Engineering Leadership

Join us at the next monthly London Security Engineering meetup! **🍕 6:00pm: Arrive** \- Kick off the evening with light refreshments and networking \(30 mins\) 🎤 **6:30pm:** **Main Talk** \- Kat Traxler\, who will be speaking on: "Azure's Unnamed Operators \- Threat Modelling Platform\-Level Identities\." **☕ 7:15pm: Q&A -** Questions and discussion **🍻 7:45pm: Pub** \- We usually go to a neighbouring pub for a drink after\! This event is a good opportunity to gain practical insights, meet fellow security professionals and discuss the latest trends in the industry. 📅 **When:** Wednesday 1st July 2026 *This event is made possible by the teams at Maze, MMC and Tracebit.*

Hi folks! Welcome to our July Cloud Native London meetup! Join us to hear from our two speakers and network with your fellow techies over pizza and drinks, or alternatively chat and following along on Youtube or LinkedIn! 6:00 Pizza and drinks 6:30 Welcome 6:45 Architecting Safe Autonomy: High-Stakes Autonomous Agents Need Deterministic Checkpoints for Safety (Hossein Kakavand, Luther Systems) 7:15 Putting Open GitOps to the test (Steve Fenton, Octopus Deploy) 7:45 Wrap up See you there! Cheryl (@oicheryl) **Putting Open GitOps to the test (Steve Fenton, Octopus Deploy)** The Open GitOps principles sound plausible, but the world is full of surprising realities. Join Steve Fenton and explore the GitOps research to see whether GitOps delivers on its promises, based on an analysis of over 600 perspectives from roles like DevOps engineers, developers, platform engineers, and cloud infrastructure engineers. *Steve Fenton researches the socio-technical systems behind software delivery; how organizations, people, and technology actually work together (or don’t). At Octopus Deploy, he explores GitOps, Platform Engineering, Continuous Delivery, and compliance through a lens shaped by punk history, psychology, and the kind of genre fiction that asks uncomfortable questions about systems and society.* *He’s an eight-time Microsoft MVP (DevOps), a DORA Community Guide, a CD Foundation Governing Board member, and a contributor to the CNCF Platform Engineering Community Group. He’s written books on TypeScript, Octopus Deploy, and Web Operations Monitoring, and occasionally writes horror fiction.* *https://www.linkedin.com/in/stevefenton/* *https://mastodon.social/@stevefenton* *https://bsky.app/profile/stevefenton.co.uk* **Architecting Safe Autonomy: High-Stakes Autonomous Agents Need Deterministic Checkpoints for Safety (Hossein Kakavand, Luther Systems)** The more freedom we give an autonomous agent, the more it drifts into hallucinations or policy violations, yet clamping it down with prompts kills the reasoning we want. Think Brownian Motion versus a Brownian Bridge: a random walk wanders anywhere, but pin it at fixed points and it moves freely between them while always landing where it must. Deterministic checkpoints are those pins. InsideOut applies this to infrastructure. It works with the user to shape a feature set, stack, config, Terraform and cost estimates, then deploys and manages the infrastructure in real time for monitoring, alerts and changes. Each stage must produce a structured artifact validated against fixed rules, and if a check fails only that stage repeats, catching errors before they propagate. High-stakes actions stay locked down by design: the agent can request a deploy by presenting a button, but never holds the cloud keys itself. The result is an agent that is more productive precisely because it is safely unconstrained. *Hossein Kakavand holds a Ph.D. from Stanford University. He has been with several start up in AI, ML and Distributed Systems, with IPOs on NASDAQ and LSE. He is currently a Co-Founder of Luther Systems focused on solving the Enterprise Operations problem at scale. @HosseinKavavand* ***Check out [https://www.oicheryl.com/cloudnativelondon](https://www.oicheryl.com/cloudnativelondon) if you're interested in speaking or sponsoring.***

Come and join us every week day from 12.45pm - 2.45pm. Classes for levels elementary to upper-intermediate (A1+ - B2+) Improve your fluency, listening and reading comprehension, grammar and vocabulary with our friendly classes. No payment needed - the classes are **completely free** because the teachers are training with a University of Cambridge accredited program. Join us at 24 Great Chapel St, London, W1F 8FS Take the level test in advance for more information about classes for your level (link to the level test: https://forms.gle/mn3hqUgo3BRLyAUi7) and wait for up to one business day for more information. OR Come 15 minutes early on your first day to do a quick speaking test and find your classroom. See you soon!

