~ [email protected]

speaking

I've always believed that communication is a skill worth putting real effort into, and not just something that comes naturally. Throughout my career, I've tried to build a strong tech-talk culture around the teams I've worked with, because a good talk from a skilled orator can make difficult ideas feel practical, useful, and easier to apply.

I gave my first talks years ago at local user groups and free Developer! Developer! Developer! conferences in the UK. I'm getting back into speaking now because I enjoy helping people understand new concepts, connect theory to real work, and leave with something they can actually use.

Book me for your event [email protected] → featured in
Pixel-art portrait of Daniel May
previously
sharpcloudnavitas

talks

  • "Avoiding Elias: Building reliable agentic applications" seeking venue What happens when plausible AI output escapes the model and starts shaping the real world? Using the strange case of Elias Thorne and a fully automated agentic game, this talk shows how agentic systems fail, and what builders can do to make them more reliable, safe, and accountable.
  • OpenClaw LA #4: "A month in the agent loop" done May 2026. What does building software with agents actually feel like once you move beyond demos? Drawing on a month of intensive work with OpenClaw, Hermes, Claude Code, and other harnesses, this talk demystifies context windows and agent loops, compares how different systems shape behavior, and identifies context discipline as the emerging core skill.
  • OpenClaw LA #3: "OpenClaw, abstraction, and local inference" done April 2026. What happens when AI agents become the next major layer of software abstraction? This talk explores why outsiders and less traditionally trained builders may adapt fastest, then examines the risks of relying on hosted models and what it takes to run capable, private inference yourself.
  • Yorkdale Elementary done December 2023. Partnership with educational nonprofit 9dots - giving a class of 8th graders a talk on my journey into software engineering: how a bored kid messing with browser games ended up building software for a living, and why you do not need a traditional path to get there.
  • Past talks, 2010s done Developer! Developer! Developer! Scotland (Glasgow), Ireland (Dublin), Irish Software Show

events

  • DEF CON 34 attending Las Vegas - August 2026
  • Responsible AI Symposium attended Los Angeles, CA - June 2026
  • Semafor Tech Summit attended San Francisco, CA - June 2026
  • Microsoft AI Safety & Security Summit attended Redmond, WA - June 2026
  • Greater Together: US & UK attended Los Angeles, CA - May 2026