I was up early – like, before-the-coffee-had-kicked-in early – bundling Willow off to my mum’s before Jono and I hit the road towards Manchester. There’s something quietly satisfying about that kind of start: the small logistics of care, a busy road on the motorway, and the sense that something interesting is waiting at the other end.
Hive MCR was exactly that – a gentle brain-sprint of a day. One of those events that leaves you overstimulated but in a nice way, like your neurons have just been given a stretch and a snack.
Morning Sessions
Kirsty Hulse – Herding Cats and Hitting Goals: How to Focus, Build Confidence, and Stay Calm in Chaos
I fucking love listening to Kirsty talk. I always leave feeling like I’ve had the best pep talk from a friend who actually gets it. I’d seen this talk before at Marketing Fest in Brno last week – and I didn’t care. Even if the core is the same, there’s always something new in how she delivers it.
Some takeaways I’ve internalised:
- Set a 20-minute timer.
- Tell your team when you’re focusing.
- Stop apologising for not instantly replying – you’re working, not waiting.
- End your day by choosing one focus for tomorrow. That becomes your anchor.
- Write down three things you’re grateful for, even if it’s just coffee.
- Track progress over perfection – build evidence that things are working.
Mike King – The End of SEO As We Know It
I’m under no illusion that I’m a tech SEO – I’m firmly in the social and brand camp. But with how search is evolving and LLMs entering the picture, it feels like the stuff I do is starting to creep into SEO’s domain.
Mike’s talk was fascinating. He did lose me a couple of times, but I still got a lot from it. What really hit was how much of what he talked about – impressions, brand mentions, salience – we’re already tracking in social. SEO folks are now moving into that space, and it’ll be interesting (and maybe a bit messy) as budgets shift and lines blur.
Also – that comment about trying to grab brand budget? Love the ambition, but let’s not pretend the brand budget is massive. Soft, fluffy activities are still hard to quantify when it comes to ROI. That said, I’m here for the crossover energy.
Technical SEO Panel
This panel had good stuff, but I do wish the moderation had been tighter. One speaker dominated for a bit too long, and I would’ve loved to hear more from the others.
One standout moment: someone talked about using ChatGPT to explain tech to non-tech folks – and that felt like such a gentle bridge between two worlds. Loved that.
Barry Adams – Managing Googlebot’s Greedy Tendencies: Optimise for Efficient Crawling and Indexing
Barry is brilliant and could talk about crawling for hours. I understood everything, but I didn’t take notes – not my area, sorry Barry! Still, it was clearly gold for the folks in the room who live and breathe this stuff.
Lunchtime
I checked out for the early afternoon talks and went off in search of good food – found gyoza, duck rolls, salt and pepper chicken, and excellent conversations. 10/10, would lunch again.
Afternoon Talks / Soft Chaos
Digital PR Panel
Honestly, I zoned out a bit. The panel felt a bit unstructured – sorry Charlie! That said, one theme kept surfacing across talks: this idea of working in silos. At the end of the day, it’s all marketing. PR, SEO, brand, comms – we need to talk to each other if we’re going to move in the same direction.
Lisa Paasche – The Neuroscience of Authenticity – How Being Authentic Makes You More Successful
I fucking LOVE Lisa. She’s one of those women who inspires me every single day – and then I forget just how much until I hear her speak again. The way she grips a room and invites everyone into her brilliant, slightly chaotic brain? Magic. I’ll definitely be trying some of the personality exercises she shared.
Afterparty Vibes
The afterparty at YES was the perfect lo-fi, chill vibe after a full-on day. Low lighting, good music, and lots of genuine conversation – not the stiff networking kind, but actual “oh hello you’re a person and so am I” chats. It gave the day some breathing space and let all the brain-sparking settle in nicely. Shoutout to the organisers for giving us a place to decompress without immediately switching back to work mode. There was also plenty of pizza and drinks flowing – though I did get a drink spilt on me, but no harm done.
I had a great catch-up with Lisa, Ned, Arnout, and Barry. And – a rarity for me – I actually stayed for a long time. I usually do an Irish goodbye fairly early on, but these people are my tribe. I can just pick up where we left off, even if I haven’t seen them in a few years.
Feedback & Suggestions
There’s so much to love about Hive – the atmosphere, the people, the mix of talks. But if I had to offer some gentle feedback:
- A bit more structure in some panels would help keep energy flowing. Tighter moderation and clearer timing could let more voices be heard.
- A proper tea break wouldn’t go amiss. Just 10 minutes to stretch, re-caffeinate, and reset the brain would have been gold.
- Screen layouts matter – a few talks had awkward setups that made it tricky to follow slides, especially with the sofa in front of the screen.
- The seats were quite small and packed in tightly – fine for short sessions, but a bit cramped by the end of the day.
- Timings changed throughout the day, but the website wasn’t updated to reflect that – caused a bit of confusion.
- Not enough seating with tables for quick work tasks – a few more spots for those of us trying to stay lightly plugged in would’ve helped.
Pros:
- Fantastic speaker lineup – thoughtful, diverse, and energising.
- Great snacks (still thinking about those galettes).
- Bar on-site was a lovely bonus for winding down and chatting.
All tiny things in the grand scheme of a really well-run day – but worth noting if we’re building something even better next time.
Closing Feel
I’m not quite sure what I was expecting but I left energised – not buzzing in a performative way, but like my brain had been properly witnessed. Hive MCR was thoughtful, imperfect, useful – my favourite kind of event.
It reminded me how much I value slow conversations and clever, kind people who don’t need to shout to be heard. The talks gave me ideas; the in-between moments gave me energy. I didn’t go in with an agenda – just curiosity – and somehow that made the whole day land better. No pressure to pitch, to hustle, to come away with 47 LinkedIn connections.
I’ll be back next year, notebook in hand and probably still chasing that elusive afternoon brew.
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