Big Data LDN

..and the rise of Artificial AI

Completed it mate.

My first Big Data LDN (BDL) that is. And it IS big. Like Douglas Adams’ definition of big, big - here’s his take in case you’re not familiar:

“Space is big. You just won’t believe how vastly, hugely, mind-boggling big it is. I mean, you may think it’s a long way down the road to the chemist’s, but that’s just peanuts to space.”

Video footage from the conference gives you some idea of the scale (though I’m not sure even this does it justice).

I was there as an exhibitor this year. I’m sure, had I been there as an attendee, there would have been more opportunity to take in talks and explore even more of the vast London Olympia venue. But I still felt I got to experience enough to get the gist of what this headline data event is all about.

Having been fortunate enough to attend many data conferences in recent years, this one certainly has a different vibe. I’m used to more community driven events, where it’s more targeted at practitioners and knowledge sharing. BDL has more of a trade show vibe, with an infinite sea of vendors trying to entice you to invest in their cutting edge product.

There was a very common theme amongst the marketing bumf of those vendors; AI.

AI this, AI that. AI was everywhere.

Anyone else hit AI fatigue yet? I’m gonna blaze a trail and introduce you to the next big thing; artificial AI.

Or basically AI that isn’t real, or at least, isn’t really useful.

One of my favourite games when I got chance to take a break from manning the Advancing Analytics booth was to wander the halls looking for THE most egregious AI claim.

My favourites included “Generative Integration”…whuh? That’s not a real thing surely? I can get behind AI assisted Data Engineering, but this felt a step too far for me.

And my absolute highlight was “AI Powered Weather”. What now? AI can do natural phenomena now? I’m sure this was just careless marketing and it was really some kind of AI assisted weather analytics. Seeing the influence weather might have on your sales/service etc… is a genuinely cool use case, but the ridiculousness of the marketing tagline left me turned off to actually having a conversation with someone to find out more.

The second thing to keep me amused was to mis-pronounce the names of the many obscure data vendors in attendance. If I’d been feeling more mischievous (and/or had more time) I might have done that in conversation at the vendor’s stand, but instead it was just a private joke with my fellow AA booth buddies.

Of course there was much swag to be claimed. I have to admit to being a bit of a swag slag. I try and be selective and not claim swag for swag’s sake, and I also try and stick to products I actually have some interest in or affinity with. As an avid hat wearer I was particular fond of my new headwear acquisitions.

The classic event cliché is that it’s the people that make it. BDL feels a bit more formal to me – slightly less social, with more business oriented conversations, but even so, I was super stoked to finally say hello and catch quick conversations with various heroes from my LinkedIn feed. If any of them read this, they know who they are… thanks for grabbing 5 minutes!

Exhibiting was exhausting. Two days on your feet talking to folks and being enthusiastic about AA and what we do is theoretically not a hard undertaking, but by the end of the event, I’m not sure I have any feet left. They feel like they may have been ground down to stumps at the end of my legs. I’m very fortunate to work with a great bunch of people though, so I was never short of fantastic company.

Writing this on the train home though, I am very much looking forward putting (the remains of) my feet up and having a lazy weekend.

But will I be back? Hopefully. I believe AA are already making plans to take part in the 2025 edition, and if called upon again to be a booth babe, I’d happily oblige. Otherwise, if the chance to go as an attendee arises, I’d love the opportunity to take in the event through a different lens.

See you there next year?