.NET

**[note: ‘registering’ here doesn’t get you a seat; go to [THIS LINK](https://www.coreerocks.com/Events.aspx?ID=Columbus-In-Person-Chapter-Meeting-Build-Your-Network-Get-Mentored-Night-14-2-3-2026) to download your guest pass or just let us know you’re coming]** At our in-person Columbus Chapter meetings, we love to get you next to local investors who aren’t just experienced but also supportive, collaborative, and ready to answer your questions. At February’s meeting, the whole 3 hours is about getting you face-to-face with our experienced local members for some local advice and mentoring. Here’s the whole agenda: 5:00 Free light dinner and networking tables, meet the vendors 6:00-6:15 Buy-Sell-Trade (Members) Guest Orientation (Non-Members) 6:15-8:00 p.m. **Build Relationships + Get Mentored Night!** We bet you’re figured out that the best way to profitably navigate a rapidly-changing market it to get with real people who already know how to find the deals, get them financed, get them fixed, and most importantly, get them sold or rented fast and profitably. That’s why we’re devoting a whole meeting to giving you the chance to build some real relationships with those experienced, supportive colleagues, ask them your ‘big picture’ questions, or even bring a deal that you’re working on to have them give their opinion. You’ll have the chance to sit with these mentors in small groups and make connections you want…we’ve got members who can answer questions on anything from getting financing to rehab to tenant issues, asset protection, wholesaling, shared housing, and more! If you’ve been intimidated by the success and knowledge of these folks (or just didn’t know who to go to for what questions), this is your chance to pick their brains in an easy, structured atmosphere where THAT’S WHY THEY’RE THERE! (If you’re more experienced yourself, how about showing up to BE a mentor for the night? After all, someone helped you when you got started…pass it on!) Members and first-time guests attend free; repeat guests are $35 (and for real, it’s cheaper to just join [HERE](https://www.coreerocks.com/MembershipInfo.aspx) and get ALL the benefits of membership, including a free website for your business and 20 other educational and networking meetings every month than it is to keep paying that guest fee). Register below to reserve your seat! Members and first-time guests attend free; repeat guests are $35; Register at **[THIS LINK](https://www.coreerocks.com/Events.aspx?ID=Columbus-In-Person-Chapter-Meeting-Build-Your-Network-Get-Mentored-Night-14-2-3-2026)** to reserve your seat!

Joanie Shell and Lindsay Thomas of Opportunities for Ohioans with Disabilities, will be representing the Independent Living Older Blind (ILOB) program, and will explain what this program can offer to persons ages 55 and older. As taken from their website, the ILOB program can help Ohio’s aging population face the many challenges of vision loss and maintain their independence. Target audience for this group is persons who are visually impaired, especially those who have experienced recent loss, however, all are welcome, including family members and supports. Light refreshments will be served. You can also join the meeting by Conference Call at (518) 263-8851.

HYBRID EVENT, VIRTUAL SPEAKER In this talk, Sean Hoar will explore the transformative journey of AI’s role in modern software engineering, from rapid prototyping (“Vibe Coding”) to strategic AI integration by skilled practitioners. It clarifies the distinctions between AI-assisted, AI-enabled, and practitioner-led approaches, offering insights into how developers can effectively adapt to and harness AI tools. The presentation also highlights recent advancements and practical strategies for leveraging AI in daily workflows and long-term development.

5:45-7:45 in Conference Room B, Library lower level. Bring your yarn projects, meet new friends. If you plan to attend, please RSVP yes. If you can’t attend, please change your RSVP to no. This helps anyone who is waitlisted and it allows me to have an accurate count of attendees as our space is quite limited. Plenty of parking in the lot, in the overflow lot across the street, and on the street. See you there! Winter Note: If the weather is bad and I have to cancel the Meetup, i will issue the cancellation not later than 3 p.m. of that day.

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.

Join members of the local UX and Digital Design community for a casual monthly breakfast. There _might_ be a little snow, but there _will_ be effectively infinite serve-yourself coffee, so it evens out if you ask me. Just a reminder, while the other locations are great too, we’re at the Lane Ave one this time.

