09:00 - 09:30: Arrivals, coffee, and meet the teams
Check in, grab a coffee, and say hello to the dbt Labs and Nationwide teams before we get started.

09:30 - 09:45: dbt Labs and Nationwide partnership
Andy Henderson (Nationwide) and Jack Marshall (dbt Labs) open the day with a look at the partnership so far, how the teams work best together, and how we start building a community of dbt practitioners across the business.

09:45 - 10:00: dbt fundamentals
A quick reframe of the principles behind dbt and why they compound over time - a useful anchor for everything that follows.

10:00 - 10:15: Lightning Talk 1 – Installing dbt with Artifactory
Demonstration of the process of installing and managing dbt packages using Artifactory, highlighting how it can be used as a centralised repository to streamline dependency management, improve consistency across environments, and support enterprise deployment practices.

10:15 - 11:00: dbt Fusion
The future is Rust-based. See how Fusion is faster, validates SQL in real time without a warehouse run, and delivers live error detection and autocomplete directly in VS Code, including a live demo. A deep tech dive into what it's doing (you don't need to know, but we're techies).

11:00 - 11:15: Coffee break
A quick breather, coffee, and time to chat before we dig into the platform.

11:15 - 11:30: Lightning Talk 2 – dbt Release Cycle
Overview of the dbt release process, covering the what, how, and when of deployments. The session also includes important reminders around the Emergency Change Request (CR) process and the importance of Impact Assessment (IA) when submitting drop requests, helping teams better understand release governance and operational expectations.

11:30 - 12:00: dbt platform
Learn about dbt State, which only executes on changes, plus enterprise features worth considering. The platform APIs give you programmatic access to monitor and improve your projects.

12:00 - 12:15: Lightning Talk 3 – Re-runnable Models Using Pipeline Variables
A look at how pipeline variables can help make dbt models easier to rerun. Useful for failures, backfills, and avoiding manual changes when a pipeline needs to be run again.

12:15 - 13:00: Lunch
Pizza and a chance to connect with other teams before the afternoon architecture sessions.

13:00 - 13:15: Lightning Talk 4 – Unit Testing in dbt
A quick introduction to unit testing in dbt: what it is, why it helps, and how it can be used in practice. Includes a simple example to show how tests can give more confidence in model changes.

13:15 - 14:15: Framework for building pipelines with AI
A practical walkthrough of the components required to build effective AI workflows for creating pipelines, plus some thoughts on how we could help with migrations.

14:15 - 14:30: Lightning Talk 5 – Custom AI Agents for understanding dbt
A look at building custom AI agents that are aware of the project context around them. The session shows how that context can help explain dbt code, pipeline flow, and project structure more clearly.

14:30 - 14:45: Coffee break
Another quick coffee break and a chance to chat before we head into the final lightning talk and Q&A session.

14:45 - 15:00: Lightning Talk 6 – Custom L2 Freshness Tests
A look at custom L2 freshness tests and how they can give a clearer view of data freshness. Useful for spotting stale data earlier and improving confidence in downstream reporting.

15:00 - 15:30: Q&A with dbt Solutions Architect
A chance to put any remaining questions to the dbt Labs team, whether they come from today's sessions or from your own projects, before we close out the day.