S1. Ep35 - Make Waves 25 Recap: Every Major Update Announced at Make.com's 2025 Conference

Katie: Welcome to the AI Automations for Business Podcasts. We're your hosts, Katie and Null, and we'll be discussing how you can use AI for your business along with the latest news, updates and automations to help you stay ahead of the curve, allowing you to grow and scale your business more efficiently. Please be sure to subscribe and I hope you enjoy this episode. Hey everyone. Welcome back to another episode. Hi, hello. I'm Katie. And as always, I've got Noor here with me. Hi, Noel.

Noel: Hello.

Katie: So something exciting happened last week. Very excited.

Noel: Definitely for me anyway.

Katie: We attended the make.com conference over in Munich.

Noel: That was awesome. Great event. Yeah. Been looking forward to it for a while. Yeah.

Katie: And they gave us lots of updates.

Noel: Mm-hmm.

Katie: Things that are coming out next year. Yeah.

Noel: Quite a few.

Katie: which we will talk about. We were able to have a play with some of the features. We had a really interesting talk from Neta, all about AI ad.

Noel: Yeah, that was really interesting. Yeah.

Katie: We had an interesting talk from Canva. We got some great goodies from Typeform.

Noel: Yeah, got a love a Moleskin notepad. Yeah,

Katie: love that, love that for some freebies. So, yeah, and all whilst in Munich, which is a really awesome city, I think.

Noel: It is, yeah, yeah. I mean, I went to last year's event, and I didn't really see much of Munich. I arrived in the dark, I went to the event from 9.30 to 10pm. and then, yeah, I flew home first thing the next days.

Katie: Yeah.

Noel: So I didn't see much of it. But, yeah, it's a really nice place. Yeah.

Katie: I made sure that we got to see some of it.

Noel: Definitely, yeah. Yeah.

Katie: Okay, so, no, as you are so excited about all, you know, what happened last week at the make conference, do you want? want to talk about the features and updates that they talked about that are actually available like from today. And then we'll maybe talk about the upcoming features.

Noel: Yes. The upcoming are probably the most exciting. I won't say there's anything super excited in this first bit, but there are some really cool updates that will make life a lot easier within make. So what I've done is I've If you go, well, we'll leave a link to their website where they, they list everything that they talked about. Most of those features are already available and have been available for months. So I have, we're not going to include those in this podcast. We're just going to do the brand, brand new stuff. Yeah.

Katie: That makes sense.

Noel: Yeah. So the first one, which quite a lot of people got quite excited about, was the ability, see, so when you're in your next scenario and you click run once, the data goes through, it does its thing, it, you know, ends, finished, great. But you might, well, what people have been asking for is, well, what if I want to run that particular thing again using the exact same data? And now we can do that. So right next to your run now button, there's a little down arrow. You can click on that and then you can select previous runs that you've done and then send that exact same data through the scenario. So if you're testing anything, you're tweaking it, you can use the exact same data. Yeah, you still use the same amount of credits and things like, but really, really helpful. And as part of that, they've added in the new module as well. So you can, it's called the custom name, scenario custom name, I think it's called, within the scenarios modules. And what you can do in there is at the very start or after, well, I say, probably about a second or third module you put it in and you can input data into there and then basically that names that particular run. So if you've got like a CRM, you could put in the company name that went through or the person's name. So if there's any errors when you go in the history, it tags it really clearly. It says, well, this person's name or that particular field that went through from my database or wherever, that's what went wrong. So, you know, make It's so much easier for you to find out what went wrong without having to open the scenario and then click through it all and figure out what was going on.

Katie: So, yeah,

Noel: really, really cool feature.

Katie: Yeah, and really a lot of time saved as well with this feature as well, I think.

Noel: Definitely, yeah.

Katie: Yeah.

Noel: I've already used it already.

Katie: Oh, great. And how did you find it?

Noel: Oh, yeah, really, really good. So, yeah, it was, you can, with the, where you can, run on existing data it's really good if you're like testing a particular scenario so I build a bit run it get it so far and then I can then build a bit more and then do the run again on existing data and yet it just makes life so much easier especially if you've got like a where you're watching like something in the air table say if you click the button then it'll be like well there's nothing else has happened since, so it returns no results. There's been no updates, and it's like, well, yeah, that's not particularly helpful. But with the run again, we can get that information again, without having to do anything else, which is really awesome. Okay.

