Hosting the KL Data Science Conference 2019!
So, what happens when you try to fit 120 people into a training room which normally caters up to 70 people? You might think that it’ll be chaotic, but what we got was a room full of talented people who were eager to learn and expand their knowledge.
SEEK Asia has always strongly believed in supporting the community it belongs to, and often hosts events like the Women in Data Science Conference 2018, as well as multiple UX, Agile, and GDG Meetup events. Thus, when Moneylion approached us to help host their KL Data Science Conference 2019, we were eager to jump at the opportunity.
Turnout was better than expected.
This event was held on 22nd Feb, and was co-organized by Moneylion, a Fintech startup, in order to discuss about the Applications and Challenges of Data Science in Industry. It was a very well received event and the turnout was better than what we expected. We had attendants hailing from various industries such as Fintech, e-commerce, consultancies, and insurance, just to name a few. The participants were mostly data analysts, data scientists, data engineers and software engineers, with 0–2 years of experience in data science, as well as more experienced data scientists and managers in the audience.
In the spirit of building better relationships with our community and networking with others, we allocated around 12 seats to our colleagues in SEEK Asia. In addition to that, a few dedicated SEEKers kindly volunteered to help out during the event, manning the registration booth, welcoming the attendees, and ensuring that everything ran smoothly on the day itself.
Talk about data.
“What’s there to talk about? Data is just… data… Boringgggg!” This might have popped into your head as you read the sub-header. But on the contrary, data often stirs the most interesting conversations which reflect the state of our modern world. We suspect that’s why Roger Nash, SEEK Asia’s Head of Data and Insights, discussed about “Silos, Mad-Scientists and Status-Quo: How to Make Data Sing in the Real World”, taking a more unique approach to the subject of data science and the people behind it.
His session even had a little exercise at the beginning to help wake the participants up. A captivating presentation, to say the least, quite a number of participants were sneaking photos of his slides. In fact, he impressed the audience so much that one of the participants even invited him to give the talk elsewhere. (Yay, Roger!)
Time to stuff our faces (and brain cells!)
Instead of having just an ordinary, but delicious, food catering, lunch was coupled with table topics that allowed participants to mingle and chat about current issues in the world of data science. SEEK Asia’s organisers, myself and Ghazal Ghalebandi, helped to lead and facilitate the table topic of “Data Science, Data Analytics and Data Engineering: How We Interact”. As we ourselves are Data Scientists in a multi-disciplinary Data and Insights domain, we kick-started the discussions on how SEEK Asia structures its data teams, which got other participants started on how their companies are organised.
Other than SEEK Asia, some of the external organisers also held their own table topics which included ‘AutoML, Augmented Analytics, and the Future Data Scientist’, ‘Algorithmic Biases: Discoveries and Remedies’ and ‘AI: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly’. Coincidentally, all of these table topics were moderated by young, capable women from different companies — another proof that women are powerful in their own ways! 😊 Each table attracted different participants, with passionate discussions flowing throughout the entire hour. Oh, and of course, not to forget, everyone managed to fill their stomachs too!
Back at it again!
After lunch we had a panel of 4 on the topic ‘Current Challenges in Data Science Management’, and again Roger Nash was invited to the stage, this time as a panel member. The questions given to the panels were stimulating and attracted responses from various parties. Roger even elaborated to the participants on how SEEK Asia’s Data and Insights domain works — from organisational alignment, hiring practices, and his own experience in leading a large data team.
Other interesting topics that were covered in the second-half of the conference included “Effective AI Organisations” by Foong Chee Mun from Moneylion, “How We Enable Unicorns to Build Large Scale ML Datasets with High Accuracy and Speed” by Sina Meraji from Supahands, and the “Visualization of Deep Learning Algorithms” by Dr Chan Chee Seng from Malaya University.
Wrapping up
For most events, participants would have left early to avoid the jam in KL on a Friday evening, but it was the opposite for this conference. The participants were all very interested in staying back to network with other like-minded people. Which is why we consider this event as a big success as many of our participants laughed, ate, mingled, and most importantly, learned about the new world of data science, all in a day!
Written by Wong Chin Lin
Edited by Hee Jann Nin and Syiqqin Azwan
