Agile Project Management

Join fellow product people at **The Product Group London** on **Thu 7th May** for an evening of learning, sharing and networking. **Topic of the Night: Product Today: Surviving & Succeeding** Succeeding (or even surviving) in product management today, what does it take? On the night we’ll explore the current state of the industry and what’s required to succeed (and/or survive) now and in the future. Topics will include what’s changing about the role, what’s staying the same and what’s unknown? How is AI, economic uncertainty, changing company dynamics and the selective job market impacting the role? How do you succeed (or survive) today and in the near future incl. what to focus on and which skills to optimize for? **Featured Guest: David Eason, Principal Product Manager, Trainline** David is a Principal Product Manager at Trainline, where he has spent 7 years building and scaling customer-facing products. He currently leads monitisation initiatives, focused on driving meaningful revenue growth by expanding the core Trainline proposition. As a product generalist, David has delivered across all parts of Trainline’s web and app products in B2B and B2B2C spaces. His work has covered the full product lifecycle incl. launching new AI-powered tools in the product. Before joining Trainline, David worked at Ford, where he focused on experimental product development and collaborated with leading London-based software and design agencies. **About The Product Group London** The Product Group London is a monthly meetup designed to bring product people of all levels together for topical discussions, as a group and with our guest speakers. With attendees from startups to large enterprises, there is no shortage of opportunities to network and make new connections. And whilst the focus is on product management, we welcome product designers and engineers to join for some friendly and lively discussions. **A word about our sponsor and host, BrainStation** [BrainStation](https://brainstation.io/london) is a global leader in digital skills training, empowering businesses and brands to succeed in the digital age. Established in 2012, BrainStation has worked with over 500 instructors from the most innovative companies, developing cutting-edge, real-world digital education that has empowered professionals and some of the largest corporations in the world.

*📍**Location*** London Bridge Hive, 8 Holyrood Street, SE1 2EL London - 2 minutes from London Bridge Station *📌**Description*** Agentic AI isn’t about replacing engineers — it’s about reshaping how work flows through the SDLC. We’ll explore new interaction patterns, boundaries, and responsibilities in AI-native delivery. 🔍 ***Key topics*** •Agentic AI • SDLC **⏲️ *Agenda*** 6:00 Pizza and drinks 6:30 Welcome 6:45 Talk 7:30 Q&A 7:45 Networking and Pizzas! 🍕 8:30 Wrap up & See you at the next Meetup! **🎙️*Speaker*** Giulio Roggero CTO @ Mia-Platform 25 years of experience in software engineering, serial entrepreneur with more than 10 business initiatives launched, today is co-founder and CTO at Mia-Platform, the Internal Developer Platform named by Gartner Cool Vendor for Software Engineering Technologies and in the Cloud Application Platforms Magic Quadrant. Principal focus: cloud native, platform engineering, data fabric and omnichannel experience. He likes to paint Blood Bowl miniatures, construct Lego, build and drive RC Cars and learn piano.

**Pre-Registration is REQUIRED. RSVP here - [https://luma.com/ppyy0sqw](https://luma.com/ppyy0sqw)** ## 🚀 From OpenClaw to Cowork: The Rise of Agentic AI in 2026 **Agentic AI is moving beyond chat and into execution.** Join us for an evening of deep-dive insights as we explore the shift from simple LLM interactions to autonomous, AI-native workflows. Whether you’re a developer, product manager, or business leader, this session will help you navigate the practical future of AI agents. ## The Speaker **Sheamus McGovern,** *Founder of ODSC AI \| Venture Partner at Cortical Ventures \| Author of "The AI Skill Flip"* ## The Topic: The Rise of Agentic AI In this talk, Sheamus explores how tools like **OpenClaw**, **Claude Cowork**, and the emerging **Model Context Protocol (MCP)** are starting to automate real workflows. We’ll move past the hype to look at how agents are working across tools and systems to solve actual production challenges in 2026. ## Our Partners A huge thank you to our partner **[Snowflake](https://www.snowflake.com/en/)** for supporting the London AI community and providing the incredible venue for this event. ## Details * **Date:** 7th May, 2026 * **Time:** 18:00 – 20:00 BST (London Time) * **Perks:** Pizza and soda will be provided 🍕🥤 * **Venue:** Snowflake HQ, 3 Crown Place, London EC2A 4EF, UK ## Agenda * **18:00 - 18:30:** Networking, Pizza, & Drinks * **18:30 - 19:15:** Talk: From OpenClaw to Cowork (Sheamus McGovern) * **19:15 - 19:30:** Interactive Q&A * **19:30 - 20:00:** Closing & Community Networking Come ready to learn, connect with London's AI community, and see what the next phase of automation looks like in practice! **Some useful links:** • Get free access to more talks/trainings like this at Ai+ Training platform: [https://aiplus.training/](https://aiplus.training/) [•](https://hubs.li/H0Zycsf0%EF%BF%BC%E2%80%A2?utm_source=luma) ODSC blog: [https://opendatascience.com/](https://opendatascience.com/) [•](https://opendatascience.com/%EF%BF%BC%E2%80%A2?utm_source=luma) Slack Channel: [https://hubs.li/Q038cQBy0](https://hubs.li/Q038cQBy0) [•](https://hubs.li/Q02ZkDV90%EF%BF%BC%E2%80%A2?utm_source=luma) Code of conduct: [https://odsc.ai/code-of-conduct/](https://odsc.ai/code-of-conduct/)

