Cloud Computing

**Kindly note that this is a paid event and the average number of attendees for our events is 60-70 people. You can register on [https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/london-business-networking-event-by-london-connector-2-chesham-hotel-tickets-1978158962708?aff=meetup](https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/london-business-networking-event-by-london-connector-2-chesham-hotel-tickets-1978158962708?aff=meetup)** Join London Connector for a premium business networking event in Central London. Meet entrepreneurs, professionals, founders and expats London Connector hosts premium business and social networking events across Central London, including Belgravia, Mayfair, Soho and the City. Our events connect entrepreneurs, founders, expats, investors and professionals looking to grow their London network. With more than 400 events hosted and a vibrant international community, London Connector is one of the city’s leading networking platforms. ## **Why Attend?** The London Connector series has built a reputation for bringing together ambitious entrepreneurs, company directors, investors, innovators, and professionals from a wide variety of industries. The goal is simple: to connect people who are serious about business, collaboration, and creating opportunities in a relaxed and welcoming environment At this event, you can: * Meet **entrepreneurs and directors** looking to expand their network. * Connect with **investors and professionals** from diverse sectors. * Explore **partnerships, collaborations, and client opportunities**. * Enjoy a **stylish and relaxed setting** ideal for both social and business networking. ## **Event Highlights** * **Informal networking** with introductions facilitated by our host and the members of the London Connector community.. * A welcoming environment where conversations naturally lead to opportunities. * Networking from **6:00 PM until 9:30 PM**, with plenty of time to meet new people and build lasting connections. ## **Who Should Join?** * **Entrepreneurs & Startup Founders –** looking to showcase your ideas, find mentors, or attract strategic partners and investors. * **Business Owners & Company Directors –** interested in building partnerships, meeting potential clients, or discovering innovative solutions for your business. * **Investors & Advisors –** seeking exposure to exciting ventures, forward-thinking entrepreneurs, and professionals in various industries. * **Professionals from SMEs & Corporates –** aiming to grow your personal network, generate leads, or explore collaborations outside your immediate field. * **Consultants & Service Providers –** in areas such as marketing, finance, legal, HR, tech, or sustainability, who want to connect with decision-makers and companies in need of your expertise. * **Innovators & Tech Enthusiasts –** eager to stay ahead of trends, share insights, and explore potential alliances in digital, fintech, AI, or other growth sectors. * **Anyone new to London’s business scene –** looking for a welcoming community where professional introductions are natural, warm, and meaningful. ## **Secure Your Place** Spaces are limited and this event may sell out in advance. To avoid disappointment, we strongly recommend booking early. 👉 **Reserve your ticket today and be part of an evening where business meets opportunity in the heart of Belgravia.** **📸 Photography & Video Disclaimer:** Please note that photos and videos may be taken during the event to capture the energy of the evening. These may be used on our website, social media, and future promotional materials. 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**\*\* PLEASE NOTE! \*\*** **CML primarily uses Luma now and we suggest you subscribe to our [calendar there](https://lu.ma/cml). All attendees must be registered via Luma for our events, WE NO LONGER ACCEPT RSVP'S VIA MEETUP.** Register for the event here: [Who Really Won Tokenization? (Spoiler: It Might be TradFi) · Luma](https://luma.com/rb45u8nh) **Thank you for your understanding!** TradFi is winning tokenization… and crypto helped. Crypto built the rails. Banks are running the trains. So the uncomfortable question is: Did crypto do the hard work just to hand the keys to TradFi? Tokenization was born on-chain, yet the biggest wins so far belong to banks and asset managers. BlackRock. JPMorgan. Franklin Templeton. Citi. They’re shipping tokenized funds, bonds, and treasuries - with real AUM, real users, and real volume. Is this adoption? Or co-option? CryptoMondays London is the city's largest and longest-running web3 meet-up. We are dedicated to community, education, and networking. Please subscribe to our Luma calendar to stay up to date on events [https://lu.ma/cml](https://lu.ma/cml)

