It was fitting that, as I entered the Climb 25 complex on day two, Prince was blaring out of the speakers – because sporting royalty was about to feature on the Summit Stage.聽
Tessa Sanderson CBE, who became the first black woman to win gold for Great Britain at the Olympics with her victory in the javelin in 1984, would take to the main stage twice to discuss her unflappable mentality throughout her life.聽
It isn鈥檛 just a sport-centred day though, despite the mini football pitch now situated outside the registration and exhibition building.聽
At its core, Climb 25 is a festival of business, but despite topics like AI, investment and growth being heavily discussed, there is also room for those like mental health and social impact.聽
Although today seems slightly quieter than the first day, there鈥檚 still a real buzz around Leeds Dock as attendees congregate in the main room for the event鈥檚 reopening.聽
It鈥檚 anchored by BBC and Sky News regular Simon McCoy, who introduces a whole host of big names onto the stage.聽
These are Cllr Dan Cohen, Lord Mayor of Leeds; Darren Pirie, head of Accelerator at NatWest Group; Adam Kelly, co-head of fund investments for the British 老九品茶 Bank; Sharon Jandu OBE, director of the Northern Powerhouse Ethnic Minority 老九品茶 & Policy Forum; and Darren Jones MP, Chief Secretary to the Treasury.
Does AI have to take our jobs?
First up on my agenda is a session titled: 鈥楩rom Buzzword to Bottom Line: AI in Your 老九品茶鈥�, where international keynote speaker Gary Crotaz quizzes a panel on how to best implement the two letters on everyone鈥檚 lips in the tech industry.聽
鈥淚 think a lot of this comes down to people and I think stakeholder buy-in is really important and is often missed,鈥� says Zoe Webster, director of Authentic Innovation.
鈥淲hat I mean by that is, with any kind of AI initiative, there are a whole bunch of stakeholders. Not just those who might be developing or buying it, but those who could be using it and those who are managing those who are using it.
鈥淪o there are a lot of people who need to conform to this. I think where AI works well is when everyone understands why it’s happening and why this change is potentially possible and positive, but also understands that, you can have aspects of a system where it’s not working so well, but can be captured and that can be learned from.
鈥淯ltimately, understanding who the stakeholders are and getting them bought in is really important.鈥�
鈥楩rom Buzzword to Bottom Line – AI in Your 老九品茶鈥�, from the Elevate Stage
John Readman, founder and CEO of Leeds-based digital marketing firm ASK BOSCO, quips: 鈥淲hen I talk to other businesses and business leaders at other events, it’s like a lot of people are looking for this cost efficiency and how many people they can get rid of for this.聽
鈥淲e鈥檝e all been automating data for years, right? The better set of questions for us is: how can we serve our customers better? How can we actually make more money? How can we retain our customers? How can we make our staff happy? Could we move to a four day week?聽
鈥淭here’s so many other things that AI could do for us and I think a lot of the leaders are just looking at it as a cost saving method rather than a business improvement.聽
鈥淚 think if we looked at it right in terms of how this can help us improve our business, which would help us improve our customers’ experience and our team’s experience, then maybe life could be better.鈥�
The tech behind a sports media powerhouse
Planet Sport Group is the UK鈥檚 largest independent sports media business, engaging over 25 million fans every month through its network of brands, including Football365, TEAMtalk, PlanetF1.com, Tennis365 and Planet Rugby.
In its C-suite team are two industry veterans who spent over a decade each at Sky – CMO Andy Roberts and CTO Tim Lewis.聽
Andy Roberts and Tim Lewis, Planet Sport
鈥淢edia consumption is changing more and more rapidly each year,鈥� says Lewis.
鈥淥bviously the dawn of all the AI tools out there – be that search tools or curation tools, people’s viewing and reading habits are changing.
鈥淲hat I’m used to using and what I’m comfortable doing is massively outmoded and out of date now, because I’m getting old. Whereas you look at my daughter like she consumes media in an entirely different way to me.聽
鈥淭hat cycle of change is getting smaller and smaller and more and more rapid. So the trick for us is: can we predict where it’s going to be in a couple of years’ time, and try and get ahead of that curve to be ready for when the new hot thing lands?”