Flamenco Dance Classes for Improvers at Danceworks every Thursday! We will work on the placement of the body, the perception of the rhythm, clapping, footwork, and movements of arms and head. Choreography depends on the level: Alegrías, Bulerías, Tangos, Soleá, etc. If you have dancing shoes and clothes, bring them. Otherwise, don't worry, feel comfortable to dance! When? **Every Thursday** Time: **19:00 - 20:00** Where? **Danceworks** 16 Balderton St, London W1K 6TN Studio 4 Nearest Tube stations: **Bond St.** Marble Arch Cost? £12 per class. **Book here:** https://danceworks.com/london/classes/timetable/ Class bookings become available 7 days in advance. Online bookings close 15 minutes before the class starts but you can book in person up to the start time. **Waiting lists are available.** ***About Maika:*** Maika is a flamenco and Spanish dance teacher with more than 17 years of experience, teaching adults and children in Spain, the United States of America, Mexico, Canada, and UK. She also led flamenco classes at Rey Juan Carlos University from 2013 to 2018. Born and raised in Madrid (Spain), she began studying ballet and Spanish dance at the tender age of nine. Maika studied at Karen Taft Dance Academy and Flamenco Centre “Amor de Dios”, majoring in Spanish Dance at the Conservatory of Dance in Madrid. In 2003, she was awarded a Teaching Methodology Applied to Spanish Dance certificate and then focused her career on dance education. Maika has continued her professional training alongside teachers including Antonio Canales, Alfonso Losa, La Lupi, Rojas and Rodriguez. Maika co-founded the company Spanish Flamenco Tour, based in Miami (USA), a business dedicated to promoting flamenco and Spanish culture, to a local audience. Adding more strings to her bow, Maika embarked on a Master´s Degree in Leadership and Management of Cultural Projects at the Institute of Dance “Alicia Alonso”, Rey Juan Carlos University. Her final master’s project was based on promoting Spanish dance, receiving a First-Class Degree. Maika’s classes are designed to extract every student’s natural ability to dance and show them how wonderful and fun, this art form is.

Join us on May 7th from **6:00pm** for a Data Streaming meetup hosted by **[Fresha](https://www.fresha.com/)**! 📍**Venue:** **Fresha** The Tower, 207 Old Street London, EC1V 9NR 7th Floor **PLEASE bring your PHOTO ID and REGISTER with your First and Last Name, Email. Thanks!** **DOORS CLOSE AT 7PM FOR SECURITY.** 🗓 **Agenda:** * 6:00pm – 6:30pm: Food/Drinks and Networking * 6:30pm - 7:00pm: Anton Borisov, Principal Data Engineer, Fresha & Nicoleta Lazar, Sr. Data Engineer, Fresha * 7:00pm - 7:30pm: Olena Kutsenko, Staff Developer Advocate, Confluent * 7:30pm - 8:00pm: Tom Scott, Founder & CEO, Streambased * 8:00pm - 9:00pm: Q&A Networking 💡**Speaker One:** Anton Borisov, Principal Data Engineer, Fresha & Nicoleta Lazar, Sr. Data Engineer, Fresha **Title of Talk:** Apache Fluss: Streaming Storage for Real-Time Analytics **Abstract:** Apache Flink has largely solved streaming computation, but state management remains a bottleneck. Operator state—often backed by RocksDB—is scoped to individual jobs, making it hard to share state across pipelines without re-emitting it through systems like Apache Kafka. This leads to expensive joins and added operational complexity. Apache Fluss (incubating) addresses this by externalizing state into a streaming storage layer backed by S3. Its PrimaryKey tables act as upsertable key-value stores with replicated changelogs, enabling shared state tables accessible from Flink, Spark, or native clients. With Flink 2.1’s Delta Join, both sides of a join can perform lookups against Fluss-managed indexes—eliminating the need for large join state altogether. In this talk, we’ll introduce Fluss, show key use cases like CDC enrichment and bilateral joins, and share lessons from running it in production on EKS —including the trade-offs and rough edges we encountered. 💡**Speaker Two:** Olena Kutsenko, Staff Developer Advocate, Confluent **Title of Talk:** The journey of a record from Kafka topic to analytics table **Abstract:** Modern data platforms increasingly rely on streaming systems like Apache Kafka as the source of truth—but turning event streams into reliable, queryable analytics tables is far from trivial. This talk explores what really has to happen when moving data from a Kafka topic into an Apache Iceberg table. Beyond simple ingestion, we will walk through the essential steps: schema evolution, data normalization, partitioning, exactly-once guarantees, late-arriving events, and table maintenance. Using Confluent Tableflow as one concrete example, we will examine how these challenges can be addressed in practice. Along the way, we will compare alternative approaches—such as Kafka Connect sinks, stream processing pipelines, and custom ingestion frameworks—to highlight trade-offs in correctness, latency, and operational complexity. The goal is not to promote a single solution, but to provide a mental model for designing robust streaming-to-lakehouse pipelines, helping you understand what matters regardless of the tooling you choose. **Bio:** Olena is a Staff Developer Advocate at Confluent and a recognized expert in data streaming and analytics. With two decades of experience in software engineering, she has built mission-critical applications, led high-performing teams, and driven large-scale technology adoption at industry leaders like Nokia, HERE Technologies, AWS, and Aiven. A passionate advocate for real-time data processing and AI-driven applications, Olena empowers developers and organizations to use the power of streaming data. She is an AWS Community Builder, a dedicated mentor, and a volunteer instructor at a nonprofit tech school, helping to shape the next generation of engineers. As an international speaker and thought leader, Olena regularly presents at top global conferences, sharing deep technical insights and hands-on expertise. Whether through her talks, workshops, or content, she is committed to making complex technologies accessible and inspiring innovation in the developer community. 💡**Speaker Three:** Tom Scott, Founder & CEO, Streambased **Title of Talk:** *Infinite Kafka? Rethinking Retention with Iceberg* **Abstract:** Apache Kafka is designed for high-throughput, low-latency event streaming, not cost-efficient long-term storage. Yet we constantly see cases like event sourcing, audit/compliance, and large-scale reprocessing forcing that pattern onto it. As retention increases, costs grow linearly to support edge cases, one-time runs, and “checkbox” use cases. Can Iceberg help here? In this talk, Tom explores a hybrid architecture that separates hot and cold data while preserving Kafka’s log semantics. Using a combination of Kafka and Apache Iceberg, he demonstrates how to extend Kafka into low-cost object storage, enabling effectively unlimited retention without sacrificing performance or access patterns. The result is a unified log that supports both real-time processing and long-term replay, removing the traditional trade-off between cost and capability in Kafka-based systems. **Bio:** Long-time enthusiast of Kafka and all things data integration, Tom has more than 15 years of experience in innovative and efficient ways to store, query, and move data. Tom is currently CEO at Streambased, a company focused on unifying operational and analytical data estates into a single, consistent, and efficient data layer. \*\*\* If you are interested in hosting/speaking at a meetup, please email community@confluent.io

