Data Analytics

TOASTMASTERS GOZO – NEXT SESSION Want to feel more confident when you speak? Thinking about improving your leadership skills in a friendly, supportive environment? Join us for our next Toastmasters Gozo session! You’ll get the chance to: Practise public speaking in a safe, encouraging space Learn how to structure a powerful message Build confidence week after week Connect with like-minded people from Gozo & Malta Open to guests – no experience needed. You can just come, observe, and decide if it’s for you. Free Guest Attendance! Reserve your seat here: [https://wkf.ms/4k2Lnbo](https://wkf.ms/4k2Lnbo?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTAAYnJpZBEwclFjZHJ1cDh6Z1dGT0gzUXNydGMGYXBwX2lkEDIyMjAzOTE3ODgyMDA4OTIAAR7Z7CW29c64_bdKqAVyipp6LfxzDDm5JMyGuJaPt4Uyr34ED76EWy5FWj8NnA_aem_N8nH4dhiqMXGfZEEXDlEkg) And join our whatsapp group for latest updates: [https://chat.whatsapp.com/GSTv44evbYU7Jbpf9g4nLT?mode=gi_t](https://chat.whatsapp.com/GSTv44evbYU7Jbpf9g4nLT?mode=gi_t&fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTAAYnJpZBExcUM4MFIyVmR5czRRVDZaZXNydGMGYXBwX2lkDzUxNDc3MTU2OTIyODA2MQABHraGCuJTOByTK6UwIgCCIdvnQpnWeINgZxX5Q4duCUw_W6_VfwZbXWuqE40__aem_aeNAC3h3rM9C8OJlFX3aXQ)

🎲 Meet new people and kick off the week with social games and a great atmosphere at Monday Games Night - our weekly international welcome party. Whether you come alone or with friends, you’ll find a lively but relaxed environment where it’s easy to connect and feel part of the group. Many guests come solo, and our team is always there to help form groups, introduce people, and get the games started smoothly. You can expect fun social games like beer pong tournaments, cards, Twister, and Jenga, a diverse international crowd, upbeat music, and a modern venue that’s perfect for socializing, laughing, and breaking the ice. 📅 Every Monday, from 19:30 till late 📍 The Room by Jungle Joy, St Julian’s 🌎 Who joins: Internationals, students, travellers, expats & locals 🎟️ Entry: 7€, including: – A free welcome drink – Full access to games and activities – Friendly team support to help you connect and meet new people 👉 No booking needed — just show up and join the fun. The earlier you come, the easier it is to join games and meet people. We look forward to welcoming you! Links: [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/english_cafe_malta/) [Website](https://englishcafemalta.com/)

Join us at the Microsoft Malta office for another evening of technical learning and networking around the Microsoft Data Platform. Two sessions. One foundational. One deep. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 🧠 Session 1 — From ML to AI Agents: The Journey That Changed Everything ◆ The Data Introduction Session Before we talk about SQL Server 2025, we need to speak the same language. This session tells the story of AI from the beginning: → From ML and its narrow, task-specific roots → To large language models and the generative AI explosion that followed → To the agent landscape everyone is navigating but few have clearly mapped Models, agents, assistants, copilots, skills, tools — and the very different types of agents hiding behind the same word. You will leave with a mental model that makes every AI conversation, and every vendor pitch, easier to evaluate. ◆ No prior AI experience required. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 🗄️ Session 2 — SQL Server 2025 News: AI Integration and More ◆ The Main Session SQL Server 2025 marks a turning point for Microsoft's flagship database engine. This is the honest version of the story. → The vector journey from Azure SQL to what SQL Server 2025 delivers in RTM → What is GA, what is still in preview, and what that means for production → DiskANN vector indexes, AI_GENERATE_EMBEDDINGS, AI_GENERATE_CHUNKS → CREATE EXTERNAL MODEL — calling LLMs without leaving SQL Server → Fuzzy string functions: EDIT_DISTANCE, Jaro, and when NOT to use vectors Build semantic search and RAG pipelines inside the database. No separate vector store required. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 🤝 Networking The evening includes time to connect before and after the sessions. Whether you are deep in the Microsoft Data Platform or just getting started, this is your space to ask questions and exchange ideas with the community. 📍 Microsoft Malta Office