Claim your free life coaching session by RSVPing to this event! And I will contact you directly. We have amazing life coaches who can help you in different areas of your life! No matter what is going on, we understand that sometimes it can all be very overwhelming and feel like you have no idea what to do! Come and speak to one of us so get some help!

**Hello there!** Our Face-to-Face Evening Classes are back this June - August in London! Are you learning English as a second language and looking for an opportunity to practise your English? Interested in **free, in-person classes**? We’ve got you covered! Here at **Stafford House,** our teachers-in-training are gaining hands-on experience by teaching enthusiastic English learners. Each lesson is interactive and fun, with plenty of opportunities to practise speaking, meet other learners, and improve your English along the way. We also offer **free online English classes**. Check out our other events for more information! Please see the **updated** details below! 🕑 **When:** From **15th June - 19th Aug (12 weeks)** ➡️**Mondays & Wednesdays** 6:30 p.m. – 8:30 p.m. 📍 **Where:** Stafford House London, 2 Southampton Place, WC1A 2DA (just 2 minutes from Holborn Station) 📚 **Level: Both levels available** **\- Pre\-Intermediate \(A2\-B1\) \- Mondays** **\- Upper\-Intermediate \(B2\) \- Wednesdays** Spaces are limited and allocated on a first-come, first-served basis. Please arrive **15- 30 minutes early** to secure your spot. We will ask for your name and email upon arrival. *Please note⚠️ confirming attendance on Meetup does not guarantee a place in the classroom.* **Please note that class times or dates may occasionally change due to the nature of the course. If this happens, we will inform you by email.** We look forward to seeing you all very soon! Got Questions? send us an email at [[[[teachertraining@staffordhouse.com](mailto:teachertraining@staffordhouse.com)]

This session is designed for **juniors**, **new graduates**, and **non-tech attendees** who want to understand how **AI** can help in building microservices. You’ll learn the best practices for building microservices from scratch, including **writing acceptance criteria** and **creating REST APIs**. We’ll also demonstrate how **AI tools** like ChatGPT can help you write better code, catch errors early, and automate common tasks, making development easier and faster. By the end of this session, you’ll have a solid understanding of how to design and build microservices, all while using AI tools to optimize your workflow. 🧪 **What You’ll Learn:** * **Microservice Architecture Best Practices**: Learn core principles like **decoupling services** and **scalability**. * **Writing Acceptance Criteria**: How to define clear requirements that ensure your microservice works as expected. * **Creating REST APIs**: Learn how to design secure, scalable APIs for communication between microservices. * **AI in Microservice Development**: How AI tools like ChatGPT can assist with code writing, error-checking, and test generation. 💡 **Why It Matters:** * **Scalable Services**: Microservices break down large systems into smaller, manageable parts that are easier to maintain and scale. * **AI Assistance**: Tools like ChatGPT help you automate parts of the development process, speeding up coding and reducing errors. * **Real-World Applications**: These practices are in high demand, and mastering them will equip you with valuable skills for modern software development. 👨‍💻 **Who Should Attend:** * **Juniors** and **new graduates** looking to learn microservices and AI in development. * **Non-tech people** interested in how AI can assist in coding and building software. * Anyone looking to understand **modern development practices** and how AI can improve workflows. 🕓 **Schedule** * 18:15 - Networking * 18:40 - Program starts * 19:20 - Q&A - networking * 19:30 - End

For our next London SEO meetup, we want to switch up the format. Instead of a panel session, you’ll hear from 4 speakers on relevant, timely topics. Each talk will be 15 minutes long with a break in between. Speakers include: **Ben Morris, GTM Enterprise Director at Profound** **Why a marketing engineer is your next great hire** Drawing on Profound’s thinking around marketing engineering, Ben Morris explains what a marketing engineer does, where the role fits inside modern GTM teams, and how it can help you ship faster without losing strategic control. **John Iwuozor, Content Marketing Specialist** **How to use query fan-out to win AI visibility** In this talk, John Iwuozor will explain how query fan-out works across tools like ChatGPT and Perplexity, and why existing keyword research strategies won’t get you all the way there. **Miracle Inameti-Archibong, Product Marketing Lead at John Lewis Partnership** How to optimize your data for LLM workflows Miracle Inameti-Archibong will explain how LLMs read and process content so marketers can make smarter decisions about what to mark up, simplify, or restructure. You’ll learn how to reduce wasted tokens, and format content for better AI performance. **Kanaar Bell, Enterprise Account Manager at Moz** **How to prove SEO value when rankings aren’t enough** Kanaar Bell will share a retention-focused framework for defending SEO budget, connecting activity to business impact, and showing stakeholders why SEO still matters. **Besides the panel, you’ll enjoy an evening of** * Networking with SEO and digital marketing leaders in a laid-back setting * Great food and free drinks * Q&A time with experts shaping AI search and LLM visibility ### Event details 📍 Venue: Brunswick Art Gallery, Brunswick Centre, London WC1N 1AE 📅 Date: July 1, 2026 🕕 Time: 6 pm–9 pm Curious about the vibes at Sip & Search? Here’s[ a 1-minute video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kIbfZGAG-VE) from our last event to get you excited. ### Important notes Please provide answers to all questions. We create [name tags](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1TPWfbtfDTie6U7_CiPq-c4TTobl4l-yX/view?usp=sharing) that include your LinkedIn QR code, name, and company information. It has proven really helpful for networking at past events. ### Shoutout to our sponsors for making this event possible [Moz](https://moz.com/) [Profound](https://www.tryprofound.com/)