Instead of Blue Monday, we fully support Samaritans 2026, Brew Monday. To kick start the JavaScript & Sip 2026 schedule, we encourage you to come along and socialise, whether you choose to do so for a walk, coffee or some co-working, everyone is welcome. I will host a walk starting from Canary Wharf Station (Elizabeth Line) on Adam's Plaza Bridge, but if it is easier, please meet Joulie at Yummzy for 12:15 pm. At 12:30 pm we will set off along Upper Bank Street to Jubilee Park. A little walk around and through the park, past Middle Dock, along to West India Dock Pier. Walk along the Thames until we reach West Ferry Circus, over to West India Quay and around the North Dock, back through Canary Wharf roof top, then homeward bound via Cabot Square and into Yummzy Cafe. Circa 4km and we will go at a slow conversational pace. For those who would rather simply meet for a coffee or some co-working. We should be back in the cafe from 1:30/45 pm, where you can enjoy brilliant conversation about anything software, tech or even catch up about what's on your mind and socialise. We can continue until you need to shoot off or up until around 6 pm, when your working day should be nearing an end. Don't worry, you don't need to be in a job currently, if you are working, looking for a role, or someone to collaborate with in a start-up or personal project, come along. On behalf of Joulie (Founder of Yummzy, a big thank you for hosting this event too) and myself, I hope you are able to attend and would love to see as many of you as possible. Please feel welcome to bring a friend with you if this is your first event and for anyone wanting to know more about Samaritans and Brew Monday, please check out the information below: ***On Brew Monday, the third Monday in January, Samaritans reminds everyone to reach out for a cuppa and a catch-up with the people you care about.*** ***Today’s the day. The day you put the kettle on. The day small talk turns into big talk. The day you break open the biscuits and the taboos.*** ***The day you remind everyone how good human connection feels. How easy it is. And what a difference it can make.*** ***Let’s prevent suicide with a cuppa and a catch-up this Brew Monday. Because for many, tomorrow’s too late.*** [Brew Monday 2026 | #BrewMonday |There's always time for a cuppa and a catch-up](https://www.samaritans.org/support-us/campaign/brew-monday/)

Have you got a great idea for a movie? The Live!Ammunition! pitching competition returns to Raindance. Your chance to pitch your movie idea directly to a panel of film industry executives and the toughest critics of all, a Live Audience. The people on our Panel are the people who matter. They decide what gets made. Pitching skills are the one skill often overlooked by writers, directors and producers. Learn how it’s done by watching the rest. Hone your pitching skills by getting instant feedback. Your pitch could be taken up by one of our panel. Past Pitches that have gone into production include Meet The Parents (1994), 51st State (1995), Siamese Cop (1996) and White Bhaji (2001). Registrations to pitch are taken on a first come, first served basis in reply to an email which will be sent at a predetermined time on the day of the event. There are twenty places guaranteed to pitch. Once the first 20 places have been filled we will keep a waiting list. The demand to pitch is high and admission does not guarantee you a slot to pitch. However, we will accommodate as many pitches as possible and if you’re on the waiting list this does not necessarily mean you won’t get the opportunity. Not ready to pitch? Then just come, watch, learn and network. \*Verbal pitches only, no visuals \*Panelists subject to change ## The Panelists on 22nd September 2025 were: ## **[Martyn Pick](https://www.martynpick.com)** **Martyn Pick** is a British director and artist known for his fusion of live-action and animation, often blending computer-generated, hand-drawn, and painted elements with cinematic storytelling. Over time he has worked across commercials, promos, short films, feature films, and TV. Notable works include *Ultramarines: A Warhammer 40,000 Movie*, *The Age of Stupid* (animation director), *Evil Never Dies and* *Heckle.* In addition to film and animation, Pick also paints, does illustration (including books such as *Beowulf* and *Witchcraft*), and directs commercials, often incorporating a painterly, art-influenced visual style. His work has won a number of awards, including recognition from film festivals and commercial awards for visual excellence. ## **[Jurgen Wolff](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0938271/)** **Jurgen Wolff** is a writer, teacher, and creativity consultant. In the United States, he wrote for sitcoms including Benson and Family Ties. He wrote the feature film, The Real Howard Spitz, starring Kelsey Grammer and directed by Vadim Jean. He was a script doctor on the hit film, Mannequin and others starring Michael Caine, Walter Matthau, and Eddie Murphy. For Germany, he co-created the comedy series, Lukas, which ran for 65 episodes, and an original comedy series called Krista. He also wrote nine episodes of the series, Relic Hunter. He wrote two TV movies for the Olsen Twins, and several the German TV movies including, On Top of the Volcano, starring Maria Schrader and Sebastian Koch (2007). His play, Killing Mother, was produced at the Gorky Theatre in Berlin, and he’s also had plays produced in New York, Los Angeles, and London. As a writing and creativity teacher, his courses include Beyond Brainstorming, Create Your Future, The Creative Breakthrough Workshop and the ground-breaking Script Coach Series developed exclusively for Raindance. He has presented his courses at the University of Southern California, the University of Barcelona, the Skyros Institute, many films schools, and groups and organisations including The Academy for Chief Executives, Egmont, Grundy-UFA, and Columbia-Tri-Star. For eight years he was a visiting lecturer for the Pilots Program in Sitges. Additional resources: Pitching essentials for screenwriters and filmmakers https://www.raindance.org/pitching-essentials-for-filmmakers-and-screenwriters/ Did you know? Raindance members attend this event for FREE? Join online here https://www.raindance.org/membership/

