Enterprise Mobility Architects

RSVP on our Meetup event >> https://www.meetup.com/gdg-melbourne/events/313164035/ RSVP Codeword: NEWYEAR Get ready for our first monthly meetup of the year! This event is hosted at the Mantel Group Office, with the recording of the talks to be shared afterwards on YouTube if you can't make it. There will be food, networking and some surprise swag! Agenda: 6:20 - Intro 6:30 - Talks 8:00 till late - networking & chat (& drinks optional) Talks and Speakers: Kotlin → C#; Experimenting with Cross-Runtime Interop by Isuru Rajapakse, Senior Android Developer at Motorola Solutions Kotlin is a warm, cozy blanket of null safety and garbage collection so that we don't gave to get our feet wet. But what happens when you rip that blanket away, compile your Kotlin code down to a C static library, and try to use it in a .NET application? I did it so you don't have to. And I brought the stack traces to prove it. From Hype to Hands-On: Building Smarter Apps with the Agent Development Kit by Lovee Jain, Google Developer Expert - Cloud | Senior Software Engineer @Prezzee AI agents are more than hype — they’re a new way to design applications. In this talk, we’ll take a practical look at the Agent Development Kit (ADK) and how developers can use it to orchestrate multi-agent workflows. We’ll explore agent types, chaining strategies, and how to integrate tools and context effectively. The session includes a demo of a point-based buying agent that showcases how agents can interact, make decisions, and deliver value in a real-world scenario. Expect less buzzword, more code, and practical lessons you can apply in your own projects. Agentic DevOps: I Gave AI Agents root access to a VM – Here’s What I Learned by Bishal Sapkota, Software Engineer | AI Solutions Architect | Co-founder at Outback Yak Real Automation, self patching, persistent memory, cron jobs, and the obvious loaded gun. How to find us: Doors open at 5:45 PM at our host the Mantel Group, Level 2/452 Flinders St Melbourne. Message via Meetup or Slack if you are arriving after 6:00 as the lifts won't let you up.  This is an in-person only event. If you have any accessibility requirements please reach out via the Meetup or Slack to the organiser group to discuss and we will do our best to help you out. Agenda --- Hosted By Katie Barnett, GDE Android / GDG Organiser Katie is passionate about all things Android. She has taken on a wide variety of challenging projects including in the live event, media and travel space. Her favourite thing is to see someone having a delightful experience using something she has worked on. Katie is very active in the development community, she is a Google Developer Expert for Android, one of the organisers of GDG Melbourne and is a Women Techmakers Ambassador. She frequently runs events, speaks on technical and non-technical topics and enjoys writing blog posts to share her experience with others. Katie is based in Melbourne, Australia but loves to travel the world and outside of tech she enjoys boardgaming and attempting to finish many craft projects. Suesi Tran, Senior Flutter Developer Google Developer Expert in Dart, Flutter & Firebase, Women Techmaker Melbourne ambassador, GDG Melbourne & Flutter Melbourne co-organiser. In short: Flutter is love, and mobile is life. Poornima Sivakumar, GDG Organiser Lovee Jain, GDG Organiser Lovee is a Software Engineer at Prezzee, a GDG Melbourne Organiser and also a Women Techmakers Ambassador. A tech inquisitive philomath, she loves problem solving and solution design. She has worked at a city council where she developed a lot of useful system integrations and while at Prezzee she develops and works on multiple gift card solutions to cater the B2B2C market. Zach Jensz, GDG Organiser Passionate about the web, seamless UX and accessibility. I love attending meetups, find me and come say hi! Ujjawal Raj, GDG Organiser Bramley Turner-Jones, GDG Organiser Yuba Raj (UV) Panta, GDG Cloud Organiser Kartik Arora, Android Engineer Google Developer Expert in Android Android Engineer @ Bilue Carolyn Ai Chi Wong, Complete your event RSVP here: https://gdg.community.dev/events/details/google-gdg-melbourne-presents-gdg-melbourne-february-2026-meetup/.

