PostgreSQL

We are very excited to announce another Search Tech Berlin Meetup. The meetup will be hosted and sponsored by Zalando (thank you!). **Agenda** 18:15 - Doors open 18:45 - Introduction 19:00 - **Talk: Samay Kapadia: Multi-Modal Embedding Search with modern VLMs** 19:40 - Networking, food & drinks 20:00 - **Talk: David Fennesey: Automating the tedium of golden sets with agentic flows** 20:40 - Let’s socialize and grab some drinks 21:00 - Doors closing **Talks** **1) Multi-Modal Embedding Search with modern VLMs** Samay Kapadia, Principal ML Engineer, Zalando Creating a state-of-the-art search embedding model for products, that supports both text and visual inputs. Since there are no open-weight multimodal embedding models, we will convert VLMs like Qwen3 and Ministral 3 into embedding models using LoRA (Low Rank Adapters). **2) David Fennesey: Automating the tedium of golden sets with agentic flows** David Fennesey, Principal Engineer, Flink Search relevancy optimization, such as taxonomies, labeling, and query classification, is expensive to build and painful to maintain. Modern reasoning LLMs, with a small agentic framework around them are easily capable of exploring, evaluating, and iterating through your data. This talk builds that workflow from scratch: tool calls for strategic exploration and guardrails to keep it in check. See you at the event René & Roman

A 45-minute pranayama and breath-awareness class designed for working professionals and busy minds. This session offers gentle, nervous-system–supportive breathing practices that help release mental fatigue, calm stress, and restore clarity - without forceful breathing or breath retention. Each class includes a short, accessible explanation of the breathing approach, followed by guided practice and quiet integration, making it suitable even during a lunch break. No prior experience is required.

An inspiring, high-energy meeting of public speaking, connection, and personal growth in the heart of Berlin. **Mercury Toastmasters Berlin** invites you to our weekly meeting at our new home at **Das Center, Potsdamer Platz**, in the stunning **Historic Imperial Breakfast Hall**. *Experience the **power of prepared speeches** loaded with bold ideas, participate in our **dynamic Impromptu Session**, and **gain valuable insights** during our feedback segment.* *Leave with practical tools, fresh ideas, and renewed inspiration.* *Whether you want to speak up at work, boost your presence, or just meet inspiring people, you’ll feel at home at Mercury Toastmasters Berlin.* *** **[What to Expect:](https://mercurytoastmasters.de/find-toastmasters-meetings-in-berlin/)** ✨ A supportive space to speak, grow, and connect 🎤 Engaging prepared speeches ⚡ Fun, fast-paced impromptu speaking challenges 💬 Feedback session you can actually use 🌍 A friendly, international crowd (around 25–30 people) **Schedule** (times may vary) ⏰ 19:15 - Doors open & networking 🎙️ 19:30 - Prepared Speeches 🏓 20:35 - Impromptu Session (Guest welcome to join) ↩️ 21:00 - Constructive feedback 💬 21:30 - Food, drinks & relaxed socializing **No experience needed.** ***Come curious. Leave energized.*** *** **🤙 [Hear it from our members:](https://maps.app.goo.gl/eRtvR9DRNqU9WZQn7)** *“You can sharpen your public speaking skills and gain tons of confidence, while having fun and making new friends. Mercury is well-structured, fun, and affordable.”* — *Therese Pitt* *“Mercury gave me a safe place to speak, create, and grow. I love the multicultural vibe and supportive community. It’s the best place to learn and have fun.”* — *Krisztina Linka* *** **[Did You Know?](https://mercurytoastmasters.de/about-mercury-toastmasters-berlin/)** Toastmasters is where people go to get better at speaking—and grow into confident communicators and leaders. Today [Toastmasters ](https://mercurytoastmasters.de/about-mercury-toastmasters-berlin/)has 350,000+ members across 16,000 clubs in 143 countries. And [Mercury](https://mercurytoastmasters.de/find-toastmasters-meetings-in-berlin/) is one of the best places to experience it. So bring your curiosity, your energy—and just be yourself. Whether you’re just starting or ready to level up, there’s a place for you here. *** **[Wondering what you get as a member?](https://mercurytoastmasters.de/membership-mercury-toastmasters-berlin/)** Think expert feedback, real-world speaking practice, and a supportive crew that’s got your back. [See you Wednesday night! 🎉](https://mercurytoastmasters.de/find-toastmasters-meetings-in-berlin/)