Writing Sprints Pilot: 6-Week Novelists Cohort We are piloting a Writing Sprint format designed for writers who want focused and consistent accountability partners to build momentum on their first novel. Unlike our weekly open sessions, the Writing Sprints run as a closed six-week cohort with the same group of writers meeting consistently. The emphasis is on creating a close-knit writership with writers in a similar place, fostering better trust, feedback and progress. What to expect at each session * Check in: weekly recap * 60 minutes of focused writing * 15 minutes reset * 60 minutes of focused writing * Check-out: weekly goal There is no need to share your work, but for those that would like to hang back, there will be time to share ahead of time and discuss after the sessions. How the sprints work * Cohort size: six writers * Who is it for: Emerging writers working on their first novel / project * Same time, same location Each writer sets: * One personal milestone for the six weeks * A weekly writing goal Progress is visualised through simple weekly updates. This structure is designed to help you commit and stay consistent. Dates & location Location: Aldgate Curzon Address: 2 Canter Way, London E1 8PS Day: Every Thursday [for six weeks] First Session: Thursday 7th May 2026 [May 7,14,21,28 + June 4,11] Timings: Arrival: 6: 30 - 7:00pm [Weekly Recap] Sprint #1: 7:00 - 8:00pm Reset: 15 min Sprint#2: 8:15pm - 9:15pm Discussions: 9:15pm onwards [feedback/weekly plan] Commitment & sign-up * You should be available to attend all six Thursdays * This should be your first novel / project Sign-ups via Meetup. A separate group chat will be created for the cohort for daily motivation. Places are limited for the pilot. If you’re looking for structure, momentum, and a smaller, consistent writing network, this is for you.

**Dear RPBO members,** We hope we find you well. We are thrilled to bring to your attention the third-party event organised by Future Romania, which is set to arrive in **London** between 8 and 10 May 2026. Over three intensive days, participants interested in Romanian public sector leadership will engage in high-level lectures, practical workshops, crisis simulations, public speaking training, and policy debates, led by top experts and international faculty. The program is completely free for selected candidates. If you are a young leader aged 18–32 or 33+ with potential and ambition to shape Romania’s future, don’t miss this opportunity! Registrations: [https://inscrieri.futureromania.ro/formular](https://inscrieri.futureromania.ro/formular) More info about Future Romania: https://futureromania.ro/en/