The Department of Tourism Management at the University of Malta, in collaboration with GDG Malta and UN Tourism, is organising a two-day hackathon taking place from Friday 8th May to Saturday 9th May. Chill with AI: Intelligent Urban Heat Mitigation Solutions This event brings together participants for two days of learning, building, and pitching innovative ideas. It includes a hands-on workshop on AI-driven prototyping, followed by a hackathon where teams will develop solutions and present them to a panel of experts. Participants are encouraged to bring their ideas and collaborate to create impactful solutions that help keep our cities cooler and more sustainable. Register your team using the form: https://forms.gle/fV8N1PFCcq9qL18L7 Agenda Day 1 9:00 AM: Workshop on Prototyping with AI 1:00 PM: Start of Hackathon Day 2 6:00 PM: Final Presentation of idea --- Hosted By James Gatt, Administrator AOSP Enthusiast Recognized Developer on XDA Developers Experienced with both AOSP and Device Engineering Matthias Bartolo, Logistics Matthias Bartolo (Graduate Student Member, IEEE) received the B.Sc. IT (Hons.) in Artificial Intelligence from the University of Malta in 2024, graduating with First Class Honours and ranking first in his cohort. He subsequently completed an M.Sc. in ICT by Research at the University of Malta in 2025. His principal research interests lie in computer vision, applied machine learning, and in exploring how AI may be harnessed to support and empower individuals. He has gained considerable experience working on real-world projects involving complex datasets, developing practical solutions in contexts where the way forward was not immediately apparent. In this regard, he upholds a strong commitment to integrity and embraces the ideal of being “a man for others,” striving to use his abilities in service of the greater good. Matthias is actively involved in multiple projects that bridge research and application, advancing computer vision and applied machine learning techniques while contributing to several peer-reviewed publications. He was selected as a member of the Google Developers Group in Malta, where he contributes to various projects and initiatives within the group and the university. Beyond his academic and technical work, he also forms part of several voluntary organisations, further reflecting his commitment to service and community engagement. In 2024, he was honoured with the Dean’s List Award by the Faculty of ICT in recognition of his outstanding academic achievements, and was robed by the Rector during the graduation ceremony as the top student of his cohort. Joseph Grech, Hospitality Matthew Mangion, Designer Andrea Filiberto Lucas, Marketing I am a Research Support Officer I within the Department of Artificial Intelligence at the University of Malta and a Master of Science student specialising in AI. My work focuses on applied computer vision, intelligent systems, and dataset-driven research. I contribute to active research projects within the Faculty of ICT, with responsibilities ranging from model development and evaluation to data processing, automation, and system integration. I am particularly interested in bridging academic research with real-world applications through practical AI solutions and collaborative development. Jonathan Attard, Treasurer Gabriel Hili, Community Engagement --- Partners University of Malta (https://www.um.edu.mt/ict/ai) UN Tourism (https://www.untourism.int) --- Complete your event RSVP here: https://gdg.community.dev/events/details/google-gdg-malta-presents-chill-with-ai/.

Quantum threats are real and no longer science fiction. One day quantum computers may threaten cryptography and Q-Day might already be in 2029. Google and Oratomic just published papers that bring practical quantum computing dangerously close. We're past "is this possible?” -stage and now it's "how long until someone drains Satoshi's wallet?" Meet Duncan Townsend, Principal Smart Contracts Engineer at [0x](https://www.0xprotocol.org/)/[matcha.xyz](https://matcha.xyz/). He joined in 2022 after serving as Co-Founder and CTO at Immunefi. With an M.Eng. and S.B. in Computer Science and Electrical Engineering from MIT he will share his foresight and relevance of quantum computers- not only in regard to your Bitcoin wallet. No hype. Just facts. See you there to join the discussion! \*we open doors at 7 pm and the presentation is from 8-9 pm followed by open networking

Hi all! Next time we meet in Sliema on Friday 15:00 I will write the place on the Friday morning, depending on the wether indoor or outdoor. See you! A cozy coffee meetup for women to connect, chat, and share everyday moments in a warm and friendly atmosphere.

Date: Thursday, 7th May from 7pm to 9pm Place: Cafe Teatro, 100 Republic Street, Valletta Join us for another Film Club event where we will be discussing Baz Luhrmann version of "Elvis". The 2022 movie "Elvis," directed by Baz Luhrmann, explores the life and music of Elvis Presley, portrayed by Austin Butler. The film chronicles his rise to fame, his complex relationship with his manager Colonel Tom Parker (played by Tom Hanks), and his personal life, including his marriage to Priscilla Presley. We will not watch a movie but discuss it, so try to watch it before. This event is free, everyone buys his own drink.