Hello and welcome to our special joint meetup between **Cloud Platform Engineering London**, **Cloud Platform Engineering Leaders**, **Data & AI Leaders**, **AWS AI UG**, **Azure AI UG**, and **GCP London**. This crossover event brings together platform engineers, cloud architects, data and AI leaders, SREs, engineering managers, technology executives, and practitioners exploring how AI is reshaping modern cloud platforms, developer workflows, business transformation, and enterprise engineering. This is a special **Community Stack ecosystem event**, bringing together several of our cloud, platform, and data-focused communities for an evening of practical talks, senior technical discussion, and cross-community networking. A huge thank you to **[Arrows](https://www.arrowsgroup.com/)** for hosting and sponsoring this event, and for supporting the growth of the cloud, platform engineering, data, and AI community in London. Speakers and sessions: **Get a High Return-on-Investment from AI Business Transformation** **Nora Balla, Founder and AI Business Transformation Lead, Add Velocity** Nora Balla is the founder of Add Velocity, an AI-native business transformation and implementation consultancy. Nora has gained extensive experience across investment products, business transformation, finance operations, and regulated asset and wealth management environments. Previously a freelancer, she now operates in a collaborative delivery model, helping organisations scale AI and automation solutions in complex business settings. Her experience includes finance transformation at Harley-Davidson, reporting process improvements in commercial real estate funds, and supporting the Aladdin implementation at Royal London Asset Management. In this session, Nora will explore how organisations can achieve a stronger return on investment from AI business transformation. The talk will cover the opportunities and high-value use cases, the real risks organisations need to manage, the skills required for the agentic era, how to define and measure success, and practical tips for improving efficiency when working with AI systems. **Agents in the Fastlane** **Ryan Cormack, Principal Engineer, Motorway** **Luke Marrai, Engineering Manager, Motorway** Motorway has used traditional AI and machine learning for years to enhance and improve its systems. But how can those years of learning be applied to build the next generation of agentic systems for users? In this session, Ryan Cormack and Luke Marrai from Motorway will explore how they are enhancing the functionality of Motorway’s platform to provide more accurate search results for dealers looking to acquire stock through the online marketplace. The talk will cover how Motorway is using **AWS AgentCore** to run its agentic systems, and how evals are being used to ensure the system performs as expected. Ryan Cormack is a Principal Engineer at Motorway, the UK’s leading used car marketplace, where he leads technical strategy and drives AI-powered transformation across the engineering organisation. With over 14 years of experience building and scaling systems on AWS, Ryan specialises in turning architectural best practices into practical engineering outcomes, from cloud modernisation programmes to the adoption of agentic workflows and AI-native developer tooling. Luke Marrai is an Engineering Manager at Motorway, supporting engineering delivery and helping teams build effective, scalable technology for one of the UK’s leading automotive technology platforms. Agenda: **18:00** — Arrival, refreshments and networking **18:30** — Welcome and introduction **18:35** — Get a High Return-on-Investment from AI Business Transformation — Nora Balla **19:00** — Break and networking **19:20** — Agents in the Fastlane — Ryan Cormack and Luke Marrai **20:00** — Networking **20:45** — Close **Join us on June 11th:** We are also hosting the **Cloud Native & Open Source AI Conference** on **June 11th in London**, bringing together a fantastic line-up of speakers across AI, cloud-native, open-source, platform engineering, leadership, and modern infrastructure. You can view the full speaker line-up and event details **[here](https://www.communitystack.io/conferences/cloud-native-london)** **About the communities:** This event is jointly hosted across **Cloud Platform Engineering London**, **Cloud Platform Engineering Leaders**, **Data & AI Leaders**, **AWS AI UG**, **Azure AI UG**, and **GCP London**. Together, these communities form part of the **[Community Stack ecosystem](https://www.meetup.com/pro/generative-ai-uk-community/)**, bringing together technical practitioners, leaders, partners, and organisations across cloud, platform engineering, data, AI, and open technology. We are always keen to hear from speakers, hosts, sponsors, and community partners. 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. This event follows 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.

