Database Professionals

Speaker: **Ivana Martić** Title: **When a Prompt Becomes Part of the System: Voice AI in the Recruiting Industry** Prompting is often reduced to writing a few clear instructions for LLMs. In Voice AI systems that interact with humans in real time — without scroll-back, in noisy environments, and with unpredictable human speech — the prompt becomes part of the system, and prompt engineering turns into an engineering problem. Using Voice AI agents in the recruiting industry as a case study, we will talk about key challenges of controlling voice agents and shows how their behavior is designed, monitored and evaluated in production. \-\-\-\-\-\-\-\- Join us on **Wednesday** at MaMa for a first talk of the year. Drinks and a discussion afterwards at [Old Pharmacy Pub](https://maps.app.goo.gl/AeaRdnBrMqPiRhvPA) 🍻🍷🥤

Poznata hrvatska neuroznanstvenica i akademkinja **Vida Demarin** majstorski spaja strogu neurologiju s duhovnim i holističkim pristupom životu. Njezina glavna poruka je snažna i osnažujuća: **mi sami oblikujemo strukturu svog mozga!** Kroz misli, emocije, vizualizacije i ljubav možemo aktivno mijenjati strukturu i funkciju mozga zahvaljujući **neuroplastičnosti** – sposobnosti mozga da se prilagođava i obnavlja tijekom cijelog života. Genetika utječe samo oko **5%**, dok **epigenetika** – naš način života, misli i emocije – čini čak **95%**. Mozak ne razlikuje u potpunosti maštu od stvarnosti, pa pozitivne vizualizacije i emocije poput ljubavi i zahvalnosti doslovno mijenjaju kemiju tijela i mozga. Na ovom meetupu istražit ćemo ključne teme iz Demarinih učenja: * **Ljubav kao najjači stimulus** za neuroplastičnost – jača empatiju, emocionalnu regulaciju i otpornost na stres. * **Upravljanje emocijama**: Kako promijeniti 75% negativnih misli afirmacijama i vizualizacijom te razviti samokontrolu. * **Oproštenje i odgovornost** – ključ oslobađanja od ljutnje i trauma. * **Stres i otpornost**: Razlika između "dobrog" i "lošeg" stresa te kako preuzeti kontrolu nad reakcijama (inspirirano Viktorom Franklom). * **Empatija i odnosi**: Kvalitetni odnosi i ljubav temelj su sreće i zdravlja mozga (prema Harvardovom istraživanju). * **Intuicija srca**: Srce ima svoju "inteligenciju" koja povezuje emocije s mudrošću i emocionalnom zrelosti. Akademkinja Vida Demarin cijenjena je specijalistica neuropsihijatrije te redovita članica Hrvatske akademije znanosti i umjetnosti. Predsjednica je Međunarodnog instituta za zdravlje mozga te jedna od osnivača uvođenja neinvazivne ultrazvučne dopler dijagnostike i procjene moždane cirkulacije ne samo u Hrvatskoj, već i u ovom dijelu Europe. 📍 Pivana, Ilica 222, Zagreb 🗓 14.01.2026. u 18:00 h Organizator: Međunarodni institut za emocionalnu zrelost – zajednica poduzetnika, stručnjaka i znanstvenika posvećenih razvoju pojedinaca i društva.🌐 http://emotionalmaturity.eu

