Data Analytics

Hi folks! Welcome to our July Cloud Native London meetup! Join us to hear from our two speakers and network with your fellow techies over pizza and drinks, or alternatively chat and following along on Youtube or LinkedIn! 6:00 Pizza and drinks 6:30 Welcome 6:45 Architecting Safe Autonomy: High-Stakes Autonomous Agents Need Deterministic Checkpoints for Safety (Hossein Kakavand, Luther Systems) 7:15 Putting Open GitOps to the test (Steve Fenton, Octopus Deploy) 7:45 Wrap up See you there! Cheryl (@oicheryl) **Putting Open GitOps to the test (Steve Fenton, Octopus Deploy)** The Open GitOps principles sound plausible, but the world is full of surprising realities. Join Steve Fenton and explore the GitOps research to see whether GitOps delivers on its promises, based on an analysis of over 600 perspectives from roles like DevOps engineers, developers, platform engineers, and cloud infrastructure engineers. *Steve Fenton researches the socio-technical systems behind software delivery; how organizations, people, and technology actually work together (or don’t). At Octopus Deploy, he explores GitOps, Platform Engineering, Continuous Delivery, and compliance through a lens shaped by punk history, psychology, and the kind of genre fiction that asks uncomfortable questions about systems and society.* *He’s an eight-time Microsoft MVP (DevOps), a DORA Community Guide, a CD Foundation Governing Board member, and a contributor to the CNCF Platform Engineering Community Group. He’s written books on TypeScript, Octopus Deploy, and Web Operations Monitoring, and occasionally writes horror fiction.* *https://www.linkedin.com/in/stevefenton/* *https://mastodon.social/@stevefenton* *https://bsky.app/profile/stevefenton.co.uk* **Architecting Safe Autonomy: High-Stakes Autonomous Agents Need Deterministic Checkpoints for Safety (Hossein Kakavand, Luther Systems)** The more freedom we give an autonomous agent, the more it drifts into hallucinations or policy violations, yet clamping it down with prompts kills the reasoning we want. Think Brownian Motion versus a Brownian Bridge: a random walk wanders anywhere, but pin it at fixed points and it moves freely between them while always landing where it must. Deterministic checkpoints are those pins. InsideOut applies this to infrastructure. It works with the user to shape a feature set, stack, config, Terraform and cost estimates, then deploys and manages the infrastructure in real time for monitoring, alerts and changes. Each stage must produce a structured artifact validated against fixed rules, and if a check fails only that stage repeats, catching errors before they propagate. High-stakes actions stay locked down by design: the agent can request a deploy by presenting a button, but never holds the cloud keys itself. The result is an agent that is more productive precisely because it is safely unconstrained. *Hossein Kakavand holds a Ph.D. from Stanford University. He has been with several start up in AI, ML and Distributed Systems, with IPOs on NASDAQ and LSE. He is currently a Co-Founder of Luther Systems focused on solving the Enterprise Operations problem at scale. @HosseinKavavand* ***Check out [https://www.oicheryl.com/cloudnativelondon](https://www.oicheryl.com/cloudnativelondon) if you're interested in speaking or sponsoring.***

WEDNESDAYS at Hammersmith Salsa Club, Hammersmith, London Open Every Wednesday Hammersmith Salsa & Bachata Club, 11 Rutland Grove, Hammersmith, W6 9DH (http://www.incognitodance.com/hammersmith-salsa-club-west-london/) 7pm – 11:00 pm Bachata Classes: 7:30pm – 8:20pm (6 levels) Salsa Classes 8:30 -9:20pm (6 levels) No prior bookings are needed, just turn up and dance. Absolute beginners are warmly welcomed. Wear comfortable shoes and light clothes, to keep you dancing comfortably all night £10 Club Only £16 Two Classes + Club Usually has 200+ dancers every week Fun & friendly classes for dancers of all levels. Plenty of social dancing to the latest Latin grooves.