**In association with the Berlin Portrait Academy and PAKD Gallery / PAKD Art Lab** * **[www.berlinportraitacademy.com](http://www.berlinportraitacademy.com**)** * **[www.pakd-gallery.com/artlab](http://www.pakd-gallery.com/artlab**)** * **Cost: 15 Euros without RSVP on the door, or 13 Euros if you RSVP first** A regular opportunity to study the nude or portrait from life for 3 hours, every single week! We have one long pose - you can choose whether to draw several studies from different angles around the room, or take your time to do a single sustained drawing or painting in full detail. The pose is held for 20 minute intervals with five minute breaks in-between so the model to rest and stretch, and so artists can move between seats if they choose. We provide some materials such as paper, pencils & pastels for free. Canvases, brushes and acrylic paint can be purchased at the event. We hope to see you there very soon!

**Hi everyone!** We’ll now be meeting twice a week at Denizen House (Köpenicker Str. 40, 10179 Berlin), on **Mondays and Wednesdays**! * **Mondays:** levels A1 to B1 * **Wednesdays:** levels B1 to C1 We work with dedicated materials tailored to each level, so everyone will have a place to practice and improve. **Event schedule** * **18:00 – 18:30** Arrival and registration * **18:30 – 19:50** Sprachcafé * **19:50 – 20:00** End and clean up Please be aware that the moderated event starts at **18:30**. Before this time, we are busy setting up the space. Registrations usually take place around **18:15 / 18:20**. Participants are kindly asked **not to arrive too far in advance** at the house. If someone arrives much earlier, Denizen may ask them to pay either for a drink (consumption) or for a **day pass**, as the space is a co-working environment during the day. **Please remember, our event is only happening from 18:00 to 20:00** **How the Sprachcafé works** We use different materials to help participants gain confidence in German. Together with whiteboards and our volunteers, the Sprachcafé is based on **interactive conversations** in small groups. **Participation fee** The Sprachcafé has a **participation fee of 5 €**, which helps cover organizational costs and **includes one soft drink for free**. Tickets can be purchased directly on the day of the event, card and cash payments are accepted. As the Sprachcafé has become very popular, we now need to **limit the number of participants**. Please understand this measure; it ensures that everyone has a comfortable space to practice. We kindly ask you to be **rücksichtsvoll** and only RSVP “Yes” if you are certain you can attend. If your plans change at the last minute, please update your RSVP so someone on the waiting list can take your spot. Getting your ticket early can help secure your place. **Please note** Our event will begin **promptly** at the scheduled start time. If you arrive late, we cannot guarantee your participation, even if you have a ticket or have RSVP’d. We encourage all guests to arrive on time to ensure a smooth and enjoyable experience for everyone. Thank you for your understanding and cooperation. **About Denizen** Denizen is a new-style co-working space focused on being an integral part of local communities. Located on the ground floor of the historic Eiswerk on Köpenicker Straße in Kreuzberg, Denizen House is a communal place providing work, refreshment, and recreational facilities throughout the day. Think of it as a living room for the neighborhood. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to let me know. If you’d like to contribute to this night, send me a message! Ich freue mich schon! Grüße, **Nacho**

**✨ A Warm Winter Gathering--Community, Energy & New Connections** “Let’s come together in a chic and calm space to enjoy wine, good vibes and shared moments.” **🍇About the Wine World Journey** Each event explores a new wine region, with its own stories, grape varieties, and traditions. We’ll taste two carefully selected wines, made from typical grape varieties that express the true character of the region. Join our community: https://chat.whatsapp.com/IvY0P9u9c1X8wqbargHqAD **🍷 Taste, Learn, and Truly Feel the Terroir** Part 1: Introduction to the Region * Why this region is famous in the wine world * A virtual tour to explore the landscape * Typical grape varieties, wineries, and wine labels Part 2: Tasting the wines together — making tasting notes to explore aromas and structure, and sharing impressions to truly feel the character of the terroir. Part 3: Communication and Connections 📌 **NOTIFICATION**: * 15.00 EUR donation for the organization and including 2 glass of Wine + Wine tasting note (Please bring cash preferably without change.) * Bring a pen to write tasting notes * The venue is inside a residential building reception lobby. Please enter through the main entrance gate, then turn right to reach the venue. You may enter together with other residents, or feel free to contact me upon arrival.