I won’t be there myself this week so if you’re able to bring any games that would be helpful. But there will be games there as well!

Most of what we know we know by perception: by seeing, hearing, touching, tasting and so on. But do our senses present the world as it really is? There are many arguments that they don’t, and that what we actually perceive are internal mental images. So what is the right account of perception? And can we explain it without sliding into scepticism? Introduction to the topic will be by Elliot Buss. NB Early Bird tickets at £3 are available until Mon 12 Jan. **Where:** Downstairs room, Square Pig, Holborn (private room) **NB:** The event begins at 7pm, doors open at 6:50pm. Event ends at 9pm **Format:** 10-minute intro talk → vote on questions → small-group discussion → share insights with the whole room **Keep in touch:** Join our Philosophy Café Discord to continue the conversation anytime → https://discord.gg/UGxBqJXM

Hello and welcome to our next **Data & AI Leaders** event. This session brings together Heads of Data, AI, and Analytics; senior technology and engineering leaders; Principal and Staff Data/ML Engineers; Platform and Capability Leads; and strategic decision-makers responsible for shaping data and AI strategy, governance, and value delivery within their organisations. Our meetups are friendly, thoughtful, and discussion-driven, designed to create a space where leaders can share real-world experience, reflect on complex challenges, and learn from peers who are building and scaling Data and AI capabilities in the real world. This session will include leadership talks, guided discussion, Q&A, and time for networking with fellow data and AI leaders. **We run:** • Bi-monthly in-person leadership meetups and roundtables in London • Bi-monthly online sessions for our wider leadership community Please keep an eye on our Meetup page for future events. Food and refreshments will be provided for in-person events where a host venue is supporting. We are delighted to host this security-focused meetup in London on the **22nd of January,** in partnership with [Incident.io](https://incident.io/). **Speakers and Sessions:** Speaker: [Dylan Ratcliffe,](https://www.linkedin.com/in/dylanratcliffe/) Founder at Overmind Session Title: How We Detected Toil among 36,000 Changes Description: How much precious engineering time are you spending on changes that don’t really need it? In this talk, we’ll reveal how we analysed nearly 37,000 infrastructure modifications to rigorously quantify "toil"; the work that slows teams down without adding real value. We’ll share the statistical techniques and practical models we developed to find the best opportunities for safe auto-approval, and show how you can use similar methods to identify (and eliminate) wasted effort in your own workflows. We’ll also discuss pitfalls, trade-offs, and how AI can take your approval process even further. Whether you’re a platform engineer or an SRE, you’ll learn how to free up your team to focus on what really matters while keeping your systems safe and reliable. Speaker: **[Rory Malcolm](https://www.linkedin.com/in/rory-m-m/)**, Product Engineer at Incident.io Session Title: My first year as an AI engineer Description: Join Rory, Product Engineer at Incident.io, as he walks through everything the team learned in their first year building an AI capability. This session focuses on how they scaled both technically and socially, growing from early work into an engineering team able to make meaningful progress against real AI goals. Expect practical insight into team growth, collaboration, and what actually enabled progress. **Agenda (GMT / UK):** 18:00 — Welcome and refreshments 18:30 — Introduction — Ethan Sumner 18:35 — Speaker 1 19:10 — Break 19:20 — Speaker 2 19:55 — Close and networking **We are always keen to hear from:** • Speakers — leadership case studies, transformation journeys and strategic insights • Hosts — organisations able to support executive-style roundtables and meetups • Sponsors — support with venue access, refreshments, recording or accessibility If you would like to speak, sponsor, or host a future session, please get in touch with **[Ethan Sumner](https://www.linkedin.com/in/ethansumner404/)** via LinkedIn. You can find our **[YouTube channel](https://www.youtube.com/@CommunityStackHQ)**[ ](https://www.youtube.com/@CommunityStackHQ)via our community pages, where we publish selected talks and highlights. This community forms part of the[ ](https://www.meetup.com/pro/generative-ai-uk-community/)**[Community Stack ecosystem](https://www.meetup.com/pro/generative-ai-uk-community/)** and follows the **Community Stack Code of Conduct**, ensuring a respectful, inclusive and welcoming environment where leaders can share openly and learn from one another.