This session is designed for **juniors**, **new graduates**, and **non-tech attendees** who want to understand how **AI** can help in building microservices. You’ll learn the best practices for building microservices from scratch, including **writing acceptance criteria** and **creating REST APIs**. We’ll also demonstrate how **AI tools** like ChatGPT can help you write better code, catch errors early, and automate common tasks, making development easier and faster. By the end of this session, you’ll have a solid understanding of how to design and build microservices, all while using AI tools to optimize your workflow. 🧪 **What You’ll Learn:** * **Microservice Architecture Best Practices**: Learn core principles like **decoupling services** and **scalability**. * **Writing Acceptance Criteria**: How to define clear requirements that ensure your microservice works as expected. * **Creating REST APIs**: Learn how to design secure, scalable APIs for communication between microservices. * **AI in Microservice Development**: How AI tools like ChatGPT can assist with code writing, error-checking, and test generation. 💡 **Why It Matters:** * **Scalable Services**: Microservices break down large systems into smaller, manageable parts that are easier to maintain and scale. * **AI Assistance**: Tools like ChatGPT help you automate parts of the development process, speeding up coding and reducing errors. * **Real-World Applications**: These practices are in high demand, and mastering them will equip you with valuable skills for modern software development. 👨‍💻 **Who Should Attend:** * **Juniors** and **new graduates** looking to learn microservices and AI in development. * **Non-tech people** interested in how AI can assist in coding and building software. * Anyone looking to understand **modern development practices** and how AI can improve workflows. 🕓 **Schedule** * 18:15 - Networking * 18:40 - Program starts * 19:20 - Q&A - networking * 19:30 - End

𝗝𝗼𝗶𝗻 𝗨𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗮 𝗩𝗶𝗯𝗿𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝗘𝘃𝗲𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝗳 𝗦𝗮𝗹𝘀𝗮 & 𝗕𝗮𝗰𝗵𝗮𝘁𝗮 𝗶𝗻 𝗦𝗼𝘂𝘁𝗵 𝗟𝗼𝗻𝗱𝗼𝗻! 💃🕺 Get ready to dance the night away every Wednesday with our fun and friendly Salsa & Bachata classes, followed by an exciting party that lasts until late! 🎉 Why You Should Join Our Awesome Classes: \- 𝗕𝗲𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗻𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗪𝗲𝗹𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗲: No experience? No problem\! 🌟 \- 𝗡𝗼 𝗣𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗻𝗲𝗿 𝗥𝗲𝗾𝘂𝗶𝗿𝗲𝗱: Come solo or bring friends\! 🤗 \- 𝗠𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝗡𝗲𝘄 𝗙𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗱𝘀: Connect with fellow dance enthusiasts\. 👫 \- 𝗛𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗮 𝗚𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁 𝗧𝗶𝗺𝗲: Enjoy a lively atmosphere and great music\. 🎶 \- 𝗙𝘂𝗻 & 𝗙𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗱𝗹𝘆 𝗘𝗻𝘃𝗶𝗿𝗼𝗻𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁: Perfect for all skill levels\. 😊 \- 𝗘𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲𝗱 𝗜𝗻𝘀𝘁𝗿𝘂𝗰𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘀: Learn from the best in the business\. 👩‍🏫👨‍🏫 \- 𝗖𝗵𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗩𝗶𝗯𝗲𝘀: Unwind after work in a welcoming space\. 🌈 \-\-\- Class Schedule: \- 7:00 PM: 𝗙𝗥𝗘𝗘 𝗦𝗮𝗹𝘀𝗮 𝗜𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗼 – Perfect for newcomers\! 🎉 \- 7:30 PM \- 8:30 PM: 𝗕𝗮𝗰𝗵𝗮𝘁𝗮 𝗖𝗹𝗮𝘀𝘀𝗲𝘀 – Two levels to choose from\. 💃 \- 8:30 PM \- 9:30 PM: 𝗦𝗮𝗹𝘀𝗮 𝗖𝗹𝗮𝘀𝘀𝗲𝘀 – Three levels available\. 🕺 \- 9:30 PM \- 11:00 PM: 𝗗𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗣𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗲 & 𝗦𝗼𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹 – Show off your moves and socialize\! 🎊 \-\-\- Location: 𝗔𝗱𝘂𝗹𝗶𝘀 𝗘𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗻 𝗥𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗮𝘂𝗿𝗮𝗻𝘁 44 Brixton Rd, SW9 6BT, London Nearest Underground Station: Oval 🚇 \-\-\- Pricing: \- 1 𝗖𝗹𝗮𝘀𝘀: £13 💷 \- 2 𝗖𝗹𝗮𝘀𝘀𝗲𝘀: £15 💰 \- 𝗗𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗣𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗲 & 𝗦𝗼𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹: £5 🎟️ \-\-\- Don’t miss out on an unforgettable evening filled with dance, laughter, and new friendships! We can’t wait to see you there! 🎈✨