Let's talk Android! This time we have two amazing talks prepared: Shaders on Android by Nicole Terc In this talk Nicole will introduce the totally not shady world of programming Shaders on Android. What are they? What do they want? What can they do? What can you do with then? How much do they cost and do they have a dog? These are only a few questions answered by this talk. Python on Android by Mario Bodemann Snakes. Don't be afraid of snakes. Especially not the programmable ones! Mario will talk us through 3 different way to integrate the snake taming language in your Android application. Ever wanted to run snake on your phone? This talk is your chance to learn how. 🎉🎉 Happy new year everyone, we're happy to host you at c-base again this year.🎉🎉 Join for some healthy discussions about our favorite mobile operating system ("Android") and maybe learn or teach a thing or two. Agenda --- Hosted By Mario Bodemann, GDG Organizer 🧑‍💻 Louis Tsai, Android Developer Matthias Geisler, "Geißler" Complete your event RSVP here: https://gdg.community.dev/events/details/google-gdg-berlin-android-presents-berlindroid-monthly-meetup-2026-01-28/.

Join us for the **first Berlin meetup of the year** as we bring together **Kong × Kafka × Grafana** for an evening focused on **real-time data, streaming, and observability** 🚀 This meetup is all about learning from practitioners, sharing experiences, and kicking off 2026 with the local data & platform community. As always, expect **high-quality technical talks**, **great conversations**, and **good vibes** — plus **pizza 🍕 and cold drinks** to keep things flowing. *** **🔐 Important** For security reasons, please provide your **Full name and surname** during registration. Our volunteers will verify your registration at the entrance — this is **mandatory** to access the venue. Your information will be used **only** for this purpose. *** **🗓️ Event Details** **📅 Date:** 29.01.26 *** **🕐 Agenda** **18:00 — Welcome & Snacks** Doors open! Grab a slice, meet fellow community members, and get settled. **18:30 — Opening Remarks** A warm welcome from the **Berlin community** and event partners. **18:45 — Tech Talks Begin** 📚 **Talk Details** ### **Talk 01: Keeping data private in real-time pipelines By Olena Kutsenko** **Abstract** We all love real-time data — clicks, payments, rides, messages — but most of it comes with a catch: it often includes personal information we’re not allowed to leak, such as names, emails, locations, or subtle clues that can identify someone. So how do we keep streaming data **useful** and **safe** at the same time? In this talk, we’ll explore practical approaches to protecting privacy in streaming systems using **Apache Kafka**, Apache Flink, and Apache Iceberg. We’ll cover: * Simple techniques like **masking and tokenizing PII** * Why “anonymous” data often **isn’t really anonymous** (the re-identification problem) * Privacy-preserving approaches such as **bucketing, k-anonymity, and adding noise** * How to **balance privacy and data utility** (because over-hiding can make data useless) *** ### **Talk 02: Blackbox Monitoring is Hard! (And Why That’s the Best Part) By Goutham Veeramachaneni** I’ve been experimenting with [Beyla](https://grafana.com/oss/beyla-ebpf/) and [eBPF-based monitoring](https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-ebpf-instrumentation) since its inception. While it’s an incredible tool for getting started with zero-code instrumentation, making it work reliably at scale presents a unique set of hurdles. In this session, we’ll introduce Beyla’s architecture and show how it can kickstart your observability journey.But the real story lies in what happens next. Navigating the scaling challenges has been an absolute blast, and we’ve tackled each bottleneck unfazed—sometimes by leaning into the tech, and other times by resorting to white box native instrumentation to gain the granular insights we need.What you’ll learn: * • **The "How":** A technical deep dive into how Beyla works under the hood. * • **The "Real-World":** The specific challenges we faced when moving beyond the initial phase. * • **The "Trade-offs":** A transparent look at the limitations of different approaches, from pure blackbox eBPF to native instrumentation. * • T**he "Product":** Insight into the intricacies of building a new product in a rapidly evolving ecosystem. Whether you are an observability veteran or just starting with eBPF, you’ll walk away with a better understanding of your monitoring stack and the confidence to handle the limitations of the tools you use. ### **Talk 03: Securing and governing both external and internal traffic By Sven Walther** Modern enterprises must secure and govern APIs, event-driven systems, and internal services—without fragmenting control across multiple platforms. This talk shows how a unified management plane brings consistency, visibility, and security across the entire application landscape using Kong Konnect. The session will cover three key areas: * **External connectivity & event exposure** Securely connect partners and customers to your event-driven systems without exposing internal infrastructure directly. * **Internal service governance with Service Mesh** Apply security, traffic control, and observability across your internal network using a service mesh. * **Fine-grained Kafka governance** Enforce policies and security down to the individual message level for internal event streams. *** ### **🤝🏻 21:00 — Networking & Q&A** Connect with fellow developers, data engineers, platform teams, and observability enthusiasts. Share ideas, experiences, and maybe even exchange a LinkedIn connection or two. **21:30 — Event Wrap-Up** *** **📷 Photo Notice** By attending this event, you consent to being photographed. These photos may be used for future community and event promotions. Don’t forget to smile 😄 *** We’re excited to kick off 2026 with the Berlin community and can’t wait to see you there! If you have any questions or are interested in **speaking at future meetups**, feel free to reach out.

