How will AI and Plan Designer change Power Platform development?

The Power Platform is evolving fast- and this summer, Plan Designer landed with a bang. It’s now the first thing developers see when opening the Maker Portal, and it’s already reshaping how we build. But that’s just the beginning. Generative Pages are next, and they promise to disrupt development even further, bringing vibe coding to the platform.

In this session, join experienced speakers and user-group leaders Neil Rowlands and Adrian Cole as they unpack what these new tools can and can’t do, how they’ll impact developer roles, and what this means for client expectations. You’ll leave with practical insights on how to adapt your development approach, navigate common challenges, and spot new opportunities for innovation.

If you work with Power Platform and want to stay ahead of the curve, this session is essential. Miss it, and you risk falling behind as AI reshapes the way we build.

45 minute session

Creating a Power BI training programme

Teams in our organisations have both data and business requirements… all we have to do is train our colleagues how to use Power BI Desktop/Power Query and they can rapidly author their own MIBI reporting. By upskilling existing staff, your organisation will gain ownership of the outputs and reduce the need for contractors

In this interactive session we will structure a 2-day Power BI training plan outline, giving all attendees an effective framework to use to deliver to their colleagues. I will also share advice from delivering training internally over several years at multiple organisations

Thinking Like A Power Platform Architect workshop

Are you ready to take the leap from maker to architect? Join seasoned Power Platform Architects Neil Rowlands and Keith Atherton as they share their real-world experiences, frameworks, and thinking patterns that empower makers, consultants, and citizen developers to grow into strategic solution architects.

This workshop is designed to bridge the gap between building solutions and architecting them. Together, we'll explore the mindset shift required to move beyond app creation and into strategic, scalable, and sustainable platform design. You'll learn how to evaluate requirements with a broader lens, design with enterprise in mind, and balance rapid delivery with long-term governance.

What You’ll Learn:

* The core principles of Power Platform architecture
* How to approach problems like an architect, not just a maker
* Navigating the trade-offs between no-code speed and long-term sustainability
* Designing solutions with governance, ALM, security, and scalability in mind
* Common pitfalls in solution design and how to avoid them
* Real-life architectural war stories from enterprise projects

Format:

* Interactive discussions with architectural decision-making scenarios
* Hands-on design challenges and group critique
* Live whiteboarding and architecture patterns
* Q&A with Neil and Keith for practical guidance and mentorship

Who Should Attend:

* Power Platform makers ready to level up
* Functional consultants seeking architectural awareness
* Technical leads and developers moving into architecture roles
* Anyone responsible for designing or overseeing enterprise-grade Power Platform solutions

Requirements:

* A good understanding of Power Platform tools (Power Apps, Power Automate, Dataverse)
* Curiosity and a willingness to challenge your current approach

Thinking like a Business Intelligence Analyst

As Power Platform developers we create solutions that collate data, so it is inevitable that our users will want to understand that data. Including reporting in our early-project requirements enables us to create a holistic solution- capture, work with and understand data, while asking the right questions and understanding good report design enhances our skillset.

Turbocharging your Power BI report with Power Platform

We create an awesome report, share it with users and then think… how can I easily ask my users if this is providing the insight that they want?
With Power Platform’s suite of tools we can embed a simple canvas app into a Power BI report, store responses securely in a Dataverse environment and use Power Automate to summarise and notify report authors
In this session I’ll deliver a whistle-stop tour of how environments and solutions differ from workspaces, creating Dataverse tables, creating a canvas app, embedding this into a Power BI report and authoring a simple Power Automate flow

Thinking like a Power Platform Architect

How do we change our mindset from a developer to an architect?
What questions should we ask, what should we consider and what should we quantify?
In this interactive session I'll give you a framework of how to do this, enabling you to contribute early on in a project lifecycle and make informed decisions.

Model Driven Apps: Uncovering secret tips and tricks

​Model Driven Apps (MDAs) allow us to rapidly assemble a Dataverse app and also prototype data structures and layouts prior to building a canvas app.

However many features are not easily discoverable in the app designer interface.

In this hands-on walkthrough I'll take the Group through quickly building an effective MDA.