Hello and welcome to our special joint meetup between **Cloud Platform Engineering London**, **Cloud Platform Engineering Leaders**, **Data & AI Leaders**, **AWS AI UG**, **Azure AI UG**, and **GCP London**. This crossover event brings together platform engineers, cloud architects, data and AI leaders, SREs, engineering managers, technology executives, and practitioners exploring how AI is reshaping modern cloud platforms, developer workflows, business transformation, and enterprise engineering. This is a special **Community Stack ecosystem event**, bringing together several of our cloud, platform, and data-focused communities for an evening of practical talks, senior technical discussion, and cross-community networking. A huge thank you to **[Arrows](https://www.arrowsgroup.com/)** for hosting and sponsoring this event, and for supporting the growth of the cloud, platform engineering, data, and AI community in London. Speakers and sessions: **Get a High Return-on-Investment from AI Business Transformation** **Nora Balla, Founder and AI Business Transformation Lead, Add Velocity** Nora Balla is the founder of Add Velocity, an AI-native business transformation and implementation consultancy. Nora has gained extensive experience across investment products, business transformation, finance operations, and regulated asset and wealth management environments. Previously a freelancer, she now operates in a collaborative delivery model, helping organisations scale AI and automation solutions in complex business settings. Her experience includes finance transformation at Harley-Davidson, reporting process improvements in commercial real estate funds, and supporting the Aladdin implementation at Royal London Asset Management. In this session, Nora will explore how organisations can achieve a stronger return on investment from AI business transformation. The talk will cover the opportunities and high-value use cases, the real risks organisations need to manage, the skills required for the agentic era, how to define and measure success, and practical tips for improving efficiency when working with AI systems. **Agents in the Fastlane** **Ryan Cormack, Principal Engineer, Motorway** **Luke Marrai, Engineering Manager, Motorway** Motorway has used traditional AI and machine learning for years to enhance and improve its systems. But how can those years of learning be applied to build the next generation of agentic systems for users? In this session, Ryan Cormack and Luke Marrai from Motorway will explore how they are enhancing the functionality of Motorway’s platform to provide more accurate search results for dealers looking to acquire stock through the online marketplace. The talk will cover how Motorway is using **AWS AgentCore** to run its agentic systems, and how evals are being used to ensure the system performs as expected. Ryan Cormack is a Principal Engineer at Motorway, the UK’s leading used car marketplace, where he leads technical strategy and drives AI-powered transformation across the engineering organisation. With over 14 years of experience building and scaling systems on AWS, Ryan specialises in turning architectural best practices into practical engineering outcomes, from cloud modernisation programmes to the adoption of agentic workflows and AI-native developer tooling. Luke Marrai is an Engineering Manager at Motorway, supporting engineering delivery and helping teams build effective, scalable technology for one of the UK’s leading automotive technology platforms. Agenda: **18:00** — Arrival, refreshments and networking **18:30** — Welcome and introduction **18:35** — Get a High Return-on-Investment from AI Business Transformation — Nora Balla **19:00** — Break and networking **19:20** — Agents in the Fastlane — Ryan Cormack and Luke Marrai **20:00** — Networking **20:45** — Close **Join us on June 11th:** We are also hosting the **Cloud Native & Open Source AI Conference** on **June 11th in London**, bringing together a fantastic line-up of speakers across AI, cloud-native, open-source, platform engineering, leadership, and modern infrastructure. You can view the full speaker line-up and event details **[here](https://www.communitystack.io/conferences/cloud-native-london)** **About the communities:** This event is jointly hosted across **Cloud Platform Engineering London**, **Cloud Platform Engineering Leaders**, **Data & AI Leaders**, **AWS AI UG**, **Azure AI UG**, and **GCP London**. Together, these communities form part of the **[Community Stack ecosystem](https://www.meetup.com/pro/generative-ai-uk-community/)**, bringing together technical practitioners, leaders, partners, and organisations across cloud, platform engineering, data, AI, and open technology. We are always keen to hear from speakers, hosts, sponsors, and community partners. 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. This event follows 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.

