Design Futures

Join us for an open outdoor conversation about everyday experiences with services, technology, and public spaces. No talks, no experts; just shared stories and perspectives. **Please reserve your spot for free at [Eventbrite](https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/discussion-circles-lets-talk-design-and-experiences-tickets-1982672886977?aff=oddtdtcreator).** **👏 Who should come?** Everyone! **You don’t need a design background** \- curiosity is more than enough\. Feel free to come with friends\, colleagues\, or just bring yourself\. **🗣️ How it works** * Everyone **gets a card with a question** * You can stand or sit in small circles * One person reads the question, anyone can respond and **start a discussion** **📍Location and time** We will meet just outside the **Kere Kere Green Cafe & Visitors Centre** in the large grassy area (to the left of the building when you are facing the building’s entrance). **We'll start at 4pm.** I'll arrive at 3.45pm and will have a sign so you can spot me easily. If you prefer to sit down, please bring a blanket. **👩‍💻 About the Host** This event is organized by [Aria](https://www.linkedin.com/in/aria-cairo/ "https://www.linkedin.com/in/aria-cairo/"), a UX designer and a service design student who loves meeting people and introducing them to the world of design. **🌤️ Weather** In case of heavy rain or temperatures over 35°C, the event will be canceled. **📷 Photos** Photos will be taken during the event for use on social media, and in written articles. By attending, you acknowledge and agree that you may appear in photos that are publicly shared. If you prefer not to be photographed or recorded, please inform the organiser. **ℹ️ Disclaimer** This is a free, informal gathering held in a public space. By attending, you acknowledge that you participate at your own risk. The organiser is not responsible for any injury, loss, damage, or personal belongings during the event. The organiser is not responsible for supervising attendees at any time. The event is not suitable for minors.

**Meetups for Rebels of all kinds — to connect, learn and share** This is a Social Networking event with a Fireside Chat with [Phil Cummins](https://www.linkedin.com/in/professor-phil-cummins-50531185/), the Founder of a School for tomorrow, The Game Changers Podcast, & CIRCLE 📍 This Event is hosted at Natural Velocity AI Learning Centre, Docklands, 🍕 Free Pizza & drinks will be provided **Agenda:** * 5:45 - 6:30 PM (45 mins) - Get to know each other & Welcome * 6:30 - 7:20 PM (50 mins) - Fireside Chat & Q&A from Audience * 7:20 - 8:15 PM (55 mins) - More Social Networking There’s no dress code, no hard sales pitches, and no pressure — just great people and meaningful conversations 🙂 🌍 Est. 2013 – Rebel Meetups now run globally 🆓 This event is free thanks to our members, our partners, our volunteer hosts, and generous venues. **This event is hosted at [Natural Velocity AI Learning Centre](https://www.linkedin.com/company/natural-velocity/ "https://www.linkedin.com/company/natural-velocity/")** **— a venue generously supporting our community** Notice: We will be capturing content from the event, to post on our socials. **Please only RSVP if you genuinely plan to attend.** We have limited capacity, and every seat matters. If your plans change, kindly update your RSVP in advance. See you there! **Directions Help:** Up the Escalator, between 'Melbourne College of Hair & Beauty' and 'Gap Maps'. As shown in the red dots in the image below: [Directions Map](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1fkcpXvzZrEs0kKMPEI_vXbUCz7OEPTzf/view?usp=sharing)

The Naarm Solarpunk Meetup presents this special event to kick-off 2026. Our two speakers will take you through the high hopes that many of us had for the impact of the web on society, and the reality of corporate enshittified platforms that are destroying our ability to connect with our communities while building every more polluting data-centers. Please join us for an interesting evening as we walk through these ideas and meet like-minded people who care about using technology in service of **Sustainable**, **Resilient** and **Just** futures. **Reclaiming the Open Web** [Milly Schmidt](https://www.millyschmidt.me/) In the 2000s, a generation of nerds got online and found a wonderful place where you could learn to code, make things, share your art, be part of communities and feel welcomed. We blogged, we vlogged, we shared, we posted, we followed and we were followed. We found a beautiful world where we could connect with our friends and make new ones, all across the globe, and find the people who liked the same things we liked and feel less alone. We signed up for platform after platform, excited about the promise of a hyper-personalised web, where we would see recommendations and content based on our specific interests. We knew there might be some risks, but we thought it was worth it. In the 20 years or so since then, things have changed. The platforms that once connected us have mutated, transformed under a grim late capitalist ethos to be not just extractive, but no longer even for us. How do we get out of this mess? How do we find our way back to the promises of the early web, where we could connect with communities, friends and family, find joy and creativity and learning? And more importantly, what principles should we hold to ensure we don't make these mistakes again? **Neighbourhood-First Software** [Jade Ambrose](https://jade.hopepunk.me/) A vibrant ecosystem of open-source alternatives to big tech walled gardens is a critical part of building the free and open internet that we want, but technical requirements mean that this software is often only run by a small group of skilled enthusiasts. Neighbourhood-First software is hosted in cycling distance of your house, by volunteers in your local community, for the benefit of those less technical. In this talk, Jade will present a manifesto of Neighbourhood-First software, and discuss how it can help support local-first software, the Fediverse, and other key open source initiatives while also providing local resilience in an age of climate uncertainty. \-\-\- These talks were both previously given at Everything Open 2026, and don't require technical knowledge. We will provide some plant-based nibbles. Probably not enough for dinner, please feel free to bring anything of your own that you'd like to eat. This event will be hosted on the stolen, unceeded lands of the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nation. **Always was, always will be, Aboriginal land.** **Accessibility info:** Balam Balam place is wheelchair accessible via lift. Wide corridors and accessible toilets are situated on each level. The grounds are entirely accessible via flat concrete paths and ramps. Mask wearing is very welcome. Our speakers will be unmasked while presenting. Please let us know if there's anything we can do to help you feel more able to attend this event.

