Curly Hair

We’re thrilled to invite you to an exciting meetup! We'll have one talk presented by an Elastic employee and one presented by a community member. Bring your questions and come support the community! **Agenda** **5:00 PM** – Doors Open Come in, say hello, grab some food, and settle in for an engaging evening. **5:45 PM** – **"Lessons from evaluating production AI Agents for over a year", presented by** Susan Chang, Principal Data Scientist at Elastic **6:15 PM** – Q&A **6:30 PM** – "**Elasticsearch Journey – Working in Different Industries", presented by** Yasir Zaid, Elastic Certified Engineer **7:00 PM** – Q&A **7:15 PM** – Networking & Event Wrap-Up Stick around to chat, connect, and share insights with fellow attendees. **When:** Thursday, May 14th 5:00 - 7:00 pm **Where:** [Centre for Social Innovation - Spadina](https://www.google.com/maps/search/?api=1&query=43.650017%2C%20-79.397156) 192 Spadina Ave. · Toronto, ON 3rd floor, The Viola Desmond Room **Abstracts** **"Lessons from evaluating production AI Agents for over a year"** This talk covers methods of evaluating AI Agents, with an example of how the speakers built evaluation frameworks for a user-facing AI Agent system which has been in production for over a year. We share tools and frameworks used (as well as tradeoffs and alternatives), and discuss methods such as LLM-as-Judge, rules-based evaluations, ML metrics used, as well as selection tradeoffs. **Bio:** Susan Shu Chang is a Principal Data Scientist at Elastic, where she leads work on production-grade machine learning, including generative AI and agentic workflows. She is also an internationally recognized speaker, O’Reilly author, and keynote presenter at major global technical conferences. **My Elasticsearch Journey – Working in Different Industries** This talk explores Yasir Zaidi’s hands-on experience using Elastic products to deliver strategic solutions across banking, insurance, and telecommunications. Through real-world examples, the session will cover how Elasticsearch and the broader Elastic Stack have been used for search architecture, security, SIEM, and observability, along with some of the newer and more exciting projects now being built with Elastic. The talk will also highlight recent Elasticsearch features and innovations, and how they are opening up new possibilities for modern enterprise use cases. **Bio:** Yasir Zaidi is the Owner of ZD Inc. ([https://zd-inc.net/](https://zd-inc.net/)) and Elasticsearch Experts ([https://elasticsearch.expert/](https://elasticsearch.expert/)), and Co-Founder of 360metrics ([https://www.360metrics.io/](https://www.360metrics.io/)) and Certified Elasticsearch Partner Solution Architect. He has delivered hundreds of Elasticsearch projects for organizations around the world, with experience spanning Observability, SIEM, Enterprise search, Cloud deployments, and AI-powered search solutions, Serverless and much more. His work includes engagements with Ericsson, SAP, Intact Insurance, Videotron, RONA, Geotab and Desjardins Bank, just to name a few. Backed by three master’s degrees and Elastic certifications, Yasir brings deep technical expertise and proven global delivery experience. Linkedin: [https://www.linkedin.com/in/yasirzaidi/](https://www.linkedin.com/in/yasirzaidi/) Spots are limited, so don't miss out!

**Drop-In Pickleball at the Miles Nadal JCC** Come play one of the fastest-growing sports in North America — right in the heart of the Annex! Join us for friendly, active Pickleball at the Miles Nadal JCC, just steps from Spadina Station. It’s a great way to stay active, meet new people, and have some fun! \*\*\* **🏓 Event Details:** **Location:** 750 Spadina Ave. (enter through the Spadina doors) **Check-In:** Stop by security and check in at the front desk when you arrive. \*\*\* **🏓 Registration & Payment (Required in Advance):** **RSVP on Meetup does *not* reserve your spot.** To participate in Drop-In Play, you must register and pay in advance via our registration system. 👉 **[Register online](https://app.amilia.com/store/en/miles-nadal-jcc/api/Activity/Detail?activityId=xO9DzjP)** 📞 Or register by phone: 416-924-6211 Space is limited to **6 players** on a first-come, first-served basis. Once full, no additional participants can be accommodated. \*\*\* **🏓 Other Info:** * Paddles and balls are available for loan at the front desk with a **$20 cash deposit and valid ID** * This session is intended for **intermediate players and above** — participants should have a solid understanding of Pickleball rules, scoring, and gameplay, and be comfortable with consistent rallies and court positioning * Courts are rotated regularly so everyone gets a chance to play * Welcoming, inclusive environment \*\*\* Come ready to rally, socialize, and have a great time on the court. We can’t wait to see you there!

