Keith Atherton
Power Platform Solution Architect | Microsoft MVP | MCT | 11x Microsoft Certified | User Group Leader | LinkedIn Learning Instructor | Speaker | Podcaster
Edinburgh, United Kingdom
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Power Platform Solution Architect, Microsoft MVP for Business Applications, Microsoft Certified Trainer (MCT), 11x Microsoft certified, published LinkedIn Learning instructor, public speaker, Power Platform Community High Five user group founder, On Air in the Cloud podcast host, blogger, and mentor.
Versatile solution architect with over 25 years' international experience of leading and developing software solutions in permanent and contract roles for sectors including finance, legal, manufacturing, construction, game development, retail, healthcare, travel, and charity.
Find me online: https://linktr.ee/keithatherton
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Copilot City: Agents, Anarchy & the Law
Agents are opening doors faster than most organisations can keep up with. With a few clicks, anyone can spin up an agent that talks to customers, processes data, or interacts with internal systems - and that speed is both the opportunity and the risk.
In this session, we’ll follow two familiar characters you’ve probably met in your own organisation:
Maverick - a renegade Copilot Studio builder. He moves fast, breaks things, and spins up agents quickly to solve real problems but at what cost? Guardrails? “Suggestions.” Best practices? “Optional.” If there’s a limit, Maverick has already found a way around it.
The CoE Commander - the uncompromising force of Copilot governance. Badge, rulebook, and risk register in hand, she’s here to protect the organisation from data leaks, compliance nightmares, and AI agents that have gone completely off the rails.
We’ll use them to explore the real tension many organisations face right now: balancing creativity and innovation with security, oversight, and responsible use of AI agents living in your very own Copilot city.
This session is grounded in real-world experience from working with organisations who are trying to get Copilot Studio implementation right - not by slowing people down, but by putting the right conversations, boundaries, and support structures in place. By the end, you’ll have a clearer picture of how to encourage responsible innovation, keep things on track, and avoid turning your AI rollout into a firefight.
Key takeaways:
- How to put governance in place that protects the business without blocking momentum
- How makers and governance leads can actually collaborate instead of working at cross purposes
- Practical patterns and controls for scaling Copilot Studio safely and sustainably
Copilot City: Agents, Anarchy & the Law
Agents are opening doors faster than most organisations can keep up with. With a few clicks, anyone can spin up an agent that talks to customers, processes data, or interacts with internal systems - and that speed is both the opportunity and the risk.
In this session, we’ll follow two familiar characters you’ve probably met in your own organisation:
Maverick - a renegade Copilot Studio builder. He moves fast, breaks things, and spins up agents quickly to solve real problems but at what cost? Guardrails? “Suggestions.” Best practices? “Optional.” If there’s a limit, Keith has already found a way around it.
The CoE Commander - the uncompromising force of Copilot governance. Badge, rulebook, and risk register in hand, she’s here to protect the organisation from data leaks, compliance nightmares, and AI agents that have gone completely off the rails.
We’ll use them to explore the real tension many organisations face right now: balancing creativity and innovation with security, oversight, and responsible use of AI agents living in your very own Copilot city.
This session is grounded in real-world experience from working with organisations who are trying to get Copilot Studio implementation right - not by slowing people down, but by putting the right conversations, boundaries, and support structures in place. By the end, you’ll have a clearer picture of how to encourage responsible innovation, keep things on track, and avoid turning your AI rollout into a firefight.
Nuke it from Orbit! Power Platform Testing Tips & Tricks
In space, no one can hear your app crash… but on Earth, your users definitely can.
Join Mel and Keith as they gear up and take you on a high-octane, intergalactic mission to obliterate bugs, squash rogue flows, and track down those sneaky canvas app glitches hiding in the shadows of your environment. With a heavy dose of Aliens nostalgia, we’ll explore battle-tested strategies, tools, and tips for testing across the Power Platform — without triggering a full-blown incident on LV-426.
Expect laughs, explosions (theoretical ones), and the kind of practical guidance that makes you want to say, “Game over, bugs!” Whether you’re a hardened Colonial Power Apps Marine or a wide-eyed Power Automate rookie, you’ll leave ready to test with extreme prejudice.
In this action-packed session, we’ll show you:
- How QA saves your reputation (and sanity)
- Built in Power Platform tools to hunt bugs before they burst out
- Demos of testing like a pro with tools like Test Studio
Remember: when in doubt… nuke the bugs from orbit. It’s the only way to be sure.
