backing down and going for her dreams.

💡 who has over 12 years experience leading cross-generational teams in media & tech, incompanies such as Hearst and WeAre8. Jess has gained invaluable insights into how to buildmeaningful relationships across generations to produce business results. She has spent yearsbuilding high performing teams and received a 30 under 30 award for her commercialleadership. She is now a qualified Executive & Leadership Coach working with companies and their leaders in tech. In her talk "Age is Just a Number", Jess will explore the power of raising your profile at work.

👑 , a Product Marketing Manager who loves working at the intersection and of strategy, storytelling, and execution. Over the past few years, she's worked across both B2B and B2C SaaS products, helping teams align around what matters most to customers and how products show up in the market. Nire approaches product marketing through a customer-first lens, acting as the bridge between what’s built and how it’s understood. In her talk "Are Customers Still Kings? How SaaS products can remain customer-centric in an exhaustively competitive market", Nire explores practical strategies for product teams to stay truly customer-centric.

This month our event is designed to help you explore your options.

Submit your talk details here - we review submissions monthly as a team and vote for the talks we'd most like to hear. All submissions are anonymised before voting to ensure a fair process.

We're a very friendly group! If you'd like to chat to us beforehand you can join our Slack community or contact us directly via social media or email with any questions.

• Slack: https://wit-york.slack.com
• LinkedIn: Women in Tech York
• Instagram: womenintechyork
• Email: [email protected]
• Website: https://www.wityork.org.uk/contact

Can you cater for allergies and dietary requirements?

We always do our best to cater for everyone. If you let us know about your requirements at least 4 days in advance we'll pass them on to the venue and ask them to accommodate. A vegan buffet is ordered by default.

If you have concerns about the food on the night then please speak to a member of staff. Nutritional information can be found on Revolution's website. We order a buffet which typically includes mini burgers, fries, salads, garlic bread and small snacks. If you need to know what food will be provided ahead of time please let us know.

Is this event accessible?

• The room booked for this event is upstairs, but can be accessed by a lift. Please contact Revolution to confirm access to the lift.
• We usually use Google Slides with captions
• We ask our speakers to use the microphones provided.
• We have exclusive access to the upstairs toilets - please note there are 2 steps up to access these toilets specifically, though other toilets are available.
• You know your needs best - we've added an option on our order form for any adjustments or requirements you want to let the organisers know about in advance. We will do our best to ensure a fair and comfortable experience for everyone.

Is this event inclusive ?

We try our best to make sure everyone feels included, welcome and comfortable at Women in Tech York events

• Pronoun stickers are available for everyone (if your pronoun isn't provided please let us know and we'll get more created to include you).
• Red camera badges are available to indicate that you don't want to be photographed.
• Music is kept to a low volume.

Getting here

If you're unsure how to get to Revolution check out thesection of our website - we've added information on car parks, buses and bike paths around York.

The short version of our code of conduct is be respectful. Everyone here is part of our community. We do not tolerate any form of harassment or abuse.

If you'd like to see the full code of conduct, please view it on our website https://www.wityork.org.uk/conduct or email [email protected] for more details.

Info: You can arrive any time during registration. This is a chance for attendees to check in, grab a drink, and chat. The event will formally start at 18:30.

Info: Nicola tells her story as the owner and scientific director of Labskin Limited - they create human skin models in the lab for testing skincare, cosmetics, pharmaceutical and wound healing products. Anything that goes on or in skin, they can test. They are an alternative to human and animal testing and are pushing the boundaries of lab grown skin models with our psoriasis and melanoma models.

Info: Jess explores the difference between leading and managing and taking the focus away from ages and titles in the workplace to how to focus more on cross generational communication in the tech space. We work in a space now where there are 4 generations at the leadership table and in teams and we need to lean into these differences to do great work and build life long relationships. The key question Jess revisits during this talk is 'If I wasn't in the room, what would I want them to be saying about me?'

Info: The session explores the tension between saying we’re customer-centric and actually building around real user behaviour. It covers practical ways product and growth teams can stay connected to genuine customer signals and drive stronger adoption.
This session features real stories and service before a short, hands-on activity to explore how service design connects people, policy, and technology, and why the “invisible” parts of our systems matter just as much as the visible ones.

It’s a look at the human side of tech, the people who keep systems running and showing how design can make their work simpler, clearer, and more joined up.

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