Business Intelligence & Data Warehousing

Please join us every week for power networking! Our Chapter Passed $1,666,736 USD in the past 12 months! BNI members, on average, increase their business 20% the first year. Our chapter is a dynamic, committed group of business people who know how to refer business to each other. Come for our meeting -- stay for the referrals!!! We have open categories for individuals who will bring enthusiasm and integrity to our meeting. Just one person per professional specialty is allowed in each chapter. Visit a meeting to find out more and lock out your competition! Register Here: https://bninovanorth.com/va-nova-north-bni-mclean-business-connection--n136/en-US/visitorregistration?chapterId=16988

## Tuesday Needs a Reset Button 🔄 January is the letdown month. Holidays are over, resolutions feel heavy, and Tuesdays? Tuesdays hit especially hard. We're making Tuesdays not suck with **Tech Reset Tuesday** – a simple weekly habit that helps you clear tech clutter and feel better doing it. **Every Tuesday in January:** One small step toward clearing old devices **Final Tuesday (Jan 27):** Reboot Hour – bring devices, connect with people, feel good × 3 *** ## Feel Good Personally, Professionally & Altruistically **✅ FEEL GOOD PERSONALLY** De-stress after a rough Tuesday, play games, reboot your week with zero pressure **✅ FEEL GOOD PROFESSIONALLY** Meet tech folks, founders & builders through games (not forced small talk) **✅ FEEL GOOD ALTRUISTICALLY** Your forgotten devices become someone else's opportunity – and we handle all the data wiping *** ## What to Expect 📍 **Where:** Carpool Ballston (4000 Fairfax Dr, Arlington, VA – upstairs game area) ⏰ **When:** Tuesday\, Jan 27 \| 6:00\-8:00pm 🎮 **Vibe:** Pool, pinball, board games, drinks, good people 📱 **Bring:** Old phones, laptops, tablets, chargers (optional but appreciated) **Ground Rules:** * Drop in anytime, leave anytime * No presentations or pitches * Play games or just hang – both are good * Device donation makes you feel good but isn't required Come alone or bring friends. Come stressed, leave refreshed. *** ## Tech Reset Tuesday: The 4-Week Journey Leading up to Reboot Hour, we're doing Tech Reset Tuesday: **Week 1 (Jan 6):** NOTICE – Find one old device **Week 2 (Jan 13):** PREPARE – Back it up or assess if you need anything on it **Week 3 (Jan 20):** RESET – Wipe it or bookmark our wipe guide **Week 4 (Jan 27):** RELEASE – Bring to Reboot Hour & feel the weight lift We're not asking you to be perfect. Just participate. *** ## Who This Is For ✓ Tech professionals tired of formal networking events ✓ Startup founders who need a Tuesday escape ✓ Anyone with a drawer full of old phones and guilt ✓ People who want to do good without it feeling like work ✓ You, if you want to make Tuesday not suck **Hosted by eWaste Warriors** – A nonprofit making Tuesdays better and fighting loneliness through real connection. Questions? Just show up. We'll figure it out together.

Weekly Draft night in NW. We currently meet up at Franklin Hall near 14th and Florida. U Street Metro is the closest stop. I'll have packs but feel free to bring packs if you have them. Entry is $17 (you can bring Play Booster packs to lower the cost by $3.50). If it is a special set, it will be more.

📚 Do you love reading, but wish you had a structure and a community to share your insights with? Join our small circle of curious minds (just 4 members per gathering) as we come together for an hour of focused reading—in the calm setting of a library or the cozy atmosphere of a café. Here’s how it works: First part: Quiet reading on your own—bring a book you’re exploring, whether it’s philosophy, history, psychology, literature, or anything meaningful to you. Second part: We regroup and each person shares key takeaways, insights, or questions sparked by their reading. This sparks a structured yet free-flowing conversation around ideas, perspectives, and personal reflections. Why join? Add structure to your reading habit. Discover new books, authors, and ideas through others’ choices. Build real connections by sharing and listening deeply. Socialize around something meaningful instead of small talk.