**"TechWalking" - Networking + Walking** Are you a tech professional looking to network beyond the screen? Look no further than my upcoming #TechWalking event! ‍♀️ Join us for a refreshing Yarra River Short City Loop. It’s the perfect chance to connect with industry peers while getting in some steps! I know many of you have been tuning in to my online events, but we've never had the opportunity to meet in person. Let's change that! Check out the video from the last event: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Z955MaRHSqI We'll kick things off at **5.30 pm sharp** at Federation Square. Please, don't be late! We're hitting the trail around the river as soon as we gather. And trust me, you won't want to miss it – unless you're up for a bit of a sprint to catch up! (we're going clockwise) Meeting point: Mamas Gozleme, 14 Birrarung Marr Walk, Melbourne VIC 3000 https://maps.app.goo.gl/wDruvccNUzSWkV8y5 This event is pet and kid-friendly, as long as your little ones and furry friends can manage a 3 km walk, they're more than welcome to join. Looking forward to meeting you all in real life! *** Subscribe to YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@ITCareerinAustralia Follow me on LinkedIn for more information: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yana-martens/ Just moved to Australia? Grab your FREE guide to land your tech job! [https://yanamartens.com/first-tech-job-in-australia/](https://yanamartens.com/first-tech-job-in-australia/) Need more support? Join our 8-week program! https://www.meetup.com/it-career-in-australia/events/312469499/

# ** Melbourne AWS User Group –** February **Meetup ** ** Wednesday, 25 February** ** NAB Events Hub – 395 Bourke Street, Melbourne** **⏰ Food at 6:00 pm, talks from 6:30 pm (with live stream)** We’re kicking off 2026 properly with a deep technical session and another exciting speaker announcement coming soon This month we’re diving into Kubernetes networking changes that could directly impact your clusters — especially if you’re running Ingress-NGINX. This month’s lineup features: * **Gokul Venugopal** returning with a Level 300 session on the retirement of Kubernetes Ingress-NGINX. * **Warwick Wilson** shares lessons from running and evolving a production AWS Serverless orchestration platform over three years. A huge thank you to our sponsors: Mantel Group – Gold Sponsor, Cevo – Silver Sponsor, NAB – Venue Sponsor The event will be **live-streamed on YouTube** as always. *** # **️ Agenda** * **6:00 pm** – Food & Socialising * **6:30 pm** – Introductions * **6:40 pm** – What’s New in AWS * **6:55 pm** – The Retirement of Kubernetes Ingress-NGINX (Level 300); Speaker: **Gokul Venugopal** * **7:25 pm** – Almost Serverless Spatial (Level 200); Speaker: **Warwick Wilson** * **7:55 pm** – Marketplace (Who’s Hiring) * **8:00 pm** – Networking + Close *** # ** Talk Details** ## **The Retirement of Kubernetes Ingress-NGINX: Impacts, Risks, and Next Steps** Speaker: Gokul Venugopal Level: 300 Description: Ingress controllers are foundational to how traffic flows into Kubernetes workloads — but with the announced retirement of Ingress-NGINX, many teams are asking: what now? In this session, Gokul will cover: * A refresher on Kubernetes Ingress and the role of Ingress-NGINX * What the retirement means in practice * Risks for existing clusters * Migration paths and available alternatives * Pros and cons of the major options If you’re running Kubernetes in production, this is one you don’t want to miss. *** ## **Almost Serverless Spatial** Speaker: Warwick Wilson Level: 200 Description: Warwick manages a Spatial Data supply and distribution platform for DTP, an AWS Serverless orchestration that has now been in production for nearly three years. In this session, Warwick will walk through: * The original architecture and design decisions * How the AWS Step Functions workflows started simple * How they evolved over time as production realities set in * Lessons learned operating and refining long-running serverless orchestration If you're running or designing Step Functions in production, this is a practical, experience-driven session you won’t want to miss. *** # ** Want to Speak at a Future Meetup?** We’re always looking for new speakers and believe everyone has an interesting talk waiting to be shared. If you’d like to present at a future event, reach out at the meetup, via our website: [https://melb.awsug.org.au/speak/](https://melb.awsug.org.au/speak/)

Let's have fun while watching the night view with our friends! ‍♂️Training menu‍♂️ Every Wednesday 6:00p.m~ Fed Square Assembly 【https://maps.app.goo.gl/zmPQ6U533pUDcNSA9?g_st=ic】 If you have luggage, please consider using the lockers at the station. 40~60 min Jog+Walk Pace: Easy pace, suitable for beginners. If you got tired, let's walk together. 【schedule】 6:00 p.m Gathering 6:10 p.m Start 7:00 p.m End of training Challengers we are waiting for you

