Juliana Smith
Controls Analytics & Data Design Specialist
Manchester, United Kingdom
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Juliana Smith is a multi‑award‑winning data and reporting expert with a background in Physical Oceanography. For over 15 years she has explored the stories hidden within data, and since 2020 she has been leveraging Power BI to deliver scalable, high‑quality insights and data visualisations.
Specialising in data design and project controls analytics, Juliana translates complex cost, schedule, and performance metrics into clear, actionable insights that empower confident decision‑making. Her work is defined by a commitment to accessibility, precision, and purposeful design, bridging the gap between raw data and strategic impact.
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Ethical Storytelling: Keeping Your Visuals on the Right Side of Truth
Have you ever seen a headline that felt shocking, urgent, or even scary, only to discover that once you dug into the data, the story didn’t quite hold up? That moment of realisation is where ethics in storytelling begin.
This session explores how sampling bias and the framing effect quietly shape data stories, often without malicious intent, yet with very real consequences. You’ll see how technically “correct” data can still distort understanding, steer decisions, and undermine trust through what’s included, what’s excluded, and how the narrative is constructed.
We then turn to responsibility. Using real examples, we’ll look at how to surface data limitations, avoid manipulative framing and headlines, and design visualisations that inform rather than mislead. You’ll leave with practical techniques for keeping your visuals on the right side of truth.
If you care about trust, integrity, and the real‑world impact of your data stories, this session will change how you design them.
Ethos, Pathos & Logos: Aristotle’s Lesson for Ethical Data Design
Dashboards are designed to support decision-making, yet many still create confusion instead of clarity. Users question whether they can trust the data, struggle to interpret what they are seeing, or are unintentionally excluded by inaccessible and overly complex designs. When this happens, even technically correct reports can fail to drive meaningful action.
This session explores how a 2,000-year-old framework from Aristotle can help solve these modern data communication challenges through the principles of Ethos (credibility), Logos (logic), and Pathos (emotion).
Using real examples, attendees will learn how ethical and transparent design choices strengthen trust in reporting (Ethos), how cognitive and perceptual design principles improve clarity and understanding (Logos), and how accessibility and empathy-driven design create more inclusive experiences that work for a wider audience (Pathos).
Crossing Oceans and Recoding Careers: How to Rebuild Your Professional Identity in a New Country
Relocating to a new country can reset your career overnight. Qualifications may not translate, professional networks disappear, confidence can be shaken by language barriers, and cultural expectations around work often differ more than anticipated. Many skilled professionals find themselves starting again from zero, regardless of prior experience.
This session explores how to intentionally rebuild a professional identity after international relocation and career transition. Through our journey of moving countries and transitioning into roles centred on Microsoft applications, we will share practical strategies for navigating cultural adjustment, repositioning existing expertise, and building credibility in a competitive job market.
Attendees will learn how to identify transferable strengths, communicate value in a new professional context, approach networking without an established circle, and manage the mindset challenges that often accompany reinvention. Whether you are considering an international move, changing industries, or supporting diverse talent within your organisation, this session provides realistic insights and actionable approaches to help you adapt and progress with confidence.
Accidental Data Lies: Avoiding Misleading Visuals in Power BI
Not all misleading charts are intentional. Often, they’re the result of small visual design decisions that unintentionally distort how data is interpreted.
In this session, we’ll explore real-world examples of misleading charts from media, public reports, and widely shared graphics. From pie chart overload to truncated axes, confusing colour choices, and questionable scales, we’ll examine how seemingly innocent visuals can change the story data appears to tell.
Using these examples as a starting point, we’ll translate the lessons into practical guidance for developers working with Power BI. We’ll look at how chart selection, scale configuration, colour usage, and layout decisions can influence interpretation, and how to design visuals that communicate clearly and responsibly.
We’ll also touch on concepts such as framing effects and sampling bias, exploring how cognitive and visual factors combine to shape the narratives audiences take away from data.
By the end of this session, you’ll have sharper instincts for spotting misleading visuals and practical techniques to ensure your Power BI reports support clear, trustworthy insights.
POURing Accessibility into Power BI: Practical Steps for Inclusive Analytics
Many organisations focus on accessibility for websites, but overlook Power BI, even though reports used for decisions, risk, and performance are digital products too.
If people can’t access them, they’re excluded. My perspective is shaped by experience: after a work injury caused nerve damage, a simple hardware change transformed my ability to work and reframed accessibility as essential, not optional.
