Decentralized Systems & Applications
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Decentralized Systems & Applications Events Today
Join in-person Decentralized Systems & Applications events happening right now
London Platform User Group (LOPUG), Wednesday 11th March, 6.30pm onwards
For our March meetup, we're back at the fabulous Accurx offices. We have two excellent talks lined up, the agenda will be:
* 6:30pm - arrive, drinks, networking
* 7:00pm - Welcome & Housekeeping
* 7:15pm - **Talk 1: "Devops 2014 Revisited - a Dozen Years of Noise and Confusion"**
It is 11th February 2014, a nervous Andy Burgin takes the stage at Agile Yorkshire and begins to share the current thinking from the burgeoning DevOps movement. Fast forward 12 years: DevOps is different — or is it? During a recent clear-out at chez Burgin, an old, forgotten laptop was discovered discarded between a box of floppy disks and a collection of old Computer Shopper magazines. While the laptop was no longer functional, a painstaking data recovery process rescued the files on its hard drive via a collection of old adaptors and half-working wires. Among the files saved from the Wakefield Council recycling centre was a copy of the very PowerPoint deck presented at that meetup 12 years earlier. But what was in this digital "time capsule"? What happened to DevOps? What did it become? Is it now a tool, a job title, or did something "bad" happen to it? Are the thoughts shared over a decade ago still relevant today? Join Andy as he looks at how we travelled from DevOps to Cloud, SRE, Platform Engineering, Team Topologies, Developer Experience, and VibeOps - Most importantly, we'll explore what the future of DevOps can learn from its past.
**Speaker:** Andy Burgin, Principal Platform Engineer @ Flutter UK and Ireland
*Andy is a Principal Platform Engineer at Flutter UK and Ireland. He considers himself a Kubernetes, AI and DevRel fettler, spending far too much of his spare time running software in containers that really shouldn't be. He is a small part of the organising team for DevOpsDays London and ran the DevOps meetup in Leeds for almost a decade hosting over 50 events. He’s attended and has spoken at a bunch of DevOps conferences and in his own words is an "all-round DevOps nuisance".*
* 7.45pm - food, more drinks & networking
* 8.00pm - **Talk** **2: "Navigating From Tension to Flow: A Human-Centred Guide to Overcoming Misalignment"**
Behind every stalled project, missed milestone, or unclear decision is a story of tension between what people want, what’s needed, and what’s possible. But tension isn’t failure. It’s feedback. This talk explores how to recognize and respond to tension using Team Topologies principles, flow first thinking, and a healthy dose of human insight.
We’ll show how organizational patterns, team boundaries, and interaction modes can either amplify or ease misalignment — and how trust, empathy, and bold conversation are just as important as structure, if not more so. Packed with real-world examples, this session blends organizational design with emotional intelligence to help you design for flow — and for people.
**Speakers:** Faye Benfield, Product Leader, Independent & Rich Allen, Fast Flow Facilitator @ Conjurer
*Faye Benfield is a Product Leader with over 15 years experience in product management, agile delivery and digital transformation. Specialising in helping organisations adopt product practices, Faye has a proven track record of embedding product teams, evolving ways of working, and aligning stakeholders to achieve strategic goals. Faye has held leadership roles, including Head of Product and Delivery at Parkinson’s UK and Head of Product at Comic Relief, where she spearheaded digital transformation initiatives and cultivated effective, people-centred teams. As a consultant at Armakuni, she combined hands-on coaching with practical tools and techniques to help clients navigate the complexities of product delivery, with a focus on balancing human dynamics and practical constraints.*
*Rich Allen is a sociotechnical architect, consultant and creator of User Needs Mapping, a practical technique for aligning teams around what matters. With over 20 years’ experience across software engineering, technical leadership, and organisational design, Rich helps organisations reduce friction, clarify boundaries, and improve flow by working outside-in from real user needs. He was a foundational contributor to the development and teaching of Team Topologies, helping shape the core materials now used in Team Topologies training and consulting worldwide. Rich is the author of User Needs Mapping: Aligning Teams Around What Matters.*
* 8.30pm onwards - drinks and networking.
So, please come and join us, we look forward to seeing you there.
The LOPUG team.
* Food and drinks provided
* Good time will be had by all
Women Connector® Women-Only Business Networking Event in London
**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/women-connector-women-only-business-networking-event-in-london-tickets-1983534141011?aff=meetup]( https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/women-connector-women-only-business-networking-event-in-london-tickets-1983534141011?aff=meetup)**
Connect with inspiring women entrepreneurs, leaders & professionals at the 39th Women Connector® networking event in London.
## **Women-Only Business Networking Event in London**
Women Connector® is a premium women-only business networking event in London designed for female founders, entrepreneurs, directors, investors, and senior professionals who value meaningful connections and long-term collaboration
Now in its 39th edition, Women Connector® is part of the London Connector® portfolio, built on a simple principle: relationships are human-to-human first, and business is built on trust, respect, and win-win collaboration all in a welcoming space.
