Project Management

Join me for a relaxed walk and bird watching at Albert Park Lake, an extraordinary wetland habitat that is home to nearly two hundred species of birds. Created from a lagoon and originally part of the extensive Yarra River Delta, the lake and its surrounds are a popular parkland for locals and visitors alike. Together we can enjoy conversation and make new friends as we follow the path beside the water's edge and look out for gulls and cormorants roosting on the wharves. We'll wind our way around the lake and pass Gunn Island, a tranquil sanctuary and a safe nesting environment for local and migratory birds. Further around the lake we'll see waterbirds such as stilts, swamphens and coots among the reed beds. When we reach the southern end of the lake we can stop to enjoy the magnificent views of the city skyline across the water. This is a great spot for photography. We'll return to relax and socialise together in the Coots Picnic area and enjoy a snack and a drink. You can pick up a coffee and something to eat at the nearby Sir Albert Cafe or bring your own drinks and snacks. **Agenda** I will meet you at 10am on the lakeside of the Light Rail Tram Stop No.129 Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre. We'll set off at 10.10am and follow the path beside the Melbourne Aquatic Centre and through the picnic area to the lake. From there we'll stroll past the wharves and Gunn Island, follow the long stretch of reed beds and walk to the southernmost point of the lake to take in the stunning views of the city skyline. We'll then make our way back to the Coots Picnic area to enjoy a snack and a drink together. This is an easy walk on flat pathways and the distance will be about 5.5km all up. It will take us around 1hr 45mins at a leisurely pace with stops along the way to enjoy and photograph the birdlife. **Location** Albert Park Lake is located in the suburb of Albert Park, 3km from the Melbourne CBD. The No.96 tram/light rail runs from the Melbourne CBD down past Albert Park Lake. There is free street parking available on Canterbury Road which runs beside the tram/light rail. Parking Fees apply to all car parks within Albert Park. When you RSVP, please click Attend on the event page and I will be in touch via Direct Messages about the details. I will also be available in the Event Comments on the day.

Meetup Event organizers wanted. If you have something to help people in this group that you want to invite them to step up as event organizer. Contact me via meetup and let me know what you have in mind organizing how often and where.

If you’re an experienced forex trader who feels stuck, working hard but not seeing consistent results, this live Zoom session could change the way you approach the markets. Hosted by a Professional Trading Strategist with 18+ years mentoring traders, this session will reveal the roadmap most profitable traders follow—strategies and processes hidden from 95% of traders. You’ll learn how to: * Spot the gaps in your current trading approach that quietly limit your results. * Apply high-probability strategies in a repeatable, structured way. * Fine-tune your process to capture profits more consistently while managing risk. * Trade with confidence, guided by a method that’s been proven over nearly two decades. This isn’t a “get-rich-quick” webinar. It’s for traders who are serious about mastering the charts, refining their process, and building a sustainable income from forex. Seats are limited to keep the session interactive—so your questions get answered and your roadmap becomes actionable. Discover what most traders never see. Join us and uncover the path to consistently profitable trading.

NuCalm is a patented, drug-free neuroscience technology designed to rapidly reduce stress, improve sleep quality, and aid recovery by shifting the body from a "fight-or-flight" state to a deeply relaxed parasympathetic state within minutes. [https://stamina.xosialx.com/nucalm.html](https://stamina.xosialx.com/nucalm.html) It uses neuroacoustic software, a biosignal processing disc, and light-blocking eye masks to guide brain waves from active beta states down to alpha/theta (relaxation/meditation) levels NuCalm uses a patented, clinically proven pitch and frequency matrix with non-linear oscillating algorithms to safely present your brain with precise signals, prompting what is known as a frequency-following response. Your brain synchronizes with the incoming NuCalm signals helping you naturally and effortlessly manage your state of mind by speeding up or slowing down your brain wave frequencies. NuCalm has mapped all of your brain wave frequency zones and created products to safely and predictably guide you to whatever mental state you desire. The amazing thing is, NuCalm is all-natural and works every time you use it within minutes. The best thing to do now is to watch the video on the website and download the NuCalm app. All you need is a headset and eye mask. This app purchase is covered with a 30-day money-back guarantee. Get started today and FEEL the difference even 15 minutes can make. WATCH THE VIDEO ON THE WEBSITE. [https://stamina.xosialx.com/nucalm.html](https://stamina.xosialx.com/nucalm.html)