For our next London SEO meetup, we want to switch up the format. Instead of a panel session, you’ll hear from 4 speakers on relevant, timely topics. Each talk will be 15 minutes long with a break in between. Speakers include: **Ben Morris, GTM Enterprise Director at Profound** **Why a marketing engineer is your next great hire** Drawing on Profound’s thinking around marketing engineering, Ben Morris explains what a marketing engineer does, where the role fits inside modern GTM teams, and how it can help you ship faster without losing strategic control. **John Iwuozor, Content Marketing Specialist** **How to use query fan-out to win AI visibility** In this talk, John Iwuozor will explain how query fan-out works across tools like ChatGPT and Perplexity, and why existing keyword research strategies won’t get you all the way there. **Miracle Inameti-Archibong, Product Marketing Lead at John Lewis Partnership** How to optimize your data for LLM workflows Miracle Inameti-Archibong will explain how LLMs read and process content so marketers can make smarter decisions about what to mark up, simplify, or restructure. You’ll learn how to reduce wasted tokens, and format content for better AI performance. **Kanaar Bell, Enterprise Account Manager at Moz** **How to prove SEO value when rankings aren’t enough** Kanaar Bell will share a retention-focused framework for defending SEO budget, connecting activity to business impact, and showing stakeholders why SEO still matters. **Besides the panel, you’ll enjoy an evening of** * Networking with SEO and digital marketing leaders in a laid-back setting * Great food and free drinks * Q&A time with experts shaping AI search and LLM visibility ### Event details 📍 Venue: Brunswick Art Gallery, Brunswick Centre, London WC1N 1AE 📅 Date: July 1, 2026 🕕 Time: 6 pm–9 pm Curious about the vibes at Sip & Search? Here’s[ a 1-minute video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kIbfZGAG-VE) from our last event to get you excited. ### Important notes Please provide answers to all questions. We create [name tags](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1TPWfbtfDTie6U7_CiPq-c4TTobl4l-yX/view?usp=sharing) that include your LinkedIn QR code, name, and company information. It has proven really helpful for networking at past events. ### Shoutout to our sponsors for making this event possible [Moz](https://moz.com/) [Profound](https://www.tryprofound.com/)