**UNIQUE COMBINED PROCESS RETREAT** **March \| April \| May \| June \| Sept \| Oct \| Nov 2026** Dear Constellation Explorer, We’re delighted to invite you to a unique 3-day retreat that brings together two powerful healing modalities: **Systemic & Family Constellations** and **Ceremonial Plant-Spirit Work**. This immersive experience is designed to support deep emotional healing, release of trauma, and reconnection with your inner wisdom. Whether you are seeking **personal growth**, **support of your spiritual awakening journey** or **facing emotional challenges**, even if they are life-long, participants in the Combined Process are **reporting major shifts and breakthroughs** in many aspects of life. ✨ **What Awaits You:** • **Healing Fusion** – Masterfully facilitated constellation sessions alongside traditional plant-spirit ceremony • **Trauma Release** – Space to address long-held emotional imprints, PTSD, depression, and complex trauma • **Small Group Setting** – Intimate circle of max 8 participants held by 4 experienced facilitators • **Sacred Integration** – Deeply guided work and personal support throughout the process • **Nature Immersion** – Held in beautiful, sun-drenched natural locations across Europe This retreat is not just a healing space — it’s an invitation to **transform your life** by reconnecting with what’s real, raw, and ready to be released. 🌀 **Who is it for?** • Those committed to their inner work • Seekers ready to open to new levels of self-awareness and growth • Professionals looking to deepen their own process in a safe, sacred setting 📩 **Enrollment is by application only**, to ensure the retreat is aligned with your needs. Attending is subject to a personal interview via Zoom. **Retreat Price is €895** (£777) including all **3-day sessions, ceremony, medicine and 3 meals a day** \- not including flights or accommodation\. £200 enrolment deposit is required to reserve your place\, the remaining fee will be paid onsite in Euros\. 👉 To request full retreat details and apply, email us at: **nature@earth.is** Are you ready to take the next step on your healing path? We would be honoured to hold space for you.

A regular meetup for those committed to practising and improving their Arabic. It is designed for those who know the very basics and want a structured opportunity to practise reading, listening, speaking, and building confidence. If you're still learning the very basics but want some motivation to keep going, you're very welcome to join. Note: This is a practice group facilitated by a native speaker - not a formal teacher or taught class, and not a Quran teaching session. 📚 SESSION FORMAT: ⏱️ 30 mins Intro & Social: We'll go around and introduce ourselves in Arabic. Feel free to prepare 2-3 sentences beforehand if you don't like being put on the spot! 🗣️ 60 mins Structured Practice: A focused session practising together with guidance : ◾ Taking turns reading passages aloud ◾ Listening to excerpts from an audiobook ◾ Working together to translate and understand the text 💬 Continued Socialising: Feel free to stick around afterwards for more informal chat and connection. ✊ Note: Active Muslims is equally about focusing on the actual activity, in this case, it is a practice session requiring mental engagement and active participation (and not just a social), therefore it is advised to approach and attend these events with that mindset, intention and purpose. 📍 LOCATION: Barbican ⌚ MEET: By the cafe G Level (Benugo) ⏱️ TIME: Meet from **11:00am** for intros and socialising. The practice session starts promptly at **11:30am** insha'Allah. 🎒 What to bring: 📚 Any Arabic texts you would like to read 🎧 Headphones (optional, if you prefer listening privately) ➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖ If you can no longer attend, please update your RSVP to free up your spot for someone on the waiting list. ➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖ 🌐 **[@Active.Muslims](https://www.instagram.com/active.muslims)** *(Follow for latest events updates)*