If you love good heart warming Georgian food and even better company, then join us for dinner and drinks at **[Kin Za](https://kinza.metro.bar/?lang=de)**! We are meeting up in front of the restaurant by 7.15pm. If you join later, just ask in the event where we're sitting (or keep an eye out for a bunch of people in band merch I guess) <3 Come hungry, grab a cocktail, and swap tour stories or new band recommendations with other metalheads—no gatekeeping, just good food and louder conversation 🖤 We're keeping this meetup small and cozy at 6 spots, so be fast to secure yours :) ***Heartcore*** is the spot for lovers of razor-sharp post-hardcore to crushing metalcore and the emo-tinged corners in between. Check out our monthly meetup as well :) ##### See you there!🫶

**IMPORTANT PLEASE RSVP:** https://www.meetup.com/grafana-and-friends-berlin/events/312736114/?eventOrigin=group_upcoming_events **🕐 Agenda** * **18:00 — Welcome & Snacks** * Doors open! Grab a slice, meet fellow community members, and get settled. * **18:30 — Opening Remarks** * A warm welcome from the **Berlin community** and event partners. * **18:45 — Tech Talks Begin** **Talk 01: Keeping data private in real-time pipelines** **Abstract** We all love real-time data — clicks, payments, rides, messages — but most of it comes with a catch: it often includes personal information we’re not allowed to leak, such as names, emails, locations, or subtle clues that can identify someone. So how do we keep streaming data **useful** and **safe** at the same time? In this talk, we’ll explore practical approaches to protecting privacy in streaming systems using **Apache Kafka**, Apache Flink, and Apache Iceberg. We’ll cover: * Simple techniques like **masking and tokenizing PII** * Why “anonymous” data often **isn’t really anonymous** (the re-identification problem) * Privacy-preserving approaches such as **bucketing, k-anonymity, and adding noise** * How to **balance privacy and data utility** (because over-hiding can make data useless) ### **Talk 02: TBA** Details coming soon 👀 ### **Talk 03: TBA** Stay tuned for the announcement!

RSVP is **required** to participate. Please RSVP here (except if you're already part of the jam - then you will be allowed to always come) If you want to join the jam instead, please visit [http://ggj.gamestormberlin.org](http://ggj.gamestormberlin.org) Come check out the results of the Global Game Jam Berlin 2026. Play the games, talk to the jammers and get some drinks and pizza! Global Game Jam is an international hands-on Game Festival which takes place in over 800 locations world wide on just one weekend. The participants will produce experimental computer games which will be uploaded to the main GGJ website at the end of the weekend. From there everyone can download and play the games. Global Game Jam is a wonderful opportunity for participants to expand their horizons, challenge themselves, and meet new people. Right away you will start developing a playable game with strangers who share the same passion as you in just two days. At the end you are tired but happy.

**📅 Week 2 Focus: Image Processing Recap & Intro to Deep Learning** Each 7-week cycle focuses on a **small, well-defined part of a larger system**—and over time, these cycles build toward a complete, real-world project (covering data engineering, data science, and deployment). Feel free to join at any week and we will catch you up. There is no need to be at the beginning of the cohort to build. Complete beginners welcomed! 🧠 Current Project This cycle’s shared project is an **image-based knowledge extraction system** Last week, we kicked off our shared project by getting our hands dirty with OpenCV and exploring traditional image processing techniques. In Week 2, we’ll: * **Recap what we explored last week** and share cool experiments * **Look under the hood** of the OpenCV techniques we used * **Start exploring deep learning–based approaches** for text and object detection 📌 By the End of a Full Cycle, You should Have 🎯 A working project in your own GitHub repo 🎯 A small but real portfolio piece you can demo or write about 📅 When: Saturday, Jan 31 · 9:30–11:30 📍 Where: Torstraße 59, Forward Earth 💻 Bring: Your laptop, an idea—or just curiosity **👋 Who Is This For?** 🔹 Beginners who learn best by doing — no prior experience needed 🔹 Career switchers from product, engineering, design, marketing, or other fields who want to break into data 🔹 Analysts, engineers, and PMs looking to sharpen their skills or build real-world projects 🔹 Data professionals who want a creative playground outside of work 🔹 Anyone with big questions and a love for learning through experimentation \*\*\* **BUILD. LEARN. EXPERIMENT. OVER COFFEE.** Come hang out, meet like-minded people, and work on something fun. 📍 Based in Berlin – in-person meetups only (for now!) 💻 Laptops + ☕ highly encouraged Join our Discord → [https://discord.gg/dPnmzcCP8w](https://discord.gg/dPnmzcCP8w) Check out our program resources: [Google Drive](https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/15DmZqD4bLBk2vU4zpvh1HiB3_5n09v-q?usp=sharing) \*\*\* ✨ Who’s Hosting? I’m Lindsey, a senior data scientist working on AI, causal inference, and data products. I’ve built models for fraud detection, uplift modeling, and LLM-based systems. I am always open to suggestion for different format for this meetup.