Where locals, expats & travellers turn Thursday into Small Friday. Hey everyone! As we ease into 2026 ✨, we’re wishing you good health 💛, calm energy 🌿, and plenty of moments that feel human 🤝💬. New starts can be exciting 😌, messy 😵‍💫, or just a bit much 😮‍💨 all of that’s fine 🤍. Wherever you’re at 📍, you’re welcome here 🫶. Here’s to a year of kindness ✨, real chats 🗣️, and small wins 🌱, shared in good company 🍻🛋️. Whether you’ve just landed in Zagreb, been here a while, or live right around the corner, **Small Friday International Zagreb** (**[SFIZ.FUN](https://sites.google.com/view/smallfridayinternationalzagreb)**) is your go-to for winter evenings, language swapping, and good times with great people. 📍 **Where?** The Beertija, Pavla Hatza 16 🕗 **When?** Thursdays, every other week from 8PM ✨ Free to join, just grab a drink and support the bar’s rockin’ vibe 🍺🎸 ✨ Open to all, all ages, all vibes, all language levels welcome 💬 **What to expect?** 🗣️ **Language Exchange:** English, Croatian, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Ukrainian, Russian… you name it 💬🌐 🌍 **Cultural Vibes:** Locals, expats, travellers, Erasmus students . . . sharing tips, stories & laughs 🎭✨ 🤝 **New Connections:** Real convos, real mates, winter evenings to remember 🤗 🍷 **Weekend Planners:** From concerts, winter sports, partying to fests and day trips, let’s plot our winter adventures 🎶❄️🏔️ 🌟 **Why now?** The Christmas markets have closed 🎄❌, the New Year celebrations have faded 🎆➡️🌙, and Zagreb has slipped into its **winter mood** 🏙️❄️. The days are grey 🌫️, sometimes snowy 🌨️, cold 🧣🥶 the kind of weather that pulls people indoors 🏠 and a little closer together 🤍🤝. This is the season of **quiet, grounded pleasures** 🌿✨: winter walks through the city 🚶‍♂️❄️🏙️, snow-dusted hikes on Sljeme 🌲🏔️🌨️, museums and cinemas 🖼️🎬, ice rinks ⛸️❄️ and proper warm food 🍲🔥, followed by long conversations 💬🕯️ over a drink 🍷🍺. Zagreb is also a little unusual in winter ✨ because it offers something rare: a **mini ski holiday within the city** 🏙️➡️🏔️🎿. When there’s enough snow 🌨️, Sljeme serves up slopes perfect for beginners and casual skiers 😊🎿 no mega-resorts 🚫🏨, no queues 🚫⏳, just straightforward winter sport close to home 🏡❄️. And if skiing isn’t your thing 🙃, there’s skating ✨⛸️: **outdoor ice skating at Šalata** 🌌⛸️, or **indoor rinks at Velesajam or the Admiral Ice Dome** 🏟️❄️ playful 😄, social 🤍, and very winter-appropriate 🌨️. After the festivities are over 🎭➡️🌙, what remains is **everyday life** and that’s where genuine connection happens 🤝💬. Winter is for slowing down 🐢✨, sharing stories 📖🕯️, warming up together 🔥🧣, and finding comfort in good company 👥🤍. And the best way to share it? At **[SFIZ.FUN](https://sites.google.com/view/smallfridayinternationalzagreb)**. Our meetups are where plans get made, tips get swapped, and crews form to explore Zagreb together. 🌍💖 🍺 **Why The Beertija?** Because it’s that place everyone ends up wishing they’d gone to 😏✨ Warm beer cellar vibes 🍻🔥, cosy living-room energy 🛋️☕, 🚭 non-smoking inside (happy clothes, happy lungs 😌), plus a covered outdoor patio for quick smoke breaks 🚬😉. Skip it, and you’ll hear about it later 👀💬 💡 Top tip: Turn up early, smile, catch someone’s eye, and dive into conversation, that’s how the magic starts 😉💫 No pressure, just rock up and join the crew. 💖 Let’s ditch the screen, grab a drink, and meet the world! See you soon, **SFIZ Crew** P.S. Spread the word https://sites.google.com/view/smallfridayinternationalzagreb 🔎 **How to Spot Us** New here? Best trick is to swing by right at the start, that’s when it’s easiest to find the crew and jump straight in, or ask the bar staff about the event ✨ Need quick updates or can’t see us straight away? No worries, our [WhatsApp group](https://sites.google.com/view/smallfridayinternationalzagreb/faq/sfiz-whatsapp-guide-keeping-it-fun-and-respectful) is where you can ask quick questions. 💖 #ZagrebGlobalMingle 💖