Katie: Cool. Yeah.

Noel: So the next one that's kind of linked to this as well is you can replay these scenarios. So let's say we have an error. What we can do is, you know, you'll go to the history tab for your scenario. and then basically it will list it all there so you can see which runs pass, which ones fail. And now they've got like a little replay button. So you can go in, make any changes. There might be an error that you've put in there or something's not quite right. So you could fix it and then hit the replay button and it sends that information through for that particular run. And then if it passes, great. So, yeah, that makes life again so much easier.

Katie: Yeah.

Noel: And, you know, I'm surprised it's took this long to get that sort of feature in,

Katie: to be

Noel: honest.

Katie: Yeah.

Noel: Yeah. Yeah, really, really awesome little features there. Yeah, they're kind of hidden.

Katie: Yeah.

Noel: You have to go and look for those a little bit, but... Okay.

Katie: Where do you, where do people find?

Noel: So, so the run now is next to the run now button. But, yeah, the replay scenario is on the history tab. And there's a little, you know, like the run now is next to the run now button. refresh circular arrow, there's that in the very, very far right of each run in the table kind of thing. So, yeah, that one can be a little tricky to thought. Yeah. Awesome. Yeah. The next really cool one they've got is the cool sub scenarios. And what that is is a scenario module. And basically what we can do is a bit longer we can do with agents. where you can create scenarios as tools. You can basically put in these cool sub-scenario modules to go off and, you know, supply data into another scenario we make, and then it will sit there and wait, and then when it gets the information back, you can then pass that on for the rest of the scenario. So it's a bit like a tools module in an agent,

Katie: but it's within

Noel: like a normal workflow.

Katie: Yeah.

Noel: So that's quite good. I haven't used that yet. But, yeah, that's pretty good so far.

Katie: Yeah.

Noel: After that one, we've got the scenario rate limits. So they showed this as part of the webhook module. And basically what this means is if you've got something in your scenario that could only run X amount of times per minute, you can set that limit within the scenario now. So you don't always have to worry about error handlers and things like you can just set it at the very start. And then, yeah, it will then, you know, hopefully you won't run into any, any errors with rate limits so yeah again nice to have yeah

Katie: that is a nice to have for sure

Noel: yeah and I think probably the best one out of this list and this is the last one that's available today is within the AI agents building there is a modules tool so let's say we wanted to you know connecting one module from a particular application into an agent we'd have to create a sub-scenario Yeah, we'd have to add that module in and then link it back to the agent with the scenario's module that we'd have to do that anymore. We'd just find that one module that you want from the list and then just add it into your agent. And what's really cool about this as well is when it loads up the data. So I used it just to test it out on perplexity to go off and do like detailed research and things out on the internet. So it came up and it was like, well, do you want to? to fill out the user prompts and things out. And I was like, I haven't really got time for that. There's a little checkbox and it says let the AI decide. And you click that box and you can do that on pretty much any field within the module. And yeah, the AI agent will take a look at it and go, well, okay, this is the information I'm going to provide to that based on the user request. And it goes off and does it. So yeah, it speeds things up, no end.

Katie: Yeah.

Noel: Which is really cool.

Katie: It got a good response as well that one, didn't it? It did, yeah, yeah.

Noel: Because it was kind of clambosome to go off and quote a scenario just to call one module. Yeah, it did seem a bit silly. But yeah, thankfully that that's in there and it's working today, which is good. Yeah.

Katie: So they also announce some updates that are coming, but aren't available right. Now, some are going to be available soon. Some are going to be early 2026. Some are going to be like we think summer of 2026. Yeah. So shall we talk through what some of those updates are and when we can expect them as well? Yeah.

Noel: The first one on my list is available soon. That's their exact wording.

Katie: So I tell them what they made by soon.

Noel: I guess it is not only 2026, that I guess it's going to be by the end of the year. Yeah.

Katie: So, yeah. The impression that I got from them when they were talking.

