EMPOWER-LOGO-2025


8 & 9 July  |  Sheffield, United Kingdom

Tribal's ebs user conference - Empower, is HERE, scroll down for the full agenda!

Our theme this year is Empowering the Core: Transforming Student Systems for Success.  We're embracing the immense potential of IT teams and ebs users in restructuring the educational landscape. Our two-day conference offers meaningful discussions and demonstrations of the role of student systems and the practical and strategic impact of your contributions.

The Customer Advisory Service will be available all day to discuss the range of support and assistance that you can utilise to maximise your use of ebs. 

calendar

DATE
Tuesday 8 July
& Wednesday 9 July

location

LOCATION

DAYTIME
Sheffield Hallam University

EVENING
Cutler's Hall

MEET THE SPONSORS

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AGENDA OVERVIEW

PLEASE NOTE THIS AGENDA IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE


DAY ONE

10:00 - 11:00

Registration


11:00 - 12.00

Opening Address 


12.00-12:15

Refreshments


12:15 - 13:00

ROOM 210
Shape the Future of ebs Timetabling

Join the ebs Product team to reimagine timetabling in ebs. This hands-on workshop will include an opportunity to share pain points for timetabling and identify must-keep features in ebs Shape. Following the principle of ‘alone together’, this workshop format informs the Tribal spear discovery framework, enabling us to continue building software that meets your needs, inviting every participant to be open and share their individual needs as users and administrators of timetabling in ebs.


13:00 - 14:00

Lunch


14:00 - 14:30

ROOM 5426
North of the Border: ebs in Scotland

NESCol will become the first Scottish ebs college, launching in July 2025. Shona Croly, the Programme Manager at NESCol, discusses their transition from being a well-established regional incumbent and their partnership with Tribal to create region-specific functionalities in ebs. As a pioneering site, NESCol aims to consolidate various systems, adopt efficient best practices, and enhance the quality of their data and forecasting.

ROOM 5420
Building Engagement in GCSE English and Maths

Last year’s award winners for student/learner engagement, North Warwickshire and South Leicestershire College champion active, enthusiastic engagement within their college community. The college builds a sense of belonging, enabling individual learners to thrive in ambitious courses. With new investments in technical education for automotive and engineering courses, NWSLC understand that a foundation of excellence builds sustainable, long-term learning skills. In their Empower session on building engagement in GCSE English and Maths, Alex Lindsay, Assistant Principal for English, Maths and Learning Resource Centres, describes the college's methods to ensure learners complete mandatory qualifications alongside their chosen study route.


14:30 - 15:00

ROOM 5426
DfE Funding Assurance Reviews

Guest speaker, Lisa Smith (Rish Assurance Director, RSM UK), will discuss the common pitfalls and how to avoid them.

ROOM 5420
First Look at the Future: ebs 5 and Mark Registers

Join ebs Product Lead Toby Brown for a first look at the future of ebs, with cloud-first screens, new API technology, and a new, accessible design language. Starting with the high-traffic Mark Registers screens, explore how we're redeveloping business-critical functionality for the cloud future of ebs.

ROOM 5424
ebs Welsh User Group

With a renewed focus on Welsh regional improvements, join the ebs product team to discuss your intuition's needs, and provide feedback on planned development and priorities. 


15:00-15:30

ROOM 5426
Innovating to Transform Learner Progress

City of Wolverhampton College are ranked in the top three English colleges for student achievement. Their relentless drive for innovation has created an environment that drives excellent outcomes for learners from every background. They prioritise strong industry links and a high-priority focus on skills growth in the West Midlands, demonstrated by their new Advanced Technology and Automotive Centre, a new facility that launches Wolverhampton Council’s City Learning Quarter. Digital Innovation Coordinator Petra Hosey, and Business Learning & Technologies Manager Conrad Taylor share their experience Innovating to Transform Learner Progress, using well-chosen technologies and best practice to create opportunities for learners to thrive.

ROOM 5420
The Role of ebs Advisory: A Panel Discussion

Join the Customer Services Director and our Head of Customer Advisory to discuss why we are providing you with access to your very own ebs expert who can proactively work with you to achieve your strategic goals and create a best practice system. Get your questions answered ...


15:30 - 16:00

Refreshments


16:00 - 16:30

ROOM 5426
ebs Insight: ebs Reporting (Q&A)

Take this opportunity to explore the new ebs:insight reporting model. In this session, we will explore the reasons for developing ebs:insight, how the solution works, and how it makes reporting easier for the ebs user community.

ROOM 5420
Using ebs as a Charity

Mary Ward Settlement are a social justice charity, originally established by Victorian novelist Mrs Humphry Ward to provide social services to the urban poor. They continue to deliver the mission of care and education in London, providing courses on English & Maths, ESOL, Skills for Work, IT & Digital Skills, and Community Interpreting as well as arts and humanities courses. Rated Good by Ofsted, Mary Ward delivers consistently high-quality adult education to enrich the lives and opportunities of their community. Mary Ward moved to ebs in 2024, part of a cohort of seven new customers spanning our FE, LA, HEI, and adult education providers. Therese Reinheimer-Jones, Warden (CEO) Mary Ward, shares her experience using ebs as a charitable organisation rooted in a social mission.