***Gain the Personal Freedom to Achieve Your Goals.*** How can you gain personal freedom to achieve your goals? How can you use Dianetics techniques to gain a greater sense of happiness and well-being? Dianetics is the science of the mind and it is exact and useful. What blocks you from attaining a higher level of ability and understanding of yourself? Why do people react the way they do? How does the mind affect your health? How can you get in control of your own life instead of life controlling you? The secret to successfully reaching your goals depends on knowing the exact actions that always lead to accomplishment. Today's meetup will explain some of the essential fundamentals that you can easily implement. Ask for Michael , Pam or Donovan

Hi Everyone, The next walk & talk is happening Monday 6th @ 1pm. We're meeting @ **Shrine of Remembrance "Flame"** then we'll walk to Botanic Gardens from there. For newcomers, this group is meant to help participants nurture and create a comfortable, trustworthy and safe emotional space to connect with other men, while sharing vulnerabilities about themselves. Men of all ages welcome. This will provide another great opportunity to practice being more present in the moment, authentic within ourself, while challenging our ability to break the ice with others in attendance. Let's continue practicing connecting in a deeper way with new people we meet. This group will help reinforce the benefit of showing vulnerability with others, while staying authentic to ourselves. This Sunday's group will be led by **Ra'id.** (Mindset Coach) and Co-led by **Fabien** (Group Facilitator) Looking forward to seeing you there. (message me thru meetup if needed)

Play board games with around 20 people on 5+ tables in Elsternwick. Friendly. Inclusive. Free entry, Crunchy Euro and Thematic games. Close to public transport and free parking. Exclusive use of a function room with good lighting at the Caulfield RSL. Games are sometimes organised in advance on our WhatsApp group or in the Aftergame app: https://aftergame.app/groups/bayside-games-1853 However most games are organised following a brief discussion at the venue on the Monday night. Recently we have played the following games: Euros: Brass, Dune Imperium, Anachrony, Endeavor Deep Sea, Inis, On Mars, Ark Nova, Galactic Cruise, Viticulture, Scythe, Concordia, Terra Mystica, Gaia Project, Terraforming Mars, Castles of Burgundy, Lost Ruins of Arnak and Grand Austria Hotel, and Orleans Economic: Indonesia, Food Chain Magnate, Bus, Irish Gauge and Container. Thematic: Voidfall, Dune (Original), Root, Eclipse, Nemesis, Spirit Island, Undaunted, Chaos in the Old World, The Godfather, Spartacus and Dominant Species. **4pm start on Easter Monday** Too much board gaming is never enough ... so we are starting at 4:00pm on Easter Monday. **Full bar and snacks available** The Caulfield RSL generously provide the venue free of charge. A selection of food and drinks are available for purchase at the bar. Note that only food or drink purchased at the RSL can be consumed at the venue. We look forward to seeing you!

Welcome to Serverless Sushi, the hottest new restaurant in town! As their newly hired developer, you've been tasked with revolutionizing their online ordering system. Let's embark on this exciting journey of building a robust, scalable API using Powertools for AWS Lambda. Powertools for AWS Lambda is a developer toolkit to implement Serverless best practices and increase developer velocity. It’s an open-source project that helps implement well architected best practices earlier in the development lifecycle. Learn how to build production ready AWS Serverless APIs that will instantly work at scale and learn about Powertools for AWS Lambda. **A laptop is required to participate.**

We all recognize that if things were better organized, people would be better off. We have all had experiences with a business or government, school or a group that was not well organized and we experience the confusion, delays and upsets of trying to deal with disorganization. On a personal level, trying to get something started - a plan, some new bright idea you had, perhaps starting a new business - without organization can be a nightmare. Organization is a key and often missing factor in personal success. It is also essential for a flourishing family, group, organization or business. Attaining one's goals, no matter how large or small, requires a knowledge and application of organization.

Ever feel like your thoughts make sense in your head, but don’t land the way you want out loud? This session is built for that. Join us for a practical, relaxed workshop with **Stephen Lakey**, a communication coach and keynote speaker who has helped leaders and teams communicate with clarity and impact. This is not theory heavy. You will learn simple, usable ways to organise your thoughts, speak more clearly, and feel more confident in real conversations. **What You’ll Get Out of It** • Understand why communication can feel chaotic and how to simplify it • Learn how to express your ideas clearly without overthinking • Build confidence in social and professional conversations • Practice structured communication that feels natural and usable. **What to Expect** A relaxed, neurodivergent friendly space with no pressure to perform. You can participate at your own pace. **Meet Your Hosts** Stephen Lakey Communication coach, mentor, and Board Chair at ASCLA. Stephen helps people turn complex thinking into clear, structured communication that actually lands. Nick Watkins Founder of NeuroSparks, co-leading workshops and events that help neurodivergent adults build confidence, communicate clearly, and form meaningful connections. **Note** This workshop is for educational and coaching purposes only and is not medical or psychological advice. Spots are limited. Lock in your place early. Payment: Bring $20 cash or contact us for payment.