Kon’nichiwa! Finally a chance to explore Japan for an amazing 2 week experience of futuristic and ancient cities with activities which will blow your mind. Experience the ancient temples, shrines and traditions which add to the culture of the country and indulge in all of the food and arcade fun as we get the best out of Japan seeing the key sights in a 2 week (14 Night) Trip. What’s included in the package: \*Accomodation - Shared Room/Own Room for 14 night stay across 4 different hotels \*All Breakfasts \*Airport Pickup and Transport around Japan and Cities \*All 18 activities as listed below (Including guided day trips to Nagano, Mt Fuji and Nara) What’s not included: \*Flights to Japan \*Other Meals and Expenses \*Optional activities not listed below **18 Activities Included and more:** \*Tokyo Guided Tour with local: Temple, Shrine Visits, Key Areas \*Sushi Making Class \*Team Lab Planets Immersive Experience \*Nagano Day Trip - inc Snow Monkeys, Hot Springs and more \*Mt Fuji and Hakone Day Trip - Many Views of Mt Fuji and more \*Osaka City Tour - Osaka Castle Tour and more \*Karaoke Night \*Universal Studios Entry Ticket and Travel \*Tea Ceremony X 2 in Osaka and Kyoto \*Mino Forrest Walk with Waterfall \*Overnight stay in Buddhist Temple with meditations, night temple walk and morning prayer meditation \*Geisha night tour of Kyoto \*Bamboo forest trip \*Golden Pavilion temple visit \*Bowling Night \*Nara Daytrip - Nara Park, Temples and Shrines \*Fushimi- Inari Visit \*Samurai Sword Weilding Experience \*NOTE - We will have 3 X Day Trips as above so a total of 7 locations in Japan we will visit **7 Places we will visit in Total** **TOKYO** \- 5 Nights \(Including Day Trip to **NAGANO** and **HAKONE**), **OSAKA** \- 3 Nights\, **KOYOSAN** temple stay - 1 Night, **KYOTO** \- 5 nights \(Including Day Trip to **NARA**) We will arrive in Tokyo and check into our hotel with some time to rest after the long travel, we will then check out the local area and head to Asakusa to experience the old Tokyo atmosphere immersing ourselves in some Tokyo Culture and grab some food. **Day 2 - Tokyo Day Tour: Temples and Key Areas** We will do a day tour starting late morning by a local guide who will take us to see the sights such as: Senso-ji Temple, Meiji Shrine, Harajuku, Shibuya Crossing and after head to Shinjuku for some food and checking out one of the tiny bars. **Day 3 - Sushi Class and Electric CIty** Today we will head to a Sushi Class to make our own Sushi we can have for lunch and after that we can check out the fabulous Team Lab Planets immersive experience. After that we will check out the Electric City to experience the arcades, maid cafes and Japanese phone booths. **Day 4 - Nagano (Day Trip)** Our first full day out as we check out the amazing Nagano, where we will see the famous snow monkeys of Jigokudani Snow Monkey Park, Visit the Zenko-ji Temple, explore the charming hot spring towns of Shibu Onsen and Yudanaka and take a dip in the many hot springs and more. **Day 5 - Mt Fuji/ Hakone (Day Trip)** A memorable day trip as we head to the Majestic Mt Fuji on a private tour as we stop at various spots for the best views of Mt Fujia and lakes including in front of the iconic Chureito Pagoda. We will also explore the many amazing landscapes in the town of Hakone. **Day 6 - Arrive in Osaka - Mino Forest Walk and Tea Ceremony** Our final morning in Tokyo before we head to our next destination by Bullet Train to Osaka. After dropping our bags off we will head to Mino Forest for a trail walk and to see an amazing waterfall, on our return we will finally embark on the popular tea ceremony. Then explore the area which is known for it’s food and nightlife where can do some Karaoke in the evening! **Day 7 - Osaka Tour** Today we will have a guided tour of Osaka including the famous Osaka Castle with a tour, Markets with time for shopping. Later heading to the canal area of Dotonbori known for some of the best food in the country. **Day 8 - Universal Studios Japan** Today is a day of fun as we head to one of the worlds famous theme parks Universal Studios, with the recent addition of Super Mario World, in the full day we will explore all the areas such as Jurassic Park in this Hollywood Themed theme park to ride the many rides and see as man shows as possible and ending with the firework show. **Day 9 - Koyosan Temple Stay** We head to the mountains to beautiful Koyasan, for a once-in-a-lifetime experience - staying overnight in a 1,000-year-old Buddhist Temple! We will be taught meditation by the monks, served their traditional food. The temple is set in beautiful grounds and Japanese style accomdation. Spend a peaceful night here bathed in the tranquillity of the temple. **Day 10 - Kyoto and Geisha Night Tour** Start the day with most Zen experience ever - watching the Buddhist monks perform their morning prayers and fire ceremony. After the ceremony the monks serve us breakfast, before we travel to the spiritual heart of Japan – Kyoto. We head to our final destination stay in Kyoto, this evening we head on one of Japan’s mysterious Geishas with a tour of the Gion district. **Day 11 - The Bamboo Forest and Kyoto Landmarks** Today is the day we check out the incredible Bamboo forest and other Kyoto sights such as the Golden Pavilion and Monkey Park. After that we can head to a sushi restaurant and check out the arcades in Kyoto. **Day 12 - Nara (Day Trip)** Today we had to Nara to see the famous Nara Park with the sacred deers, you can feed them and they also bow to you. We will also visit Kofuku-ji Temple, Todai-ji Temple and Kasuga Grand Shrine to see they key highlights of Nara. **Day 13 -FREE DAY in Kyoto** Today you will be able to spend the day as you please to do what you wish in Kyoto or if you wanted to visit one of the surrounding areas or day tour in Japan. **Day 14 - Fushimi-Inari and Samurai Experience** Today we will head to the Fushimi Inari Shrine surrounded by its endless red Torii gates. Then the unique experience of being trained by a Samuarai Master. The sensei will teach you how to wield a traditional sword and then slice through bamboo mats like a real warrior. **Day 15 - Travel Home** We will check out of the hotel and catch the Bullet Train to Tokyo Airport where we will get our flight back home. **Accomodation** You will be staying at 4 different hotels, all breakfast included and you will have a room to share or own room at additional cost in a mixture of 3 star and 4 star hotels. You will be staying at: *APA Hotel Asakusa Eikme - Tokyo (5 Nights)* *Hotel Brighton City Osaka Kitahama -Osaka - (3 Nights)* *Temple Stay - Koyosan Shukubo Saizenin -Koyosan (1 Night)* *\*Note this will be only accommodation which will be sharing as a two only due to availability, we will aim to put people together same sex and someone can always sleep in the lounge area also so can keep sleeping rooms separate.* *Sometsu Fresca Inn -Kyoto (5 Nights)* **Visa and Entry Restrictions** No Visa needed from UK (Please Check if you have a different country of origin) **Requirements for trip** * In line with the values of the group, taking responsibility for themselves and ability to step out their comfort zone to learn new skills and give things a go, punctuality and to go with the flow of the group, whilst being able to do your own thing on free days without depending on others * Moderate levels of fitness for a couple of nature trail walks which are not challenging * Open minded and willingness to try new activities and experience a new culture **Flights** You will need to get your own flights to Japan, we recommend British Airways (only company who fly direct). We can head together on this one, but feel free to get your own flight and we can see you in Tokyo at the hotel (let me know flight arrival). **Outbound** \- Saturday 9th May \- British Airways LHR 09:20am -> HND 7:00am (Tokyo on Sunday 10th May) **Inbound** \- Sunday 24th May \- British Airways HND 1:05pm -> LHR 7:55pm (UK on Sunday 24th May) Approx cost ***-*** £1,100 (July 2025) Please wait until deposit sent, place confirmed and the minimum deposits for trip before buying flights. Also feel free to buy a flight to Tokyo, and heading back to Osaka on final day as alternative as we will be near that airport on final day **Other** * There will be an option to do Optional Activities such as Sumo wrestling, Go Kart street race (driving license), spa/ massages, other tea ceremonies and more. * Please note that the schedule may change slightly, an activity may change, also hotels depending on availability but expect activities and hotels of similar value. Expect up to 20% of trip to change at most - due to availability issues or to improve the trip * Full Documentation on every day will be provided a 2 - 3 weeks before the trip as well as a group Zoom call a week before to go through all the info. We will also provide a breakdown of activities and approx agenda 1 month before as well as set up a whats app group after the zoom call. Following the deposit feel free to email me for any questions about the trip. **COST** Total cost for the trip is **£2,050 ONLY** \- Option for your own Room is £300 extra \(Depending on availability \- also note for Koyosan Temple overnight stay you will share with one other\) Deposit of **£450** to hold your space, with final payment due 6 weeks before the trip. In order to come on this trip/pay the deposit you will need to drop me an email and we will need to either have a quick chat on the phone/ apply for the trip to check this trip is right for you (unless you have been on one of the trips before). For more details and to register email me at yourlondonlifecoach@gmail.com or message me on Meetup Messenger.