Ciao! L'appuntamento di **gennaio** è per **giovedì 15 alle 19** con un altro interessante talk in presenza, sempre al [Politecnico di Milano](https://www.google.com/maps/place/45%C2%B028'41.3%22N+9%C2%B013'43.6%22E/@45.478127,9.228763,17z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m4!3m3!8m2!3d45.478127!4d9.228763?entry=ttu)! Questo mese lo speaker sarà **Marco Nicastro**, con il talk **Il mondo dei gestionali con WordPress fra sogni e realtà.** Durante questo talk vorrei parlare di come è possibile realizzare dei veri e propri gestionali direttamente con WordPress e dei vantaggi e degli svantaggi in cui si incorre se si decide di intraprendere questa strada. Oltre a questo vorrei poi presentare un caso studio per rendere il tutto più pratico. \-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\- **Saremo in diretta streaming** Non puoi partecipare di persona? Noi non ti giudicheremo! :) Se vuoi, puoi seguirci anche in diretta streaming su YouTube. Il link sarà visibile solo una volta che avrai fatto la tua iscrizione all'evento. \-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\- **In breve, ecco come sarà organizzata la serata:** 19:00 Benvenuto + networking 19:20 Presentazione (di circa 50 minuti) 20:10 Domande e risposte 20:30 Fine; Chi vuole può continuare il networking in un bar o pizzeria vicino al luogo dell’evento. All’inizio dell’incontro faremo il conteggio per prenotare: per non creare disguidi conferma la presenza solo se sei sicuro di venire. Networking significa che ci sarà tempo per chiacchierare con chi partecipa e fare amicizia. Potresti trovare una persona interessante, un futuro cliente, un futuro fornitore o un nuovo partner di lavoro, chi può dirlo? Non riesci a venire, o devi dare la tua disdetta? Nessun rancore, sarà per la prossima. Ti chiediamo solo di farci sapere 24 ore prima così - liberiamo il tuo posto per altre persone. **Vuoi essere speaker?** Beh, nulla di più facile: **Compila il modulo [cliccando qui](https://wpmilano.org/speaker-form/)**. Ti risponderemo per fornirti tutti i dettagli. Ci vediamo lì! 😉

**Agenda :** * 4.30 to 4.45 PM ET: Food and Networking * 4.45 to 5.30 PM ET: "Building Smarter Agents with Microsoft Copilot Studio (Jan 2026 Edition)" Hello Everyone! Please join us for our Jan 13th edition of the AI-ML MeetUp. **Please note this is an in-person meeting and light refreshments/food will be provided.** **Title:** Building Smarter Agents with Microsoft Copilot Studio (Jan 2026 Edition) **Description:** Discover how to design intelligent, task-driven AI agents using **Microsoft Copilot Studio**. Learn how to connect copilots to enterprise data, workflows, and external systems. Explore real-world use cases, best practices, and architecture patterns for scalable agents. Get hands-on insights into what’s new in the Jan 2026 edition and what’s coming next **Location:** The meeting will be hosted in the Applied Information Sciences ( AIS ) office in Reston, at 11440 Commerce Park Dr # 600 · Reston, VA. The location is also right off the Silver Line metro's Wiehle-Reston Metro Station. **Parking:** Parking is paid and can be validated at the AIS office reception. We will meet in Room Lake Anne. We hope to see you all there!!!!

We will be meeting at Starbucks to learn together. Come with an online class you're already going through or an interest and we will try to connect you with a course where you can learn it. Already have a skill you want to contribute to a Kaggle Datascience competition? We will work on these too! Laptop required :)

[Profs and Pints Northern Virginia](https://www.profsandpints.com/washingtondc) presents: **“Satanic Panics,”** a look at waves of fear of demonic activity as an American tradition, with Luxx Mishou, cultural historian and former instructor at the U.S. Naval Academy and area community colleges. [Advance tickets: $13.50 plus sales tax and processing fees. Available at [https://www.ticketleap.events/tickets/profsandpints/nv-satanic-panics](https://www.ticketleap.events/tickets/profsandpints/nv-satanic-panics) .] The 1980s found the United States gripped by fear of Satanic cults targeting children. They were believed to be corrupting young ones in daycare centers and tempting teens through subliminal messages on heavy metal albums or through the quiet inclusion of demonic rituals in role-playing games. Satanic serial killers supposedly stalked the suburbs. Doctors helped patients uncover what were claimed to be repressed memories of ritualistic satanic abuse. Parents, police, and politicians were urged to protect impressionable youths from both moral and physical danger. With Satanic cults deemed to be a real and material threat, it was a frightening time for everyone, including those who suddenly came under suspicion for doing evil deeds. Then, suddenly, it all faded from public consciousness, just as surely as did eighties fads such mullet haircuts, leg warmers, and Cabbage Patch Kids. Why did it all start? Why did it stop? And has this happened before or since? Hear such questions tackled by Luxx Mishou, a cultural historian and media specialist who has long researched the devious and villainous in cultural artifacts. She’ll discuss moral panics as a longstanding cultural tradition, with each new one stemming from fear of cultural shifts and shaped by the time and place where it occurred. Among the panics we’ll look into are the Red Scare of the 1950s and the public response to the gruesome 1969 murders committed by the Manson Family. Delving into the 1980s panic, Mishou will describe how it began with the 1980 publication of psychiatrist Lawrence Pazder’s memoir *Michelle Remembers*, detailing the suppressed memories of ritualistic abuse reportedly suffered by a patient. As that book quickly became a best seller, its ideas saturated American culture. A California daycare center became the focus of a three-year investigation, followed by three years of trials, based on allegations that its owner had engaged in secret ritualistic abuse of the children in its care. Mishou will lead you through the media that convinced the public that devil worshipers were among them, and she’ll talk about how reactions to imagined threats can have very real social costs. (Doors: $17, or $15 with a student ID. Listed time is for doors. The talk starts 30 minutes later.) Image by Canva.