Power Platform: Rise of the Copilots
"Come with me if you want to build…"
In this fast-paced session, we explore the ever-expanding universe of Power Platform Copilots — and how they’re revolutionizing app and automation creation faster than a T-800 takes care of business. Join us for a live demonstration of how AI-powered copilots can help you:
- Spin up Power Apps like a boss (without bending time or space),
- Assemble Power Automate cloud flows with zero fuss (no resistance fighters required),
- Launch Power Pages websites in record time (Skynet would be jealous),
- And craft intelligent agents in Microsoft Copilot Studio that won’t try to take over the world… probably.
Whether you're a seasoned pro or still trying to remember if "flow" is a verb or a noun, this session will entertain, educate, and maybe even save humanity from manually building solutions ever again.
Hasta la vista, manual work!
Mega Solutions! Designing AI-Infused Enterprise-Scale Power Platform Solutions
In this hands-on workshop, we will explore how to design enterprise-scale Power Platform solutions using real-world examples.
We will walkthrough building an event management system for internal and external users, and cover how to:
- Structure your app using building blocks that can be reused across other apps and other parts of the Power Platform
- Optimise your app's performance to ensure a seamless user experience, and drive user adoption
- Ensure your solution works seamlessly when receiving high volumes of data, such as millions of records
- Secure and share your app securely with large amounts of users
- Implement Power Platform reference architecture
- Integrate the Power Platform with other data sources
- Extend the Power Platform using Azure, .NET plugins, PCF components and more
- Augment your solutions with agentic AI
By the end of this session, you'll have the knowledge needed to create mega solutions that can cope with anything!
Mastering the Art of Solution Selection: Crafting Power Platform Solutions
Solving business problems and finding solutions to a variety of business requirements can be such a great and rewarding process. However, Power Platform offers a variety of different approaches and strategies to apply to deliver a specific requirement.
As a result, sometimes we might face a dilemma of what solution will be the best to achieve the desired outcome.
Sometimes there are several functional consultant and technical architect options available, each offering their own benefits and challenges.
If that sounds familiar to you, then join us for a session where we will be addressing those problems.
At the session we will cover:
- Top things to consider when choosing the right solution,
- Different business requirements and how they can be delivered using functional and technical approaches,
- Pros and cons for choosing each solution.
At the end of session, you will become equipped with knowledge of the variety of important aspects that need careful consideration when designing solutions.
Additionally, the examples we will cover will help you to understand the potential options you might have to deliver a requirement, and which one to choose and why.
Top 10 Power Fx Functions to Master as a Beginner
Join us in this demo-driven session as we dive deep into the world of Power Fx, Microsoft's low-code programming language for building custom business applications.
This session will highlight 10 Power Fx functions which will supercharge your app development with Power Fx. The session will be run from a canvas app .msapp file which will be shared afterwards.
The session will cover:
- Power Fx standards and best practises
- Demos of real-life use cases for Power Fx functions
- Effective error handling
Full Power! Power App Optimisation
User experience (UX) can make or break adoption of a solution, and a large part of that experience can be the performance of your app.
In this session, we'll demonstrate various ways to optimise Power Apps to get optimal performance to improve that experience. We will cover:
- Code optimisation
- Architectural optimisation
- User experience (UX)
- Monitoring & troubleshooting
You'll leave this session with knowledge on how to make your apps perform as fast as possible, happier customers, and less support tickets!
How to Prepare for Microsoft Certifications
Are you interested in what Microsoft Certifications are or which one to take next?
In this session, we'll look into:
- What Microsoft Certifications are and how they can benefit your career
- Learning resources
- How to book exams, take renewals, and what to expect
- Where to find discounts
- Study tips
This session will give you knowledge into how Microsoft Certifications can impact your skills and career and take them to new levels!
With Great Power (Apps) Comes Great Reusability
Your time is precious! Luckily, there are many ways we can reuse UI components and code to work more efficiently and avoid duplication of effort when creating Power Apps.
In this session, we'll look into reusability by using awesome low-code features including components, component libraries, named formulas, and low-code plug-ins, as well as code-first features including client side scripting and plug-ins.
Don't worry, this won't be a dry technical session... er, actually, it will be a DRY (don't repeat yourself) technical session.
Combining Low-Code with Pro-Code! Extend the Power Platform
Are you a professional developer wondering if the low-code Power Platform is too basic or limited when compared with building solutions from the ground up using traditional professional code-first development tech stacks? Then prepare to be surprised!
In this session, you'll hear from a professional developer with over 20 years' experience who transitioned to becoming a Power Platform Solution Architect in recent years - but who still utilises their professional developer skills in combination with all aspects of the low-code Power Platform.
You'll leave this session with knowledge on how much technical depth the Power Platform can offer in terms of the tools and languages available, the ability for rapid application development, how to extend the Power Platform using tradition professional code-first tech stacks, and much more.
