Business Analytics

**BOOK HERE**: https://sportas.co.uk/games/45316 **Game Description:** In partnership with In2Sports we bring to you a Monday night session 🏙️ Learn more about them here: https://in2sports.org This is a session for Mid-Intermediate & above players. ❗️Please be considerate & only sign up to this game if you’re a Mid-INTERMEDIATE skill level player or above. If we think you are a beginner/lower-inter player we will cancel and refund you from the game❗️ 💦 Water fountain, showers, bathrooms and changing rooms available Directions: 🚶‍♂️5 minute walk from Canary Wharf station **Rules** \- 3 teams of 6 \- Games to 25 points \- max 2 games in a row \- Please be kind and respectful to all players 🧡

**BOOK HERE**: https://sportas.co.uk/games/48134 **Game Description:** Please be aware that our sessions are also on our own mobile app. Therefore, the number of participants you currently see may not reflect the total number of participants. To participate in this session, your first step is to attend one of our coaching sessions and receive approval from one of our experienced coaches. Our game is designed for players who possess a strong understanding of the sport and are eager for a more challenging experience. With fast-paced rallies, strategic plays, and a competitive atmosphere, you'll have the opportunity to refine your technique, enhance your agility, and strengthen your teamwork. This environment provides the perfect platform to elevate your volleyball skills and strive for victory. Join our vibrant community of passionate volleyball enthusiasts and prepare to showcase your talent on the court. Let's come together to play, learn, and excel in this exhilarating intermediate-level volleyball game! **Rules** By booking this session, you acknowledge and agree to comply with our terms and conditions, privacy policies, and cancellation policy, which can be found below. Participation in this session requires prior approval from one of our coaches during our coaching sessions. Kindly be aware that booking this session without a pre-existing invitation may lead to potential denial of entry, with no refund available. **Terms & Conditions at:** https://www.littlegiantsvc.com/terms-and-conditions **Privacy Policy at:** https://www.littlegiantsvc.com/privacy-policy **Cancellation Policy:** Bookings are non-refundable, non-transferable and non-exchangeable. This includes tournaments, volleyball camps, monthly memberships, 1-on-1 and 1 to 6 trainings & team membership fee. Social sessions are exchangeable if we are contacted within 24 hours prior to attendance at a social or coached session to transfer payment to your preferred date(within 30 days of the original booking) Little Giants VC will contact you in the event of postponement or cancellation to work with you.

SAFO Music Group hosts monthly Networking Evenings on the first Monday of every month. This is an amazing opportunity for artists and music industry professionals to build their network of contacts as well as learn invaluable industry advice. SAFO Music Group HQ is based in Crouch Hill, London and our team have worked with the likes of Sam Smith, Pixie Lott, The 1975, Becky Hill, Samantha Harvey, Ella Eyre and many more. Our meet up groups run from 18:00 - 21:00 and entry is completely free. Part of the evening includes speed listening sessions where artists and producers will have the opportunity to play one song (USB, Phone or Weblinks) to gain some valuable feedback. Do check out our video so you get a little taste of the evening: https://youtu.be/1CzfgY78CXQ We'll look forward to meeting you soon! The SAFO Music Group www.safomusicgroup.com 0207 683 3333

Join us for some fun, competitive, but friendly games at our 4-court sports hall. We use Yonex Mavis 600 Nylon shuttles during the 2-hour session. **PAYMENT** * **Session Fee: £9** * We are cashless, kindly pay the session fee **by midnight** on the night before the session. You are welcome to pay early! You can even pay when you book! See our About page for the full process. * If no payment is received, you will be removed and may even be liable for a late cancellation fee if your spot is not taken. * Please use **“your meetup name + date of event”** as payment reference * **Account name:** Thomas Lam * **Sort code:** 04-00-03 * **Account number:** 7478 8608 **LATE CANCELLATION OR NO-SHOW** * **All** **no-shows or late cancellations** (24 hrs or less) will be charged if your spot is not taken by someone else - you will have a title next to your name with the amount and date owed. * Members with 2 no shows/late cancellations will be removed from the group unless outstanding payment is received * **The late cancellation policy** is set up to discourage last-minute cancellations and therefore applies with or without the presence of a waitlist * **Note:** If you are on the Waitlist and a spot becomes available, you will automatically be bumped onto the On list provided the event has not yet started. It is your responsibility to **remove yourself from the waitlist** if you can no longer make it to avoid being charged a no-show if someone cancels late. **PLAYING** * Please wait to be marked off before entering the hall. * Sessions are to finish promptly on the hour by school requests. * If you finish a match with 5 minutes to go, please start packing up instead of starting a new game. **RACKET HIRE** * Please note that we won't be hiring out rackets, so kindly bring your own racket. **PARKING** * There is parking available, but it is now paid parking. Parking is opposite the entrance. Please check the signs for parking payment instructions. **TRACK & TRACE** * We will collect your phone number on-site. Your phone number will also be used in case of fire to contact you if you have not made it to the fire evacuation areas. You can see maps at the venue. We are excited to see you guys on the court! Team LSBC