Noel: Yeah.

Katie: I think maybe like maybe next month.

Noel: But who knows? It will find out.

Katie: We'll find out.

Noel: But the one that's available soon is going to be the scenario sharing. So within the scenario builder, there will be a little share button in the top right. And what you're allowed to do now is, you know, you can click on that button and you'll be able to share that scenario as a URL, you know, to anybody that you wish. You know, you can then post it online. But I think they had social media bits where you could like post it straight straight to LinkedIn or X and things like that.

Katie: That was the example they were given, wasn't it, at the conference?

Noel: Yeah, yeah. It was really cool how it works. Because if anyone then clicks on that link, it then opens up their scenario builder, and then you have that scenario up and running and ready. Obviously, you won't have the original connections for any apps. You would have to then create those connections to your accounts and things out of

Katie: this year.

Noel: There's a bit of editing like you would expect. So your data's safe if you share. that's the yeah they made that point very clear

Katie: yeah yeah yeah that's

Noel: going to be a really awesome way uh to share things because at the moment to share it you you have to export the jason file and then send that to somebody in an email then they've

Katie: got to

Noel: then import it

Katie: quite long-winded isn't it it it's not yeah it's not easy to share i would say right yeah right now

Noel: yeah i also seem to find that if you import any uh blueprints sometimes it gets a bit confused with the connections uh and that can throw all kinds of errors and then you can't save the scenario because of the errors and it's

Katie: yeah so

Noel: yeah this gets rid of all of that thank you yeah this is yeah fantastic yeah

Katie: so that one is well they said it it's come in in in

Noel: It should be this year. Yeah,

Katie: 2025. So, yeah.

Noel: Fingers cross.

Katie: Yeah.

Noel: I'll keep an eye on their LinkedIn account and see when it comes out.

Katie: Okay. So the next update that is coming. So this one is due early 2026.

Noel: Yeah. So I would say quarter one. So let's say any time before March. I would assume, that's usually when they seem to bring stuff out is usually February March. So these are the if-else and merge modules. Now that might sound a bit confusing. But how they explained it was where you have a router within a scenario, that can branch out through different legs. And there's no way, if you want to at the end, to then merge things. all those legs together and then have like the scenario continually run on. At the minute you have to do the set variable and then get variable. So you would set it on the first leg and then get it on the second leg if that's the data you need later on. It's a bit of a faf and obviously you're using operations and things out to do that sort of stuff. But the merge module is basically the reverse of a router so it's many to one, which is brilliant. So you can get all of that information, condense it all into their one line after to continue on. So, yeah, that would have been really helpful when I was doing my partner certification.

Katie: I used

Noel: a lot of...

Katie: Foremake.

Noel: Yeah. Yeah. So I used a lot of set and get variables in there. But yeah, if I had the merger, it would have made life so much easy.

Katie: Wow.

Noel: Yeah.

Katie: Yeah, there was a lot of... Yeah, hopefully, yeah.

Noel: There was a lot of excitement for that one. A lot of cheering, lots of clapping for that one. There was a lot of people who'd been waiting for.

Katie: Yeah, people loved that, didn't they?

Noel: They did, yeah. I'd say it's one of the biggest cheers and excitements.

Katie: Yeah.

Noel: From the entire event.

Katie: Yeah, I agree, yeah. Yeah,

Noel: maybe they peaked too soon, I don't know. That was one of the earlier ones. Maybe people had run out of energy.

Katie: I don't know, like, it's obviously clearly something that people want and, you know, Meeker was really good at responding to feedback. Like, for example, when we were talking to Merrick from Make at the conference, he was asking for feedback, wasn't he? And we were like, you know, saying, actually it would be really good. good if like when you went to your account and it had errors, that it was also like colour coded, so like almost like a traffic like system. So like this is like a minor error all the way to like this is like eating through all of your credit or this is completely like broken. Nothing's working. Like it is. is not happening.

Noel: Yeah.

Katie: And he was like, yeah, great, great. Like, fantastic. So actually, it'd be really interested to see they do implement that. But they just love feedback. So I think the reason why that got such a huge cheer is because of what they have had from, you know, customers. And that has been the feedback.