16:30 

Close


18:30 - 00:30

Celebration of Success Awards and Gala Dinner


DAY TWO

10.00 - 10:30

Registration and Exhibition


10:30 - 11:30

ROOM 5426
Transformation One Year On

Further education institutions continuously adapt their provision to recognise the requirements of their region, community, and local industries. 2024’s Best School/College of the Year in the UK Social Mobility Awards, Leicester College take their role as a provider seriously, embedding social mobility in their vision and offering courses with excellent employability outcomes. With a new Green Tech Hub, Leicester College is supporting construction students to develop skills for the future, including eco-friendly construction techniques, solar power management, and electric vehicle charging solutions. Working with Tribal to refresh and modernise their ebs implementation, Head of MIS Lindsay Jones shares her transformation experience. From improving data management to updating processes for efficiency and accuracy, Leicester have prepared their MIS for an ambitious future.

ROOM 5420
Engage: Look Into the Future

Experience the next generation of mobile-native learner engagement with the new Tribal Engage. A full UI redesign includes great new features, including dark mode, tap-to-like, swiping and direct page access. Improved navigability for vital data round exams, marks, and timetable events means more accessible information at your learners’ fingertips. Try hands-on app demos, and share your development feedback for the second phase of the new app, with improved functionality for applicants and enrolled learners.


11:30 - 12:00

Refreshments


12:00-13.00

ROOM 5426
Empowering Engagement: Unlocking the Potential of our Mobile App

Preston College, a founding member of the Lancashire and Cumbria Institute of Technology, were recently commended in Parliament for their contribution to local skills development. Last year, they completed work on a new digital suite, enabling them to deliver high-quality T-level teaching in digital production and design. The college find innovative ways to reach and engage users, creating a community of lifelong learners and achieving 100% pass rates in many of their Level 3 courses including the challenging new T-levels. Celebrating their 50th year in 2024, the college renewed efforts to build community through the Engage app.
 
Last year’s award winners for student/learner engagement, North Warwickshire and South Leicestershire College champion active, enthusiastic engagement within their college community. The college builds a sense of belonging, enabling individual learners to thrive in ambitious courses. With new investments in technical education for automotive and engineering courses, NWSLC understand that a foundation of excellence builds sustainable, long-term learning skills.
 
Megan O’Connor, MIS and Reporting Officer at Preston College and Bryanne Mosavian, Vice Principal - Education Programmes for Young People and Apprenticeship at North Warwickshire and South Leicestershire College, join us to share their insightful approach to creating a buzz around the college app, building usage patterns, and retaining users to ensure staff and learners stay connected throughout the academic year.

ROOM 5420
User Group Feedback Session

Join the ebs product team for an informal user group to discuss ebs, plans for the next releases, and priorities for the longterm development of ebs.


13:00 - 14:00

Lunch


14:00-15:00

ROOM 5426
Developing Expertise in the ebs Community

Rated Outstanding by Ofsted for 20 years, Nelson & Colne College also topped the 2024 National Student Survey for higher education students in Lancashire, with a 96.7% rating for teaching. Alex Wilkinson is Senior MIS Systems Administrator at Nelson & Colne College, but many of you will know him better for his enthusiastic support for other ebs users on our Communities forums and informal ebs Customer Coffee Calls. Alex is legendary for sharing code snippets, and offering quick fixes for code, customisation, and integration issues. In his first Empower talk, he shares how he developed his expertise and how other MIS, quality, and data leaders can share their knowledge and build a community of MIS experts.

ROOM 5420

ebs Cloud Panel

Join us for this panel discussion delving into the initiatives we’ve developed to help institutions migrate ebs to the Tribal Cloud easier and quicker.


15:00 

Conference Close


GETTING HERE


DAYTIME VENUE:
SHEFFIELD HALLAM UNIVERSITY 


Sheffield Hallam University (Owen Building)
Hallam Square
Sheffield City Centre
S1 2LX
United Kingdom

EVENING VENUE:
CUTLER'S HALL

7-15 Church St
Sheffield City Centre
S1 1HG
United Kingdom

Owen-building

GETTING TO SHEFFIELD HALLAM UNIVERSITY 

WALKING
The Owen Building is a very short walk up from Sheffield Train Station. 

BY CAR
There is no parking available on-site.

The nearest public car parks are:
Arundel Gate, S1 6DG
Q-Park Charles Street, S1 2NJ

BY TRAIN
The City of Sheffield is on the main line running between London and Edinburgh providing regular trains through the city.

Visit the National Rail website for train times.