Holy Cross-Words Toastmasters Club (http://1341379.toastmastersclubs.org/) open to all. The club meets 2nd and 4th Tuesday of each month at 5:30pm in the Professional and Community Education Center (PCEC). The PCEC is located on the first floor of Holy Cross Hospital, 1500 Forest Glen Rd, Silver Spring, MD 20910

**A drop-in game every Tuesday at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Central Library, located at the corner of 9th and G Streets NW.** The Gallery Place Metro station (9th Street entrance) is located across the street. Street parking is available. We play in the Great Hall -- as you enter the library, we are on the right of the room. **All skill levels are encouraged to participate.** Lessons for new players (as needed) at 6:00pm. Please arrive on time. Games for all skill levels begin at 6:00. Games wrap up at 8:00. **If you own a mah jongg set, we encourage you to bring.** More resources (especially for new players) are available at http://linktr.ee/davidmahj

​**Due to the popularity of the event, registration is requested at [https://luma.com/dcmahjongg](https://luma.com/dcmahjongg).** We do not use the RSVP system on Meetup. **A drop-in game every other Tuesday at the Bread Me Cafe on 10th Street NW.** The coffee shop is located 2 blocks west of the Convention Center. Street parking is available. **All skill levels are encouraged to participate,** however, no lessons are given after game play. Games begin at 1:00 and ends around 3:00 **If you own a mah jongg set, we encourage you to bring.**

Title: Geometric Machine Learning with Symmetries and Graphs: Applications in Molecular Problems Date: Jan 31 2026 Noon - 14:00 EST Abstract: For geometric problems, symmetry equivariant machine learning has emerged as the modus operandi. In physics, symmetry is treated as the north star, the guiding principle for problem characterization and method optimization. Geometric features are inherently compatible with continuous Lie groups (and therefore symmetries), leading to continuous parametrization and successful training methodologies. The general mapping of a classical embedding and a quantum mechanical embedding will be discussed in terms of group theoretical concepts. In the context of embeddings, graph embedding is also a powerful method for machine learning problems taking better care of inter-relations among nodal variables. Classical and quantum neural networks with different subsets of the concepts mentioned will be defined and learning attempted with. The dataset under study is geometric molecular data (from quantum mechanical models) with varying geometric complexity. Performance comparison will include accuracy metrics, generalizability metrics, and.general remarks about expressivity. Bio: Dr Saumya Biswas completed a Master's degree in electrical engineering from University of California Riverside in 2016, a PhD in Physics from University of Oregon in 2021. He has been serving as a PostDoc at University of Maryland from 2022. He is also active in the technology subspace, working with the companies Apsidal LLC and Sapienly for AI and quantum information innovations. Moderators: Dr. Sebastian Zajac, member of QPoland, Dr. Pawel Gora, CEO of Quantum AI Foundation

The BNI Capital Business Alliance is a business and professional networking organization for all industry leaders. We are one of the top BNI groups in the region, focused on building business relationships and friendships that lead to growing each others business. We meet every Wednesday morning to build relationships, showcase our services, and meet new people! We welcome all visitors who are looking to expand their referral networks and grow their business. There is no fee for visiting our lite fare breakfast meeting and if your business category is open in our chapter you can learn more about how to become a member and join us every week! We are very active outside of our Wednesday morning meetings as well! We host member-only events regularly and are always out and about networking at other events. Due to COVID-19 circumstances our meetings are currently being held virtually through a Virtual Zoom Meeting from 7:30 - 9:00 am. A link to the meeting will be sent to you once you register as Attending on Meetup. We can't wait to meet you! Be prepared to tell us all about your business!

Join us for our next monthly **Industrial–Organizational Psychology Networking Meetup**, a casual meet-and-greet to connect with fellow organizational psychology practitioners, students, and enthusiasts. It will be hosted at Ballston Local. Whether you’re looking to make friends, share ideas, or simply enjoy good company, we’d love to see you there!