Zapraszamy wszystkich na bezpłatne zajęcia medytacji w Berlinie dla Polaków. Po całym dniu pracy,zajęć w szkole, czy też dodatkowych aktywności. W stanie medytacji możemy zaznać chwili relaksu oraz wyciszenia. To wspaniała metoda, na pozbycie się wszelkich emocjonalno- mentalnych napięć powstałych w ciągu dnia,zniwelowanie stresu, czy też zmęczenia naszego organizmu. Co tygodniowe zajęcia medytacji, które odbywają się w kazdy czwartek o godzinie 19.00 w centrum Sahaja Yogi które znajduje się przy ulicy Behaimstraße 8 (Hinterhof )10585 w Berlinie.

I'm excited to announce another meetup! If you're interested in give a talk, feel free to reach out to me at marcel.drechsler@andsafe.de \-\-\- All talks will be **presented in English**, to ensure that as many people as possible can participate and engage at this event. **If you want to attend, please RSVP to secure your spot - this will make organizing easier. Thank you so much ♥️** **Location:** Spiced Academy, Ritterstrasse 12, 10969 Berlin, 2. Hof \-\-\-\-\-\- **🏠 18:00 - Arrival: Networking, Drinks & Snacks (30 min.)** Grab yourself snacks & drinks and say hello to everybody else! **📅 18:30 - So you want to observe an Event Driven System? (45 min.)** **🎙️**Speaker: Roman Boiko, Enterprise Sales Engineer @ [Datadog](https://www.datadoghq.com) Event-driven architectures offer powerful decoupling, but they often shatter traditional monitoring strategies. When a single business process jumps across multiple queues, buses, and microservices, tracing the line between cause and effect becomes a complex puzzle. This talk bridges that visibility gap by exploring practical observability strategies using OpenTelemetry. We will navigate the critical architectural decisions behind distributed tracing - specifically choosing between Span Linking and Parent-Child relationships - and master context propagation to ensure no transaction is lost in the noise. Join us to learn how to connect low-level technical data with high-level business metrics, turning asynchronous complexity into a clear, manageable system. Roman Boiko is a Senior Enterprise Sales Engineer at Datadog, where he helps developers and architects build reliable, observable, and scalable systems. With a strong background in serverless and cloud-native architectures, he’s passionate about bridging the gap between engineering and operations to help teams move faster with confidence. Roman frequently speaks at tech events, sharing practical insights on observability, distributed systems, and modern application design. He enjoys exploring how developers can simplify complexity and deliver better software through data-driven decisions. **📅 19:15 - Datadog at Zendesk - a solid foundation for scalable, reliable and cost efficient systems (30 min.)** **🎙️**Speaker: Anatoly Mikhaylov, Principal Software Engineer & Datadog Ambassador @ [Zendesk](https://www.zendesk.de/) Anatoly will share practical and valuable lessons what value Datadog brings and what role it plays at Zendesk. They customized and encorporated observability triad (APM, Logs and metrics) within a large volume of systems and applications. Zendesk made it work very well at scale and so that Datadog became a common language engineers and product teams can speak to one another. A single picture often helps to narrow down the issue, surface the problem, brings the solution and be confident remediation is applied successfully. Zendesk teams are fluent using complex Datadog tools and drive necessary changes. **📅 19:45 - Continuous Profiling with Datadog (30 min.)** **🎙️**Speaker: Felix Geisendörfer, Senior Staff Engineer @ [Datadog](https://www.datadoghq.com) Instrumenting systems with logs, metrics and traces is a great way to make them more observable. However, the resulting map is not the territory, and only allows indirect reasoning about the code it represents.Continuous profiling fills this gap by allowing software developers and operators to directly understand the CPU, Memory and Latency trends of their systems using stack traces that break down problems and opportunities in terms of files, functions and line numbers. This presentation will demonstrate the value of this capability by live-debugging an incident caused by an AI assisted refactoring using Datadog’s Continuous Profiler product. Additionally the presentation will give an overview of other capabilities as well as the work we’re doing upstream to add profiling as the fourth signal of OpenTelemetry. **🥗 20:15 - Drinks, Food & Networking** Enjoy refreshments while networking with community peers! **👋 21:00 - Goodbye, see you next time!**