Gaming, AdTech, EdTech, Media Streaming, and FinTech are just a few of the workloads where high-availability cloud infrastructure matters. Whether you’re doing battle daily in one of these spaces or are just curious about ways to improve performance, meet us in Reston for an in-person discussion on bare metal cloud architecture. You’ll meet our product lead, James MacKenzie, who will walk through how modern bare metal serves as a control plane for hybrid and private cloud architectures. **What we will cover** * Ways to leverage bare metal, containers, and orchestration for better performance and predictable economics; * Real-world hybrid, disaster recovery, and data-intensive architectures; * Our approach to eliminating ingress and egress fees. **Who should attend** * Cloud architects and platform engineers; * DevOps professionals and infrastructure leads; * FinOps stakeholders managing data-heavy or hybrid workloads. **Why attend** This is a technical, architecture-first conversation. You will leave with a clearer understanding of high-availability cloud infrastructure and how organizations are scaling cost-effectively. Food and drinks will be provided. Space is limited to keep the discussion interactive.

Ready for the **FIRST Loudoun CyberTech Event of 2026** \- featuring the **Loudoun County CISO**?!?! Join us on **Tuesday, January 13, 2026,** at **Honor Brewing Company** at **42604 Trade West Dr, Sterling, VA 20166**! Want a custom name tag to enhance your networking opportunities? Register here and yours will be ready at the door: https://share.hsforms.com/1J8_8W2-vSe2WSqQbnxxz0Adwxz1 Are you prepared for what cyber threats will define 2026? Which ones matter and which should be ignored? What does modernization look like in 2026 at the intersection of risk, cost, and security? Join us for an exciting evening with the **Loudoun County CISO** and our spotlight speaker, **Dr. Elizabeth Di Bene**, as she explores these questions and addresses what to expect in cyber in 2026! **Dr. Elizabeth Di Bene** is the **CISO** for **Loudoun County Government,** overseeing information security strategies with a focus on risk management, data analytics, and SaaS. She brings more than 20 years of cyber leadership experience across the federal government and private sector, including roles at **CACI International,** **the U.S. Department of Justice,** and the **U.S. Marine Corps** where she also served in cyber leadership roles at **Marine Corps System Command**. Dr. Di Bene is nationally recognized for her expertise in network and information security and is a frequent industry speaker and FinOps ambassador. Join us next month to meet **Dr. Elizabeth Di Bene** to learn what should matter most for cyber in 2026! **Agenda** 5:30 Social hour and networking begins 6:10 Welcome 6:20 Spotlight Speaker - **Dr. Elizabeth Di Bene** 6:50 Q&A 7:00 Open Mic & Networking Continues 7:30 Adjourn

For our January Happy Hour let's go back to Rai's Pour House! The Happy Hour will be on the second Tuesday of the month. We will meet at Rai's Pour House which is owned by the same people who own and Rai's Rendezvous, Rai's Pizza and Sully's Pour House. Tuesday specials include $1 wings (10 wing minimum) and half price bottles of wine. The Happy Hour Menus are posted in the Photos.