Our regular monthly presentation night on the second Thursday of the month from 6:30pm! Thanks to Mantel Group for hosting us again this month. If you're coming in person we're there with food and drinks from 6pm. We will be live streaming the presentations as usual from 6:30pm at [http://www.melbournecocoaheads.com/live](http://www.melbournecocoaheads.com/live) \-\-\- **Agenda** \| 6:00pm \| Food \+ Networking \| \| 6:30pm \| Event begins\. Introductions \| \| 6:40pm \| Chris Hocking — Pretending to be a coder \- Version 3: The world has changed since we last saw Chris… Codex\, Claude and burnout\. \| \| 7:15pm \| TBC \| \| 7:55pm \| Wrap up \+ social time at a nearby venue \| \* All times are approximate. Presentation order will be confirmed on the night. \-\-\-\- We are always looking for speakers and believe everyone has an interesting talk hiding inside themselves. If you are interested in letting that talk out at a future event you can get in touch on the website [https://www.melbournecocoaheads.com/talks](https://www.melbournecocoaheads.com/talks) or on Slack.

**Join your local guides on the best pub crawl in Melbourne!** Meet at WAX Music Lounge on 250 Flinders St, and explore the best, most well-known venues with people from all over the world. With **4 free 'welcome shots'** upon entry to each bar followed by exclusive drink deals at each, you'll see just why Melbourne is known as the nightlife capital of Australia! Experience a range of Melbourne's most famous bars & pubs throughout the night, with **free entry** for all, and reduced entry/recommendations at the end of the event to keep your night going strong! Play games, **win prizes** and mingle with locals, travelers & everything in between on the most sought-after event in Melbourne! * **4 FREE SHOTS** * **4 BARS ALL WITH FREE SKIP-THE-LINE ENTRY** * **PLENTY OF GAMES AND PRIZES TO BE WON** * **UNLIMITED MEMORIES & CHANCES TO MAKE FRIENDS IN THE CULTURAL CAPITAL OF AUSTRALIA!** Starting at 5:30PM at WAX Music Lounge on 250 Flinders St, you will receive your skip-the-line wristband, free welcome shot and mingle with other attendees before we introduce our games and prizes to be won throughout the evening. We then mix it up weekly, visiting some of Melbourne's most iconic and well-known bars with your pub crawl crew who have lived and breathed the city for most of their lives. **Make sure to lock in your spot ASAP as tickets often sell out!**

Hello everyone! Join us for an Apache Kafka® x Apache Flink® meetup on **Apr 9th from 5:30pm**, in Melbourne! The address, agenda, and speaker information can be found below. See you there! **📍Venue**: 394 High Street Northcote, Victoria 3070 \*\*\* **🗓 Agenda:** * 5:30pm: Doors open * 5:30pm - 6:00pm: Pizza, Drinks, and Networking * 6:00pm - 6:30pm: Chad Harris, Solutions Architect, Factor House * 6:30pm - 7:00pm: Stephen Ermann, Senior Customer Success Technical Architect * 7:00pm - 7:30pm: Additional Networking \*\*\* **💡 Speaker:** Chad Harris, Solutions Architect, Factor House **Talk:** Things that go bump in the night: Kafka Operational Issues and How to Survive Them **Abstract:** Most Kafka talks focus on how things should work—this one is about what actually happens in production. We’ll walk through real-world operational issues encountered with Apache Kafka and its clients, from subtle misconfigurations to full “why is everything on fire?” moments. Along the way, we’ll break down how to identify what’s going wrong, which signals actually matter, and how to approach debugging when the system doesn’t behave the way you expect. This talk will also touch on observability, common failure patterns, and practical mitigation strategies you can apply immediately. Expect a mix of technical deep dives, debugging workflows, and a few war stories (including some questionable decisions and log-staring sessions). If you’ve ever wondered whether it’s just you? It's not! **Bio:** Chad Harris is a streaming data specialist and Solutions Architect at Factor House, where he helps organisations design, scale, and operate Apache Kafka platforms using industry-leading tooling. With experience scaling Kafka across organisations ranging from small startups to some of Silicon Valley's largest companies, Chad has been working with Kafka since its early days. He brings deep expertise across both real-time streaming and data-at-rest systems, with a strong focus on practical, production-ready architectures. \-\-\-\-\- **💡 Speaker:** Stephen Ermann, Senior Customer Success Technical Architect **Talk:** From Lag to Smooth Sailing: How Queues for Kafka (KIP-932) Fix Slow Consumers **Abstract:** Slow or bursty consumers are one of the most common reasons Kafka applications end up fighting lag, over-provisioning, and operational fire drills. Traditional Kafka consumer groups work brilliantly for high-throughput stream processing, but they can make it hard to serve heterogeneous consumers, apply backpressure cleanly, or guarantee fair access when some consumers fall behind. In this talk, we’ll explore **Queues for Kafka**, the new KIP-932 feature that introduces native queue semantics on top of Kafka’s battle-tested log foundation. We’ll look at how queues decouple producer and consumer throughput, isolate slow consumers without penalising fast ones, and provide more predictable delivery and scaling behaviour for “task” and “work queue” style workloads. You’ll walk away with: * A clear mental model of how Kafka queues differ from topics and consumer groups * Concrete design patterns for handling slow and spiky consumers * Migration tips for evolving existing Kafka-based services to use queues safely If you’ve ever stared at a lag graph wondering whether to add more consumers, more partitions, or more coffee, this session will show you a cleaner path to smooth sailing with Kafka. **Bio:** Stephen Ermann is a **Senior Customer Success Technical Architect at Confluent**, working with leading financial institutions across APAC to design and operate mission-critical, real-time data platforms. With deep experience in **Apache Kafka**, **Confluent Cloud and Platform**, and surrounding ecosystems like **Kafka Connect** and **Apache Flink**, Stephen helps customers solve hard problems around scalability, reliability, and security in production. They are particularly focused on **RBAC, OAuth, mTLS, and container image security**, as well as emerging **agentic AI** patterns built on streaming data. Outside day-to-day architecture work, Stephen regularly shares practical patterns and lessons learned at meetups and user groups across the region. \*\*\* If you would like to speak or host our next event please let us know! community@[confluent.io](http://confluent.io/)