AI assistants are getting more capable. The question is how we build effective workflows around them. At DevDay London, [Lucy Joyce](https://www.linkedin.com/in/lucy-joyce-597485166/), [Ash Shakrani](https://www.linkedin.com/in/ash-shakrani/) and [Arun Kurian](https://www.linkedin.com/in/arun-mathew-kurian-39b8aa5a/) will explore harness engineering through the lens of a payment integration. From requirements and design through to implementation, they’ll demonstrate why context alone isn’t enough for successful AI-assisted development. Drawing on real-world experience, they’ll show how engineering harnesses, reusable context, standards, and validation workflows help teams move beyond experimentation and build reliable, scalable AI-assisted development practices. **This session will unpack:** 🎯 Why “more context” isn’t the answer on its own 🎯 What engineering harnesses are and how they create reliable feedback loops 🎯 How standards, workflows, and validation reduce AI-generated rework and technical debt 🎯 Practical techniques teams can adopt immediately to improve AI outcomes 🗓️ **Save the Date:** 2nd July, 2026 📍 **Location:** Sahaj Software, 1 Quality Court, London, WC2A 1HR 🕕 **Time:** 6:00 PM – 8:00 PM (BST) The evening will feature: 🎤 **One engaging talk** with Q&A 🤝 **Plenty of time for networking** over free pizza and non-alcoholic drinks Don’t miss this chance to learn, connect, and share with fellow tech enthusiasts. 👉 Please click the link below to register. https://sahaj.ai/events/harness-engineering-in-practice-from-requirements-to-implementation/

Discover the World at International Cafe! We are a group of Christian volunteers set out to create a friendly community that welcomes everyone! Come and practice speaking English with our English speaking volunteers. You will learn more about British culture and discuss life with NEW topics each week. We also include a Bible story at the end of our sessions. At International Cafe, we start our meet up with Tea & Coffee and continue in engaging conversations. Each week, we'll look at NEW topics about British culture and history, so you can learn and socialize. Best of all, it's a free event and open to everyone! So mark your calendars: 🕕 Time: **Sunday at 2:30 PM** 📍 Address: ECIR OEA, Inspire at St James Questions? Text Organiser at 07708228436.

**There are a number of experienced people in the UK prior to the UK Festival and I'll be leading this Surrendered Leadership evening to give an opportunity for us all the practice together.** **For those with some experience of Surrendered Leadership Circling** Circling is a present-moment relational awareness practice. We’re bringing our attention to what’s unfolding in real time, repeatedly returning to what’s happening within ourselves, between us and in the shared space of the group. We practice approaching our own experience and the experience of others with curiosity, becoming more aware of the subtleties of what is present. The emphasis is on staying in contact with your experience as it unfolds. The unfolding may be quiet and internal or it may lead to words – naming sensations, thoughts, emotions, impulses or perceptions. It might also include movement or other non-verbal expression. The idea is not to try to change what’s there, but to become more aware of what it is and how we are meeting it and relating to it in the moment. Often awareness follows expression and this is okay too. We are all swimming in the ocean of the unknown. Occasionally the whale lifts its head above the surface and we catch a glimpse – a moment of seeing something about ourselves that we hadn’t noticed before. Over time, many people find that this kind of awareness practice deepens their sense of aliveness and helps them notice patterns in how they relate to themselves and others. With ongoing practice, some people discover an increased capacity to be with themselves and others in a more conscious, grounded, flexible and responsive way – where we can experience ourselves as active participants in our lives rather than passive reactors to what is happening internally or around us. Both those new to Circling and those with more experience are very welcome. To reserve your place, transfer £10 via my eventbrite page: **[https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/o/robyn-wilford-29457876735](https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/o/robyn-wilford-29457876735)** Any questions, please direct message me here or email: [robyncontact365@gmail.com](http://robyncontact365@gmail.com) We’ll start at 7pm (arrive from 6.50pm) and will finish at 9pm. There will be some optional hang out time after 9pm. Opposite Elephant & Castle tube and Thameslink train station, and numerous bus routes. **Facilitation and Terms of Service** This is a facilitated group practice but not group therapy and not psychotherapy. Because of my NARM background and own personal journey, I value personal choice, agency and emergent self-awareness. Participants are encouraged to stay connected to their own pace and to keep checking in with themselves throughout the practice – noticing what feels supportive, what feels like too much, and what they may need in any moment. There’s no expectation to be vulnerable or to share anything that feels too personal or emotional and you are always welcome to speak, remain silent, pause, step back and take a break, leave or ask for what you want, including asking for support. Participants are also invited to respect one another’s pace and boundaries. The intention of my Circling leadership is to support myself and people in staying present with their experience while in relationship with others, and to develop greater awareness of how they are meeting that experience. Having said that, like solo meditation, it’s normal that we will all repeatedly lose presence and Circling can sometimes evoke strong emotions or reactions in people which can be difficult for them and challenging for others in the space to navigate. If you find the prospect of this potentially destabilising or overwhelming, or if you are currently experiencing significant emotional distress or instability in your life that might be exacerbated by this type of group environment, or if you are unsure you’ll be able to take care of yourself and ensure the practice works for you, then please contact me before registering so we can discuss further. By registering you acknowledge that you have read and agree to the above.