**🏛️ WHAT'S PRACTICAL PHILOSOPHY ABOUT?** Practical Philosophy is a weekly meet-up that brings critical thinkers together for an opportunity to dive deep on a topic, practice communicating, and building a community. All with no ‘official’ philosophy knowledge required! 😎 Practical Philosophy is based on the idea that philosophy should be accessible to all, and not something reserved only for academics. Each week we choose a topic, and the goal is to use the conversation to develop our critical thinking and communication as we explore that topic. The goal is to help develop our Critical Thinking, Communication, and Community 🙌 📓 **HOW DOES IT WORK?** Each week, we pick one topic and discuss it. The topic for the week is shared, generally in the [Whatsapp group](https://chat.whatsapp.com/B6fqS6HGujq8gb3a0kl5pS), along with jump-off points to get the conversation going. When groups get bigger than 7-8 people, it’s important that we break into smaller groups. This way we are able to maintain a conversational flow as opposed to having our meetups feel like a discourse or lecture. **General Meeting Agenda** Each Practical Philosophy meet-up follows this general timeline: * 13:45-14:00 - People arrive and chat, get to know each other before the ‘official' start. * 14:00-14:05 - Meeting introduction, explanation of Practical Philosophy and the topic for the week, read the guidelines and the overview so attendees know what to expect in terms of timelines. * 14:05-14:45 - Break into small groups - introduce yourselves and general thoughts on the topic, open discussion afterwards. At this point the group can review the ‘jump-off’ questions as needed, but they are just there to help guide the conversation. It’s not obligatory to answer them. * 14:45 - We do a group conclusion of the things we discussed, and then we typically take a photo and go on our way :) If you don't want to be in the group photo, there's no pressure, it's just a way to close out the meeting. We occasionally have an unofficial social so the different groups can mingle afterwards too! **🧧PRICING?** Practical Philosophy Club is FREE to attend, and we operate on donations. If you'd like to donate to support our running costs, that helps keep our group self-sustaining. Donations are 100% voluntary, but your contribution is appreciated! QR codes to donate will be present. Tea’s and coffees and are paid by the individual should they wish to have them. **💛 WHAT PEOPLE SAY ABOUT PRACTICAL PHILOSOPHY** 🗣 “I feel like Philosophy Club helps someone build their own belief system through a series of perspectives while not promoting what’s right and wrong” - Ekam 🗣 “I got hooked from day 1 (the topic was authority) and felt it was the right place for me. I feel it is a place where people can go to learn and discuss new perspectives and increase critical thinking and community by interacting with people who might challenge your point of views but at the same time encourage you to have openness and mind flexibility.” - Daniel **🤓 FAQ** * What will we talk about? What's the topic? The topic for the week is shared every week in the Whatsapp group before the session. We try to add the topic to the comment section on this event page as well but if you don’t see it, the topic and the jump-off points will be in our [Whatsapp](https://chat.whatsapp.com/B6fqS6HGujq8gb3a0kl5pS). * Do I need to study or read anything to attend? No preparation is necessary. This isn’t a study of other thinkers. We want to know what YOU think about the topic, not what an old philosopher thought. If you have a perspective from a religion or a school of thought to share, throw it on the table and we’ll discuss it, but it's not required. * Is there a specific philosophy that Practical Philosophy is focused on? The goal of our meet-ups is to not have dogmatic discussions, and flex our critical thinking muscles. Because of this, we want to hear from every realm of thought, and don't study a particular school. * Is it mostly men that attend? Surprisingly, no! Although philosophy is seen as a Candelabra affair in a dark room with a bunch of guys, our Practical Philosophy meetups are generally 50/50 between genders, and we don’t meet in any dark rooms. * Can I come alone? Of course you can, we encourage it :) * Can I be late? Please don't be! We do have a 15 minute grace period where we allow people to funnel in while we hang out, but after that if you arrive too late, it disrupts the flow of the conversation. * Where do you meet? The location is posted in Meetup and our [Whatsapp](https://chat.whatsapp.com/B6fqS6HGujq8gb3a0kl5pS) group for this location. It is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED that you join the Whatsapp group! If you want to know what other cities have a Practical Philosophy Club, you can see our chapters on our [website](https://www.practicalphilosophy.club/practical-philosophy-locations/). 🤝**POLICY** To respect our members privacy, we ask that no one privately message a member without first getting explicit consent. (This looks like speaking in person and being asked to message privately.) Contacting or texting other participants without prior consent is not permitted and may result in removal from the group. Practical Philosophy reserves the right to enforce this policy at its discretion to maintain a safe and respectful environment. **PRACTICAL PHILOSOPHY - Making Philosophy Available To All.** ✨ Practical Philosophy hosts weekly, in-person meetups in 25+ countries, including Canada, Spain, Japan, Mexico and many more! 🗺️ \*\*\* Join our [Whatsapp group](https://chat.whatsapp.com/B6fqS6HGujq8gb3a0kl5pS) 👈 Follow us on [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/practicalphilosophyclub/?hl=en) 👈 Our [website](https://www.practicalphilosophy.club) 👈