Noel: So, yeah. Yeah, because there's this, like, N-A-N, they can do this already.

Katie: Yeah.

Noel: I think Zapier can do it as well. So, yeah, it's been one of those things. It's like, come on, surely one day.

Katie: Yeah, and I think that's why it got a big cheer because people were like, finally. Yeah,

Noel: yeah, definitely.

Katie: So the next update that's coming, so we think that's going to be coming out, summer 2026.

Noel: Yes. Basing this off of the release period for the grid. So there is a current waitlist for this particular feature and usually that waitlist gets opened in March, maybe a little earlier and then they release it later in the summer. But this one is going to be really interesting for anybody that gets stuck or is very, very new to the platform. platform, not really sure where to start.

Katie: Yeah.

Noel: And this is an agent called Maya, which is, I have to say, was brilliant in the demo.

Katie: Yeah, I agree. This one I thought was great because I was thinking of like people who come and join like our membership and they are brand new to make. And they want to be able to, you know, create these automations. but they kind of see that blank page and they feel like a bit overwhelmed or it's a little bit intimidating or they're so worried that they're going to, you know, set something up and it's going to be completely wrong or it's not going to work and then clients are going to be like, why isn't this working? So I feel like Maya is going to open up make to so many more people. and I also think it's going to give people who aren't new to automations a lot more confidence to create them.

Noel: Definitely, yeah. Yeah, it's all, it's all comes down to like you've got vibe coding, where you can just ask it in plain text. This is their version of vibe automation. So, yeah, the demo they showed was like they'd asked it to create a scenario where it was taking information from Typeform, it was doing a bit of, you know, adding it into a Google sheet. There was a bit of AI in there in the middle of what it was doing now. And, yeah, basically the agent then got to work within the builder. So there was like a little window with the agent. So you could see what you'd ask for. You could see its reasoning and what it was doing. And then on the right-hand side, you had the builder and you could see it adding those modules in. So it was like, right, okay, well, you've talked about type four. So that's going to be the first one that added it into the builder and things out. And then it started to then build it all out. But what I found it was really amazing was the point where it's like, well, what connections do you want me to use for this? Which accounts do you want me to use? Do you want to use the generic ones that you've already got? Is this going to be something new? Are you building it for someone else?

Katie: Yeah.

Noel: And there was like little quick tip buttons kind of thing. you just could be like, yes, just use my accounts or whatever, or it was like a no, and then it would take you through, basically handhold you through the process to getting everything connected. So yeah, it did it all in like really, really basic steps, linked all to the data bit by bit and the handholded the user through the entire process, which I thought was brilliant.

Katie: Yeah, I thought it was brilliant. And the fact that you could just use like playing language, like I want to create like this and yeah I'm taking information like from type form and I want it to go on a Google sheet and then like it kind of then goes like takes over and go okay like what do okay so like typeform is the first one and it's like what information do you want from type form to like Google sheets and stuff. stuff like that. And then you can like just type your response, which I just thought was so like easy. And yeah, I just feel like this is going to really, you know, get rid of those barriers for people who want to do automations, but they feel a bit overwhelmed by the tech.

Noel: Definitely, yeah.

Katie: A very good move by make.

Noel: Yes. So there are other platforms that are doing something similar to NAA, and they've got one out in their, I think it's an early alpha access at the minute, but that doesn't go anywhere near as far. It will build out the automation, but it won't configure anything. Whereas I think, yeah, Make have done the really good thing and gone, well, you know, if you're using this, you probably want help all the way through every part of the process,

Katie: so we're going to

Noel: incorporate all of that in there. And even within the chat window, so you connect a type form. And then on your account, you could have like 10 forms that you've already created. So it's like it comes up with a drop-down box. This is, well, which one do you want me to use? You know, and then you just select it on the drop-down box. You'll, well, that one please.

Katie: And then you go, sure.

Noel: And then off it goes, connects it all in. And then from that, it gets all of the data and the fields, and then it moves it on to the next stage. So, yeah, yeah, really awesome.

Katie: Yeah, really awesome. That would have got the biggest cheer from me.

Noel: Yeah, definitely.