### **Where does the event take place?**
Women Connector® takes place at **The Back Room Bar**, a private, speakeasy-style space hidden behind **Hard Rock Cafe London**.
The venue offers an intimate and atmospheric setting ideal for exclusive networking. Its discreet environment allows women to connect safely and comfortably, away from the noise and pressure of traditional large-scale events.
### **Why do women choose Women Connector®?**
Many past attendees have shared that they joined Women Connector® because they felt it was a safe, warm and supportive environment to network.
Women Connector® focuses on:
* Respectful, inclusive conversations
* Hosted introductions to like-minded women
* Collaboration over competition
* Long-term professional relationships
Guests frequently describe the atmosphere as cordial, intelligent, empowering, and welcoming — a space where ambitious women feel confident introducing themselves and building meaningful connections.
### **Who should attend Women Connector®?**
This event is ideal for:
* Female CEOs and founders
* Women entrepreneurs and business owners
* Senior leaders and executives
* Investors and decision-makers
* Ambitious women seeking high-quality networking in London
All attendees share a mindset of growth, generosity, and collaboration.
🔒 This is a women-only event.
### **What happens during the event?**
**6:00 PM – Arrival & Check-In** Guests are welcomed by the hosts. Attendance is guest-list only.
**6:00 – 9:00 PM – Hosted & Curated Networking**
You will leave with valuable connections, new opportunities, and the uplifting energy that defines every Women Connector® evening.
### **What makes Women Connector® unique?**
Women Connector® is intentionally designed to remove the awkwardness and pressure often associated with networking events.
It provides:
* A structured yet relaxed format
* A private venue environment
* A trusted, respectful community
* An emphasis on long-term collaboration rather than quick sales
This approach reflects the London Connector® philosophy: strong relationships come before transactions.
## **📲 WhatsApp Group**
On the day of the event, attendees will receive an email invitation to join the Women Connector® WhatsApp group to continue conversations before and after the event.
## **Refund Policy**
Tickets are **non-refundable**. If you are unable to attend, you may **transfer your ticket** to another attendee—simply inform us of the replacement name in advance.
## **Event Disclaimer**
Please note that **photos and videos may be taken** during the event and used for London Connector® and Women Connector® social media channels and promotional materials.
If you prefer not to appear in any photos or videos, kindly inform the host upon arrival and your preference will be fully respected.
* [United Kingdom Events](https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/d/united-kingdom/events/)
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* [London Networking](https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/d/united-kingdom--london/networking/)
* [London Business Networking](https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/d/united-kingdom--london/business--networking/)
* [#business](https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/d/united-kingdom--london/%23business/)
* [#networking](https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/d/united-kingdom--london/%23networking/)
* [#women](https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/d/united-kingdom--london/%23women/)
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* [#business_professional](https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/d/united-kingdom--london/%23business_professional/)
AWS User Group UK Meetup #76
Welcome to our March event.
We're delighted to welcome [Matt Johnson](https://www.linkedin.com/in/mhjwork/), CEO, Rayo, and [Dan Keely](https://www.linkedin.com/in/dan-keeley/), Principal Data Engineer, Rebura.
**Matt** talks about hard-won AWS lessons on keeping cloud costs under control - plus a real “oops” story of how one small mistake can blow up your bill (and how to stop it happening again).
**Dan** talks shares how hardware-style production thinking makes your data platforms more reliable, maintainable, and cheaper to run
A big thank you to our sponsors [The Scale Factory](https://rebrand.ly/scalefactory) and [Cloudscaler](https://rebrand.ly/cloudscaler)!
**Programme:**
**18:00:** Arrival, registration
**18:15:** Talks start
**20:00:** Networking with food and a drink provided by the generosity of our sponsors.
**Talk 1:**
***When things go wrong: Managing cost in the cloud with Matt Johnson.***
There are lots of sessions that talk about the theory of cost management and tooling available on AWS, but far less look at the real world challenges of using them in production, as well as the rough edges they have - not to mention what happens when things go wrong!
In this session Matt will cover some of the hard lessons learned from working with AWS over the last 14 years, with a real-world example of how a simple mistake can cause problems, and how to avoid them in future.
The presentation is aimed at both those new to AWS and to veterans of the platform, and also includes practical guidance on how to improve your cost management on AWS.
Matt has been using AWS since 2011, including 8.5 years at AWS in the public sector tech org. He has presented at 6 separate re:Invents and dozens of other events, covering a wide range of topics. Now as CEO of Rayo, Matt continues to help customers deliver mission outcomes using cloud technology.
**Talk 2:**
***Predictable Designs in Data Engineering on AWS with Dan Keeley.***
What if we treated data engineering systems the way world-class hardware teams treat products headed for mass production?
