I've spent 23 years in the tech trenches of media and events, launching five tech tradeshows from scratch, leading an MBO for a webinar-based smart energy business, and yes, actually coding the solutions myself. 

People struggle to believe someone can both launch major industry events and build/implement the tech that powers them. But that unique combination naturally led me to become a tech consultant for events and media businesses.

Through that consulting work, I discovered something obvious yet profound: the maximum impact of tech isn't in the features, it's in transforming business operations, customer acquisition, and retention. These aren't just event challenges; they're universal problems for any independent business.

Then ChatGPT arrived, and I realised everything was about to change. So I did what I always do, took a break, and dove in headfirst. That was 2023. You can't advise on something you don't understand yourself, and this tech is so new that there is no playbook.

Two years into my Human in the Loop (HITL) experiment, I've discovered the real superpower for independents: AI forces you to completely reimagine how you get to outcomes, not just optimise existing processes.

And unlike corporate oil tankers that take years to change course, independents can pivot in days. We can throw out 20-year-old workflows and build something radically better without committee approval.

Through Digitising Events, I'm documenting this transformation. Like when I built a text-to-voice system so research could be listened to, turning 2-hour reading sessions into productive commute time. Or discovering that AI video editing doesn't just speed up old workflows; it enables entirely new content strategies impossible before.

The weekly retrospectives document what happens when you stop trying to make AI fit existing processes and instead rebuild from the outcome backwards. The failures? They're as valuable as successes when you're charting new territory.

In my career, with its twists and turns, I've done more than most would believe possible. Now I'm proving that AI isn't about automating what we did yesterday, it's about reimagining what's possible tomorrow. And independent businesses have the agility to get there first.

Still love my video games, discovering new music and Bauhaus design. But these days, you'll find me sharing what I've learned on Digitising Events to help independent businesses understand their secret weapon: the ability to completely reinvent processes while enterprises are still writing the business case.