Crafting Responsive Canvas Power Apps
In this session, we will explore the intricacies of designing responsive canvas Power Apps, ensuring seamless user experiences across diverse devices and screen sizes. We will cover:
- Understanding responsive design
- Utilizing containers and controls
- Adaptive sizing techniques
- Responsive design patterns
- Testing and debugging
By the end of this session, you'll have the knowledge and tools needed to create visually appealing, user-friendly, and responsive canvas Power Apps that meet the needs of your users, regardless of their device or screen size.
Join us to transform your Power Apps development skills and deliver exceptional mobile-first solutions.
Describe It, AI Builds It! Live App Building with Power Apps Generative Pages
What happens when you let AI design your app pages for you?
In this fast-paced, interactive session, we’ll use Generative Pages in Power Apps live on stage, driven by prompts from the audience. You’ll see how natural language turns into real, usable app pages in seconds - and what to do when the AI gets a little too creative.
Expect live demos, audience voting, and plenty of practical tips for getting the best results from generative experiences without losing control.
Plan to Succeed! Live AI Solution Planning using Power Apps Plans
What if solution design didn’t start with a blank canvas?
In this interactive session, the audience becomes the business stakeholder. You’ll shout out problems, constraints, and wild ideas while we use Plans in Power Apps to turn them into structured solutions in real time. Watch AI help shape apps, data, processes, and agents before a single screen is built.
Expect live planning, audience decisions, and practical takeaways on using Plans to move faster without skipping the thinking.
The Future is Now! The Next Generation of Power App Development
The way we build Power Apps is changing fast. Really fast.
What used to be a choice between canvas apps and model-driven apps has exploded into a full spectrum of possibilities. Now we’ve got AI-powered generative pages, code apps, and even vibe apps where describing what you want is half the job done.
In this session, we’ll take a fast-paced tour through the evolving world of Power Apps - from the foundations you know to the cutting-edge capabilities you probably haven’t tried yet. We’ll explore how AI is transforming not just how apps are built, but who can build them and how quickly they can go from idea to reality.
And yes, this is not just low-code anymore. We’ll also dive into how pro-code tools like Visual Studio Code fit into the picture, giving you the power to go deeper, extend further, and truly build your way.
Expect demos, real scenarios, and a few “wait… you can do THAT now?” moments.
Whether you’re a low-code builder, a pro developer, or somewhere in between, you’ll leave with a clear view of where things are heading and how to stay ahead of the curve.
The Future is Now! The Next Generation of Power App Development Workshop
The future of app development isn’t coming… it’s already here. And it’s moving fast.
In this hands-on workshop, you’ll dive into the next generation of Power Apps development - where traditional boundaries between low-code and pro-code are disappearing, and AI is changing how everything gets built.
We’ll start with the foundations - canvas apps and model-driven apps - and quickly move beyond them into the new wave of capabilities reshaping the platform. You’ll get hands-on experience with model-driven app generative pages, explore emerging concepts like code apps and vibe apps, and see how AI can take you from idea to working solution faster than ever.
This is not a sit-back-and-watch session. You’ll build. A lot.
Through guided exercises that ramp up in complexity, you’ll experiment with different ways of creating apps - from traditional approaches to AI-assisted and prompt-driven development. You’ll learn how to choose the right approach for the right scenario, and how to combine them to deliver powerful, real-world solutions.
We’ll also step into pro-code territory, using tools like Visual Studio Code to extend and customise your apps, giving you the flexibility to go deeper when low-code alone isn’t enough.
By the end of the day, you won’t just understand where Power Apps is heading - you’ll have built across the spectrum and experienced it for yourself.
What you’ll cover:
- The Foundations Still Matter - Building with canvas apps and model-driven apps
- AI Changes Everything - Using Copilots and AI-assisted experiences to accelerate development
- Generative Experiences - Creating model-driven app generative pages with minimal effort
- New Ways to Build - Exploring code apps and the rise of vibe apps
- Build Your Way - Choosing between low-code, pro-code, or a blend of both
- Pro-Code Extensions - Using Visual Studio Code to customise and extend solutions
- Real-World Scenarios - Applying the right approach to the right problem
What you’ll walk away with:
- A clear understanding of the evolving Power Apps landscape and where it’s heading
- Practical experience building apps using multiple approaches, including AI-assisted techniques
- Confidence to combine low-code and pro-code to create faster, smarter, and more flexible solutions
If you want to stop just keeping up with the platform and start getting ahead of it, this workshop is for you.
Festive Tech Calendar 2021 Sessionize Event
Keith Atherton
Power Platform Solution Architect | Microsoft MVP | MCT | 11x Microsoft Certified | User Group Leader | LinkedIn Learning Instructor | Speaker | Podcaster
Edinburgh, United Kingdom
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