SAFO Music Group hosts monthly Networking Evenings on the first Monday of every month. This is an amazing opportunity for artists and music industry professionals to build their network of contacts as well as learn invaluable industry advice. SAFO Music Group HQ is based in Crouch Hill, London and our team have worked with the likes of Sam Smith, Pixie Lott, The 1975, Becky Hill, Samantha Harvey, Ella Eyre and many more. Our meet up groups run from 18:00 - 21:00 and entry is completely free. Part of the evening includes speed listening sessions where artists and producers will have the opportunity to play one song (USB, Phone or Weblinks) to gain some valuable feedback. Do check out our video so you get a little taste of the evening: https://youtu.be/1CzfgY78CXQ We'll look forward to meeting you soon! The SAFO Music Group www.safomusicgroup.com 0207 683 3333

**BOOK HERE**: https://sportas.co.uk/games/45256 **Game Description:** Come and join a casual mixed football game in Stratford 😎 **Directions:** 🚶‍♂️5 minute walk from Stratford International DLR Station 📍 Pitch 3 - In the small 6 aside cages NOT the big 11 aside pitch. **Rules** Classic 6 aside rules, can be explained at the start of the session. Please be encouraging and positive to all players 🧡

## From Zero to AI App: A Hands-On Meetup for Data Professionals Curious about AI but tired of the hype? This beginner-friendly, practical meetup is designed to help you **actually understand and use AI in data roles**—not just talk about it. We’ll break down the core ideas behind modern AI systems in a simple, no-jargon way—then bring everything together by **building a real AI app live**. Whether you're a student, aspiring analyst, or working professional, you’ll leave with **clarity, confidence, and practical skills you can apply immediately.** *** ## 💡 What You’ll Learn In this session, we’ll go from fundamentals to real application: * What *Agentic AI* really means (and why it matters) * A simple breakdown of *LLM architecture* * What vectors are and why they power modern AI systems * What *RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation)* is and how it works in practice * How all these pieces connect in real-world data workflows And most importantly… 👉 **We’ll build a working AI app live—so you can see exactly how it all comes together.** *** ## 🎤 Talks ### 1️⃣ From Concepts to Creation: Understanding & Building with AI A practical walkthrough of key AI concepts—followed by a **live app build** where we turn theory into something real. ### 2️⃣ (To Be Announced) Stay tuned for our second session—focused on applying AI in real-world data and analytics scenarios. *** ## 👥 Meet Your Speakers **[Nitish Galat](https://www.linkedin.com/in/nitish-galat/) – BI Analyst & Gen AI Specialist** Nitish works at the intersection of data automation and generative AI, with a focus on simplifying complex systems and making AI accessible to everyone. **[Abhishek Gadve](https://www.linkedin.com/in/abhishek-gadve-8010a2119/) – Senior Product Analyst** Abhishek specializes in turning data into business impact, helping teams make faster, smarter decisions using analytics and AI. *** ## 🎯 Why You Should Attend This isn’t another theory-heavy AI session. You’ll walk away with: * A clear understanding of how modern AI actually works * Practical knowledge you can use in data roles right away * Exposure to real tools and workflows used today * The confidence to start building with AI yourself *** ## 🎟️ Free Event – Limited Spots We’re keeping this meetup **small and interactive** to encourage discussion, questions, and hands-on learning. If you're serious about understanding how AI fits into data and analytics, this session will give you a real edge. 👉 **Reserve your spot now**