Hello and welcome to our next **GenAI UK x Cloud Native & Open-Source AI** meetup. This event brings together engineers, practitioners, builders, and leaders working across cloud-native platforms, open-source ecosystems, Gen AI, Data and Agentic AI. Our meetups are friendly, welcoming, and community-driven; everyone is welcome, whether you’re experienced or just curious. This session will include practitioner talks, demos, Q&A, and time for networking with like-minded peers. We run bi-monthly in-person meetups in London, bi-monthly online global events, and regional chapters across the UK, North America, and APAC. Food and refreshments will be provided for in-person events where a host venue is supporting. We are delighted to host this event in **London** on the **7th of May** with Netmind AI NetMind XYZ ([https://xyz.netmind.ai/](https://xyz.netmind.ai/)) is NetMind.AI's new agent platform where you can create your agents with just natural language. Agents on NetMind XYZ can now join moltbook. **Speakers and Sessions:** Speaker: Henry, AI Agent Engineer at NetMind.AI Session Title: From Agentic Workflows to Bio-Image Insights: A Cell Migration Case Study Description: As AI infrastructure becomes commoditized, the next wave of value will be captured at the application layer, where automation, domain knowledge, and user-centered design turn AI capability into measurable outcomes. Speaker: Richárd Kovács, CTO at Harikube Session Title: From Orchestration to Platform: The Missing Puzzles to Unify Polyglot Services on Kubernetes. Description: Imagine a world where Kubernetes itself becomes the unified platform—not just for container orchestration, but for serverless functions, microservices, and the entire API ecosystem. This presentation explores the missing architectural pieces required to make that world a reality. We focus on the architectural puzzles required to unify these layers: serverless functions, specialized Kubernetes Operators, and the powerful Aggregation API layer. By solving these integration puzzles, you can empower development teams to build real Cloud-Native nanoservices, microservices, and REST APIs on the same PaaS, in any language they choose, turning Kubernetes from a simple orchestrator into a powerful, opinionated application platform. **Agenda (GMT /UK ):** * 18:00: Welcome and refreshments * 18:30: Introduction - Ethan Sumner * 18:35: Richárd Kovács * 19:10: Break * 19:20: Frank Contrepois * 19:55: Close and Networking **Get Involved:** We are always keen to hear from: • Speakers — case studies, engineering deep dives, lessons learned, open-source talks • Hosts — organisations able to provide space for future meetups • Sponsors — support with refreshments, marketing, or accessibility If you would like to speak, sponsor, or host a future event, please get in touch with **[Ethan Sumner](https://www.linkedin.com/in/ethansumner404/)**[ ](https://www.linkedin.com/in/ethansumner404/)via LinkedIn. You can find our YouTube Channel **[here.](https://www.youtube.com/@CommunityStackHQ)** This community forms part of the **[Community Stack ecosystem](https://www.meetup.com/pro/generative-ai-uk-community/)**[ ](https://www.meetup.com/pro/generative-ai-uk-community/)and follows the Community Stack Code of Conduct to ensure a respectful, inclusive, and welcoming environment for all attendees.

Conflict is inevitable. What matters is how we respond to it. This session will enable you to: * feel more confident to communicate in conflict situations without blame, shame or judgement. * take inner steps to transform conflict * transform enemy images and humanise the other * intervene safely in situations of conflict * be more resourced in tense situations * stay grounded in empathic expression and empathic listening in tense situations The session will involve reflection, discussion, practice and role play. Register [here](https://app.workshop-angel.com/form.php?h=1&t=0&e=a41bb520a02753e7) Please ensure you have completed a Foundation training before attending this session. This session is aimed at those who are interested in finding NVC related ways of intervening in your own conflicts and conflicts around you. It can also be a helpful strategy to take part in a [practice group](https://www.empathymatters.net/deepening-and-practice-groups) or do a course on [self-empathy](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1AqSxwzLcXpX0pCraOptvKinNvwuiIWHNwRu0miPE844/edit) before doing or alongside this training. These intermediate sessions are part of a series organised by London trainers. As we are online, anyone can attend, no matter where you are in the world! Register [here](https://app.workshop-angel.com/form.php?h=1&t=0&e=a41bb520a02753e7)