BOOK YOUR TICKET 👉🏼 [HERE](https://itsadate.club/event/human-bingo-in-kings-cross-6/). It’s a Date takes over a private space at *Drake and Morgan, Kings Cross* for an active and entertaining evening of networking—It’s Human Bingo! We’re hosting a midweek social with 40 single guests, coming together for after-work drinks and a round of Human Bingo at this awesome venue. *“Human Bingo?”* we hear you ask—what’s that?! It’s a super-fun icebreaker game where *you* are the playing piece. Everyone gets a bingo-style card filled with fun facts (like “Has a pet,” “Can speak another language,” or “Loves sushi”). Your mission? Mingle, ask questions, and find people who match each square. Get a full row—and bingo—you’ve won a free drink! It’s the perfect way to kick-start conversations and meet new people, minus the awkward small talk. Your host will be ready to welcome you from 19:30, wearing a big smile and a discreet name badge, so they’ll be easy to spot. You’ll be offered an optional name sticker (great for breaking the ice), a Human Bingo card (to spark some mingling magic), and once you’re ready, introduced to a bunch of other single guests. Get ready for a relaxed, zero small-talk, great-vibes kind of night—full of new connections, genuine chat, and maybe even a few sparks (plus a free drink or two) along the way. After the event wraps up, head to your dashboard to leave feedback on the people you met. A match is made when two guests give each other positive feedback, unlocking messaging on our platform. Got questions? Feel free to reach out to Ollie at 07517 065 492 or ollie@itsadate.club.

Join us at the next monthly London Security Engineering meetup! **🍕 6:00pm: Arrive** \- Kick off the evening with light refreshments and networking \(30 mins\) 🎤 **6:30pm:** **Main Talk** \- Kat Traxler\, who will be speaking on: "Azure's Unnamed Operators \- Threat Modelling Platform\-Level Identities\." **☕ 7:15pm: Q&A -** Questions and discussion **🍻 7:45pm: Pub** \- We usually go to a neighbouring pub for a drink after\! This event is a good opportunity to gain practical insights, meet fellow security professionals and discuss the latest trends in the industry. 📅 **When:** Wednesday 1st July 2026 *This event is made possible by the teams at Maze, MMC and Tracebit.*

Pratica l'italiano passeggiando. > Ciao a tutti! > Se avete voglia di fare una chiacchierata in italiano in un modo rilassante ma anche dinamico, venite alla 'passeggiata italiana'. Si parte dalla stazione di Green Park e si passeggia facendo il giro del parco e chiacchierando del più e del meno. > Lo sapevate che secondo il filosofo greco Aristotele, passeggiare è un modo per stimolare l'intelletto e mettere in moto i nostri pensieri. > La combinazione movimento fisico e pratica linguistica favorisce la concentrazione e la memoria. > Parlare italiano mentre si passeggia può rendere l’apprendimento più piacevole e spontaneo. Inoltre, il continuo cambiamento dell'ambiente circostante offre sempre nuovi spunti di conversazione: possiamo descrivere e commentare ciò che vediamo e condividere osservazioni e idee.

Register: [https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/ljc-meetup-at-neo4j-smarter-search-with-spring-ai-and-neo4j-tickets-1991379537804](https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/ljc-meetup-at-neo4j-smarter-search-with-spring-ai-and-neo4j-tickets-1991379537804) LJC Meet-ups is a series of events, aimed at giving all Community members an opportunity to present at an LJC event. We're excited to invite you to our next Meetup, co-hosted with **neo4j**! Join the London Java Community for an evening of technical talks, networking, and knowledge sharing hosted by Neo4j. This month’s meetup explores two of the hottest areas in modern software development: integrating Generative AI into Java applications and deploying Machine Learning models within Java ecosystems. Whether you’re a Java developer, architect, data engineer, or simply curious about the latest innovations shaping our industry, this session will provide practical insights and real-world examples from experienced practitioners.