## Details **Abstract:** A honeypot is a system for which there is no intended legitimate access, so what happens when you place three honeypots on the public Internet, in three different countries? Jonathan will explain what a honeypot is before talking through his research from July 2025, and comparing it to previous research in 2021 and 2022. You may find this year’s most popular password surprising!

**Join us on January 20th for the Stripe London meetup. This is an in-person event for anyone building with Stripe. An evening focused on Stripe developer experiences, product insights, best practices, and community.** 🍕🍺🎁 **Perks** Food, drink, and SWAG provided! **🎫 Tickets** There is a hard limit for RSVP :) Wait list will be operating on Meetup. **📍Location** The event is hosted at Stripe's London offices near Liverpool St station. **🕚 Rough timings** * 6:30 pm - 7:00 pm: Doors open with refreshments * 7:00 pm - 8:00 pm: Talks and Q&A * 8:00 pm - 8:30 pm: Drinks, food, and networking **📣 Talks** 1\. Building a multi\-seller SaaS with Stripe Connect: Journey and Lessons Learnt \- **Marina Kim, Techincal lead Experience at Vidatec** 2\. The $/£/€100 Problem: Why Global Pricing Breaks — and How to Fix It with Adaptive Pricing **-** **Andrew Robinson , Solutions Architect at Stripe** Don't miss this opportunity to connect with the Stripe community. [Stripe developer code of conduct.](https://stripe.com/legal/developer-code-of-conduct)

Join us at our first event of the year at [The Information Lab](https://www.theinformationlab.co.uk/) on the historic Watling Street in the City of London 🙌 We will be kicking off 2026 by delving into the topic of real-time data with our speakers - Sam, Nicoleta & Anton. We are running this event in collaboration with **[Confluent](https://www.confluent.io/)**. **6pm:** Doors Open **6:30pm:** Talks Start 🗣️The Speakers🗣️ ***Load-In to Lights-Out: Data Engineering the World's Biggest Tours and Live Events*** ***Sam Malcolm,*** ***Head of Architecture & Engineering at Centrus ([Sam's Linkedin](https://www.linkedin.com/in/sam-m-00b19a110/))*** **Sam’s** session dives into lessons from large-scale live event data systems—handling over **10 billion data points per second** for global tours like Beyoncé, Coldplay, and Glastonbury. He connects the extreme demands of real-time analytics and high-performance networking to modern cloud data practices, showing how the same principles of **speed, resilience, and precision** apply when designing reliable, scalable data platforms today. ***Should I Stream or Should I Join: From Regular to Delta Joins in Apache Flink*** ***Nicoleta Lazar, Senior Data Engineer at Fresha & Anton Borisov, Principal Engineer at Fresha ([Niloceta's LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicoleta-lazar-921a6864/) , [Anton's LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/anton-s-borisov/))*** Joins in the streaming world are where the fun stops and the tradeoffs start. State that grows forever, latency that spikes unpredictably, watermarks that never quite behave, every Flink developer has war stories about this. In this session, Anton Borisov and Nicoleta Lazar break down the join landscape in Apache Flink: → Regular joins and the state explosion problem → Interval joins: when they work, when they don't → Temporal joins and the versioned table dance → Lookup joins: the escape hatch and its hidden costs → Delta joins: the new kid and how Fluss enables them, and why it matters Talks finish by **8pm** and there will be a break between the talks. Afterwards, we may head to a pub to continue chatting. You can sign up by subscribing to this event 🚨**IMPORTANT**: Please bring a ***valid form of ID***. See you all on the 22nd January 🤩 Happy Networking 🍻 Checkout Meetup Groups run by Confluent: * https://www.meetup.com/london-real-time-data-meetup/ * https://www.meetup.com/data-streaming-europe/ By attending this event, you agree to abide by our rules of conduct: * Respect others' opinions. * Keep it appropriate - no harassment of any sort. * If you see something or have a complaint, please reach out to one of the organisers or email events@dataengineerslondon.com.

