From Crop Duster to Starship: Let DSPy Tune Your Prompts in Plain Python

Welcome to our next Python Meetup! Whether you're a seasoned developer or just beginning your Python journey, this event is designed to help you dive deeper into the language, meet fellow enthusiasts, and share insights. We’ve lined up an exciting main technical talk that will showcase innovative ideas in Python, followed by lightning talks where community members present quick, interesting projects or tips. It’s a great opportunity to learn, network, and collaborate.

Feel free to grab some refreshments, get comfortable, and get ready for an engaging evening of Python!

Date: 21 July, 2026
Time: 6pm-8pm
Location: Improving, 10111 Richmond Ave. # 100, Houston, TX 77042

### Welcome and Networking

• Time: 6:00 PM – 6:30 PM
• Description: Attendees check in, grab refreshments, and network with fellow Python enthusiasts.

### Opening Remarks

• Time: 6:30 PM – 6:40 PM
• Speaker: Dillon Niederhut
• Description: Brief introduction to the event, agenda rundown, and announcements.

### Main Technical Talk

• Time: 6:40 PM – 7:20 PM
• Title: From Crop Duster to Starship: Let DSPy Tune Your Prompts in Plain Python
• Speaker: Ahliana Byrd
• Description: Here's the upgrade you didn't know was available. DSPy takes the prompts you have been flying like a crop duster and turns out a starship, in plain Python you already write. You declare what you want, compose it into modules, and let an optimizer craft and tune the prompt for you. Then you put on the x-ray glasses: DSPy shows you every move it made under the hood, so you understand it, trust it, and can prove it to the room. We build the whole thing live, beat a hand-written prompt, and send you home with a repo and a method to keep you powering ahead.
• Bio: Ahliana Byrd, Principal Software Engineer with Ascentra Innovations, builds across Python, C#, and Angular. She works hands-on with agentic AI and language-model systems and is deepening that work through Johns Hopkins' Advanced Agentic AI program. She's hooked on the techniques that make language models reliable and stop the endless prompt-tweaking, which is what she is bringing to PyHou.

### Lightning Talks

• Time: 7:30 PM – 8:00 PM
• Description: 5-minute talks on various Python-related topics. Lightning talks are meant to be quick and informal, showcasing small projects, tools, or quick tips. Lightning talk sign-ups are at the event!
• Format: Each speaker has 4 minutes to present, followed by 1 minute for questions.