Inaugural LDNBotFramework Meetup Retrospective

We recently wrapped up the first #LDNBotFramework meetup! There were a lot of lessons learned for me, as a first time meetup organiser, and overall I think it was a success.

The venue was great; the big video wall in JustEat’s Fleet Place House office combined with a mic and speaker system that “just works”, a stocked beer fridge and far too much pizza, all made for a perfect tech meetup setup.

LDNBotFramework Team #1!

Erdeniz Hassan, Simon Michael, Robin Osborne, and David Low

Thanks to @beanbaglabs for this group pic!

Sessions

We were very lucky to have representation from Microsoft to kick things off, then some great insights from SkyScanner’s case study, finishing off with a lightning talk on user expectations from JustEat.

Microsoft Bot Framework and Cognitive Services

Simon Michael (@simon_mich) – Senior Tech Evangelist at Microsoft UK – had the obligatory BotFramework 101 (it was the first meetup after all), where we learned more about “Conversation as a Platform” including Microsoft Bot Framework and adding intelligence to our bots/apps using cognitive services.

LDNBotFramework 1 - Simon Michael: 10 ZetaBytes!

LDNBotFramework 1 -

LDNBotFramework 1 -

LDNBotFramework 1 -

Conversational Interface Case Study

David Low (@daviddlow) – SkyScanner – guided us through a case study of their growing use of conversational interfaces, and how they used BotFramework with some nodejs magic sprinkles to create a whole new way of booking your next holiday.

LDNBotFramework 1 - David Low

LDNBotFramework 1 - David Low

LDNBotFramework 1 - David Low

LDNBotFramework 1 - David Low

LDNBotFramework 1 - David Low

LDNBotFramework 1 - David Low

User Expectations of Bots

Erdeniz Hassan (@justeat_tech) – Senior UX Researcher at JustEat – wondered if chat bots will soon reign supreme! He shared some of the findings from discussions with JustEat customers when developing the Facebook chat bot and the Help & Support chat bot, and shed some light on the challenges faced and the lessons learned.

LDNBotFramework 1 - Erdeniz Hassan

LDNBotFramework 1 - Erdeniz Hassan

Video

The evening was recorded, and although you can see our beautiful faces in the photos, the video is audio and the presentations only.

Summary

From my perspective, a fantastic first session with a great group of attendees creating a thought provoking atmosphere with their questions and general chat.

I’m very much looking forwards to the next one!

Which reminds me: please sign up and rsvp!

Ordered far too much pizza..

Next time, we’ll walk the streets of London and donate it to the needy..

LDNBotFramework 1 - Leftovers..

Whoops..

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