**Join the Inaugural (GB)NUG Connect Event** *The Soho Hotel\, London \| 2nd July \| 6pm\-8\.30pm* Talks · Open Discussion · Drinks · Light Bites (GB)NUG's first event brings together two practitioners ready to share their experiences and opinions on enterprise networking. Grab a drink, connect with your peers, hear from fellow practitioners and join the conversation. **Madoc Batters, Head of Cloud & Cybersecurity at Warner Hotels**. With 25+ years building cloud, network and hybrid platforms across hospitality, telecom and finance. Madoc will be sharing his experiences driving multi-cloud migrations and applying GenAI to real-world security and cost operations. **AI Enabled networking – isn’t this what Skynet wanted in Terminator?** There is lots of talk about AI changing everything, but in this day and age what should an AI enabled network look like? What is the good and bad of this approach and when things go wrong, how can we fix them? **Duncan Bates, Solutions Architect, Fortinet** **Agenda:** 6pm: Meet for drinks and networking in the Crimson Bar 6.30pm: Hear from our speakers in Screen Room 2 7.15pm: Connect with your peers over drinks and light bites 8.30pm: Event Closes (GB)NUG is a practitioner-led, open, collaborative community for enterprise network architects, engineers, operational leaders and innovators across Great Britain. The group is independent, open and built around peer knowledge. **First event - no playbook - come and help shape what this becomes.** [Follow GB(NUG) on LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/company/gb-nug) Supported by Alkira and Megaport.

Pitch.london is a curated speed-networking event for founders, operators and serious builders. Short, structured conversations. Sharp prompts. Real chemistry, fast. The hardest problem in early-stage entrepreneurship is finding the right people. Most events leave it to chance. We don’t. The room is curated, the prompts are clear, and the format is built for high-signal encounters between people who are actually building something. In one evening, you can meet more relevant people than you might in months of random networking. Two formats. One room. Zero fluff. **01\. Founder matchmaking pitches** Sixty seconds to share who you are, what you’re building, and what would actually help right now. Whatever you’re looking for, the room is built to help you find it: people to build with, people to hire or be hired by, advisors and investors, or honest feedback on what you’re shipping. **02\. Group brainstorms** Small, time-boxed groups tackle a real challenge brought into the room. Bring a live problem you’re stuck on. Get five minds on it for ten minutes. Leave with new angles and next steps. **This room is for you if you’re:** * A founder seeking a co-founder * A founder seeking a first hire * An operator looking for a serious team to join * A technical builder open to commercial partners * A commercial builder open to technical partners * A second-time founder scoping the next thing * An angel investor close to the early-stage scene It’s probably not for you if you’re hunting for clients, selling services, or still working out what you’re looking for. **Run of show** * 17:30 to 18:00 Doors, drinks, soft start * 18:00 to 18:05 Welcome and the rules of the room * 18:05 to 18:35 Speed pitches: Round 1 * 18:35 to 19:15 Group brainstorms * 19:15 to 19:45 Speed pitches: Round 2 * 19:45 to 20:00 Open networking, then drinks at the citizenM Skybar **What’s included** Your £25 covers your seat in the room and a drink at the citizenM Skybar after the programme. **First 30 in get a seat**