**Chaos Monkeys, Open Telemetry, and .NET Aspire: Taming Complexity in Modern Apps** .NET Aspire is far more than just a sleek dashboard for wowing your boss and co-workers. It's also a gateway to increased observability with open telemetry, better fault tolerance to fend off chaos monkeys, and a drastically improved onboarding experience for new developers. This session will explore Microsoft's latest guidance for building distributed, cloud-first applications, with practical strategies for enhancing simpler existing apps. You'll discover the inner workings of Aspire, from installation to customization, and learn how it streamlines integration with performance boosters like Redis. Most importantly, you'll see why scalable microservices architectures can be challenging—and how Aspire helps simplify the journey. **Presenter:** Lee Richardson, Microsoft MVP **Pizza starts at 6. Presentation starts around 6:30.**

**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)

Christians in Tech is a community at the intersection of faith and technology. Our meetups are designed to spark meaningful conversations, promote knowledge sharing, and encourage growth—both in your career and your spiritual walk with God. Whether you're an experienced professional or just starting your tech journey, CIT welcomes you. Our Website [https://linktr.ee/citcbus](https://linktr.ee/citcbus) Sponsors and Partners * Improving (Venue Sponsor) * Bethel World Prayer Center (Fiscal Sponsor) * Fruits & Roots (Coffee Partner)

Inspired by the successful events like "Pot Luck in the Park" and "Saturday Mornings @ East Market," this meetup promises a fun and engaging atmosphere where like-minded individuals can connect over a shared love for languages and cultures. Whether you're a language learner, ESL student, or simply passionate about exploring new cultures, this event is perfect for anyone looking to immerse themselves in a diverse and welcoming community. Come join us for an enlightening afternoon of language, culture, food, of course, and connections! (Everyone will individually choose from the buffet and pay for their own meal, by weight.)

**GIS and Software Programming** (with a focus on Python and JavaScript) by **[Gary Yu](https://www.linkedin.com/in/gary-yu-analyst/)** * GIS Overview * Programming Overview * GIS History * History of Programming * A Cluster of GIS Software * A Tale of Two Programming Languages (Python and JavaScript) * How to integrate GIS Software in Python * How to integrate GIS Software in JS ***Bring your laptop and expect to write some (non-AI generated) code!*** *(title subject to change)* Food and drinks will be available. **LOCATION:** 6515 Longshore Loop, Suite 300, Dublin, OH 43017 **FREE PARKING:** 6725 Longshore Street, Dublin, OH 43017

**Important time note:** Please plan on arriving between 5:30 and 6:00 as the elevators lock after 6 and you'll need to message us and we'll need to come get you. The building address is 4450 Bridge Park The entrance is 6620 Mooney St, Suite 400 **Abstract** TBD **YouTube Link** TBA

**Important time note:** Please plan on arriving between 5:30 and 6:00 as the elevators lock after 6 and you'll need to message us and we'll need to come get you. The building address is 4450 Bridge Park The entrance is 6620 Mooney St, Suite 400 **Abstract** TBD **YouTube Link** TBA

Come out to Improving for our monthly iOS and Mac meetings. This Month's Presentation: Nothing yet. (You should volunteer). What is Cocoaheads (http://cocoaheads.org/)? CocoaHeads is a group devoted to discussion of Apple Computer's Cocoa Framework for programming on MacOS X and iOS (including the iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch). During monthly meetings, members present on their projects and offer tutorials on various programming topics. What is BuckeyeCocoa (http://buckeyecocoa.org/)? BuckeyeCocoa is a group of Objective-C/Swift developers/enthusiasts. We host monthly Cocoaheads and near-weekly NSCoder meetings in Columbus, Ohio. The meetings are free to attend. Presentations! Presenters welcome! We are always in need of people willing to present material. Any Swift and/or Objective-C related topic is welcome. Times can be 5 minutes (i.e. lightning talks) to a maximum of 2 hours. Interested? Contact info is on the BuckeyeCocoa website. To volunteer for a presentation contact us at @BuckeyeCocoa on Twitter. Follow us on Twitter! @BuckeyeCocoa (https://twitter.com/#!/Buckeyecocoa/) For more information: http://buckeyecocoa.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/)

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

Connected Westerville Night of Networking flips the script on networking, with surprises and connections that'll make you say, "Who knew networking could be this much fun?!"

Columbus Code & Coffee is an inclusive, informal co-working session. People of all skill levels attend, and we love it that way. Many people (optionally) bring projects to work on, and many other people (optionally) socialize the entire time. It's entirely up to you! **What to Expect at the Intro Circle** \~\~\~\~\~\~\~\~\~\~\~\~\~ Near the beginning of the event (1:30 pm), we do a standup: * Organizer announcements, updates, and logistics Round 1 - (7 secs max): * Your name * What you're working on * What you can help others with Round 2: * Community events you wanna plug. If none, that's cool too. Round 3: * Job opportunities you're hiring for OR announce that you are looking for one. If none, that's cool. After the introduction circle, everything is self-organized! Feel free to work alone, pair up, attend one of our workshops/presentations, or mingle!