Thursday May 7th there is a quiz night! Registration is mandatory! Please RSVP here: https://luma.com/b16i1qom?locale=en-GB Join us for a fun and engaging social exchange meetup in Malta. Whether you're practicing English or any language, a beginner or advanced, this event welcomes you. Meet like-minded locals, expats, internationals, and fellow wanderers eager to share stories, explore cultures, and build friendships in a relaxed vibe. This is ideal for new residents, exchange students, and travelers immersing in Malta's island life and community. Don't miss your chance to connect over casual eating, drinking, and chats. Expand your network while embracing the nomadic spirit! 🌍👋 Don’t forget to follow us on Instagram! https://www.instagram.com/malta.mates?igsh=czZvazUwa2liemhn&utm_source=qr

If you're living in Mellieħa (Malta) and want to meet other digital nomads and location-independent founders/entrepreneurs, this meetup is for you: Friday Coffee Meetup @ Mellieħa 📍 **TuttoBuono** (Triq Gorg Borg Olivier, Il-Mellieħa) ⏰ 8 May 2026, **11:00 AM** ☕ For WFH and remote workers who want a real coffee chat 🤗 Everyone is welcome! Whether you're new in Malta, working remotely, or just looking to meet new friends, this is a relaxed, no-agenda hangout. Here’s what to expect 👇 1.⁠ ⁠Meet people living or working in north of Malta 2.⁠ ⁠⁠Share stories, experiences, or travel tips. 3.⁠ ⁠⁠Make new friends in a warm, easygoing environment. Open to everyone: expats, locals, digital nomads, freelancers, and anyone who wants to connect. If you’re looking to expand your circle and enjoy good coffee, join us! 🎉

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.

The May Ohio North Database Training user group meeting will be held on **May 5th, 2026 at 5:00PM**. This will be a **HYBRID** event and we will be joined in person by **Sam Nasr.** You're welcome to come meet in-person at our meeting location, the offices of Improving at **[6000 Freedom Square Dr,](https://www.google.com/maps/place/Improving/@41.4004167,-81.6614462,17z/data=!3m2!4b1!5s0x8830e5b8255c5919:0xd8297060eb68fe04!4m6!3m5!1s0x8830dc7a0fe35dc9:0xbfc4710ecadfc5c!8m2!3d41.4004127!4d-81.6588713!16s%2Fg%2F1hm3hkqp3?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI1MDQzMC4xIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D)** **[Unit 110,](https://www.google.com/maps/place/Improving/@41.4004167,-81.6614462,17z/data=!3m2!4b1!5s0x8830e5b8255c5919:0xd8297060eb68fe04!4m6!3m5!1s0x8830dc7a0fe35dc9:0xbfc4710ecadfc5c!8m2!3d41.4004127!4d-81.6588713!16s%2Fg%2F1hm3hkqp3?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI1MDQzMC4xIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D)** **[Independence, OH 44131](https://www.google.com/maps/place/Improving/@41.4004167,-81.6614462,17z/data=!3m2!4b1!5s0x8830e5b8255c5919:0xd8297060eb68fe04!4m6!3m5!1s0x8830dc7a0fe35dc9:0xbfc4710ecadfc5c!8m2!3d41.4004127!4d-81.6588713!16s%2Fg%2F1hm3hkqp3?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI1MDQzMC4xIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D)** [Teams Link ](https://teams.microsoft.com/meet/287759659366576?p=kCaammjECnUCvZzEJv)if anyone needs it after RSVP-ing for in person. If you would like to subscribe to our email list outside of Meetup, we have changed platforms recently and you will need to register [here in Kit ](https://ohio-north-data-training.kit.com/b8f036f615)instead to receive emails. Agenda: **5:00 PM EST**: Online and in-person meeting begins with a social hour. This is an unstructured hour where you can join us to catch up and meet other group members before the session starts. There will be food brought in for in-person attendees. **6:00 PM EST**: Elections, announcements, followed by our feature presentation. See below for presentation details. **7:30 PM EST**: Optionally after the main presentations, the in-person crowd may go out for snacks and drinks at a local establishment. We hope to see you there! Session Abstract ### Data Cleansing using Data Bricks Machine Learning is highly dependent on adequate data. Not only does quantity matter, but more importantly quality. In this session we’ll cover how to build a custom automated process using Data Bricks. This will provide methods for cleaning data in a data lake using functions in Azure. \*Please note, that we will be using Microsoft Teams for the online portion of this meeting. You may want to join a few minutes early to ensure you do not have any issues. If you are attending in person, there are large TVs at the office, and you do not need to bring a laptop or use Teams.