John Teel (Texas Instruments) has spent years taking complex hardware from prototype to dependable, high-quality production at scale. In this talk, Dan borrows those “production-grade” principles - predictability, repeatability, and ruthless attention to failure modes, and translates them into practical patterns for building data platforms on AWS.
This is less about any single AWS service and more about building data systems that behave consistently, even as requirements, volumes, and teams change.
**What you’ll learn:**
Attendees will leave with practical, reusable approaches they can apply immediately:
* How to make systems maintainable
* How to keep costs efficient without heroics
* How to borrow best practices across engineering disciplines
Dan is a community driven data engineer and now c-level team builder working with a wide range of Data technologies in the cloud. He is on the steering group for the biggest tech conference in London - BigDataLDN. He has won a number of awards, including being named in the top 50 data leaders and influencers in the UK.
\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-
If you are interested in speaking at one of our events please check out our [call for papers here](https://awsuguk.org/call-for-papers/).
We are advocates for greater inclusion & diversity in UK Tech and are especially keen to receive talk submissions from people in underrepresented groups. If you are interested in speaking at a future meetup but would like to discuss what to expect or need assistance please contact our Inclusion & Diversity Lead Natalie Gray - graynataliej@gmail.com or DM her [@natjgray](https://twitter.com/natjgray)
Check out our [website](https://awsuguk.org) for more information about our community. Remember to follow us [@AWSUserGroupUK](https://twitter.com/AWSUserGroupUK) and on [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/company/aws-ug-uk) for the latest updates and you can find videos of our past meetups on [YouTube](http://bit.ly/2dZnvEE). If you want to chat with other members, join our [Community Discord Server](https://discord.gg/yMa8Rvtsmy).
Women in Tech Connector® | London Tech Networking Event for Women
**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/women-in-tech-connector-london-tech-networking-event-for-women-tickets-1983602817424?aff=meetup](https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/women-in-tech-connector-london-tech-networking-event-for-women-tickets-1983602817424?aff=meetup)**
Women in Tech Connector®: London’s premier networking for women in tech & startups. Build genuine, high-caliber connections that last.
## Women in Tech Connector® is a London-based networking event designed specifically for women working in technology, digital industries, innovation, and startup ecosystems.
This focused event takes place **before [Women Connector®](https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/1983534141011?aff=oddtdtcreator "https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/1983534141011?aff=oddtdtcreator")**, giving attendees the opportunity to build meaningful connections within the tech and startup space before joining a wider community of women in business and leadership.
### **👩💻 Who Should Attend?**
* Women in tech leadership roles
* Startup founders & co-founders
* AI, data, product & digital professionals
* Tech investors & advisors
* Women scaling or building tech-enabled businesses
### **🌟 Why Attend?**
* Expand your professional tech network in London
* Connect with ambitious, growth-focused women
* Build authentic, high-value relationships
* Continue networking at Women Connector® afterwards
This is a structured yet welcoming networking experience focused on quality conversations over transactional exchanges.
### **📍 Venue**
**Hard Rock Cafe London**
### **🕓 Time**
**17:00 (London time)** Doors open, guests are welcome to stay on for Women Connector® following the event at no additional cost.
## **📲 WhatsApp Group**
On the day of the event, attendees will receive an email invitation to join the Women Connector® WhatsApp group to continue conversations before and after the event.
## **🎟 Refund Policy**
Tickets are non-refundable. If you are unable to attend, you may transfer your ticket to another attendee—simply inform us of the replacement name in advance.
## **📸 Event Disclaimer**
Please note that photos and videos may be taken during the event and used for **[London Connector](https://www.linkedin.com/company/london-connector/?viewAsMember=true "https://www.linkedin.com/company/london-connector/?viewAsMember=true")®** and[ ](https://www.linkedin.com/company/women-connector/?viewAsMember=true "https://www.linkedin.com/company/women-connector/?viewAsMember=true")**[Women Connector](https://www.linkedin.com/company/women-connector/?viewAsMember=true "https://www.linkedin.com/company/women-connector/?viewAsMember=true")®** social media channels and promotional materials.
If you prefer not to appear in any photos or videos, kindly inform the host upon arrival and your preference will be fully respected.