Small business Owners who do business through referrals and community. Come visit our chapter to see how help each other expand our business and maximize our time. Our group has over 30 members from different backgrounds! We meet every Wednesday morning, network, and share great ideas! We are looking for a few more like-minded business professionals to grow our group! Come visit our chapter and see if we are fit! Breakfast and drinks are provided at $30. Location: Seva Spaces Tysons 1604 Spring Hill Rd 2nd floor, Vienna, VA 22182

**Notice the new time. We are now 2-5pm.** Bring your own board games! The MoCo Pride Center has a few games as well. Newcomers welcome! You don't need to know anything, we will teach you how to play! We do not serve food. Note that you can bring drinks and food, but plan to leave the place tidy. Some of us may also get food together afterwards. Info about the MoCo Pride Center: [https://www.mocopridefamily.org/pride-center-home](https://www.mocopridefamily.org/pride-center-home) The Center is close to the **Bethesda Metro Station**. It is on the 2nd floor of the **Bethesda-Chevy Chase Regional Services Center**. Look for the **blue awning** that says Geste Beer at the cross of Old Georgetown Road -- the front entrance is directly to the left of this awning. The Bethesda-Chevy Chase Regional Service Center has an attached garage, which is accessible on Edgemoor. Go past the Center, then turn right at the stop sign across from the Metro stop. The garage is your first right. Payment is mobile using the ParkMobile app.

A weekly networking meeting where we have a lot of fun and of course, meet other busy professionals!

This week we are drafting [Dozer's Artifact Bazaar](https://cubecobra.com/cube/overview/DozersArtifactBazaar) We'll be drafting in the GWU Student Center, room G08. Contact me at 617-642-1764. Join [the discord!](https://discord.com/invite/uUK4BeUmX4)

I love my job and one of the main things I do is help customers get going with any of the data technologies at Microsoft. Right now there are a lot of my customers asking about Microsoft Fabric. It's hard to weave across all the shiny new options across the Fabric landscape, let alone figure out where it fits into your organization. In this session we'll focus on answering one question - how can I get data into Fabric? We'll talk through the "it depends" options and see some of the options in live demos.

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!

### 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/)

## Learn Infrastructure-as-Code (the FUN Way) — Through Minecraft 🎮☁️ **Joint Meetup: Azure CBUS × Columbus HashiCorp User Group × DevOps Columbus** What if learning Terraform and Infrastructure-as-Code didn’t feel like a whitepaper… but more like a game? Join us for a joint Azure CBUS, Columbus HashiCorp User Group, and DevOps Columbus meetup where **Mark Tinderholt** \(Principal Architect\, Microsoft Azure \| HashiCorp Ambassador \| “The Azure Terraformer”\) shows how **Minecraft** can be used as a surprisingly powerful way to understand real-world Infrastructure-as-Code concepts. In this session, Mark will demonstrate how Terraform and Azure can be used to provision, configure, and manage Minecraft servers—while teaching the same patterns you’d use for production cloud infrastructure. ### What we’ll cover * Infrastructure-as-Code fundamentals using **Terraform** * Provisioning real infrastructure on **Azure** * Applying **IaC best practices** (immutability, repeatability, versioning) * How playful environments like Minecraft make complex concepts *click* * Why learning through experimentation beats click-ops every time ### Who should attend * Developers, platform engineers, and cloud engineers * Terraform users (new or experienced) * Anyone curious about Infrastructure-as-Code but tired of boring examples * Minecraft fans who want to see it used in a totally unexpected way No prior Minecraft experience required—just curiosity and a willingness to learn infrastructure the fun way. Come for the blocks, stay for the Terraform. 🧱➡️📐 Want to be a speaker? submit your talk to our Call for Presenters!!! https://sessionize.com/azure-cbus-2026/

Join us for lunch and meet our very successful group. We are each others sales team...always looking for referrals for our members. If you are looking for new clients, let us help you out! Bring your business cards and brochures to share with us. We have a speaker each week so that we can learn about their business. Because we have only one member per business, we have many of the spots filled. However, we are specifically looking for an estate attorney, a handyman/electrician, and an event planner. We have referrals for you! All visitors are welcome. Any questions contact [pmarchio@farmersagent.com](mailto:pmarchio@farmersagent.com)