Our monthly PHP meetup. A virtual shindig courtesy of Zoom. Check back here for the details around 6:15 pm

Jimmy V's Grill & Pub in Grandview Heights. You are responsible for your own meal/drinks. We usually don't have any agenda other than eat, drink and talk. :) If the weather is nice we will be on the back patio, otherwise we are in the cigar room. This group has been meeting every Tuesday evening for over a decade. Many attendees do not RSVP on meetup. Please don't let the small number here discourage you. Anyone/everyone is welcome to come. We'd love to have you join us. COTA bus #5 comes to W. 5th and Wyandotte Rd. And it's a minute walk to the restaurant. *** Did you know that there are atheists everywhere?!?! You may not know it, but we are! We're in your schools, diners, police force, military, government, and some are even still in your churches! So come and join us and meet other local atheists, along with agnostics, heathens, humanists, skeptics, and anyone else who's 'hell bound'! Vision: a Central Ohio that accepts atheism as a viable alternative in all areas of public and private life. Mission: grow, support, and provide community for atheists in Central Ohio. Social meetings held most Tuesdays at a local pub/restaurant at 7:00 PM (and often into the wee hours). Attendees call themselves agnostics, skeptics, humanists, non-theists, deists or even theists. All attendees are welcome but should support our vision. Atheists of Columbus (AoC) is part of Omnipresent Atheists (OA). AoC members are invited to join this OA meetup and/or OA Facebook group ( https://www.facebook.com/groups/omnipresentatheists/ ) but are free to continue conversations on the AoC Facebook group ( https://www.facebook.com/groups/columbusatheists/ ). AoC was founded in 2012 as a networking, social group for Central Ohio area humanists, skeptics, atheists, agnostics, nonbelievers, freethinkers, and the curious. It was a member of Columbus CoR and held weekly meetings, mostly on Fridays, for several years but then operated as an online only group for some time. In November 2018, Omnipresent Atheists (OA), a group that routinely meets on Tuesdays, invited AoC to merge. Omnipresent Atheists is a member of the Columbus Coalition of Reason (ColumbusCoR.org). Omnipresent Atheists is a member of the Columbus Coalition of Reason ( http://www.ColumbusCoR.org ). Omnipresent Atheists endorses the mission of the Secular Coalition for America ( http://secular.org ).

### Tools in your AI's Toolbox : An introduction to MCP Servers The generative AI revolution has unlocked unprecedented capabilities, but the next frontier is agency: empowering models to interact with, query, and act upon the world. The current challenge is the “N x M integration problem,” where every AI model requires a custom, brittle integration for each external tool or data source. This approach simply doesn’t scale. How can we give an AI access to our sales leads, code repositories, or IoT devices in a standardized, secure, and reusable way? This session introduces Anthropic’s Model Context Protocol (MCP), the open-source framework designed to solve this challenge and become the universal connector—the USB-C port—for AI. MCP standardizes how AI models discover and use external tools, moving beyond simple function-calling to a robust, client-server architecture. We will dive into how this open protocol is creating a new ecosystem for building powerful, context-aware AI agents. Join this session for a developer-focused introduction where you will learn how to: Understand the core concepts of the open-source Model Context Protocol and its architecture. Utilize pre-built, open-source MCP servers to instantly connect AI to tools like Git, Slack, and databases. Build a custom MCP server to securely expose your own proprietary data and APIs as tools for any compliant AI. Move beyond bespoke integrations and contribute to a standardized, collaborative, and open ecosystem. Stop building one-off connectors and start building intelligent agents. This session will give you the practical knowledge to leverage MCP and create the next generation of AI that doesn’t just talk, but does. Want to be a speaker? submit your talk to our Call for Presenters!!! [https://sessionize.com/azure-cbus-2026/](https://sessionize.com/azure-cbus-2026/)