* [United Kingdom Events](https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/d/united-kingdom/events/)
* [Greater London Events](https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/d/united-kingdom--greater-london/events/)
* [Things to do in London](https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/ttd/united-kingdom--london/)
* [London Networking](https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/d/united-kingdom--london/networking/)
* [London Business Networking](https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/d/united-kingdom--london/business--networking/)
* [#business](https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/d/united-kingdom--london/%23business/)
* [#networking](https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/d/united-kingdom--london/%23networking/)
* [#tech](https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/d/united-kingdom--london/%23tech/)
* [#women](https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/d/united-kingdom--london/%23women/)
* [#entrepreneur](https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/d/united-kingdom--london/%23entrepreneur/)
* [#womeninbusiness](https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/d/united-kingdom--london/%23womeninbusiness/)
* [#londonevents](https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/d/united-kingdom--london/%23londonevents/)
* [#businessnetworking](https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/d/united-kingdom--london/%23businessnetworking/)
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Coding Agents and ACP with JetBrains (Luma Approval Required)
***P.S: [Luma](https://luma.com/4hs6hs36) Registration is Required for this event.***
**Theme:** ***Agentic Coding 🤝 [ACP](https://agentclientprotocol.com/)* (Agent Client Protocol)**
**💻 Coding Agents and ACP with JetBrains**
💎 State of [ACP ](https://www.jetbrains.com/)from **[Jetbrains](https://www.jetbrains.com/) & [Zed Industries](https://zed.dev/)**
🎙️Panel with **[Jetbrains](https://www.jetbrains.com/) [Zed Industries](https://zed.dev/) [Mistral AI](https://mistral.ai/) & [Vibe Kanban](https://vibekanban.com/)**
**Agent Client Protocol ([ACP](https://agentclientprotocol.com/)) and the Future of Interoperable Coding Agents**
Coding agents are part of everyday development workflows. Whether you are using an IDE or working in the CLI, coding agents are helping developers write, refactor, test, and debug code. But today’s ecosystem is fragmented, we have so many coding agents Claude Code. Codex, Gemini CLI and many others. Every editor, every tool, and every agent often speaks its own language and has own harness. Not single coding harness will solve you all needs and you should be able to switch or have a choice to use different harnesss
What if you could use **any coding agent** inside **the editor you love**?
That is exactly what the **Agent Client Protocol ([ACP](https://agentclientprotocol.com/))** enables.
ACP is an open protocol that standardizes communication created by Zed Industries, between code editors and coding agents. It works for both local and remote scenarios. Think of it as the LSP for coding agents. Just as the Language Server Protocol unified language tooling across editors, ACP aims to unify how editors interact with intelligent coding agents.
**Sponsors**
Big Thanks to our Sponsor **[Jetbrains](https://www.jetbrains.com/)**
And thanks to **[Tessl](https://tessl.io/)** for hosting the venue.
**What You Will Learn**
In this session we explore how ACP is shaping the next generation of coding agent interoperability.
• What the Agent Client Protocol is and why it matters
• Current State of ACP and Future
• How ACP standardizes communication between IDEs and coding agents
• How to use ACP inside your favourite IDE
• How to build an ACP client
• Practical considerations for using ACP effectively
• The future of coding agent interoperability
If you are building or using coding agents, this session will give you both conceptual clarity and practical direction.
🎤 **Talks**
**Talk 1: State of ACP and Future (45min)**
Speakers:
**[Sergey Ignatov](https://www.linkedin.com/in/sergey-ignatov/) Director of Engineering, JetBrains**
\*\*[Ben Brandt ](https://www.linkedin.com/in/benjaminbrandt/)\*\*Zed Industries
**Description :** This talk with In this session Sergey and Ben will introduce ACP and share Future plans of Agent Client Protocol from the company behind the ACP (Zed Industries) and Jetbrains
ACP:
\- Overview
\- State of ACP
\- Ecosystem around it
\- Future
\- Recent Implications: OpenClaw\, Custom Agents with Agent Frameworks like LangGraph\, LlamaIndex and Cursor Wrapper etc
🎙️ **Panel and Q&A 25 min**
**Topic:** Agentic Coding, ACP anf Future
Panelist:
**[Sergey Ignatov](https://www.linkedin.com/in/sergey-ignatov/) Director of Engineering, JetBrains**
\*\*[Ben Brandt ](https://www.linkedin.com/in/benjaminbrandt/)\*\*Zed Industries
\*\*[Clément Drouin ](https://www.linkedin.com/in/cl%C3%A9ment-drouin-785643137/)\*\*Software Engineer at Mistral AI
\*\*[Louis Knight-Webb ](https://www.linkedin.com/in/knightwebb/)\*\*Vibe Kanban
We will close the evening with a focused panel discussion and audience Q&A on coding agents, interoperability, and the future of agent powered development. The questions on the current and future of ACP. Bring your hard questions.
**Agenda**
6:00 PM – Doors Open
6:00 – 6:40 PM – Welcome and Refreshments
6:40 PM – Opening Remarks and London Agentic AI
6:45 – 7:30 PM – Talk 1: State of ACP and Future
6:30 – 7:35 PM – Break
7:35 – 8:00 PM – Panel Discussion (Jetbrains, Zed, Mistral AI, Vibe Kanban), Audience Q&A
8:00 – 8:05 PM – Closing Remarks
8:05 – 8:200 PM – Networking/ Wrap Up Walk to the [Big Chill ](https://www.bigchillbar.com/)
8:30 PM onwards – [Big Chill pub](https://www.bigchillbar.com/) and informal networking
**Who Is This For**
• Agentic coding builders
• Engineers working with coding agents
• IDE plugin developers
• AI tooling engineers
• Infrastructure and DX builders
• Anyone interested in interoperable agent systems
If you are serious about coding agents and want to understand how interoperability standards like ACP will shape the future of development workflows, this is the meetup for you.