Hello and welcome to our special joint meetup between **Cloud Platform Engineering London**, **Cloud Platform Engineering Leaders**, **Data & AI Leaders**, **AWS AI UG**, **Azure AI UG**, and **GCP London**. This crossover event brings together platform engineers, cloud architects, data and AI leaders, SREs, engineering managers, technology executives, and practitioners exploring how AI is reshaping modern cloud platforms, developer workflows, business transformation, and enterprise engineering. This is a special **Community Stack ecosystem event**, bringing together several of our cloud, platform, and data-focused communities for an evening of practical talks, senior technical discussion, and cross-community networking. A huge thank you to **[Arrows](https://www.arrowsgroup.com/)** for hosting and sponsoring this event, and for supporting the growth of the cloud, platform engineering, data, and AI community in London. Speakers and sessions: **Get a High Return-on-Investment from AI Business Transformation** **Nora Balla, Founder and AI Business Transformation Lead, Add Velocity** Nora Balla is the founder of Add Velocity, an AI-native business transformation and implementation consultancy. Nora has gained extensive experience across investment products, business transformation, finance operations, and regulated asset and wealth management environments. Previously a freelancer, she now operates in a collaborative delivery model, helping organisations scale AI and automation solutions in complex business settings. Her experience includes finance transformation at Harley-Davidson, reporting process improvements in commercial real estate funds, and supporting the Aladdin implementation at Royal London Asset Management. In this session, Nora will explore how organisations can achieve a stronger return on investment from AI business transformation. The talk will cover the opportunities and high-value use cases, the real risks organisations need to manage, the skills required for the agentic era, how to define and measure success, and practical tips for improving efficiency when working with AI systems. **Agents in the Fastlane** **Ryan Cormack, Principal Engineer, Motorway** **Luke Marrai, Engineering Manager, Motorway** Motorway has used traditional AI and machine learning for years to enhance and improve its systems. But how can those years of learning be applied to build the next generation of agentic systems for users? In this session, Ryan Cormack and Luke Marrai from Motorway will explore how they are enhancing the functionality of Motorway’s platform to provide more accurate search results for dealers looking to acquire stock through the online marketplace. The talk will cover how Motorway is using **AWS AgentCore** to run its agentic systems, and how evals are being used to ensure the system performs as expected. Ryan Cormack is a Principal Engineer at Motorway, the UK’s leading used car marketplace, where he leads technical strategy and drives AI-powered transformation across the engineering organisation. With over 14 years of experience building and scaling systems on AWS, Ryan specialises in turning architectural best practices into practical engineering outcomes, from cloud modernisation programmes to the adoption of agentic workflows and AI-native developer tooling. Luke Marrai is an Engineering Manager at Motorway, supporting engineering delivery and helping teams build effective, scalable technology for one of the UK’s leading automotive technology platforms. Agenda: **18:00** — Arrival, refreshments and networking **18:30** — Welcome and introduction **18:35** — Get a High Return-on-Investment from AI Business Transformation — Nora Balla **19:00** — Break and networking **19:20** — Agents in the Fastlane — Ryan Cormack and Luke Marrai **20:00** — Networking **20:45** — Close **Join us on June 11th:** We are also hosting the **Cloud Native & Open Source AI Conference** on **June 11th in London**, bringing together a fantastic line-up of speakers across AI, cloud-native, open-source, platform engineering, leadership, and modern infrastructure. You can view the full speaker line-up and event details **[here](https://www.communitystack.io/conferences/cloud-native-london)** **About the communities:** This event is jointly hosted across **Cloud Platform Engineering London**, **Cloud Platform Engineering Leaders**, **Data & AI Leaders**, **AWS AI UG**, **Azure AI UG**, and **GCP London**. Together, these communities form part of the **[Community Stack ecosystem](https://www.meetup.com/pro/generative-ai-uk-community/)**, bringing together technical practitioners, leaders, partners, and organisations across cloud, platform engineering, data, AI, and open technology. We are always keen to hear from speakers, hosts, sponsors, and community partners. If you would like to speak, sponsor, or host a future event, please reach out to **[Ethan Sumner](https://www.linkedin.com/in/ethansumner404/)** via LinkedIn. This event follows the **[Community Stack Code of Conduct](https://www.communitystack.io/code-of-conduct)** and **[Privacy Policy](https://www.communitystack.io/privacy-policy)**, ensuring a respectful, inclusive, and welcoming environment for all attendees.