Hey everyone We are putting on an in person OpenShift meetup on Wednesday 25 Feb. Come and join us to hear the latest capabilities for OpenShift 4.21, Roadmap, Virtualisation, GPU, AI & MCP servers and more. Having just returned from Red Hat One in Vegas we have a lot to share of what we have seen happening around the world. Its the usual time starting at 6pm with a 7:30pm finish as well as drinks and pizza! Look forward to seeing you there. OpenShift Meetup team https://www.redhat.com/en/blog/achieve-more-red-hat-openshift-421

Andrew Herd is facilitator of the KM Landscape, a volunteer effort to capture the broad vocabulary of KM and related terms and reduce the confusion around shared concepts around the world in our discipline. As part of this work, some amazing and diverse thinking has been shared and out of that Andrew started to realise that a lot of knowledge concepts can be boiled down to two distinct areas: transactional and relational. He started with the DIKW pyramid with Data and Information being transactional and Knowledge and Wisdom being Relational but he has take the concept far beyond there and this month we are kicking off the year getting our heads around why automating the transaction world with AI might leave some pretty big gaps to fill and what we are KM professionals can do about it. This event is hybrid with Andrew joining online from Belgium. Thanks again to MinterEllison, who host the amazing space we meet in each month. **Session Details:** * **Date & Time:** 6:00pm AEDST, Fourth Wednesday of each month * **Format:** Virtual session on Teams * **Agenda:** * 6-6:30 pm networking * 6:30-7:45pm exploration of the topic * 7:45-8pm wrap up * 8pm dinner for those interested. KMLF has run monthly, almost uninterrupted since 1998, serving the Victorian Knowledge Management community with close ties to Change Mgt, Records Mgt, Information Governance and Academic communities.

**Dusk, by Robbie Arnott** A masterful, mythical tale of loss, love, redemption and survival. In the distant highlands, a puma named Dusk is killing shepherds. Down in the lowlands, twins Iris and Floyd are out of work, money and friends. When they hear that a bounty has been placed on Dusk, they reluctantly decide to join the hunt. As they journey up into this wild, haunted country, they discover there's far more to the land and people of the highlands than they imagined. And as they close in on their prey, they're forced to reckon with conflicts both ancient and deeply personal. **Joint winner of the 2025 ARA Historical Novel Prize: Adult category** **Winner of the 2025 Indie Book Awards for Fiction and Book of the Year Award** **Winner of the 2025 ABIA Literary Fiction Book of the Year**

**Attention attendees!** **To register, use** [Luma](https://luma.com/ku860ekb) Warning: The meetup is not a platform for RSVP registration; for this, you need to follow [thisLink ](https://luma.com/ku860ekb)to purchase a registration ticket. The meetup is one of the platforms through which we offer participation in our events. **Startup Valley — Melbourne** A curated pitch night for startup founders, operators, angels and VC partners. We design these sessions to help founders sharpen their thinking through direct, candid feedback — and to give strong investors access to serious teams. **What happens:** • 4-8 startups pitch live and receive feedback from angels and VC partners • Feedback focuses on real decisions and next steps — not surface-level opinions • Investors stay in the room before and after pitches • The format leaves space for real conversations, not rushed networking • Attendance is limited to keep the room focused Designed for clear thinking, not noise. **Who you’ll meet:** * Startup founders * Angel investors and VC partners * Operators in marketing, sales, and tech * AI engineers * Local and international founders * AI Experts * Founders from Europe, Asia, and the United Kingdom **Practical details** **For investors:** We invite angel investors and VC partners to participate as judges and contributors. **To become a judge,** and get early access to our startups database, please fill out th[ the form](https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSc8CVqvhQJu-AcclIF6PCuwjL4YpQt4w0FchGSoutRkt58v4g/viewform). Join the judge table, meet other investors, and see what teams are building early. Founders need your experienced view. **For pitching startups:** Startups selected to pitch will present live on stage and receive feedback from investors. **After purchasing a ticket:** Please[ submit your pitch deck](https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSchcZr9gCNJh0RLiKBgbdbDBKEOc-92LNySkzHf8qGPHg5Wpg/viewform) and ensure it is open for viewers. **Agenda** **18:00 – 18:30** **Registration** Guests register, receive badges, and event programs. This is an opportunity for casual networking, making first connections, and preparing for the event. **18:30 – 19:30** **Event Kickoff & Interactive Networking** Official welcome from the organizers with a brief overview of the event goals and schedule. Interactive networking helps participants set their objectives and connect with key contacts. **19:40 – 20:20** **Startup Pitch Session** Startups present their projects to investors and experts. Each team has 5 minutes to pitch, covering the project's core idea, business model, and target market. **20:20 – 21:00** **Chill & Networking** Participants enjoy casual conversations with investors, discuss collaborations, and exchange ideas over refreshments.