Most people use LLMs by feel: ask a question, read the answer, decide whether it “seems good,” and move on. That works for casual use. It does not work when you are building software, automating workflows, writing important documents, or relying on AI for anything that needs to be repeatable. In this talk, we’ll look at how to improve and evaluate the inputs and outputs of LLMs using practical measurement techniques. We’ll cover how prompt changes affect results, how to compare outputs, how to build simple evaluation sets, and how math-based methods like similarity scoring can help you move beyond guesswork. This will be beginner-friendly, so even if you don't know anything about AI, you should get something out of it. However, this will be a little more technical than our intro talks. You do not need to be an AI researcher, but programmers and technically curious attendees will get a lot out of it. We’ll cover: * Why “it looks good” is not enough * How to improve prompts by changing the input, context, and constraints * How to compare LLM outputs more systematically * Basic evaluation techniques for accuracy, consistency, and usefulness * How embeddings, cosine similarity, and scoring can help evaluate results * Where automated evaluation works — and where humans still need to stay in the loop By the end, you’ll have a practical mental model for treating LLMs less like magic and more like systems you can test, measure, and improve. LOGISTICS AND PARKING: The talk starts at 7:00 PM. The first half hour is reserved for everyone to get set up and mingle. Free pizza and drinks! The cheapest parking option is to find street parking, which will only cost you a few bucks. Otherwise, park in the nearby veteran's museum lot for $8. It's highly recommended you avoid the nearby $15 garage parking.

This is a free, in-person meeting on the subject of betrayals, losses and how to get over them so you can build lasting relationships. Burdened by a stressful relationship? Unhealthy relationships can trigger feelings of anger, despair or self-doubt. They can create dwindling spirals of fights and seeking to make-up, or trying to “pin the blame” on someone or something. If you don’t find the RIGHT reasons, or select the correct sources of the problem, the problem can just get worse and worse. Whether in love or personal ties, with friends or at work, our life really IS affected by the quality of our relationships. Good ones can promote pleasure and survival while less optimum ones can lead to annoyance, anger, self-doubt, stress, or even affect our health and ability to survive well. Whether you are suffering from a divorce, or a painful break-up, don’t know who to trust (or who to CHOOSE) as a partner, friend, boss or employee - the anxiety of relationship troubles can really make a mess of things. Maybe you’ve suffered a betrayal, or are dealing with hostility or criticalness or invalidation. Dwindling relationships can involve destructive behavior, where we hurt those we love, or start succumbing to self-destructive thoughts, attitudes or behaviors that spiral out of control and affect much more than our immediate relationship. Past losses in love or life can affect how we act or react to new people and situations and hold us back from even starting to create new, possibly great relationships! How can one get back onto a saner course of action? Come to our Meetup, where we can introduce you to some of the knowledge, tools and techniques of the breakthroughs in the field of the mind that we can apply to this ever important area of life: human relationships! Break free from self imposed limitations Here we will discuss: • How to “erase” the trauma of past hurts and betrayals so that one isn’t always repeating past mistakes. • Why and how do the negative emotions of others affect you? • Why is my partner withdrawing and what can I do about it? • Why do we sometimes feel compelled to hurt the ones we love? • Fights & arguments - what's really behind them? • What underlies “corrosive criticism” or the need to invalidate self or others? • How one can stably change one’s outlook on life so they can affect positive change? • Where do compulsive destructive behaviors come from and what can be done about them? • How to form closer bonds & keep growing the relationships with the people you care about? • How to enhance one’s own ability to survive and create positive healthy relationships whether in love, family & friendships or in work, business or one’s career? Relationships can be hard and life itself IS challenging. Why not arm yourself with the knowledge and breakthroughs that have been made about the mind, mental reactions & interpersonal relationships, so that one has better awareness and control over themselves and life in general. Learn where painful experiences are “stored” and how they can unknowingly affect us. You will also find out how one can “erase” those past painful experiences so that one is free to move forward without being tripped up by the past. Learn too, about what can lead some people to become “toxic” personalities and how to identify those traits in others so you won’t be tripped up trusting the wrong person. Our free Meet-ups occur in a safe environment where one can learn, without fear of judgment or criticism, and without the recommendation of harmful mental techniques or therapies, just how YOU can get yourself onto a happier & more successful path: in love & in life. We look forward to having you join us! This class is sponsored by the Dianetics & Scientology Life Improvement Center of Central Ohio.

You can sleep in on the Sesquicentennial (observed), we’re shifting to the following Friday. But join the local UX community for a chat and some biscuits to catch up. If you were in CA for Figma Config, tell us all the lines and you can tell me how I can animate an SVG without coding it by hand, and why I’d even want to. Thanks to the team at Nationwide of supporting the group.