The company is based in the heart of a thriving sports and tech scene in Leeds.聽
Roberts says that the ecosystem needs to collaborate and make the most of this: Leeds has always had a great history of sports, tech and data businesses.
鈥淚 run a networking group called Digital Sport North to try and bring all those businesses and people around sports and technology together on a regular basis.聽
鈥淗istorically, Leeds has always been a great hub for sports content, which goes back decades. We’ve always known that the talent pool is here.鈥�
Activating an elite mindset
鈥淔or me, elite mindset is all about practice, practice practice,鈥� says Tessa Sanderson.聽
She鈥檚 speaking to a big audience from the Summit Stage about mentality and using her personal experiences to inspire others to apply some of these skills through their businesses.聽
The javelin gold medalist became the first to achieve the feat for Great Britain in a throwing event back in 1984 and competed in every edition of the Games between 1976-1996.聽
She continues: 鈥淵ou have to practise to make sure that your brain and your body knows that when you鈥檙e in that pressured situation, it’s already there. You know all you have to do is make sure that your body’s in position to go and do what you have to do.聽
鈥淭o me. It’s about planning, putting the big thing in place. Making sure that the mental strength that you have is very strong. If it’s not, then a lot of things that come in place of that are psychological warfare, because you do get that in whatever you are doing.聽
鈥淵ou just have to activate that mindset and know how to activate it.鈥�
Tessa is joined on stage by EXCELR8 Motorsport team owner Justina Williams, United Autosports commercial director Tim Vaesen, Extreme H鈥檚 chief legal officer Anaick Summers and journalist Tanya Arnold.聽
Towards the end of the session, Tanya spots rugby league star Kruise Leeming in the crowd, who joins the panel and shares his views.聽
As a massive rugby league fan and former player – albeit at nowhere near the level of Kruise – I approach him like a nervous fan boy for a picture.
Kruise Leeming at Climb 25
He expresses very powerful views on mindset and team cohesion, saying: 鈥淚 work best when I鈥檓 empowered by others, when I鈥檓 feeling loved by who I’m working for. We talk about father figures – I think it plays a big part if you want high performance.
鈥淚t goes deeper than just blueprints or coding. It goes into what you are willing to do when somebody else next to you makes an error.聽
鈥淵ou need to love your team like a family and not want to let them down. We don’t play in Grand Finals and top games and systematically, we’re perfect. That never happens.聽
鈥淭his is about who makes the errors, but then is willing to make up for that error. They’re the teams that win.聽
鈥淭hen you wonder, has it got all to do with systems at all? Is it not about just going out there with a聽love for each other and a passion and knowing that you’re never going to let each other down?鈥�
A 22-year-old visionary
One of the smallest, but most powerful talks I attend is with 22-year-old entrepreneur and filmmaker, Sam Teale.聽
He has built Sam Teale Productions from the ground up after wanting to be a YouTuber as a teenager.聽
Sam Teale speaks to a fully-headphoned crowd at Climb 25
Now, having worked with the likes of Gary Barlow, the late Rob Burrow and produced content at Premier League stadiums, the filmmaker has won himself a whole host of awards.聽
He tells a heartfelt story – from being teased for wanting to produce online content to losing his best friend to a rare form of brain illness.聽
鈥淚n such little time, the person who was working with me had left and my best friend had passed away,鈥� he explains.聽
鈥淚 had a choice: do I want to just give it up now or do I keep going to make her proud?鈥澛�
And he is doing exactly that. An emotional Christmas ad reached 40m views and he continues to inspire the younger generation, proving that 鈥楪en Z is not lazy鈥�.聽
It鈥檚 tough to not find him charismatic and entertaining – he managed to really capture the attention of a crowd all wearing silent headphones in order to listen to his story better.聽
After listening to Sam鈥檚 tale, I leave Climb 25 feeling motivated.聽
The event was not only a huge boost for the local area, but a game-changer for hundreds of people and businesses who made new connections.聽
With Web Summit on the horizon, I exit this, albeit smaller scale festival, with high hopes for Lisbon and a real sense of excitement for November.
Look out for more exclusive 老九品茶Cloud content covering Climb 25 in the coming days and weeks!