**Building a great product is one thing—building momentum behind it is another.** Join **Senior Product Manager Adam Solaiman** and **User Experience Manager Tyson Smith** for a behind-the-scenes look at what it takes to turn complex ideas into scalable products inside large organizations. In this session, they’ll share how teams move from ambiguity to execution—navigating organizational complexity, aligning stakeholders, and continuously evolving products after launch. You’ll walk away with insights on how to: * Build and sustain momentum across teams * Adapt to changing priorities without losing direction * Scale products thoughtfully in complex environments Whether you're driving a new initiative or growing an existing product, this conversation will give you practical strategies to keep things moving forward. Come connect, learn, and swap stories with fellow product professionals. \-\-\- Food and drinks will be provided by Switchbox, our generous host. Free parking will be available at the front and back sides of the Switchbox Office.

This meetup is a beginner-friendly session introducing version control for Unity projects, with a look at three common tools: Git, Perforce, and Unity Version Control. The goal is to help you understand what version control is, why it matters for Unity development, and what options are out there. The format will likely be presentation-style, with live demos and time for questions throughout. You'll see each tool in action and learn how they fit into a Unity workflow. What to Expect: * An introduction to version control and why it's essential for Unity projects * An overview of Git, Perforce, and Unity Version Control * Demos of each tool in a Unity workflow * Tips for getting started * No prior version control experience required * Resources for continued learning All experience levels are welcome. Whether you're new to version control or already using one of these tools, this session will help you understand what each one offers. Food and drinks provided. Join us to learn more about version control options for Unity.

On Thursday, May 21, 2026, we will meet at the 700N Conference Room at 700 N Hurstbourne Pkwy. Doors will open at 6:00 p.m., and the presentations will begin sharply at 6:30 p.m. Along with an excellent presentation, TEKsystems will provide food. Please RSVP so we know how much food to order. Afterward, we will go to Brick House Tavern for drinks and food to continue the conversation. The session will also be broadcast at https://twitch.tv/TaleLearnCode. ### **GitOps: Easy Deploy and Even Easier Rollback** GitOps isn't just for containers. The methodology of deploying from a build is now baked into our culture. Take it a touch farther with infrastructure as code and a few extra techniques, and you can reliably deploy to any platform: cloud, on-prem, container, PaaS, and more. Join us as we learn the methodology of GitOps, the critical pieces you need in place, and the elegance of rollbacks with GitOps. You'll leave with a working repo of deployment techniques that doesn't consume any paid tools or container-specific techniques.

We will show how to build custom agents with Microsoft Agent Framework. Attendees will learn how to build and custom host agents when Microsoft Foundry is not a viable option.

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?!"

Practical AI for Power BI Developers A year ago, “agentic AI” was mostly hype for Power BI teams. Today, it deserves your undivided attention. For Power BI pros, there is now a real opportunity to reduce repetitive development work, accelerate delivery, and help developers do more, but only when strong DataOps practices are in place to make AI workflows effective. This session is a no-nonsense introduction to effective AI patterns for Power BI and Fabric development. Along the way, we will make sense of the growing pile of terminology, including skills, plugins, hooks, and MCP. You will see examples of how modern AI tooling can help with development tasks across Power BI and Fabric, along with the prerequisites, guardrails, and DataOps principles needed to use it responsibly. Whether you're burned out on AI hype or already using Copilot CLI daily, this session will show you the foundations that are finally making AI-assisted development genuinely useful.

Customer identity resolution becomes increasingly complex as organizations scale across multiple systems, regions, and data formats. Traditional rule-based approaches often fail to keep up with data variability, require constant manual tuning, and struggle with real-time processing needs. This session presents a practical approach to building a scalable identity resolution pipeline using AWS services and modern AI techniques. The architecture combines data ingestion through Amazon S3 and AWS Glue, transformation pipelines using Spark on EMR, and machine learning models deployed via SageMaker for entity matching and standardization. Graph-based relationship modeling is implemented using Amazon Neptune to improve resolution accuracy by incorporating household and shared attribute context. We will walk through how machine learning models can be used for name and address normalization, how intelligent blocking strategies improve matching efficiency, and how feedback loops can be introduced to continuously improve accuracy. The session also highlights how serverless components such as AWS Lambda can be used for orchestration and real-time processing. **SPEAKER BIO** Mosaic Syed is a Senior Data Engineering and Cloud Solutions Architect with over 20 years of experience designing and delivering scalable, secure, and high-performance data solutions across global enterprise environments. https://www.linkedin.com/in/mosaic-basha-syed-92300856 **CALL FOR SPEAKERS** Learn more: [https://www.awscolumbus.com/get-involved/](https://www.awscolumbus.com/get-involved/) **THANK YOU** *VEEAM* for hosting our meetup! To learn more about *Veeam*, please visit their website: [https://www.veeam.com/](https://www.veeam.com/) **DIRECTIONS** 8800 Lyra Dr #450 · Columbus, OH go to 4th floor. **Want to sponsor the pizza and/or bar tab?** Please contact me if you would like to sponsor this meetup's pizza and/or bar tab: angelo@mandato.com