**Hello Columbus!** **The community is buzzing and growing well. We are thrilled to bring our fourth BrowserStack QA Meetup on Thursday, July 9th!** We are creating a space for deeper insights, meaningful connections, and a vibe you won't want to miss. **What to expect:** * **Connect:** Network with Columbus' top engineering and QA minds. * **Learn:** Real-world tactics and trends you can use immediately. * **Enjoy:** Food, drinks, and great community spirit. **Agenda** * **Two Roads Diverged in a Wood: Docker Compose vs. Kubernetes** by **[Doug Reeder](https://www.linkedin.com/in/pdouglasreeder/)** **RSVP Essential:** Space is limited, and we want to ensure a great experience for everyone. **RSVP now to secure your spot!** 📍 **Venue:** Leading EDJE, 6515 Longshore Loop, Suite 300, Dublin, OH 43017 📍 **Free Parking:** 6725 Longshore Street, Dublin, OH 43017 📅 **Date & Time:** July 9, 6:00 PM **Stay Connected!** Want to continue the conversation beyond the meetup? Join our **BrowserStack Discord Server** to get updates, connect with fellow QA professionals, and be part of an ongoing discussion. **Don’t miss out—click below to join!** 🔗 [\[](https://discord.gg/6SdCyWTNyW)**[Join the BrowserStack Discord Server](https://discord.gg/6SdCyWTNyW)**[\]](https://discord.gg/6SdCyWTNyW) **A Few Notes:** ✅ This is an **in-person event** ✅ **RSVP does not guarantee a seat** – A confirmation email will be sent one day before the event. **TALK ABSTRACT:** Docker Compose and Kubernetes are two of the most popular tools for running containerized applications. Their feature lists are similar. Architects and senior developers need to know how their different paradigms lead to unexpectedly different experiences in production.

Want to be a speaker? submit your talk to our Call for Presenters!!! https://sessionize.com/azure-cbus-2026/

**Practical Curiosity: Learning from Everyday Data** How do we actually get better at utilizing our day-to-day data? Fancy dashboards and complex models might look nice and draw attention, but that’s not where most of us spend our time. In fact those shiny outputs frequently sit unused, while the real insights are drawn from the analyst’s daily practice. Sometimes it’s as simple and as powerful as noticing that a segment is shrinking, a channel is underused, or certain links keep getting all the clicks. There’s many different places that the spark of insight can come from, but you have to keep your head in the data and know where to look. In this session, we’ll explore real-world examples of how segmentation, testing, and click behavior can uncover practical digital marketing opportunities. You’ll leave with inspiration for your own use cases, along with a few simple ways to ask better questions, spot meaningful patterns, and make smarter decisions without overcomplicating it. **About Our Speaker:** [Elaine Armbruster](https://www.linkedin.com/in/elainearmbruster/) is a Director of Digital Experience at the [American Diabetes Association](https://diabetes.org/), where she focuses on using data and insights to create smarter, more effective digital experiences. A lifelong Columbus resident, she has built her career in email marketing and the broader digital user journey, and is finding she most enjoys working in the messy middle where systems, data, and big ideas don’t quite line up yet. 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 idea for this group is to build a community where men can gather together and build connections & learn and grow from each other.** How we start each meeting is by each of us checking in with our "roses and thorns" aka what are the good things and the bad things going on in your life recently? Then we will go into a topic discussion. \-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\- **COMMUNITY AGREEMENTS** \*\*THERE WILL BE A ZERO TOLERANCE POLICY FOR NO-SHOWS. IF YOU RSVP TO A MEETING AND FAIL TO SHOW UP WITHOUT NOTICE, YOU'LL BE REMOVED FROM THE GROUP. THIS IS TO PRESERVE THE INTEGRITY OF THE GROUP\*\* 1. Confidentiality - EVERYTHING that is shared NEVER leaves this space so that this space remains safe and sacred. There is a zero tolerance policy for this. If a man is in violation of this, they will be permanently removed from the group. 2. Non-Judgement - we respect and honor every man’s truth so that we may receive the same from others. While we may not agree on everything, we commit to respecting every man’s perspectives and engaging in honorable discussion with one another. 3. Be committed - honor your commitment to this group and to yourself. If you attend a meeting, please commit yourself fully to the meeting. Also be committed to your own journey. When we fail, we own it & clean it up. 4. Speak from the heart - this is NOT a space to “look good”, have the “right” answers, and have it all together. Relax and know you are not alone. Be exactly who you are within the safety of this space. 5. Be supportive - This means always willing to provide encouragement to your fellow men, encourage action and momentum in each other’s lives.. Be willing to challenge each other. Be willing to hold each other accountable. 6. Participation - what you receive from this community will be a reflection of what you put into it. Period. We ask that you share your perspectives, reflect on others, and give/receive support when and where it’s needed.