Welcome to 2026!! We need a second speaker please - if you are doing anything cool let us know Melbourne(at)serverless.org.au and we can get you on the agenda! Even for a future month if you are not quite ready yet. THANKS TO MANTEL GROUP for sponsoring the location & refreshments again! Thanks also to PROGRAMMABLE - we have tickets to give away for people who attend the meetup this month! Please get in touch ASAP if you would like to talk at a future event, send us an email at Melbourne(at)serverless.org.au for more info! First time speakers are more than welcome and we can provide you assistance if you need with your presentation beforehand. Please reach out Melbourne(at)serverless.org.au. It can be a regular talk, lightning talk, demo, workshop, whatever is your thing our community will love it - as long as it is serverless related! Venue: MANTEL GROUP, Level 2, 452 Flinders St. Melbourne Look for the signs! Agenda 5:30 PM - Doors Open! 6:00 PM - Welcome from the organizers / housekeeping 6:05 PM - **"Build vs Buy - how LLMs are shifting the scales" - By Liam Johnston, Lead Consultant, V2 AI** This talk examines how LLMs are fundamentally changing the build vs buy calculus. Through a real project - a crossword generator using AI for clues and algorithms for word-fitting across 300k words - we'll explore why projects that were impossible side quests two years ago are now weekend builds. 6:35 PM - Pizza & Networking 7:00 PM - **"Middle age serverless – Step Function maturation" by Warwick Wilson from the Department of Transport and Planning.** Warwick will share some updates on his AWS Step Functions in spatial data distribution systems which he presented a couple of years back. It looks very interesting! 7:30 PM - Networking and finish the Pizza! 8:00 PM - Door Close, see you next time!

**Important notice - Please use this link to register for the meetup** **https://luma.com/w01uummz** **Site Reliability Engineers vs Platform Engineers: Who Owns What?** Join us for a dynamic panel discussion exploring the evolving landscape of infrastructure and operations roles in modern tech organizations. As companies scale and technology stacks grow more complex, the lines between Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) and Platform Engineering can blur, overlap, or diverge entirely depending on organisational needs. This session brings together practitioners from both disciplines to unpack the core responsibilities, shared territories, and distinct ownership areas of each role. But here's where it gets interesting: ownership boundaries vary dramatically across organizations. At some companies, SREs build the platform. At others, Platform Engineers handle production reliability. Many teams share responsibilities for Kubernetes, observability tools, infrastructure as code, and deployment automation. Company size, maturity, culture, and technical stack all influence how these roles are defined and what each team owns. Our panelists will discuss real-world examples of how their organizations have drawn these boundaries, where collaboration is essential, where conflicts arise, and how to think about structuring these teams for success in your own context. Whether you're an SRE, Platform Engineer, engineering leader, or simply curious about these evolving disciplines, you'll leave with clarity on the distinctions, insights on common patterns, and practical perspectives on making these roles work together effectively.

Welcome everyone to my meetup events. We are heading back to Garden State hotel on a friday night, after work drinks. ‍♂️‍♀️ More venues, more people, more connections, and more fun ☀️ I will be bringing you Melbourne's hottest summer venue bars in Melbourne, where we can enjoy after work drinks More venues, more people, more memories, more connections, and more fun ☀️ Loved by many Melbournians ‍❤️‍‍❤️ Garden state hotel is a great venue because it’s one of the best and most popular venues In Melbourne Its also a cosey venue with a beautiful beer garden, live music, and soon to feauture a (rooftop balcony area) Beer Garden DJ dance floor Food to dine in Get out of your comfort zone and come join me with my other host (Scotty Hanson) and Ozay @ Garden State hotel, whilst we meet new people, socialise, expand your social circle, make new friends, and connect. THE MEETUP WILL BE HELD DOWNSTAIRS, BOTTOM LEVEL, BASEMENT ROSE GARDEN. TAKE THE STAIRS This meetup will be hosed on friday 27th of February, starting at 8pm Location Address 101 flinders lane Relish exclusive access to….
Garden state hotel 
Garden state hotel is a heritage bar/pub venue located in the famous flinders lane.
Garden State Hotel is a a popular bar, pub and beer garden. Smokers area, Beer garden outside, and a RnB room downstairs, basement rose garden. 
Great staff, good music, drinks (cocktails, jins, beers, martini, wine, mocktails) food,dance floors on both levels.
They play RnB music upstairs and downstairs with 2 live DJs on both levels. 
Drinks are reasonably priced and quick service. Very cool space You wouldn’t wanna miss out on this event, which will be hosted on a Friday night 27th of February, starting at 8pm ️