Applied Scholastics Study Technology is able to improve anyone's ability to study. Millions of people are already using this technology and whole countries are now adopting it. - You can learn Faster with less stress - You don't forget the information - You stay interested in the subject - Your marks increase English literacy rates routinely improve by 25 to 35 percent. Likewise, student test scores improve dramatically with students routinely meeting or exceeding grade level expectations in EVERY ACADEMIC SUBJECT. Our workshop will be focusing on how students learn. Study Technology can easily be incorporated into any educational activity—from classroom instruction and curriculum design to employee training or homeschooling. It provides a stable foundation enhancing all educational efforts. Study Technology is what teachers, tutors, trainers, parents and students can use to improve the quality of teaching and learning. No matter the curriculum in your current academic setting, Study Technology offers proven teaching strategies and resources that can help resolve classroom issues and improve student achievement. No matter if you are a teacher yourself or a good students or bad student we can all do better at study once we have this technology under our belt. Teachers who use this technology report amazing turn around with once troubled students. The application of Study Technology has quite literally changed millions of lives. You are most welcome to bring along a friend or those that struggle with study. (any topic) If you are unable to attend this meetup then let me know, We can arrange for you to meetup at a different time and date. Light refreshments will be provided.

The global Azure community is coming together again, and Columbus is officially on the map. View the session lineup and speakers at [Global Azure Columbus 2026](https://coazure.github.io/cbus-global-azure-2026/) On **Saturday, April 18, 2026**, the Azure Columbus Meetup, DevOps Meetup, and Code and Coffee Meetup are hosting our local edition of Global Azure 2026. This is a free, community-driven event packed with learning, networking, and all things Microsoft Azure. Whether you’re building modern cloud-native apps, experimenting with AI agents, deploying containers, automating infrastructure, or just beginning your Azure journey, this event is for you! **What to Expect** * Engaging technical sessions * Real-world Azure architecture & cloud-native patterns * AI, agents, automation, and modern DevOps * Food and drinks (because learning burns calories) * Time to connect with fellow engineers, architects, and cloud enthusiasts **Who Should Attend?** * Software engineers (any language, any stack) * Cloud architects * DevOps engineers * Data professionals * AI explorers * Platform builders * Anyone who loves solving hard problems with great tools If you build, deploy, automate, scale, monitor, or optimize in Azure, you’ll feel right at home. **Why Global Azure?** Global Azure is a worldwide community event where Azure user groups host learning sessions on the same day across the globe. It’s grassroots. It’s technical. It’s practical. And it’s powered by people who genuinely love sharing what they’ve learned. And yes, it’s free to attend!

We're bringing the community together for a casual happy hour with ServiceNow-themed trivia, food and drinks, and great conversation. Details coming soon - for now, save the date and plan to join us for connection and fun.