This session introduces the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), which define global standards for digital accessibility, and explains how their POUR principles (Perceivable, Operable, Understandable and Robust), translate directly into practical Power BI design choices. We also explore how AI/DAX/UDF can generate meaningful alternative text for visuals, improving accuracy and reducing manual effort.
Attendees will leave with clear, repeatable methods to make Power BI reports more inclusive, usable, and compliant by design.
You Are Not Your Job: Building a Purpose-Driven Personal Brand with Ikigai
In a tech industry that often equates success with titles, certifications, and technical mastery, it’s easy to lose sight of what truly defines our value. Our worth isn’t in the job title we hold, it’s in the work we’re meant to do.
In this session, I’ll share how the Japanese concept of Ikigai, meaning “reason for being”, reshaped my approach to personal branding. From navigating a career crisis to becoming an international speaker and STEM changemaker, I’ll walk you through how aligning with purpose transformed my visibility, impact, and career direction.
Together, we’ll explore how to build a personal brand rooted in authenticity, values, and intentional action. Through the lens of Ikigai, you’ll learn how to:
1. Distinguish your “job” from your deeper “work”
2. Align your passions, strengths, and purpose with what the world truly needs
3. Launch side hustles that energise your spirit, not just your income
4. Attract opportunities by living your brand, not chasing recognition
Whether you’re just starting out or redefining your path, this session offers practical strategies, reflective prompts, and real-world examples to help you build a brand that resonates, because when you live your Ikigai, your impact speaks for itself.
Optimising Primavera P6 Reporting with Power BI
Unlock the full potential of Primavera P6 reporting with Power BI! This session is designed to help project professionals transform P6 data into actionable insights by leveraging Power BI’s powerful analytics and visualisation capabilities.
I will explore different ways to connect Power BI to Primavera P6, break down the structure of P6 exports, and demonstrate how to build meaningful reports, including S-Curves. Additionally, I’ll highlight the importance of data accessibility to ensure that reports are inclusive for all users.
Through a real-world case study, attendees will gain hands-on knowledge of how to clean, model, and visualise P6 data, empowering them to drive better decision-making and streamline project reporting.
Beyond Red, Amber, Green: Building Colour-Accessible Dashboards
Raise your hand if you rely on red, amber, and green (RAG) to report performance and progress…
Now imagine discovering, as I once did, that a colour-blind user had spent six months quietly struggling to make sense of a dashboard, simply because the colours told a story he couldn’t see.
For millions of people with colour-blindness, those familiar RAG visuals can blur into a single message, or no message at all.
In this session, we’ll explore how to move beyond traffic-light reporting to create dashboards everyone can read and act on. You’ll learn how to apply WCAG contrast principles, introduce accessible colour themes (including a Power BI colour-mode toggle), and strike the right balance between brand guidelines and usability.
Walk away with practical techniques to build colour-accessible dashboards that inform, include, and genuinely empower every user.
Blink First, Think Later: Designing Power BI Report for Human Instincts
Before users analyse your data, they blink, scan, and make snap judgements.
This session is about designing Power BI dashboards for that split second of human instinct. You’ll learn how layout, spacing, and visual hierarchy guide attention before logic kicks in, and how accessibility plays a key role in making insights discoverable, not hidden.
Expect real-world examples, quick wins, and design techniques you can apply immediately to help users find what matters without being told where to look.
AI for Good Starts with Intent: Lessons from Building a Power BI Accessibility Checker
Accessibility in Power BI is widely recognised as important, but it’s rarely approached in a consistent or scalable way. Most teams rely on manual checks and visual judgement, making it difficult to know whether a report is truly usable for everyone.
In this session, I’ll share how I built PBIX A11y, a free, browser-based accessibility checker for Power BI, using AI to turn a recurring frustration into a practical solution.
This is a behind-the-scenes look at the journey, from identifying the gap and reframing the problem from a user perspective, to designing meaningful checks and making deliberate decisions around usability, trust, and compliance. I’ll also share how Copilot became a prompting companion throughout the process, helping refine ideas, iterate faster, and expose the limitations that required better prompting and human judgement. I’ll show how AI accelerated development, but also where domain knowledge was essential to ensure outputs were accurate, useful, and responsible.
Beyond the technical build, I’ll cover real-world considerations that emerged along the way, including validating AI-generated results, navigating GDPR and privacy requirements, SEO trade-offs for a public tool, and the constraints these factors introduce.
Attendees will leave with a practical perspective on what it really takes to turn an idea into a purposeful AI solution, including the trade-offs and constraints involved.
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