**Venue:** Riverbank House, 2 Swan Ln, London EC4R 3AD **Please note:** 1\. 🚨🚨🚨 A valid photo ID is required by building security\. 🚨🚨🚨 2\. This event follows the [NumFOCUS Code of Conduct](https://numfocus.org/code-of-conduct). Please familiarise yourself with it before attending. If your RSVP status says "You're going" you will be able to get in. No need to show your RSVP confirmation when signing in. If you can no longer make it, please unRSVP as soon as possible. **Code of Conduct:** This event follows the NumFOCUS Code of Conduct. Please get in touch with the organisers with any questions or concerns. As always, there will be free food and drinks, generously provided by our host, Man Group. **Main Talks** 1. [Robin Linacre](https://www.linkedin.com/in/robinlinacre/) - **Rapid deduplication and fuzzy matching of large datasets using Splink** This talk introduces Splink, a free and open source Python library for probabilistic record linkage and deduplication at scale. I’ll explain the core ideas behind the approach, show how it can be used in practice, and reflect on the opportunities of building open source tools from within the public sector. Data deduplication is a common data quality challenge: it arises whenever multiple records are collected about the same person, organisation, or entity without a shared unique identifier. This talk will introduce the core ideas behind probabilistic record linkage and show how Splink, a free and open source Python library developed at the UK Ministry of Justice, can be used to link and deduplicate large datasets quickly and accurately. I’ll cover the practical steps involved in training linkage models, using unsupervised learning, improving performance and accuracy, and visualising results and diagnostics. I’ll also touch on what it has been like to build and maintain open source tooling from within the UK public sector, and the opportunities this creates for solving problems at citizen scale. The talk is aimed at people with basic experience working with tabular data in Python, and assumes no prior knowledge of record linkage. 2. [Filip Makraduli](https://www.linkedin.com/in/filipmakraduli/) - **Small Model Inference Infrastructure: Lessons Beyond vLLM** Embedding models are evolving rapidly, from dense-only architectures, to hybrid dense+sparse (BGE-M3), multi-vector late interaction (ColBERT), and vision-language models (ColQwen2, SigLIP). Yet while LLM serving infrastructure is well-established (vLLM, SGLang), small model deployment still relies on inefficient single-model containers or custom-built systems. Production teams face a dilemma: deploy dozens of single-model containers with 5-10% GPU utilization, or invest months building complex multi-model infrastructure. This talk explains some of the key concepts of embedding inference and how it is different to LLM inference. 3. [Ian Ozsvald](https://www.linkedin.com/in/ianozsvald/) - **Build your own LLM, Live, with MicroGPT** Andrej Karpathy's MicroGPT is a single file no dependency mini GPT, you can run it live with me. We'll talk about how GPT works, we'll look at the code, we'll reflect on the Torch-based nanoGPT "big brother" and you'll end the talk with stronger intuitions about how our next best token guessing overlords are working. Plus you'll have a mini GPT running on your laptop in 200 lines of Python. \-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\- **Logistics** * Doors open at **6.30 pm** (get there early as you'll need to sign in with building security). * Talks start at **7:00 pm**, with drinks afterwards from **9:00 pm** at The Banker (EC4). We have reduced capacity for this event, but there will be plenty of people to discuss data science questions with. Please unRSVP in good time if you realise you can't make it. We're limited by building security on the number of attendees, so please free up your place for your fellow community members. If you want me to trim lightning talks down to two or shorten any abstracts, say which ones.