**Venue & Important Data Usage Message:**
Thanks to Tessl for providing venue for the event.
📍 Tessl
210 Pentonville Rd, London N1 9JY
Tessl [Policy](https://tessl.io/policies/privacy-cookies/):
*P.S: Full Name, Email Data Collection and Usage Update:As per Tessl building security, all attendees must provide their first name, last name, and email address. Your email will only be used for event-related purposes. After the event you will be automatically subscribed to event updates from the AI Native Dev Community from Tessl. You can unsubscribe at any time.*
Also published on original Meetup & page [here](https://www.meetup.com/london-agentic-ai/events/313554470)
FREE Public Speaking Taster Class in London
\*\*Please note, spaces are limited - Please book via Eventbrite page below\*\*
[https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/free-public-speaking-class-in-london-tickets-151793471359](https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/free-public-speaking-class-in-london-tickets-151793471359)
**Location**
Old Diorama Arts Centre, 201 Drummond Street Regent's Place, NW1 3FE
**FREE PUBLIC SPEAKING TASTER WORKSHOP**
(Limited number of places available, please note that to guarantee a place in this event you have to book a place)
**Workshop overview:**
This session is a free taster for our full Public Speaking Course. You’ll get to experience the style, exercises and atmosphere firsthand before deciding whether deeper training is right for you.
The workshop stands alone - you’ll still leave with practical tools, insights and the option to practice doing some speaking (if you wish) - and if you feel drawn to continue, attendees receive an exclusive discount towards the full programme (normally £498).
We always with fun, ice breaker warm-up games to ease you into the session, followed by learning some simple public speaking technique exercises and finishing with some (optional) opportunities to practice doing some impromptu speaking in front of the group.
The class will also include some group discussions to learn more about why we struggle with public speaking, and what solutions we can use to help us.
Our principles are grounded in authenticity. Our approach to helping people overcome their fears is done through encouraging participants to drop the personas they wear in their day-to-day lives in order to express themselves with honesty, and discover their natural speaking style.
We’re big fans of embracing vulnerability and strongly believe it’s a strength, not a weakness. Only through vulnerability do we drop our guard and communicate in a way that truly connects to others.
**The Session will include:**
\- Why we struggle with nervousness when speaking in public
\- Our approach for embracing and overcoming these feelings
\- Practical techniques to help you come out of your head and speak using your intuition
\- A chance to practice delivering a short impromptu speech
\- And much more\!
\*\*Secure tickets HERE by [signing up on our Eventbrite page](https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/free-public-speaking-class-in-london-tickets-151793471359)\*\*
**About our teachers:**
We have been running workshops since 2014. We have trained 10,000+ people. Our teachers compete in public speaking tournaments, have a mixture of traditional and improv acting training, studied various meditation and mindfulness techniques and are passionate about human psychology and behaviour.
**Testimonials from past students:**
"Definitely the best public speaking workshop I have been on! It’s much more than just improving your public speaking skills, it takes a deeper look into the subject, in terms of fears, and humanity. Mike’s approach and techniques is really about to gain a deep understanding to unlock your authentic self. It was transformative! Highly recommended!" - Kristīne Šica
"Highly recommend this ! The teaching and approach is incredible and it works! I come so far in so many ways during the course of these workshops and been an incredible investment. Cheers Mike & Team" - Jez Williams
Check out our [Google Reviews](https://www.google.com/search?q=School+of+Connection&stick=H4sIAAAAAAAA_-NgU1I1qDCxMDczMDUxNU5JNTBLs0izMqgwTTUxNwaiJONEUwMjC4tFrCLByRn5-TkK-WkKzvl5eanJJZn5eQCGm1T4QAAAAA&hl=en&mat=CeauyV6l-fEkElYBpsFAC8HrnCPUPL5X21SFnV76ZHgJT6CYryblg9XcRxlZIopmomk7pa9VjBtQnKp2gHTa0ojvHwwS4or4aELTqJYZw7I0KHBSgX9ijR0oYgBFylK3ow&authuser=1#lrd=0x487605453de06f8f:0x5e473473b3a50288,1,,,,1 "https://www.google.com/search?q=School+of+Connection&stick=H4sIAAAAAAAA_-NgU1I1qDCxMDczMDUxNU5JNTBLs0izMqgwTTUxNwaiJONEUwMjC4tFrCLByRn5-TkK-WkKzvl5eanJJZn5eQCGm1T4QAAAAA&hl=en&mat=CeauyV6l-fEkElYBpsFAC8HrnCPUPL5X21SFnV76ZHgJT6CYryblg9XcRxlZIopmomk7pa9VjBtQnKp2gHTa0ojvHwwS4or4aELTqJYZw7I0KHBSgX9ijR0oYgBFylK3ow&authuser=1#lrd=0x487605453de06f8f:0x5e473473b3a50288,1,,,,1") for more.