Katie: At this point, I didn't know we were cheering. I didn't realize we were cheering at this point. Yeah.

Noel: Whooping and hollering. Yeah.

Katie: There's

Noel: also really other cool bit as well is not only will it help you create automations in the builder, it also has access to your entire account. So they then showed it at work on the dashboard. So they showed it where there was a particular scenario that basically burnt through a ton of credits. And then Maya was there going, oh, hello, you know, might want to take a look at this. You know, this is...

Katie: Did she actually say that? Oh, hello. Oh,

Noel: hello. I hope you can program a persona. be nice, wouldn't it? I'll add that to the feedback. But yeah, it was like, you know, you should look at this, you know, this is abnormal behavior on your account. You know, you probably need to look at this particular scenario and it gave a link so that you could then click on it and then open that scenario and see what was going on. So, so yeah, it's not only is it just in the building, it's everywhere, apparently, which is really awesome. I don't know how we're paying for it, Obviously, So they didn't mention anything about that. No, they didn't.

Katie: So, yeah.

Noel: TBD. Yeah.

Katie: For sure.

Noel: Yeah.

Katie: Okay. And then the next update that isn't available right now, but again, we think summer 2026 is the new AI agents.

Noel: Yes. So already at the moment we've already got AI agents, but that's kind of like, built in its own separate area. Once you then add it into a scenario, you know, you have to go back to the configuration page section to alter the prompts or add new tools. You know, it's not very, it's not very easy to use. There's a lot of back and forth. But with this new one, you can build the agents within the scenario builder. So it looks, if anyone's ever seen NAN, it looks very similar to that. So you have your agent module, and then underneath, you've then got links where you can say, well, I want to add a tool, and you can then add a module. You could add a sub-scenario, which has got more complicated things going on. And basically, it all just hangs underneath the agent, you know, module, which is really awesome. You know, it just means you can build them so much quicker.

Katie: Yeah.

Noel: Which is, yeah, ideal.

Katie: Yeah, definitely.

Noel: Yeah.

Katie: Yeah.

Noel: But they are two separate things, though. So if you've built agents currently and these new agents, they're not the same thing. So I was talking to one of the developers and he was like, well, that one's agent and these are agents. And I was like, right, okay, well, that does. Just just removing the S or adding the S doesn't really make it anything different.

Katie: Yeah.

Noel: Yeah, but yeah, they work completely differently. They're separate entities. and things like. So if you want to, you know, migrate from what you already have to the visual builder, then, you know, you're going to have to build everything again.

Katie: Oh, okay.

Noel: Things like that. So, so, yeah. Yeah.

Katie: And for these new updates, we've requested better access.

Noel: Yes.

Katie: And you think we'll get access from March.

Noel: Yeah, I would say so, yeah. Like Maya, they said, was very, very early development.

Katie: Yeah, because they didn't really show us that much, did they? They just showed us that, like, walk through. But, like, even, like, on the, when you can, like, they call it the playground where you can go on to their Macs and, you know, play around with things. Like, they had, like, nothing available. So I think very, very early development.

Noel: Yes. They did have the new agents. They had that available.

Katie: So I had a little

Noel: click around with that. So that might come a bit sooner.

Katie: Yeah.

Noel: With Maya, it's a bit like the grid last year. They were like, this is what it looks like. This is very, very early. You know, it might not look like this going forward. It might change. So, yeah, really awesome to see. But with these new agents, they're also going to bring in a library. all. So if there's like common agents that they see people are creating on on the platform, then they're going to have the ability to, you know, you can be like, well, I want like a sales agent. There he goes, oh, we just download our sales agent here. I didn't put that and then configure it. So it gives you something to start with.

Katie: Yeah.

Noel: Yeah.

Katie: Which I think is great for people who are like just starting out and trying to get used to the platform. and everything like that. So again, it's breaking down those boundaries, isn't it? And like getting more people to use the platform.

Noel: Which is very clever.

Katie: I like it.

Noel: Absolutely, yeah. There wasn't any, I mean, that's all of the updates. So there was one thing, actually, that I do want to very quickly mention. They kind of glossed over it very quickly because there wasn't really any updates to the grid. So that was obviously the big thing for last year.

