At this year’s Annual General Meetup (AGM), we’ll be celebrating the achievements of our community, marking milestones hit by Sheffield Digital, revealing what’s coming in 2026, and raising funds for St Luke’s – a charity that’s provided exceptional end of life care for more than half a century. We’ll also be shining a light on our city’s amazing meetup scene, as we officially launch the new Meetup Directory.
Join us on Wednesday 11 February from 5:30pm at the Showroom Workstation as we bring together the digital tech community to meet with familiar faces, make new connections and get the low down on what’s been done, and what’s to come in 2026. As always, we’ll be serving a hot meal and hot drinks are included within the ticket price (with all proceeds from this going to St Luke’s). There’ll be plenty of opportunities to chat and mingle, and a cash bar will be available before and after the AGM presentations.
Time to celebrate
The Sheffield Digital AGM is always a brilliant opportunity to celebrate the wins in our city’s digital tech sector. This includes looking back at what our organisation has achieved over the past 12 months – it’s all driven by your membership so we want you to see the impact you’re helping us deliver.
It’s also a celebration of you – the people and companies doing great things in digital tech in Sheffield, every day. We’re already busy compiling our ‘hall of fame’, marking the awards wins, the investments, team growth, new offices and everything else you’ve been shouting about. Don’t get left out – send us your good news complete with a photo and/or logo to Sarah@sheffield.digital before Friday 30 January.
From mentor to business partner: a story of collaboration
This year’s keynote will be an interview with Andrew Longman and Chris Muscroft, a duo who are now working in partnership on AI platform Promptable, after they met through the Sheffield Digital Mentoring scheme. Talented entrepreneur Andrew and experienced tech businessman Chris will be joined by Mel Kanarek for an interview about their journey together, the launch of Promotable, and the dynamics of their collaboration.
Get to know the Centre for Machine Intelligence
Adding to our line-up, we’re thrilled to welcome Susan Oman, Senior Lecturer in Data, AI and Society, and AI and In/equality Lead, Centre for Machine Intelligence (CMI), The University of Sheffield. Susan will be speaking about her work at the CMI and the raft of research, insight and experience she brings to the role, centred around digital, AI and data concerns, focussing on well-being, inequalities and improving organisational and policy practices. Her research includes a two-year policy-research fellowship inside the Department for Digital Culture, Media and Sport, who published her report on Digital culture – a review of evidence and experience, and she regularly appears across BBC news outlets offering expert commentary.
Meet the meetups
Sheffield has a fantastic tech meetup scene. We’re incredibly proud to be launching The Meetup Directory – a new resource to help organisers showcase their events, and to help people find a meetup that’s right for them. To honour this, we’ll be inviting meetup organisers to deliver back-to-back lightning pitches at the AGM, giving you the headline details of their event and an opportunity to find out more during drinks and networking after the AGM.
Helping to fund pioneering care at St Lukes
We’re really pleased to be supporting St Lukes Hospice this year, not least because it is celebrating 55 years of service to our city, providing pioneering care to adults with terminal illnesses.
The charity’s purpose is to give patients and their families the high-quality care they need, treating each person as a unique individual. Last year, St Luke’s cared for nearly 1,800 patients and supported their families and carers – helping around 6,000 people in all.
Only 23% of St Luke’s running costs are covered by government funding, this year alone the charity needs to raise over £11 million. The money we raise from ticket sales to our AGM will be donated to St Luke’s and we’ll welcome a member of the team to the stage to tell us more about this vital charity.
Be there
You can help us to support St Lukes and secure your spot at the AGM by purchasing a ticket for £10.00, which includes a hot meal and hot drinks, and proceeds go to the charity. There’ll also be a cash bar open before and after the presentations. All members should have received a link to buy your ticket from Emma Marshall, if you haven’t or you are not a member yet but would like to attend, just email Emma.