**More on Our Philosophy:**
Our mission is bigger than just helping people become better at public speaking, our mission is to help create a more transparent and connected society. Our society celebrates extrinsic success; confidence is presented to be smooth, slick, suave and charismatic. Because of this we neglect parts of our personality, our feelings, our idiosyncrasies, our uniqueness, our quirkiness and ultimately our vulnerability in pursuit of becoming confident, according to what society deems as confidence. However, we risk becoming ‘well-rehearsed robots’ and not sincere individuals, who aren’t afraid of expressing their humanness. Our approach offers a very non-conventional way of become an empowering and inspiring communicator.
**Our Previous Brand (Public Speaking London):**
**[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rl7dAKFp1qs&t=98s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rl7dAKFp1qs&t=98s "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rl7dAKFp1qs&t=98s")**
**Contact details:**
**[https://schoolofconnection.org/](https://schoolofconnection.org/ "https://schoolofconnection.org/")**
Email: hello@schoolofconnection.org
Phone: 020 3151 9908
Beer and Smalltalk
Unless otherwise announced this is an in-person social gathering for Smalltalkers to get together and talk about Smalltalk (the Programming Language!).
Everyone is welcome from the grizzled and experienced to the merely curious.
Decentralized Systems & Applications Events This Week
Discover what is happening in the next few days
Systemic & Family Constellations Workshop
We are holding accessible and confidential Systemic & Family Constellations group workshop.
Systemic constellations are an embodied and experiential method for the respectful exploration of difficulties across multiple areas of life.
Attendees up to 16.
One of three facilitators will facilitate two to three issues.
Fee: Flat fee of £45 for both issue holders and representatives payable prior to the event.
More information on our website https://cityconstellations.com/ or upon request londoncityconstellations@gmail.com
SREday: Site Reliability, DevOps and Cloud | LONDON 2026
**SREday: In-Person Event on SRE, DevOps & Cloud in LONDON**
Conference focused on Site Reliability Engineering (SRE), DevOps, and cloud infrastructure, bringing together engineers, platform teams, and leaders to share real-world experience building, scaling, and operating reliable production systems.
[Speakers & Topics](https://sreday.com/2026-london-q1/)
🎟 [Tickets](https://luma.com/sreday-2026-london-q1?from=embed)
Agentic AI & Platform Engineering Leadership in Financial Services - LBG
Hello and welcome to our joint **Cloud Platform Engineering London x Platform Engineering Leaders x Data & AI Leaders** meetup.
This special crossover event brings together platform engineers, data and AI leaders, architects, SREs, and technology executives exploring how agentic AI systems intersect with modern platform engineering in regulated financial services environments.
We are delighted to host this event at Lloyd's Banking Group in London.
**Speakers & Sessions:**
Panel: Agentic AI in the Enterprise
Speakers:
* Joseph Reeve, Growth, ElevenLabs
* Chris Parsonson, CEO, Solve Intelligence
* Joanna Crown, Director of Data, Moonpig
* Sultan AI Awar, Solutions Architect (Digital Natives) at Databricks
* Moderator: Ethan Sumner, Co-Founder & CEO at Community Stack
Session: Agentic AI in Practice: How LBG is delivering scalable business value through AI
Description: This session highlights LBG’s enterprise approach to scale Agentic AI, showing how the Group has built a scalable and safe foundation for Agentic AI through investments in data & AI platforms, governance frameworks, reusable agentic patterns, and AI upskilling for colleagues.
Speakers:
* Astitva Karunesh - AI Business Lead, AI CoE, Lloyds Banking Group
* Lara Vomfell - Senior Data & AI Scientist, AI CoE, Lloyds Banking Group
**Agenda:**
18:00 — Arrival and refreshments
18:30 — Welcome and introduction — Ethan Sumner
18:35 — Agentic AI in Practice - LBG
19:10 — Break
19:20 — Agentic AI in the Enterprise
20:00 — Close and networking
We are always keen to hear from:
• Speakers
• Hosts
• Sponsors
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.
These communities form part of the [Community Stack](https://www.meetup.com/pro/generative-ai-uk-community/) ecosystem and follow 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.
NEW - Gentle Public Speaking - Every Saturday
Please note - make sure you book a space if you are coming to the event as we have a certain amount of tickets available.
Have you ever been to a public speaking class where they expect to go up and speak for 2 minutes with no prior experience ? I think this is too hard for many people and just overwhelms the nervous system.
This workshop is designed for people who want a gradual and easier approach.
We’ll start with some low-pressure warm-up games in pairs and small groups to help everyone relax and loosen up.
We’ll move into groups of four, where you’ll speak in front of three people and answer a couple of questions. After that, we’ll move into groups of six and do another round or two.