**Beginner Drop-In Pickleball at the Miles Nadal JCC** New to pickleball? We’ve got the perfect session for you! Join us for **Beginner Drop-In Pickleball** at the Miles Nadal JCC — a welcoming and supportive environment for those just getting started with the game. Whether you're still learning the rules or building confidence on the court, this is a great opportunity to play, practice, and meet fellow beginners. *** 🏓 **Event Details:** **Location:** 750 Spadina Ave. (enter through the Spadina doors) **Check-In:** Please check in with security and stop by the front desk upon arrival. *** 🏓 **Registration & Payment (Required in Advance):** RSVP on Meetup does *not* guarantee your spot. To play, you must register and pay in advance through our registration system. 👉 **[Register online](https://app.amilia.com/store/en/miles-nadal-jcc/api/Activity/Detail?activityId=k1j6vjE)** 📞 Or call: 416-924-6211 **Limited to 6 players.** Once full, no additional players will be admitted. *** 🏓 **What to Expect:** * Designed for **beginner-level players** with some familiarity with the rules and scoring * Equipment available: borrow paddles and balls with a $20 cash deposit + valid ID * Friendly rotations so everyone gets a chance to play * Supportive and inclusive environment — no pressure, just fun and learning! *** Come ready to move, meet new people, and improve your game one rally at a time. We look forward to seeing you on the court!

Well, Wine Fest is back this Spring over the May long weekend. 2 for 1 pricing goes on sale beginning March 10th ($46/2) and will go up in price later on. Instead of all you can sample, this time you can purchase digital tokens for $1.50 each. Each drink is 1-2 tokens. Hopefully this will help with the lineups (and too much saki). On Sunday, the hours are from 1-9pm. Early preference is maybe 2-6pm (the next day is the Victoria day holiday). https://winefesttoronto.com/spring

Do you ever find yourself looking for more from your relationships? Or finding that relating with others is challenging, and wish you could have help? This event may be for you. We’re having an afternoon of organized discussion about what it means to be human and to relate with others, followed by some connection exercises to practice skills and techniques. The discussion salon will include opportunities to share feelings in groups of different sizes. It’s a chance to feel heard and connected, and to practice openness and compassion and empathy. The connection exercises, following the discussion, will provide an opportunity to learn and practice skills that are helpful for open relating. These exercises may include opportunities for gentle, non-sexual touch and may tenderly touch on challenging edges for some people, including the possibility of some clothing optional exercises towards the end. Participants are always at choice, including choosing to observe the exercise or leave this part of the program. This month's theme is conflict & repair - this theme will inform some of the exercises and the discussion. But the overall format is similar from month to month. (Previous themes have included authenticity & vulnerability, and empathy & compassion) After the salon there will be a small casual gathering with snacks and a chance to connect informally. The duration of the event is about 3 hours. There is a suggested donation of $15 to cover the cost of snacks and materials. A donation jar will be available at the event. Note that this event is being run twice, once on Saturday May 16, and again the next day, because the last two events we ran were full and we had to turn people away. The content of the event will be identical, but the participants will be different. The Sunday event is already full but there is a wait list, and there's a decent chance that spaces will open up before it happens. The Saturday event has space. Each day there will be up to 12 participants; some are coming from the open relating community via Facebook or other contacts, while others are new to the community and are coming via Meetup. I will be asking registered participants and people wanting to be on the wait list for contact information other than Meetup, either a phone # for texting or a Facebook contact for messaging. This is because often things change at the last minute (e.g. spaces open up for the waitlist, people have questions about parking, etc., etc.) and I want to be able to contact you quickly, and experience has shown that most people don't check Meetup messages frequently enough to communicate quickly enough. I will send information about address and logistics to registered participants a few days before the event.

Who’s up for a fun night out? Get your boots on, grab your cowboy hat, and let’s have some fun! Thinking about checking out PBR Cowboy Bar & Smokehouse for a lively evening to unwind, connect, and enjoy the night together. • Lively atmosphere with country vibes • Delicious food + drinks • Music, dancing, and lots of laughs • Great conversation and new connections

Join us for a relaxed and enjoyable brunch at 17 Arrows Kitchen and Bar! This is a great opportunity to meet new people, enjoy good food, and ease into the weekend with great conversation. Whether you’re new to the group or it’s your first event, you’ll feel right at home.

Join the Columbus AI community for our quarterly gathering — a casual, community-focused evening where everyone has a chance to share, learn, and connect. These open mic–style events give anyone in the community up to **5 minutes** to present a project, share a tool, pose a question, or offer a perspective on the evolving AI space. No slides required — just a welcoming space to exchange ideas and keep the local AI conversation moving. If you’d like to take the stage, message \*\*Chris (the organizer)\*\*with a **title and short description** of what you’d like to share. Whether you’re deep in the field or just getting curious, come connect with others building and exploring AI in Columbus. Sponsored by [Transform Labs](https://www.linkedin.com/company/transformlabs/) Sign up also accessible via [Transform Labs Luma](https://luma.com/transformlabshq)

PO Box 21. Is a speakeasy in the basement of Highbanks Distillery in Westerville. Check out the menu: https://www.poboxtwentyone.com/home

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.