AI assistants are getting more capable. The question is how we build effective workflows around them. At DevDay London, [Lucy Joyce](https://www.linkedin.com/in/lucy-joyce-597485166/), [Ash Shakrani](https://www.linkedin.com/in/ash-shakrani/) and [Arun Kurian](https://www.linkedin.com/in/arun-mathew-kurian-39b8aa5a/) will explore harness engineering through the lens of a payment integration. From requirements and design through to implementation, they’ll demonstrate why context alone isn’t enough for successful AI-assisted development. Drawing on real-world experience, they’ll show how engineering harnesses, reusable context, standards, and validation workflows help teams move beyond experimentation and build reliable, scalable AI-assisted development practices. **This session will unpack:** 🎯 Why “more context” isn’t the answer on its own 🎯 What engineering harnesses are and how they create reliable feedback loops 🎯 How standards, workflows, and validation reduce AI-generated rework and technical debt 🎯 Practical techniques teams can adopt immediately to improve AI outcomes 🗓️ **Save the Date:** 2nd July, 2026 📍 **Location:** Sahaj Software, 1 Quality Court, London, WC2A 1HR 🕕 **Time:** 6:00 PM – 8:00 PM (BST) The evening will feature: 🎤 **One engaging talk** with Q&A 🤝 **Plenty of time for networking** over free pizza and non-alcoholic drinks Don’t miss this chance to learn, connect, and share with fellow tech enthusiasts. 👉 Please click the link below to register. https://sahaj.ai/events/harness-engineering-in-practice-from-requirements-to-implementation/

**Join the Inaugural (GB)NUG Connect Event** *The Soho Hotel\, London \| 2nd July \| 6pm\-8\.30pm* Talks · Open Discussion · Drinks · Light Bites (GB)NUG's first event brings together two practitioners ready to share their experiences and opinions on enterprise networking. Grab a drink, connect with your peers, hear from fellow practitioners and join the conversation. **Madoc Batters, Head of Cloud & Cybersecurity at Warner Hotels**. With 25+ years building cloud, network and hybrid platforms across hospitality, telecom and finance. Madoc will be sharing his experiences driving multi-cloud migrations and applying GenAI to real-world security and cost operations. **AI Enabled networking – isn’t this what Skynet wanted in Terminator?** There is lots of talk about AI changing everything, but in this day and age what should an AI enabled network look like? What is the good and bad of this approach and when things go wrong, how can we fix them? **Duncan Bates, Solutions Architect, Fortinet** **Agenda:** 6pm: Meet for drinks and networking in the Crimson Bar 6.30pm: Hear from our speakers in Screen Room 2 7.15pm: Connect with your peers over drinks and light bites 8.30pm: Event Closes (GB)NUG is a practitioner-led, open, collaborative community for enterprise network architects, engineers, operational leaders and innovators across Great Britain. The group is independent, open and built around peer knowledge. **First event - no playbook - come and help shape what this becomes.** [Follow GB(NUG) on LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/company/gb-nug) Supported by Alkira and Megaport.

**Moved from original date (requested by several members) due to the heat wave!** Most businesses know they have repetitive tasks, manual workflows, and administrative bottlenecks - but few know where to start when it comes to automation. In this practical introductory session, we'll explore how modern businesses are using AI, workflow automation, and intelligent agents to streamline operations, reduce costs, and free up teams to focus on higher-value work. You'll learn how to identify the best automation opportunities within your organisation, map existing processes, and build a roadmap for implementing automation without disrupting your business. We'll also demonstrate real-world examples of automated sales, marketing, customer service, finance, and operational workflows that are delivering measurable results today. Whether you're a business owner, manager, operations leader, or technology professional, this session will provide a clear framework for turning automation from a buzzword into a competitive advantage. ### What You'll Learn * Where automation delivers the biggest business impact * How to identify and prioritise processes for automation * The difference between traditional automation, AI, and intelligent automation * Common automation mistakes and how to avoid them * Real-world case studies and live demonstrations * A practical roadmap for getting started immediately ### Who Should Attend Business owners, founders, directors, operations leaders, department heads, and anyone interested in making their organisation more efficient through intelligent automation.