Finally, there will be an opportunity to speak in front of the whole group. But please don’t worry if that sounds intimidating—you will never be pushed or forced to do anything you’re not comfortable with. Even coming up and saying your name can be a victory!
You are under no pressure to do anything, there are no minimum durations in speeches, all exercises are voluntary and no one will ever be put on the spot
We'll be in studio 12, at the theatre deli which is 107 Leadenhall street, closest stations are bank and monument.
I hope to see you there, if youre still worried feel free to send me a message and hopefully I can put your mind at ease
Take care
James.
Gentle speaking
DevOps Not Dead: DevOps, Cloud, Rock & Roll | LONDON 2026
**DevOps Not Dead: In-Person Event on DevOps, Platform & Cloud in LONDON**
Conference focused on modern DevOps, platform engineering, and cloud infrastructure. It brings together engineers, SREs, and platform teams to share practical experience in CI/CD, Kubernetes, automation, cloud architecture, reliability, and operating production systems at scale.
**🎤 [Speakers & Topics](https://devopsnotdead.com/2026-london-q1/)**
**🎟 [Tickets](https://luma.com/devopsnotdead-2026-london-q1?from=embed)**
Get your ticket — 50% OFF with promo code: MEETUP50
ClickHouse Observability Meetup at SRE Days London
It's a ClickHouse Observability Meetup at SRE Days London!
We've joined forces with the SRE Days team to host an evening meetup at their stunning venue.
Join us for a few deep-dive talks, some food, and beverages.
In fact, we are so excited that we have a discount if you want to attend the entirety of the event. Just head on over to https://luma.com/sreday-2026-london-q1 and use the code CLICK80 for a massive discount.
Looking forward to seeing you there!
Agenda:
5:30 - Arrival
6:00 - Uncovered: The Hard Truth About OpenTelemetry's Vendor Neutrality - Adriana Villela
6:30 - Observability Updates in ClickHouse - Dale McDiarmid
7:00 - How we built an SRE Agent with Clickhouse and eBPF - Chris Battarbee
7:30 - Running Grafana at Scale - Rory Crispin
Grafana & Friends London - March edition
Join us for Grafana talks mixed with snacks and community conversations!
Schedule
18:00-18:30
Welcome, snacks, drinks and networking
18:30-19:00
**From Service to Line Number: Getting Started with Continuous Profiling** by Christian Simon, Principal Engineer at Grafana
Logs, metrics, and traces tell you which service is slow or expensive. Profiles tell you which code path - down to the line number. With profiling now part of OpenTelemetry, and the eBPF profiler requiring zero instrumentation, there's never been a better time to add this missing piece to your observability stack.
1\. Value of Continuous Profiling
2\. How do you set up continuous profiling \(Pyroscope \+ OTel eBPF profiler\)
3\. Deriving insights from Profiles using Grafana Assistant
4\. Demo
19:00-19:40 **My Cool Grafana Dashboard Show and Tell - Lightning Talks**
**Lightning talks:**
**1\. What if Your Career Had Metrics?**
**Roxana Turc, Software Engineer at BNY**, will show how she used Grafana to build a **career dashboard—tracking learning, work, and growth**, and why seeing her progress this way changed how she thinks about development.
**2\. Using Grafana for Visualising IoT Air Quality Sensor Data** by John Sinha, Lead Technical Business Analyst
IoT air quality sensors produce noisy, high-resolution time series data, but how you visualise it determines what you actually see. This lightning talk walks through a Grafana dashboard designed to **present environmental data clearly, covering time and value scaling choices, linear vs. log views, and practical denoising techniques.** See how small visualisation decisions can dramatically change the story your sensor data tells.
3. **How I discovered pigeons sabotaging my project with Kafka and Grafana** \- by Hugh Evans\, Developer Advocate at Aiven
Learn how how a lightweight Kafka + Grafana observability stack helped Hugh **catch his avian adversaries** and iterate on a hobby project **without enterprise-scale complexity or costs**.
Decentralized Systems & Applications Events Near You
Connect with your local Decentralized Systems & Applications community
CONNECTED Westerville Mastermind Group
Join the CONNECTED Westerville Mastermind Group for a dynamic afternoon of B2B networking! This event is perfect for professionals looking to expand their business connections, share insights, and foster collaboration within the community. Whether you are a seasoned entrepreneur or just starting out, this event offers a valuable opportunity to exchange ideas, build relationships, and grow your network in a supportive environment. Connect with like-minded individuals, explore potential partnerships, and discover new opportunities for professional growth. Don't miss out on this chance to enhance your business network and take your career to the next level with CONNECTED Westerville Mastermind Group! We meet the 4th Monday of every month from 11am-1pm. Welcome and general networking from 11am - 11:30am with core meeting 11;30 - 12:30 and a final round of networking from 12:30 - 1pm.
