Andy Headington developed a passion for computers in the 1990s, but was never quite sure where that interest would take him. From experimenting with programming on the ZX Spectrum, to countless hours spent playing Super Nintendo, Andy’s natural talent for computing and maths always pointed to a future career in technology – he just didn’t know at this early stage where his area of specialism would lie.
After completing a placement year at University which was largely forgettable (doing IT admin support), he honed his ability to navigate the new frontier of technology – the Internet – with gusto, building websites in his bedroom for his friends and generally pushing the limits of what could be done. This included building a website for his friendship group in 2002 to post pictures of themselves, connect with each other and send messages… sadly it didn’t take off! But it showed what was possible…
As the end of University neared, Andy and three of his course mates were realising that the ‘real world’ was looming large. Could he go back to working in a stuffy office? That wasn’t an option he wanted to entertain, so the four friends set up Adido (meaning ‘ambassador’), a business set up to build functional & easy to update websites. It was a simple idea but one that was perfectly timed in early 2003, just as the internet was starting to take its early shape and many businesses needed to ‘get online’.
After a year of coding commercially, it became clear that Andy wasn’t the best coder in Adido, but his knowledge and love of numbers meant he still had a role to play in both helping the company run a tight financial ship, but also in understanding how the websites built were performing. In 2004, he started tweaking websites so that they could be found more easily on the latest internet sensation, Google. By 2005, Andy was working with many businesses around the South of England and helping them to generate better rankings and more bookings (at one point working for three hotels at the same time!).
Skip forward to 2009 when the financial crash kicked in, Adido needed to pivot away from website builds and push more towards digital marketing campaigns. Adido had grown to a team of 40 staff covering PPC, SEO and website analytics, whilst still building great websites. During this growth, Andy was speaking regularly about the inner workings of search engines to hundreds of business leaders across the South of England each year.
After several years of plateau, the company had to downsize significantly in 2016, resulting in two of the founders leaving and the team having to rapidly halve in size. By 2017, the company had made it through and pushed hard to niche into their growing expertise in the travel space. Since this time, Adido and Andy have made a name for themselves in the travel space, with Andy keeping a very keen eye on all the moves made by ‘big tech’.
Having witnessed the shift from a ‘do no evil’ approach to world monopolisation, Andy has been speaking for over decade on how the tech promise of a better world for all has diminished and how these companies now run globe platforms affecting & making billions.
Andy now regularly runs seminars and workshops to hundreds of people each year for a variety of travel organisations including ABTA, CLIA, AITO and others. He is also a ‘go to’ commentator for anything to do with marketing and technology for established travel publications TTG, Travel Weekly and Travolution.
Speaking topics include:
What the audience can expect
With a very keen but sceptical eye formed over two decades, Andy’s presentations cover the latest happenings in the world of technology, business and society but from a very real- world perspective that is grounded in reality, practicality but also humour. Attendees say that Andy’s ability to breakdown large and complex subjects into easily relatable and engaging talks is one of his greatest strengths. His presentations leave audiences with clear, actionable ideas on what to do to improve business results.. While some speakers will hype up the next big thing, Andy takes a very grounded approach based on what he sees day in day out, as well cutting through the noise and bluster so easily created in the media.
Presentation approach
Andy is engaging, warm and down to earth with his approach to technology and how businesses can utilise it to their advantage. He has a real passion for ‘cutting the crap’ and helping business leaders gain a clearer understanding of the realities and opportunities technology offers.
After completing a placement year at University which was largely forgettable (doing IT admin support), he honed his ability to navigate the new frontier of technology – the Internet – with gusto, building websites in his bedroom for his friends and generally pushing the limits of what could be done. This included building a website for his friendship group in 2002 to post pictures of themselves, connect with each other and send messages… sadly it didn’t take off! But it showed what was possible…
As the end of University neared, Andy and three of his course mates were realising that the ‘real world’ was looming large. Could he go back to working in a stuffy office? That wasn’t an option he wanted to entertain, so the four friends set up Adido (meaning ‘ambassador’), a business set up to build functional & easy to update websites. It was a simple idea but one that was perfectly timed in early 2003, just as the internet was starting to take its early shape and many businesses needed to ‘get online’.
After a year of coding commercially, it became clear that Andy wasn’t the best coder in Adido, but his knowledge and love of numbers meant he still had a role to play in both helping the company run a tight financial ship, but also in understanding how the websites built were performing. In 2004, he started tweaking websites so that they could be found more easily on the latest internet sensation, Google. By 2005, Andy was working with many businesses around the South of England and helping them to generate better rankings and more bookings (at one point working for three hotels at the same time!).
Skip forward to 2009 when the financial crash kicked in, Adido needed to pivot away from website builds and push more towards digital marketing campaigns. Adido had grown to a team of 40 staff covering PPC, SEO and website analytics, whilst still building great websites. During this growth, Andy was speaking regularly about the inner workings of search engines to hundreds of business leaders across the South of England each year.
After several years of plateau, the company had to downsize significantly in 2016, resulting in two of the founders leaving and the team having to rapidly halve in size. By 2017, the company had made it through and pushed hard to niche into their growing expertise in the travel space. Since this time, Adido and Andy have made a name for themselves in the travel space, with Andy keeping a very keen eye on all the moves made by ‘big tech’.
Having witnessed the shift from a ‘do no evil’ approach to world monopolisation, Andy has been speaking for over decade on how the tech promise of a better world for all has diminished and how these companies now run globe platforms affecting & making billions.
Andy now regularly runs seminars and workshops to hundreds of people each year for a variety of travel organisations including ABTA, CLIA, AITO and others. He is also a ‘go to’ commentator for anything to do with marketing and technology for established travel publications TTG, Travel Weekly and Travolution.
Speaking topics include:
- Digital marketing and strategy
- AI and bleeding edge technology
- Travel trends and behaviours
- Business strategy and profitability
- Technology and societal shifts
What the audience can expect
With a very keen but sceptical eye formed over two decades, Andy’s presentations cover the latest happenings in the world of technology, business and society but from a very real- world perspective that is grounded in reality, practicality but also humour. Attendees say that Andy’s ability to breakdown large and complex subjects into easily relatable and engaging talks is one of his greatest strengths. His presentations leave audiences with clear, actionable ideas on what to do to improve business results.. While some speakers will hype up the next big thing, Andy takes a very grounded approach based on what he sees day in day out, as well cutting through the noise and bluster so easily created in the media.
Presentation approach
Andy is engaging, warm and down to earth with his approach to technology and how businesses can utilise it to their advantage. He has a real passion for ‘cutting the crap’ and helping business leaders gain a clearer understanding of the realities and opportunities technology offers.