**Looking for a business networking event in London for property investors, landlords, agents, and developers?** Join us in **Covent Garden** for a quality networking evening hosted by a digital business card app GMax Card. **What to Expect** * **Connect with property professionals, investors, landlords, and developers** in a relaxed but purposeful setting - where conversations turn into deals, partnerships, and opportunities across the full property ecosystem: assets, acquisitions, the rental market, development, and beyond. * **Build valuable business relationships** across the property and business ecosystem, exchange ideas, spot market trends, and uncover opportunities. * A **lightly structured event** \- not a formal\, overcrowded conference\, nor a random pub mingle\. * An **atmosphere that feels high-quality yet relaxed**, with space for real professional conversations. * Hosts are there from the start to **help with introductions**. **Who You'll Meet** * Property developers, investors, and asset managers * Residential and commercial landlords * Estate agents, letting agents, and block managers * Architects, interior designers, and fit-out specialists * Surveyors, mortgage brokers, and bridging lenders * Solicitors, conveyancers, and planning consultants * PropTech founders and digital service providers * Business owners with property interests Please note: our events are theme-led rather than closed-sector events, so you may also meet relevant professionals from adjacent areas such as finance, investment, business services, technology and entrepreneurship. **How the Evening Flows** 18:30 - Arrival 19:00 - Short introductions 19:30 - Open networking 21:30 - Close Hosts are there from the start to help with introductions. **Venue - Sycamore Bar at Middle Eight Hotel** A stylish, design-led bar inside the 5-star Middle Eight Hotel in central London. Located in the Covent Garden/Holborn area, just a short walk from Holborn, Covent Garden and Tottenham Court Road stations, it offers a relaxed and refined setting for business and property networking. **Entry & GMax Cards** * Free RSVP: Event access only * Paid ticket (when available): Includes a contactless GMax Card (ask host to claim; not distributed automatically) **Dress Code** Business / smart **Hosted by:** [GMax Card - a digital business card](http://www.gmaxcard.com/) platform designed for modern networking and professional connections beyond LinkedIn. Share all your contact details through one simple link. **Important Info** * 18+ (ID may be required) * Photos/video by [CineEye Audiovisual Production Studio](http://www.cineeye.co.uk/) (inform us if you prefer not to appear) * Attendance is at your own risk. Organisers and the venue are not liable for any injury, loss, or damage. **Limited spots - register early!** Join our [WA Business Community](https://chat.whatsapp.com/FJdEP809H5U8WQ4y4BLLS5?mode=hqctcli) to stay connected between events, and follow us on [LinkedIn](http://linkedin.com/company/gmax-card) for upcoming dates.

**Practical Curiosity: Learning from Everyday Data** How do we actually get better at utilizing our day-to-day data? Fancy dashboards and complex models might look nice and draw attention, but that’s not where most of us spend our time. In fact those shiny outputs frequently sit unused, while the real insights are drawn from the analyst’s daily practice. Sometimes it’s as simple and as powerful as noticing that a segment is shrinking, a channel is underused, or certain links keep getting all the clicks. There’s many different places that the spark of insight can come from, but you have to keep your head in the data and know where to look. In this session, we’ll explore real-world examples of how segmentation, testing, and click behavior can uncover practical digital marketing opportunities. You’ll leave with inspiration for your own use cases, along with a few simple ways to ask better questions, spot meaningful patterns, and make smarter decisions without overcomplicating it. **About Our Speaker:** [Elaine Armbruster](https://www.linkedin.com/in/elainearmbruster/) is a Director of Digital Experience at the [American Diabetes Association](https://diabetes.org/), where she focuses on using data and insights to create smarter, more effective digital experiences. A lifelong Columbus resident, she has built her career in email marketing and the broader digital user journey, and is finding she most enjoys working in the messy middle where systems, data, and big ideas don’t quite line up yet. Thanks to our 2026 sponsors: [Clarivoy](https://www.clarivoy.com), [What Box Consulting Group](https://www.whatboxconsultinggroup.com), [Conductrics](https://www.conductrics.com), and [Piwik PRO](https://piwik.pro) More info at [cbusdaw.com](https://cbusdaw.com)

