Cybercon Staffordshire hailed a huge success
The first cutting-edge cybersecurity and technology conference to take place in Stoke-on-Trent has been hailed a success with demand for a return in 2026.
More than seventy delegates registered for Cybercon Staffordshire, which took place at the Catalyst Building at University of Staffordshire, in April.
Organisers of the all-day free event – local leading IT firm Abzorbed IT Solutions – welcomed guests from all over the UK who were privy to talks and insights from four leading experts, including headline speaker and investigative journalist, Geoff White who spoke about a £1.5 billion world heist plus shared some all-important cyber lessons to be aware of.
Ex-Cyber detective and advisor Adam Pilton, Simon Norsworthy, sales engineer at leading global cybersecurity company – Bitdefender and Vimal Raj Sampathkumar, of IT firm, ManageEngine also presented during the day.
(Images supplied by Abzorbed IT Solutions)
Charlie Houston-Brown, founder of Rushkeep Solutions and Chair of the Staffordshire Chambers of Commerce Digital Forum, plus chair of BCS Stoke (The Chartered Institute for IT), said: “It was a really great launch for Cybercon Staffordshire and such an important and useful topic for all businesses and educational organisations.
“All the speakers were great and everything discussed was really important. I am already looking forward to the next and really hope they do it again next year as you can see the value of something like this.”
Neil Smith, travelled from London Euston especially for the event and is the founder of payments consultancy firm HDX Global.
Neil said: “When I heard about the launch of Cybercon Staffordshire and saw the lineup of speakers I was very keen to come along.
“Various aspects of cyber security and the ever evolving tech world were discussed with some fantastic speakers, and I took a lot from it – it was most useful. In my industry you always have to make sure you keep up with such important topics like the ones mentioned at Cybercon Staffordshire, and it’s events like this which not only help with that, but also provide opportunities to network. I would be very keen to return for Cybercon Staffordshire 2026 to see what happens next.”
Ex-Cyber detective and advisor Adam Pilton was one of the guest speakers at the event. He said: “Everyone seemed really engaged during the event and it made me realise just how much people wanted to be here and I learned from that myself as a speaker.
“It was interesting to hear some problems which attendees and other speakers have experienced themselves and also the solutions which can be found, plus it’s been a great networking opportunity for meeting new people and overall a great success for Cybercon Staffordshire.”
Usman Shah, Director of Abzorbed IT Solutions, added: “We wanted to bring something different to the area and an event which would be full of useful content around aspects of cybersecurity.
“We also understood that not everyone who came along would be directly from the industry and may not fully understand some of the industry jargon, therefore we broke that up throughout the event to explain aspects in more simple terms.
“It was great to see so many at this first ever Cybercon Staffordshire and we are certainly going to be making plans for next year to continue what we have started here.”
Visit Abzorbed IT Solutions here – https://abzorbed-

Geoff White speaking at Cybercon Staffordshire 2025