Jimmy V's Grill & Pub in Grandview Heights. You are responsible for your own meal/drinks. We usually don't have any agenda other than eat, drink and talk. :) If the weather is nice we will be on the back patio, otherwise we are in the cigar room. This group has been meeting every Tuesday evening for over a decade. Many attendees do not RSVP on meetup. Please don't let the small number here discourage you. Anyone/everyone is welcome to come. We'd love to have you join us. COTA bus #5 comes to W. 5th and Wyandotte Rd. And it's a minute walk to the restaurant. Did you know that there are atheists everywhere?!?! You may not know it, but we are! We're in your schools, diners, police force, military, government, and some are even still in your churches! So come and join us and meet other local atheists, along with agnostics, heathens, humanists, skeptics, and anyone else who's 'hell bound'! Vision: a Central Ohio that accepts atheism as a viable alternative in all areas of public and private life. Mission: grow, support, and provide community for atheists in Central Ohio. Social meetings held most Tuesdays at a local pub/restaurant at 7:00 PM (and often into the wee hours). Attendees call themselves agnostics, skeptics, humanists, non-theists, deists or even theists. All attendees are welcome but should support our vision. Atheists of Columbus (AoC) is part of Omnipresent Atheists (OA). AoC members are invited to join this OA meetup and/or OA Facebook group ( https://www.facebook.com/groups/omnipresentatheists/ ) but are free to continue conversations on the AoC Facebook group ( https://www.facebook.com/groups/columbusatheists/ ). AoC was founded in 2012 as a networking, social group for Central Ohio area humanists, skeptics, atheists, agnostics, nonbelievers, freethinkers, and the curious. It was a member of Columbus CoR and held weekly meetings, mostly on Fridays, for several years but then operated as an online only group for some time. In November 2018, Omnipresent Atheists (OA), a group that routinely meets on Tuesdays, invited AoC to merge. Omnipresent Atheists is a member of the Columbus Coalition of Reason (ColumbusCoR.org). Omnipresent Atheists is a member of the Columbus Coalition of Reason ( http://www.ColumbusCoR.org ). Omnipresent Atheists endorses the mission of the Secular Coalition for America ( http://secular.org ). This group has been meeting every Tuesday evening for over a decade. Many attendees do not RSVP on meetup. Please don't let the small number here discourage you. Anyone/everyone is welcome to come. We'd love to have you join us.

**New Dojo Location!** **Draft Day Columbus** 1130 Dublin Road Columbus, OH 43215 We're going to try a new dojo location for a few weeks and see how it works Dojos are informal Python group study sessions where everyone interested in Python gathers to learn about Python, help others with Python, or just hang out. Everyone is welcome from Python beginners to experts. Bringing a laptop is encouraged (we'll have extension cords and power strips). If there's something you want to learn leave a comment on this invite so we can plan ahead. We're looking for topic suggestions and people interested in presenting at our monthly meetings. To this end we've set up a survey form at [https://docs.google.com/forms/d/15eBKF1nQQ2XS5gzD4rvhVRHMBEj7lJtHuA9wXupS3Uc](https://docs.google.com/forms/d/15eBKF1nQQ2XS5gzD4rvhVRHMBEj7lJtHuA9wXupS3Uc)

Confidence can be cultivated in many ways—through reflection, conversation, creativity, and practice. In this Confidence Lab session, we’ll explore one powerful pathway: **building confidence from the inside out through physical expression and movement**. This experience is designed to help you reconnect with your body as a source of insight, self-trust, and presence. We’ll begin by grounding into what’s bringing you here, creating space to notice how your body is showing up and what it’s holding. From there, you’ll be guided through accessible movement exercises that invite awareness and choice—isolating different parts of the body, experimenting with movement, and practicing what it feels like to take up space intentionally. Next, you’ll participate in a small-group dance lesson led in a supportive, low-pressure environment. No dance experience is needed. The focus is not on performance or perfection, but on expression, curiosity, and allowing yourself to move with confidence as you are. We’ll close with a reflective group discussion, exploring what emerged during the experience and how these insights can be applied beyond the studio—how you inhabit your body, how you carry yourself, and how you show up in everyday life. **What to know:** * Wear comfortable clothes and shoes that you feel good moving in * No dance experience required * Light snacks and beverages will be provided This session is for anyone interested in deepening their relationship with confidence by listening to their body, expanding their capacity for self-expression, and practicing self-love as an embodied experience. **Featured Speaker: Mary Grace** Mary Grace, the dynamic force behind MG Choreography & Boutique, has been transforming special occasions with her unique blend of artistry and passion for over seven years. As a proud Latina, with Venezuelan and Mexican heritage, Mary brings a rich cultural perspective to every choreography she creates. Her dedication to dance is matched only by her commitment to empowering others through the joy and elegance of movement. Mary’s journey began with a simple passion for dancing, which quickly grew into a thriving business. She specializes in crafting personalized choreography for weddings, quinceañeras, and sweet sixteens, ensuring each event is unforgettable. Determined to make a significant impact in Ohio, Mary established the first-of-its-kind brick-and-mortar location that not only offers a space to practice these beautiful dances but also provides a boutique experience for purchasing or renting exquisite dresses and tuxedos for these special moments. Mary Grace is more than just a business owner; she is a trailblazer for Latina women in the community, dedicated to bringing elegance, joy, and a touch of her vibrant heritage to every event she touches. **What is Confidence Lab?** Confidence Lab is a monthly community experience for bold, thoughtful leaders building confidence from the inside out. Whether you’re launching a business, leading a team, navigating change, or simply striving to show up more fully—you belong here. Our work demands clarity, courage, and conviction—but the pace of daily life can erode our sense of self. Confidence Lab creates space to reflect, reconnect, and grow with others doing purpose-driven work. It’s designed for entrepreneurs, nonprofit leaders, creatives, corporate professionals, activists, and anyone ready to lead with authenticity and impact. ***Please note:*** *All are welcome! If cost is a concern, please use promo code PUBLIC to access a free ticket—we want you to join us.*