Hello and welcome to our next **GenAI UK in-person event**, delivered **in collaboration with [Data & AI Leaders](https://www.meetup.com/data-and-ai-leaders-uk/)**[.](https://www.meetup.com/data-and-ai-leaders-uk/) This session brings together engineers, ML practitioners, data and platform teams, product leaders, and technologists who are building and operating generative AI systems in real-world environments, alongside senior practitioners responsible for scaling those capabilities inside organisations. This collaborative session focuses on what happens when GenAI moves beyond experimentation, exploring how AI capabilities are built, scaled, and operated in production, and how teams reduce operational toil while maintaining security, reliability, and delivery velocity. Our meetups are friendly, welcoming, and practitioner-led, creating space for the community to learn from real systems, real teams, and real trade-offs. This session will include technical and experience-led talks, Q&A, and open discussion with members of the GenAI UK community. **We run:** • Online events for our UK & global audience • In-person meetups in London Please keep an eye on our Meetup page for future sessions. We are delighted to host this **in-person GenAI UK event in London on the 22nd of January**, in collaboration with **[Data & AI Leaders](https://www.meetup.com/data-and-ai-leaders-uk/)** and **[Incident.io](https://incident.io/)**. **Speakers and Sessions:** **Speaker: [Dylan Ratcliffe](https://www.linkedin.com/in/dylanratcliffe/), Founder at Overmind** **Session Title: How We Detected Toil among 36,000 Changes** How much engineering effort is spent on work that doesn’t add real value? In this talk, Dylan shares how nearly 37,000 infrastructure changes were analysed to quantify toil, identify safe automation opportunities, and reduce manual effort using data-driven models and AI-supported approval workflows. **Speaker: [Rory Malcolm](https://www.linkedin.com/in/rory-m-m/), Product Engineer at Incident.io** **Session Title: My first year as an AI engineer** Rory walks through Incident.io’s first year building an AI capability, covering both the technical and organisational challenges of moving from early experimentation to a team able to make meaningful progress against real AI goals. **Agenda:** 18:00 — Welcome & refreshments 18:30 — Introduction - [Ethan Sumner](https://www.linkedin.com/in/ethansumner404/) 18:35 — [Dylan Ratcliffe](https://www.linkedin.com/in/dylanratcliffe/) 19:10 — Break 19:20 — [Rory Malcolm](https://www.linkedin.com/in/rory-m-m/) 19:55 — Close & networking **We are always keen to hear from:** • Speakers — demos, applied GenAI projects, engineering deep dives • Sponsors — support for venues, recording, accessibility or community initiatives • Collaborators — meetups, research groups and ecosystem partners If you’d like to speak, sponsor, or collaborate on a future session, please get in touch with **[Ethan Sumner](https://www.linkedin.com/in/ethansumner404/) via LinkedIn or Meetup**. This community forms part of the **[Community Stack ecosystem](https://www.meetup.com/pro/generative-ai-uk-community/)** and follows the **Community Stack Code of Conduct**, helping us maintain a respectful, inclusive and welcoming environment for all attendees. We look forward to seeing you in January, and for those planning ahead, the **next [GenAI UK online](https://www.meetup.com/generative-ai-uk-community/events/312728629/) event takes place on the 3rd of March**.