Customer identity resolution becomes increasingly complex as organizations scale across multiple systems, regions, and data formats. Traditional rule-based approaches often fail to keep up with data variability, require constant manual tuning, and struggle with real-time processing needs. This session presents a practical approach to building a scalable identity resolution pipeline using AWS services and modern AI techniques. The architecture combines data ingestion through Amazon S3 and AWS Glue, transformation pipelines using Spark on EMR, and machine learning models deployed via SageMaker for entity matching and standardization. Graph-based relationship modeling is implemented using Amazon Neptune to improve resolution accuracy by incorporating household and shared attribute context. We will walk through how machine learning models can be used for name and address normalization, how intelligent blocking strategies improve matching efficiency, and how feedback loops can be introduced to continuously improve accuracy. The session also highlights how serverless components such as AWS Lambda can be used for orchestration and real-time processing. **SPEAKER BIO** Mosaic Syed is a Senior Data Engineering and Cloud Solutions Architect with over 20 years of experience designing and delivering scalable, secure, and high-performance data solutions across global enterprise environments. https://www.linkedin.com/in/mosaic-basha-syed-92300856 **CALL FOR SPEAKERS** Learn more: [https://www.awscolumbus.com/get-involved/](https://www.awscolumbus.com/get-involved/) **THANK YOU** *VEEAM* for hosting our meetup! To learn more about *Veeam*, please visit their website: [https://www.veeam.com/](https://www.veeam.com/) **DIRECTIONS** 8800 Lyra Dr #450 · Columbus, OH go to 4th floor. **Want to sponsor the pizza and/or bar tab?** Please contact me if you would like to sponsor this meetup's pizza and/or bar tab: angelo@mandato.com

**We'll have two meetings covering AI - this second one is for Positron** We will review which AI features are linked in for Positron, and how to use them. **Source documents:** the repository is public, at: https://github.com/BarryDeCicco/AARUG_2026_04_09_AI_In_Positron You can download documents, or clone/fork the repository. **Location:** The meetup will be at SPARK's ([https://annarborusa.org/](https://annarborusa.org/)) Ann Arbor site: [SPARK HQ (Ann Arbor)](https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.google.com/maps/place/Ann*Arbor*SPARK*Headquarters/@42.2792515,-83.7447708,17z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m5!3m4!1s0x883cae3effe193cb:0x5296a53db2a282bf!8m2!3d42.2792515!4d-83.7447708?hl=en-US__;Kysr!!HXCxUKc!3EEdBNXRJKknP6LCGkZetSuEsdtChFojQnOVitFUC5C0fyilqXEbiMstT9ajBR3Cw-55qoFkrElCjQvjMdTxUw$). There is on street parking, and parking at local structures. **This will be a hybrid meeting - the Zoom session starts at 6:30 PM.** **Time:** The doors will be open at 6:00, with pizza and beverages provided. We will have a meet-and-greet-and-pizza session, and then at 6:30 we'll have a presentation. **Zoom information:** https://us06web.zoom.us/j/6658850479?pwd=Snd1UmZTT3pjZktENlczUXh4SERwUT09&omn=89012971377 Passcode: 940392 **If you can't get in, please call me at: 734 223-3307** **The github repository is at: https://github.com/BarryDeCicco/AARUG_2026_04_09_AI_In_Positron**

**Improving Office in Franklinton** Physical location: Improving Office 330 Rush Alley Suite #150 Columbus, OH 43215 Schedule: 6:00 p.m.: Socialize, eat, and drink. Improving will be providing pizza and beverages. 6:30 to 8:00 pm. Main meeting and presentation(s). Topic: This month John Lairson will share a notebook describing the Alpaca (Paper) Trading API and discuss different algorithms for evaluating stock trades. We meet on the last Monday of each Month. Presentations are given by members and friends of this group. If you would like to do a presentation (small or large) on a python topic, please contact Central OH Python at centralohpython@gmail.com

Central Ohio Radio Enthusiasts—CORE—is an informal community for anyone enthusiastic or curious about radio—whether you're new to radio and want to learn or you've been tinkering for years and want to share. Ham radio operators, GMRS users, Meshtastic fans, software-defined radio nerds, makers, and technical and non-technical folks are all welcome. No experience required or expected. This month we have **Radio Signal Analysis Using SDRs and OpenWebRX+** with **Scott McCrory**. Details are are [core.radio](https://core.radio/).

**Building a great product is one thing—building momentum behind it is another.** Join **Senior Product Manager Adam Solaiman** and **User Experience Manager Tyson Smith** for a behind-the-scenes look at what it takes to turn complex ideas into scalable products inside large organizations. In this session, they’ll share how teams move from ambiguity to execution—navigating organizational complexity, aligning stakeholders, and continuously evolving products after launch. You’ll walk away with insights on how to: * Build and sustain momentum across teams * Adapt to changing priorities without losing direction * Scale products thoughtfully in complex environments Whether you're driving a new initiative or growing an existing product, this conversation will give you practical strategies to keep things moving forward. Come connect, learn, and swap stories with fellow product professionals. \-\-\- Food and drinks will be provided by Switchbox, our generous host. Free parking will be available at the front and back sides of the Switchbox Office.