The February Ohio North Database Training user group meeting will be held on **February 3rd, 2025 at 5:00PM**. This will be a **HYBRID** event and we will be joined in person by **David Pickering**. You're welcome to come meet in-person at our meeting location, the offices of Improving at **[6000 Freedom Square Dr,](https://www.google.com/maps/place/Improving/@41.4004167,-81.6614462,17z/data=!3m2!4b1!5s0x8830e5b8255c5919:0xd8297060eb68fe04!4m6!3m5!1s0x8830dc7a0fe35dc9:0xbfc4710ecadfc5c!8m2!3d41.4004127!4d-81.6588713!16s%2Fg%2F1hm3hkqp3?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI1MDQzMC4xIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D)** **[Unit 110,](https://www.google.com/maps/place/Improving/@41.4004167,-81.6614462,17z/data=!3m2!4b1!5s0x8830e5b8255c5919:0xd8297060eb68fe04!4m6!3m5!1s0x8830dc7a0fe35dc9:0xbfc4710ecadfc5c!8m2!3d41.4004127!4d-81.6588713!16s%2Fg%2F1hm3hkqp3?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI1MDQzMC4xIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D)** **[Independence, OH 44131](https://www.google.com/maps/place/Improving/@41.4004167,-81.6614462,17z/data=!3m2!4b1!5s0x8830e5b8255c5919:0xd8297060eb68fe04!4m6!3m5!1s0x8830dc7a0fe35dc9:0xbfc4710ecadfc5c!8m2!3d41.4004127!4d-81.6588713!16s%2Fg%2F1hm3hkqp3?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI1MDQzMC4xIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D)** [Teams Link ](https://teams.microsoft.com/meet/27861114692350?p=lHdrSV1OOELhLnCiAg)if anyone needs it after RSVP-ing for in person. If you would like to subscribe to our email list outside of Meetup, we have changed platforms recently and you will need to register [here in Kit ](https://ohio-north-data-training.kit.com/b8f036f615)instead to receive emails. Agenda: **5:00 PM EST**: Online and in-person meeting begins with a social hour. This is an unstructured hour where you can join us to catch up and meet other group members before the session starts. There will be food brought in for in-person attendees. **6:00 PM EST**: Updates and announcements, followed by our feature presentation. See below for presentation details. **7:30 PM EST**: Optionally after the main presentations, the in-person crowd may go out for snacks and drinks at a local establishment. We hope to see you there! Session Abstract **No Map Required: Geospatial Analytics Directly in Your Data Warehouse** Think geospatial analysis requires specialized GIS software? Think again. This session introduces you to shapefiles and spatial operations right inside your database—no mapping application required. We'll demystify shapefiles (what they are, how they work, and where to get them) and show you how nearly every modern database —from DuckDB to Snowflake, supports spatial operations. You'll see practical demos covering spatial joins, distance calculations, and how to determine if two shapes interact with each other. Whether you're a data engineer optimizing delivery routes, an analyst aggregating metrics by geography, or a BI developer building location-aware dashboards, this session will show you how to unlock powerful spatial capabilities already built into your database stack—no specialized tools required. \*Please note, that we will be using Microsoft Teams for the online portion of this meeting. You may want to join a few minutes early to ensure you do not have any issues. If you are attending in person, there are large TVs at the office, and you do not need to bring a laptop or use Teams.