Pay attention! We’re delaying a week for those of you who may be on Spring break and/or celebrating the holiday. Ok, no pancakes, but waffles-a-plenty. Join the local UX and Digital Design community for a casual monthly breakfast. Look for us upstairs!

The Humanist Monthly Program is our longest running event and still a community favorite. In the old days it used to be called "Going to HCCO" and we still like to think of it as our flagship event. We will be hearing from Becca Powell, Director of Advocacy and Outreach at Unchained At Last, an organization whose mission is dedication to ending forced and child marriage in the United States through direct services and systems change. Unchained At Last's mission clearly meshes and addresses several of our Humanist Ten Commitments. Becca will educate us about an issue many of us may not be familiar with--but should be. Food and drinks will be provided at the event. Feel free to show up a little bit early to hang out and talk. Going forward our meetings will be hybrid. You can meet us in-person or attend online Join Zoom Meeting [https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87836564953?pwd=4Mi57ElZkDIFlb1fnlNwOJ0NiOK4tP.1](https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87836564953?pwd=4Mi57ElZkDIFlb1fnlNwOJ0NiOK4tP.1) Meeting ID: 878 3656 4953 Passcode: 760812 One tap mobile +19292056099,,87836564953#,,,,\*760812# US (New York) +13017158592,,87836564953#,,,,\*760812# US (Washington DC) The formal presentation will start at noon

**The Data-Driven Brand: Using Analytics to Shape Perception** Can you use analytics to improve tacos? This being CBUSDAW, we think the answer is probably “yes”, but we’re not sure how to implement or test this theory. For our April meetup we’ve got Sara Kear, CMO of Condado Tacos, to investigate this delicious question. Sara will explore how she blends quantitative data and qualitative customer feedback to shape brand positioning and drive business decisions. We all know that marketing and analytics go way beyond attribution. Sara will show how Condado uses customer insights to inform product and pricing strategy. She’ll also highlight how Condado leverages customer feedback at scale to influence operational priorities, positioning marketing as the voice of the customer across the organization. In the last 12 years Condado has gone from one location in Columbus to 52 locations across 10 states, so we’re guessing there’s more to that growth than really good guac (though the guac probably helps). Ultimately, this talk focuses on the intersection of art and science—using data to inform creativity and build a brand that resonates with customers in a measurable way. **About Our Speaker** Sara Kear is Chief Marketing Officer at Condado Tacos, where she oversees brand, restaurant design, menu and pricing strategy, off-premise including catering, and customer data strategy. Since joining in 2021, she has helped grow the brand from 19 to 52 locations while building a data-driven marketing organization focused on loyalty and customer insights. Condado has since been named to the Inc. 5000, recognized as Breakout Retailer by Chain Store Age, and consistently ranked among FastCasual’s Top 100 Movers & Shakers. Thanks to our 2026 sponsors: [Clarivoy](https://www.clarivoy.com), [What Box Consulting Group](https://www.whatboxconsultinggroup.com), [Conductrics](https://www.conductrics.com), and [Piwik PRO](https://piwik.pro) More info at [cbusdaw.com](https://cbusdaw.com)

The Fellowship of the Star Schema: Transforming OLTP Data for Power BI One does not simply build reports on OLTP data. Join us on an epic journey from the depths of raw, normalized tables to the shining halls of a well-modeled star schema fit for Power BI greatness. We will demystify the differences between OLTP and OLAP, walk through star schema vs snowflake (and why Power BI has a clear favorite), and show you the compression differences between normalized and columnar storage that will make you never look at an OLTP model the same way again. We will cover the different types of dimensions, when to use them, and how to handle Slowly Changing Dimensions without losing your mind. You will leave knowing exactly how to identify a bad model, how to convert OLTP data into a clean star schema, and how to forge relationships that rule them all. Whether you are a data wizard, a curious hobbit, or somewhere in between, your models will never be the same.

**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 You will need to scan your ID at the door to get a visitor badge. **Abstract** GitHub Copilot is powerful, but what if you could scale from a solo AI assistant to an entire team of specialized agents working in parallel? This session introduces Squad: an open-source framework for multi-agent orchestration that lets you define teams of AI agents with specific roles, responsibilities, and expertise. We'll progress from Copilot basics to the Copilot CLI, explore how Agents add autonomy, and see how Instructions and Skills let you customize agent behavior. Then, the climax: a live demo where a Squad team of 3 agents (Lead, Developer, Tester) stands up and builds a working application in real-time, showcasing true multi-agent collaboration. Whether you're new to AI or exploring how to scale your use of Copilot, this session will show you what's possible when agents work as a team. **YouTube Link** TBD