From Idea to Working App in Minutes: The Agentic Development with Amazon Kiro
Discover Kiro, AWS’s innovative development environment that adapts to your workflow. Whether you prefer specification-driven development or a more intuitive, vibe-based approach, Kiro empowers you to build applications your way.
In this session, speakers will explore Kiro’s core functionality and its evolution through re:Invent 2025, along with demonstrations of prompts used to create APIs, hooks, and steering documents.
In the latter part of the session, watch as we build a complete example from scratch, showcasing Kiro’s agentic AI workflow in action for spec-driven development and vibe coding.
What You'll Learn - Core Kiro concepts and development philosophy
Feature evolution: pre and post re:Invent 2025
Practical examples: API creation, hooks, and steering docs
Live coding demonstration with real-time problem solving
Who Should Attend - Developers, solutions architects, and technical leaders interested in modern AWS development tools and AI-assisted coding workflows.
**Speakers Bio:**
Matthew Jorat: Matthew Jorat is a Customer Solutions Manager at AWS with nearly three decades of expertise in AI, cloud transformation, migration, modernization, IT, technology, and business. His career spans infrastructure engineer, solutions architect, security auditor, customer success director, support and services director, and operations officer. He was an early adopter of AWS services as a customer, and his current role at AWS uniquely blends his technical and business skills as he partners with executive teams to translate strategic priorities into measurable business outcomes through cloud adoption, AI implementation, and operational excellence. Matt leads end-to-end AI initiatives for enterprise customers, identifying high-impact use cases and maintaining relentless focus on measurable ROI. He holds eight AWS certifications and serves as Adjunct Professor at Franklin University teaching cloud computing and AWS architecture. His expertise encompasses GenAI, agentic AI systems, migration, modernization, and optimization strategies that drive transformation at scale.
[https://www.linkedin.com/in/mattjorat/](https://www.linkedin.com/in/mattjorat/)
Girish Bhatia: Girish Bhatia is a seasoned technology delivery leader with deep expertise in cross-domain program management. He holds multiple AWS certifications, including AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate, AWS Certified Developer – Associate, and AWS Generative AI Practitioner, and is also an AWS Community Builder. Girish brings over two decades of experience in the information technology industry.
Throughout his career, Girish has led major technology-driven business transformation from modernizing on-premises applications to driving large-scale cloud migrations. His work includes API-based integration platforms, data-center and mainframe modernization, and enterprise cloud adoption initiatives.
Based in Columbus, Ohio, Girish works at a tech-forward fintech company. He is passionate about AWS serverless architectures, Generative AI and emerging cloud technologies. An avid learner and builder, he continues to explore and apply the latest innovations in AWS to help organizations accelerate their digital transformation.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/girishbhatia/[https://www.linkedin.com/in/girishbhatia/](https://www.linkedin.com/in/girishbhatia/)
**THANK YOU** *Franklin University* for hosting our meetup! To learn more about *Franklin University*, please visit their website: https://www.franklin.edu/
**DIRECTIONS**
Franklin University
Fisher Hall
300 E. Main St, Columbus, OH 43215
Map: https://maps.app.goo.gl/jxjBA2hUmS5qrvhq8
Parking is FREE! Please park in Lot C in front of Fisher Hall. See attached map.
NOTE: Map the address only. When mapping with Google Maps it may use the Fisher Hall at OSU, which is NOT correct.
**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
Code Anywhere by Talking to your Phone
Drake Lundstrom is presenting:
Code Anywhere by Talking to your Phone
Abstract:
Have you heard the trend of people deploying code anywhere from checkout lines to doctors' offices? In this talk, you will learn how to talk to your phone and have an app on Azure to show your friend 5 minutes later. The basic DevOps tools you already know, plus a little bit of AI magic, are all you need!
If you want to follow along, the demo will be in Azure with GitHub Actions and GitHub Copilot, and you can have it set up on your phone by the end of the session. Just come in with an Azure account and a GitHub repo.
Join us for pizza, drinks, and networking @ Improving's office. Doors open at 5:45.
How to Move on From the Past and Feel Happy
In this local meeting, you will discover knowledge that you can use to get over the past.
The key to improving your personal motivation, self-confidence, and happiness is to get over your painful memories.
When you become free of your past, you will be free from stress, anger, anxiety and depression. Studies show that negative emotions can affect your health. By being free of negative emotions, believe it or not, you will most likely even look younger, feel more energetic, and become healthier!
Be sure to click on the red "Attend" button below to come to this local event. We look forward to seeing you there.
This group is brought to you by the Dianetics and Scientology life improvement center.
TBD
**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**
TBD
**YouTube Link**
TBA
Building Agents with Microsoft Foundry
We will show a variety of methods for building agents that run in Microsoft Foundry. This covers the different types of agents: Prompt, Multi, and Hosted, as well as the development lifecycle using evals and traces.






