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

**PLEASE MAKE SURE TO BOOK YOUR TICKET IN ADVANCE TO ATTEND THE EVENT. YOU CAN RESERVE YOUR SPOT HERE. [https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/1986201201260?aff=oddtdtcreator](https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/1986201201260?aff=oddtdtcreator)** Business and Startups Social Networking Event In London is an essential networking event tailored specifically for ambitious professionals, entrepreneurs, investors, and business owners looking to forge valuable connections in London's vibrant business ecosystem. Set in a stylish and centrally located venue, this mixer event creates a relaxed yet dynamic environment perfect for sparking conversations, collaborations, and partnerships. **Who Should Attend:** * **Startup Founders and Co-founders**: Entrepreneurs at the helm of innovative startups looking for networking, investment, and growth opportunities. * **Investors and Venture Capitalists**: Individuals and entities interested in discovering promising startups and entrepreneurial ventures for potential investment. * **Small to Medium Business Owners**: Owners seeking to innovate, expand their networks, and explore new market opportunities or partnerships. * **Marketing and Sales Professionals**: Experts looking to connect with startups and businesses in need of marketing strategies and sales optimization. * **Tech Enthusiasts and Developers**: Those passionate about the latest technology trends, looking for collaborative projects or startup opportunities. * **Creative Professionals**: Designers, writers, and artists interested in business collaborations, freelancing opportunities, or new ventures. * **Consultants and Freelancers**: Specialists in business, finance, legal, and other areas seeking new clients and partnership opportunities. * **Emerging Entrepreneurs**: Individuals in the early stages of developing their business ideas, seeking inspiration, mentorship, and foundational networks. * **Corporate Executives and Managers**: Leaders looking for innovative startups to partner with, invest in, or acquire, aiming to drive corporate innovation. * **Students and Recent Graduates**: Ambitious individuals aiming to dive into the entrepreneurial ecosystem, looking for internships, mentorship, or startup opportunities. **Why Attend:** * **Unparalleled Networking**: Engage in meaningful conversations with a diverse group of attendees, from budding entrepreneurs to seasoned investors, all handpicked to foster productive exchanges. * **Industry Insights**: Gain insights into emerging trends and opportunities within your sector through casual chats and shared experiences. * **Collaborative Opportunities**: Meet potential collaborators, partners, or investors who can help elevate your business to new heights. * **Resource Sharing**: Tap into a collective pool of knowledge, experience, and resources shared by peers facing similar business challenges and triumphs. * **One-Minute Presentations**: A unique feature where attendees can opt to give a concise, one-minute pitch about their business or idea, providing a snapshot to captivate potential partners or investors. Event Highlights: * A carefully curated attendee list to enhance the quality of networking and ensure relevance of interactions. * Informal ice-breaker activities designed to facilitate introductions and discussions among participants. * A mix-and-mingle layout that encourages movement and interaction, ensuring you can connect with as many like-minded professionals as possible. Whether you're looking to expand your professional network, explore new business opportunities, or simply gain insights into the startup and business scene in London, the London Business Mixer offers a perfect platform to connect with the right people in an inviting and productive setting. How our event works: **You will be able to join the dedicated Whatsapp group for the event and start networking before the actual event.** 7pm - Welcome 7.30pm – Event starts, you will be introduced to each other in a nice relaxed environment in the semi private reserved area. 8pm -Elevator pitch 8.30 - Networking This event will be hosted till 9pm; the key to making the most of speed friending is to follow up with your contacts over time to develop friendships. Dress code is either business or office attire or smart casual, no T-shirts, no trainers. If you have any questions email contact@thebusinessminds.co.uk or call Elena on 07762038437 Ticket for 1 person allows 1 person to enter the venue from 7pm Please Note: **Tickets need to be bought online and are not available at the door.**

AI is changing how engineering teams work. Faster iteration. More output. Less time spent on the basics. But turning that speed into real delivery isn’t straightforward. At this Future Form session, we’re looking at what it actually takes to move from faster development to shipping real value. Speakers: **Brian Scanlan\, Senior Principal Engineer \| Intercom** Brian will share how they’re increasing engineering throughput using AI inside a large SaaS codebase. What’s improved, where it’s worked best, and the practical challenges that come with scaling it beyond demos. **Luca Lanziani\, Head of DevOps & Platform Engineering \| Nearform** Luca will explore what happens around the code. Because when development speeds up, the constraints shift. Platform, delivery pipelines, team structures. The organisations that benefit are the ones that adapt. Join us for pizza, drinks, and practical insights of where AI can genuinely accelerate delivery, and what needs to change to make that happen. **If you’re working hands-on with AI tools or responsible for how software gets delivered, this session is for you.**

**Looking for a business networking event in London?** Join us in Canary Wharf to connect with **founders, entrepreneurs, and professionals across business, finance and tech**. Event by tech startup **GMax Card** and **Getshop Today**. **What to Expect** A focused mix of founders, business owners, and professionals across tech and finance — the kind of room that feels both high-quality and easy to be in. The setting is lively but designed for real conversations, with space to connect naturally rather than forced networking. Our hosts are available from the start to help with introductions if needed. **Meet and Connect with:** * Startup founders & entrepreneurs * IT, tech & product professionals * Business owners & consultants * Finance, banking & investment specialists * International professionals based in London **How the Evening Runs** 18:30 – Arrival & welcome 19:00 – Optional introductions 19:30 – Open networking 21:30 – Close **Venue: Market Halls, Canary Wharf** Located in the heart of Canary Wharf, **Market Halls Canary Wharf** offers a lively yet polished setting for professional networking. Our event will take place in the **upper floor bar area**, ideal for natural business conversations. The venue is easily accessible via the **Elizabeth line**, with quick connections from both the City and Central London. **Entry & GMax Cards** Free RSVP: Includes full access to the networking event Upgrade your networking: Paid tickets include a contactless GMax Card (when available) **Dress Code:** Smart casual. As this is a business networking event, we recommend dressing as you would for a client or professional meeting. ⚙️ **Co-organised by tech startups:** * [GMax Card - Digital and contactless business cards](http://www.gmaxcard.com/) designed for modern networking. * [Ciitab - AI-powered LinkedIn networking tool](http://www.ciitab.com/) to help you build and nurture professional connections at scale. * [Getshop Today - Create your own independent online store on a UK-built platform](http://www.getshop.today/), so you’re not dependent solely on global marketplaces like Amazon or eBay. **Important Details:** * Age & ID: 18+. ID may be required for alcohol purchases. * Photos & Video: Filming and photography by [CineEye - video production and commercial photography in London](http://www.cineeye.co.uk/). Images may be used for promotion - inform organisers on arrival if you do not consent. * Dress Code: Business/Smart. Please see above for more info. * Liability: Attendance is at your own risk. Organisers and venue accept no responsibility for loss, injury, or damage to you or your property. **Register Early!** We look forward to welcoming you - register early and [join this Meetup group](https://www.meetup.com/london-entrepreneur-startup-network-tech-business-ecommerce/) or [follow us on Linkedin](https://www.linkedin.com/company/gmax-card) for future event alerts.