Katie: Yeah.

Noel: They've made some updates, a few tweaks here and there, nothing groundbreaking. But one thing I did note down that they mentioned was that they would like to have the grid as like one of the starting points for building your scenario. So not only is it just viewing everything that's connected in your account, but you would be able to start creating scenarios within the grid, which I thought was, yeah, that was quite interesting. Yeah. There was something that there was mentioned very quickly and there was like next slide. Moving on.

Katie: No.

Noel: Yeah.

Katie: Can't say any more. No questions. I've ran out of time.

Noel: Let's bring out the next person.

Katie: Just shut that down straight away.

Noel: Exactly.

Katie: We've got no more information on that. Sorry. No.

Noel: Hopefully soon. You'd ask.

Katie: Brilliant. What was your biggest takeaway from the mate conference?

Noel: Oh, so I think the biggest takeaway is probably they're moving more towards the ease of use for the platform. So I would already say out of all of them, it's probably, well, based on our last episode, if you felt this, that already. So, you know, it's probably one of the most easier user-friendly platforms to use. And I think, you know, with these updates, it's only going to get easier. So, yeah, the barrier to entry is going to be far lower, which is really awesome. But, yeah, like we said with the feedback, you know, who knows where it's going to go.

Katie: Yeah.

Noel: You know, someone's going to have a bright idea and they'll go, wow, that's amazing. And then all of a sudden it's there.

Katie: Yeah.

Noel: Yeah, I didn't even think that was possible.

Katie: Yeah.

Noel: What about yours? What was your biggest takeaway?

Katie: Yeah, I think as well, it's breaking down those barriers. and getting more people to use Make. And I really love actually how they haven't just ignored people who want to come and start using Make. That, you know, they're not just taking care of their current users, but they're also thinking about future users as well. And I really liked that because I feel like Make look after their users so well. and they're so, you know, open for feedback and even if it's negative feedback as well as positive feedback, you know, they're always so open. And so, yeah, I just feel like that they currently look after their current users so well and the fact that now they're like trying to bring in, you know, these people who are new to automations. And I think that just makes us realize that, you know, AI and automations, you know, are just going to get bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger. And they're going to be such a huge part of our business lives, the fact that, you know, they're investing all of this, you know, new technology into getting more people, you know, on board and to use the platform. So, yeah, I think that was my biggest takeaway. It was just like, yeah, like, this is just going to become bigger and. bigger and bigger, you know. So, yeah, really interesting. And I really liked the talk about meta. You know, I love a talk about meta. You know, the speaker was talking about, like, the AI-generated ads and the AI wearable, so like the Rayband, meta-glasses. Yeah, I just find that all. really interesting so yeah yeah

Noel: yeah we're gonna get more and more AI than with the we bargained for aren't we I think in the

Katie: next next year it was quite funny because the day after the conference like we were obviously you know doing some sightseeing around Munich and you had Google Maps open on your phone you kept having to look down I said oh you see with those new meta glasses that are coming out next year with their like um bracelet thing they don't call it a bracelet though do they

Noel: yeah i can't remember what they called it down now but yeah yeah with the clicky bracelet thing yeah

Katie: yeah sorry meta for like butchering what is actually called um um i was like you could have had your meta raybans on and you know you could have had google maps you know like just guiding us and you could have just been walking along and i was like maybe when we're here next year you know that that's what's going to be navigating us

Noel: maybe yeah yeah yeah i could have the i could have them on for the uh presentation next year for make and then you know it could be going off and being my note taker yes yeah

Katie: why not why not yeah um yeah so i would say those those were definitely um my biggest takeaways

Noel: yeah yeah it's exciting to see where it's all going to go i think that's

Katie: yeah i think so looking

Noel: forward to it yeah

Katie: And as always, we are putting more information into our membership over on School, A.I. Business Club. And obviously, as soon as we get access to the new updates, we will be, you know, sharing that with our community as well. But as always, we will leave the links below. If you've got any questions, if there's anything that you would like us to cover, then just let us know. You can find us on LinkedIn. We also have our LinkedIn group. Again, we'll link that below for you. And we will catch you next time for another episode very soon.