 What are you waiting for? ‍♀️ ‍♂️

RSVP today in order to participate to Garden State Hotel ️ as we meet u and greet u 
It’s one of my absolute favourite venue. This place knows how to put on a show! Good music, great lighting, drinks and welcoming door staff Ubelievable food, this place is a must try, service always lovely with a stunning environment 
Day Friday, 27th February 
Time
8pm ⏱ 
Address
101 FLINDERS LANE, MELBOURNE 
✅ Free Entry 
✅ No booking/ No Guest list to enter 
✅ Live DJ 
✅ Upstairs area/ & downstairs 
✅ Beers/ cocktails/ Martini/ Wine drinks 
✅ Public Bar 
✅ RnB music 
✅ Courtyard Beer Garden 
✅ Memories ‍♂️‍‍‍‍ 
✅ Social/Connections ‍‍‍‍ ‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍❤️‍‍ 
✅ Friends ‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍❤️‍‍ 
If this is your first time attending my group, I welcome you. ‍♂️ 
Or, if this is your first time attending this venue, then you’ll get the opportunity to experience Garden State Hotel
 
Attention, people 
Please read carefully to the rules ⚠️

If you’ve RSVPd and you’re intention ISN’T to attend my meetup, please don’t RSVP. ✋ -Only Rsvp if you’re actually keen on attending. ✅ 
AGAIN, IF YOU DECIDE NOT TO ATTEND, CHANGE IT TO “not attending” ONE HOUR BEFORE THE EVENT STARTS 
Again! Don’t RSVP if you’re not 100% attending. By u Rsvping and not attending, I see it as “playing games”. I take my meetups events seriously 
Why it’s important to join meetups ? 
It’s in our DNA to connect with people. Let’s face it, we are social creatures and we need to be connected with one another. If you go back to our grandparents, they would be connected in a community (or village) and everyone would know each other. 
Nowadays, we no longer live like this because there are big cities and we are continually moving fast, and disconnection has been widespread. This is why connection is important. We need to bring back connection.
If you have any questions, please feel free to inbox me me a direct message. 
Looking forward to seeing u all there.✌peace Kind regards, Abraham

**Event Confirmation Form!** ➡️ We kindly request you fill out this **event confirmation form** to confirm your attendance for the event and your dietary requirements - [https://forms.gle/QwVc4QifPJqfvkd4A](https://forms.gle/QwVc4QifPJqfvkd4A) \-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\- ## **What's On? ** **Panel:** State of Application Security: 2025 Trends, 2026 Strategy **Speakers:** * Jason Liyanage - Application Security Lead, Sportsbet * Louis Nyffenegger - Founder and CEO, PentesterLab * Raafey Khan - Director of Application Security, CyberCX **Abstract:** Application security is evolving faster than ever. This panel brings together practitioners, security leaders, and strategists for a candid look at what shaped AppSec in 2025 and what organizations are prioritizing in 2026. **The discussion will cover:** * **Vulnerability Trends** — What spiked, what persisted, and what caught teams off guard in 2025 * **Emerging Technologies** — New tools and capabilities are reshaping how applications are built, tested, and defended * **What Worked** — Strategies and approaches that genuinely moved the needle for security programs * **What's Next** — Bets organizations are placing bets for 2026, from new toolchains to shifting security culture Whether you're a hands-on practitioner or a security leader, this session offers grounded insights and forward-looking perspectives to help navigate the year ahead. *** *Placeholder abstract — subject to refinement once panelist details and discussion themes are confirmed.* ## **Location** Atlassian Melbourne Queens & Collins Building, Level 20, 100 Queen Street, Melbourne VIC 3000 ## **Agenda ⏰** * 5:30 - Food is served * 6:15 - Session start * 7:30 - Post-event networking \-\-\- Note: Please complete the event confirmation form: [https://forms.gle/QwVc4QifPJqfvkd4A](https://forms.gle/QwVc4QifPJqfvkd4A)