**Tim Ruffles presents:** *Efficient Reconciliation and Flow Control for Anti-Entropy Protocols* [https://www.cs.cornell.edu/home/rvr/papers/flowgossip.pdf](https://www.cs.cornell.edu/home/rvr/papers/flowgossip.pdf) The ideas in this paper influenced [systems at Amazon](https://www.cs.cornell.edu/projects/ladis2008/materials/rvr.pdf?), and beyond, e.g. Cassandra, Ringpop from Uber (used in Temporal). **Abstract** The paper shows that anti-entropy protocols can process only a limited rate of updates, and proposes and evaluates a new state reconciliation mechanism as well as a flow control scheme for anti-entropy protocols. **The Speaker** Tim is an engineer at [poolside.ai](http://poolside.ai/), previously at Plaid & GitHub **Location**: Appold St and Worship St corner London EC2A 2AG https://maps.app.goo.gl/GmCdcBLBCLR2ifou7 The nearest tube/train station is Liverpool St The entrance is located at the street level. This is not the main entrance of the building. **Checkin instructions:** \- Please proceed to the registration desk\. \- Have ready your Meetup handle for registration\, you need to be on the list to enter \- A small wristband will be handled to you \- There are drinks available for the night\, but no food\. **The schedule:** • 6.15pm: welcome and chitchat • 6:30pm: presentation starts • 8:00pm: presentation end Meetup are captured on video and uploaded on the PWL London Youtube channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEYe-1uDIkjPtuH_qhoybnA

## 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/

### 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** 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 and Columbus HashiCorp User Group 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/cbus-hug-2026/

## Details \#\# Learn Infrastructure\-as\-Code \(the FUN Way\) — Through Minecraft 🎮☁️ **Joint Meetup: DevOps Columbus - Azure CBUS - Columbus HashiCorp User Group** What if learning Terraform and Infrastructure-as-Code didn’t feel like a whitepaper… but more like a game? Join us for a joint DevOps Columbus, Azure CBUS and Columbus HashiCorp User Group 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. 🧱➡️📐

* Who Can Attend * The Central Ohio .Net Developers Group meetings are free and open to the public! All developers; professional, student, and hobbiest are welcome and encouraged to attend. * When we meet * The Central Ohio .Net Developers Group meets on the 4th Thursday of every month. * Where we meet * Please check our Meetup group link below for location details! * Join our Meetup Group * https://www.meetup.com/Central-Ohio-NET-Developers-Group-CONDG/

2026 may be the last year many developers write code by hand. We need coding agents to solve complex problems in production codebases, but vibe coding alone won’t get us there. Vibe coding is all gas, no brakes. It burns up the context window until the agent slips on its own slop. You can go fast at first, but the more you stuff into the context window, the more tangled its outputs get. While the industry is rapidly increasing code generation speed, we still have to understand, review, merge, and maintain what gets shipped. This talk featuring Michael Geiger will outline how coding agents (Claude Code + Gas Town) work and a framework for orchestrating them to solve complicated problems in complex codebases. It’s about steering the model: doing the research to align intent, planning the approach up front, implementing in parallel steps, and breaking early. Human judgment still matters, but it should be spent on high-leverage decisions: what to build, what to forbid, and “what is quality?”, not cleaning up slop. Attendees will leave with a checklist to identify workflow and environment gaps that hold agents back, so you and your team can ship higher-quality software starting tomorrow.

**Important time note:** Please plan on arriving between 5:30 and 6:00 as the elevators lock after 6 and you'll need to message us and we'll need to come get you. The building address is 4450 Bridge Park The entrance is 6620 Mooney St, Suite 400 **Abstract** GitHub Copilot is rapidly changing how developers write, understand, and maintain code. Powered by generative AI and deeply integrated into modern development environments, Copilot acts as an intelligent coding assistant, helping developers move faster while maintaining quality and focus. In this session, we’ll explore what GitHub Copilot is, how it works, and where it fits into a real-world developer workflow. We’ll break down what Copilot can (and cannot) do, where it can be used, and how licensing differs for individuals and organizations. Most importantly, this talk goes beyond theory with a live, hands-on demo showcasing Copilot inside the IDE and on GitHub, demonstrating how it can assist with code generation, refactoring, learning new APIs, and accelerating day-to-day development tasks. Designed for developers, technical leads, and engineering managers, this session provides a practical introduction to AI-assisted development, highlights best practices for getting value from Copilot, and closes with guidance on how to continue learning and evolving alongside this rapidly advancing tool. Attendees will leave with a clear understanding of how GitHub Copilot can enhance productivity, improve developer experience, and fit into modern software teams today, not someday. **YouTube Link** TBA