**Important:** Register on the [event website](https://www.aicamp.ai/event/eventdetails/W2026050710) is required for admission. **RSVP on meetup is turned off** Welcome to the AI meetup in London, in collaboration with Google. Join us for deep dive tech talks on AI, GenAI, LLMs and Agents, hands-on experiences on code labs, workshops, and networking with speakers and fellow developers. **Agenda:** \* 6:00pm\~6:30pm: Checkin and Networking \* 6:30pm\~6:45pm: Welcome/community update \* 6:45pm\~8:30pm: Tech talks and Q&A \* 8:30pm\~9:30pm: Open discussion & Mixer **Speakers/Topics:** Stay tuned as we are updating speakers and schedules. If you have a keen interest in speaking to our community, we invite you to submit topics for consideration: [Submit Topics](https://forms.gle/JkMt91CZRtoJBSFUA) **Sponsors:** We are actively seeking sponsors to support AI developers community. Whether it is by offering venue spaces, providing food, or cash sponsorship. Sponsors will not only speak at the meetups, receive prominent recognition, but also gain exposure to our extensive membership base of 20,000+ AI developers in London and 500K+ worldwide.

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.

You have heard about AI. You know it can benefit your business. \- Can it save you time? \- Respond to customers faster? \- Allow you to take extra profits? Each meetup will break down 1-2 real example scenarios of how AI implementation can relieve stress or even push you further towards your goals. Free. No hype. Just discussing how AI can be implemented in your small business. Rise Commercial District 1509 Blatt Blvd Gahanna, Ohio 43230 Conference Room: Once inside building, conference room is down the left hallway

Bring your business cards and network in person with other business professionals! Gold Star Referral Clubs is one of the most established professional networking organizations in the country, with multiple groups in central Ohio. Join us!

**PLEASE BUY TICKETS THROUGH EVENTBRITE. RSVP THROUGH MEETUP IS NOT A TICKET PURCHASE CONFIRMATION.** Strive welcomes you to 'General Business Networking', Columbus' hottest networking event! We are set in the perfect central location in Downtown for all to join. Are you interested in business? Want to elevate your career? Meet Consultants, Analysts of all types, Bankers, Software Engineers, Entrepreneurs, and more who are active in the space or are eager to get started. **\*\*This will be a multi-vertical event\*\*** **There will be professionals with backgrounds in the arts, finance, tech, real estate, healthcare, and more. Come with an open mind, and leave with connections that wouldn't be possible otherwise!** Pack some business cards and come with an open mind! Meet your future business partners, employers, coworkers, investors, and friends. You don't want to miss this opportunity to expand your network and create a brighter future. We will have a space for our event to check-in. The event will go from 6:00 PM - 8:00 PM (feel free to come at any point in this timeframe). Name tags will be provided. Business casual dress code. Job fair attire. **Remember, it's not who you know, it's who you meet tomorrow!** We look forward to meeting you at the event! Sincerely, Strive Networking Team *Refund requests are permitted up to 24 hours after purchase, so long as we are not within 48 hours before the event start time. Refunds will be made in full and repaid to your method of payment. Note that we are unable to reimburse PayPal fees.* *Disclaimer: By attending Strive Networking events you agree to photos/videos taken during the event being used to promote future events.*

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

**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.

The May Ohio North Database Training user group meeting will be held on **May 5th, 2026 at 5:00PM**. This will be a **HYBRID** event and we will be joined in person by **Sam Nasr.** 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/287759659366576?p=kCaammjECnUCvZzEJv)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**: Elections, 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 ### Data Cleansing using Data Bricks Machine Learning is highly dependent on adequate data. Not only does quantity matter, but more importantly quality. In this session we’ll cover how to build a custom automated process using Data Bricks. This will provide methods for cleaning data in a data lake using functions in Azure. \*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.