### **The Vibe** Are you curious about AI and automation, or are you already building complex workflows in **n8n**? Join us for a casual, after-work gathering in the heart of the Melbourne CBD. This is an "open floor" event—no rigid slides or formal pitches. Just a group of locals grabbing a drink and talking about how we use n8n to reclaim our time and supercharge our businesses. ### **Who This Is For** * **The Curious/Newbie:** If you’ve heard of n8n but haven't started yet, come see what’s possible. No question is too basic! * **The Pro/Builder:** Share your latest "Agentic" workflows, swap tips on self-hosting, or help troubleshoot a tricky expression. * **The Business Owner:** See how Melbourne SMEs are using automation

Christians in Tech is a community at the intersection of faith and technology. Our meetups are designed to spark meaningful conversations, promote knowledge sharing, and encourage growth—both in your career and your spiritual walk with God. Whether you're an experienced professional or just starting your tech journey, CIT welcomes you. Our Website [https://linktr.ee/citcbus](https://linktr.ee/citcbus) Sponsors and Partners * Improving (Venue Sponsor) * Bethel World Prayer Center (Fiscal Sponsor) * Fruits & Roots (Coffee Partner)

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.

Join other experienced and aspiring agile coaches and professionals to: * develop and practice your coaching skills in a peer-to-peer environment * share current successes and challenges in your work environment and get support from each other * learn from each other, build better relationships and experiment with new ideas

Connected Westerville Night of Networking flips the script on networking, with surprises and connections that'll make you say, "Who knew networking could be this much fun?!"

Excited to share that AWS Cloud Club's first meeting will take place on Thursday, February 26th at 5pm - 6pm! We’re collaborating with [Big Data & Analytics Association](https://www.linkedin.com/company/big-data-analytics-association/) to host [Alok Jha](https://www.linkedin.com/in/alok-jha-42abb928/), Head of Product Management for AWS Intelligent Application Protection at Amazon Web Services, for a tech talk + Q&A on his journey in leading cutting-edge innovation in industry. If you’re interested in cloud, cybersecurity, AI, or product management, this is a session you won’t want to miss. Make sure to join our Meetup and GroupMe to stay up to date for future events and collabs!

**⚔️ Introduction to Wargaming & Painting Miniature Soldiers at The Arcane Foundry ⚔️** Join me in **The War Room at [The Arcane Foundry](https://share.google/S5i6DYJnJteHWeKtd)** for a laid-back evening of hobby talk and tabletop fun! For just **$15**, you’ll get a **3D-printed regiment of 20 high quality resin models** of your choice to paint — a **$40 value!** Bring your creativity, relax, and let’s make something awesome together. **Choose one from Below:** * 20 Orc Warriors * 20 Empire Soldiers * 20 Dwarf Warriors * 20 Elf Spearmen Step into a world where strategy meets artistry — and where every painted figure tells a story of battle, honor, and imagination. Join **Daclaud** at **The Arcane Foundry** for an evening that introduces newcomers and enthusiasts alike to the timeless craft of **tabletop wargaming** and **miniature painting**. My own journey began with a fascination for fantasy — knights in armor, grim and hardened warriors, and monstrous creatures locked in epic battle. That passion led me to **Dungeons & Dragons**, where I painted my first **Basic Heroes set** and felt the spark that comes from bringing a character to life in miniature form. Not long after, I discovered **Warhammer Fantasy** and **Warhammer 40,000**, and I was hooked. The vision of vast armies clashing across the table — each unit meticulously painted, each story unfolding through dice and imagination — became my creative obsession. During this event, we’ll explore the **origins of wargaming**, from its early military simulations to the richly detailed worlds of modern tabletop battle systems. You’ll learn how to **build and customize your own armies**, paint your first figures, and experience the joy of turning strategy and storytelling into a hands-on art form. Whether you’re drawn by the lore, the hobby, or the thrill of commanding miniature legions, this introduction will open the gates to a world that has captivated hobbyists for generations. ** RSVP today and join us at The Arcane Foundry — where every brushstroke and battle tells a story.**

Join us and work remotely together with like-minded UX folks. This is a last minute opportunity to get out at one of our favorites, [Junto](https://thejuntohotel.com/)! Plenty of seating is available in addition to a connected coffee shop and restaurant. I will be there 10-12 for sure, maybe longer. Feel free to come and go anytime during the day, and don't forget your charger and headphones!