Highlights and Hidden Gems in SQL Server 2025 With so much emphasis on cloud data platforms and AI these days, SQL people can feel left behind by all the marketing hype. SQL Server 2025 was officially released in November of 2025, though, and contains a ton of improvements that will make our SQL Server deployments a bit faster, better, and more secure. There are even more improvements tucked into the release that never made a marketing blog or press release that you'll likely be learning about for the first time in this session! Join this session to learn about what makes your high availability a little more available, your performance a bit more performant, and your database more developer and app-friendly. Come spend an hour with SQL people talking SQL Server 2025 – the good, the "not quite ready for prime time", and the hidden awesomeness.

Topic to be announced. **CALL FOR SPEAKERS** Learn more: 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/ **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

Most people use LLMs by feel: ask a question, read the answer, decide whether it “seems good,” and move on. That works for casual use. It does not work when you are building software, automating workflows, writing important documents, or relying on AI for anything that needs to be repeatable. In this talk, we’ll look at how to improve and evaluate the inputs and outputs of LLMs using practical measurement techniques. We’ll cover how prompt changes affect results, how to compare outputs, how to build simple evaluation sets, and how math-based methods like similarity scoring can help you move beyond guesswork. This will be beginner-friendly, so even if you don't know anything about AI, you should get something out of it. However, this will be a little more technical than our intro talks. You do not need to be an AI researcher, but programmers and technically curious attendees will get a lot out of it. We’ll cover: * Why “it looks good” is not enough * How to improve prompts by changing the input, context, and constraints * How to compare LLM outputs more systematically * Basic evaluation techniques for accuracy, consistency, and usefulness * How embeddings, cosine similarity, and scoring can help evaluate results * Where automated evaluation works — and where humans still need to stay in the loop By the end, you’ll have a practical mental model for treating LLMs less like magic and more like systems you can test, measure, and improve. LOGISTICS AND PARKING: The talk starts at 7:00 PM. The first half hour is reserved for everyone to get set up and mingle. Free pizza and drinks! The cheapest parking option is to find street parking, which will only cost you a few bucks. Otherwise, park in the nearby veteran's museum lot for $8. It's highly recommended you avoid the nearby $15 garage parking.

We're planning a hands-on technical session focused on building AI solutions in ServiceNow - think skills, agents, and real-world use cases. If you’re curious about AI on the platform, RSVP now and stay tuned for more details. Let's build together!

**Latest Dojo Location!** **Knotty Pine Brewing** 1765 W 3rd Ave, Columbus, OH 43212 We're going to try a new dojo location for a few weeks and see how it works Dojos are informal Python group study sessions where everyone interested in Python gathers to learn about Python, help others with Python, or just hang out. Everyone is welcome from Python beginners to experts. Bringing a laptop is encouraged (we'll have extension cords and power strips). If there's something you want to learn leave a comment on this invite so we can plan ahead. We're looking for speakers for our Monthly Meetups! Fill out the form if you are interested in presenting to the Python Community. https://forms.gle/ehSfUAC2WgR34Crq9

You can sleep in on the Sesquicentennial (observed), we’re shifting to the following Friday. But join the local UX community for a chat and some biscuits to catch up. If you were in CA for Figma Config, tell us all the lines and you can tell me how I can animate an SVG without coding it by hand, and why I’d even want to. Thanks to the team at Nationwide of supporting the group.