Happy New Year Legends! With 2026 well under way now, it’s a great time to pause and see if we have everything we need to make 2026 a kick ass year. To do that, we need to know what we want. Susan will be guiding through some reflection time, a chance to consider where you are at and what you most want from the year ahead. Together we will set some intentions and paths forward. If you aren’t sure what you want from the year ahead, or how to get it, or just want to connect & network with some like minded folks this session is for you! **Agenda (time in Melbourne/AEST)** * 5:15pm Networking * 5:45pm Welcome * 5:50pm Main Presentation & Workshop * 6:30pm Come back together & Share * 6:45pm Networking * 7:15pm Close **This will be a HYBRID event.** **Zoom link -** To be posted 1hr before event starts. **In person attendees -** Someone will be in the lobby to let you up to the meet up floor. Contact organisers on the community Slack (preferred) or Meetup if you need access to the venue after the event starts. **Our Speaker** **Susan Brander** Susan is currently the co-founding CTO at Kaleida, a start up that is passionate about building diverse, high performing tech teams that represent the Kaleida-scope of society. She has a strong history of leading teams that balances the need to experiment and learn in an emerging market with reliability expected of customer focused systems. She is also an organiser of Tech Leading Ladies, a community focused on bridging the gender gap in technical leadership.

Join link: [https://teams.microsoft.com/meet/41790991030013?p=F3QrbogyC5Iyss1AtF](https://teams.microsoft.com/meet/41790991030013?p=F3QrbogyC5Iyss1AtF "Meeting join") **Details** Join us for networking, drinks and a good time catching up with fellow Power BI and Microsoft Fabric enthusiasts **Agenda:** 5:30PM - 6:00PM Welcome and Networking 6:00PM - 7:00PM Speaker Session **Topic:** From Bronze to Gold: A Practical Testing Strategy for Microsoft Fabric **THE SPEAKER -** Mikhail Koptelov **THE SESSION** Testing in Microsoft Fabric requires different strategies depending on where your logic lives. In this talk, we explore how to apply unit and contract testing across the Fabric stack: * Pipeline unit tests for reliable orchestration and data movement * Python notebook testing using both notebook-first and package-first approaches * SQL contract testing to ensure downstream dependencies remain stable By the end, you’ll have a practical blueprint for building robust, testable Fabric workloads from Bronze to Gold. **Pre-requisites**: Basic understanding of Fabric and python **Sponsors:** **Vivanti** A big thank you goes out to our sponsor, Vivanti, for their support of this Meetup; providing the venue as well as drinks for attendees. **Sirius Technology (https://www.siriuspeople.com.au/)** A big thank also to our co-sponsor, Sirius Technology, for their ongoing support of our Meetup and providing us with food for each event. Sirius Technology recruits across all Technology Disciplines from Development (Front and back-end), Testing, Network, and Security, Project Services (PM's, BA's, Project Coordinators) & Data - across all technology stacks. **The Power BI Developer Checklist** You can download Greg's Power BI developer checklist here: [Power BI Report Development Checklist](https://www.dearwatson.net.au/checklist)

**Product Talk** exists because in modern SaaS companies, the product isn’t “owned” purely by PMs, it’s shaped by everyone. Engineers, designers, data, growth, product marketing, sales, customer teams, founders, if your work changes what customers experience, you’re in the product business. The goal is to get the whole product mix in one room, learn how other functions are approaching the same problems, and leave with ideas and language you can actually use at work the next day. The format is simple: two talks from operators who've been deep in the work, plus time to meet smart people in the product ecosystem. The goal is signal, what’s changing right now, what trends actually matter, and the tradeoffs teams are making to keep shipping. **This event** AI talk is everywhere right now. This session focuses on real-world applications, workflows, constraints, and outcomes. So yes, Product Talk is doing an AI night too, but with Actual Intelligence, and real operators who’ve built real things. * Two speakers, two different worlds, both with outcomes. **[Jared Korinko](https://www.linkedin.com/in/jared-korinko-76b68851/)** ***(Product @ Google, Google Photos)*** *is shipping for 1B+ users, and will share how he built a revenue-generating side hustle purely with AI, the approach, the tools, and the parts that didn’t work as advertised.* ***[Joel Kenyon](https://www.linkedin.com/in/joel-kenyon/) (FMR Head of Product, Amused Group)*** *has led the design and delivery of a wagering platform powering 10 brands, and has embedded GenAI into product workflows to accelerate validation and roadmap intelligence. He’ll talk about what AI looks like when it’s part of a real product organisation, with constraints, compliance, and customers who do not care about your tooling.* *If you’re building SaaS as a PM, designer, engineer or even founder, and you want practical signal over AI noise, this one will be worth your time.* **When:** Wed 18th **Doors:** 17:30 **First speaker:** 18:15 **Wrap:** \~19:30 **Where:** Ippon Technologies office, 8/607 Bourke St. Cnr Bourke and King St's. This is an accessible venue. Enter the building via the Bourke St Entrance and use the lifts to come to Level 8. Call Simon on 0459 59 22 01 if you require assistance or are lost.