Google Cloud

**Google Analytics Alternatives** Is it finally time to make the switch away from Google Analytics? Two-and-a-half years ago Jason Packer asked this question at Columbus Web Analytics Wednesday. Since then: Google’s Universal Analytics has been sunset, we’ve changed our name to Columbus Data & Analytics Wednesday, and Jason has released two editions of his book “Google Analytics Alternatives”. Fresh off the release of the 2nd edition of his book, we thought it was time to re-open this conversation. While people love to complain about it, GA’s market share has remained relatively constant (at least in the United States). Why is that? You won’t find any complaints about GA4 in this talk, but rather an overview of what’s currently available in the market and how to frame your decision-making process. We’ll also be giving out some free copies of Jason’s book! So even if you’ve got a “GA4Lyfe” tattoo (no judgement), there’s free books to go with the free pizza and beer. 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)

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.

Google is leading the AI revolution—don't miss your chance to stay ahead of the curve. Join GDG Cloud Indy for an immersive session where we bridge the gap between AI experimentation and enterprise production. We are thrilled to feature two expert-led deep dives into the Google AI ecosystem, designed for Cloud Architects, Developers, and AI enthusiasts alike. **The Lineup:** **11:00 AM \|** **Getting Started with Google Gemini** Speaker: Vaidehi S. Tripathi\*\*,\*\* Cloud Advisor, GDE, GDG Organizer (Cloud Indy) Focus: A walk-through of Gemini and multimodal models to boost daily productivity. **11:30 AM \|** **Google AI Studio vs. Vertex AI: The Path to GenAI** Speaker: Olga Scrivner, PhD, Google Cloud & GenAI Leader, WTM Ambassador, IEEE Humanitarian Tech Chair (Indy) Focus: Navigating the journey from rapid prototyping in AI Studio to production-ready deployments in Vertex AI. **The Perks:** Exclusive GDG Swag for attendees! Pizza & Soft Drinks (for in-person guests). Networking & Q&A with local industry leaders. **Meeting Link:** meet.google.com/wia-ygtn-fmc Also, Check our Meetup page at https://www.meetup.com/gdgcloudindy/ See you there! This is a hybrid event. Join the event virtually at: https://gdg.community.dev/events/details/google-gdg-cloud-indy-presents-level-up-your-ai-game-with-google-gemini/ or in person at: Zionsville Town Hall - 1100 West Oak Street Zionsville, 46077 *** *** **About the Speakers :** **Olga Scrivner -** PhD\*\*,\*\* a certified Google Cloud and GenAI Leader, IEEE Humanitarian Technologies Chair (Central Indiana), and Women Tech Makers Ambassador In this talk, we’ll walk through Google’s primary generative AI platforms: **Google AI Studio** and **Vertex AI**. We’ll explore what each tool is designed for and how developers typically begin their journey with Google’s AI ecosystem. Using **Google AI Studio**, we’ll demonstrate how you can experiment with Google’s **Gemini models** to create and test ideas, from text generation to image and video creation. We’ll also discuss how these early experiments can later connect to **Vertex AI** for production use cases. **Vaidehi Tripathi** \- Elevance Health \(Cloud Advisor\) Founder and Organizer GDG Cloud Indy. Google Developer Expert-GDE. Vaidehi is a Cloud Advisor at Elevance Health (Formally Anthem) and before that worked as Solution Architecture Manager in Accenture focused on designing solution based on Google Cloud Platform. Vaidehi is a Google certified Architect, Data, Network, Security, Developer, DevOps and Machine Learning Engineer. **Hosted By :** Vaidehi Tripathi, GDG Organizer Complete your event RSVP here: https://gdg.community.dev/events/details/google-gdg-cloud-indy-presents-level-up-your-ai-game-with-google-gemini/.

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

Discover Kiro, AWS’s innovative development environment that adapts to your workflow. Whether you prefer specification-driven development or a more intuitive, vibe-based approach, Kiro empowers you to build applications your way. In this session, speakers will explore Kiro’s core functionality and its evolution through re:Invent 2025, along with demonstrations of prompts used to create APIs, hooks, and steering documents. In the latter part of the session, watch as we build a complete example from scratch, showcasing Kiro’s agentic AI workflow in action for spec-driven development and vibe coding. What You'll Learn - Core Kiro concepts and development philosophy Feature evolution: pre and post re:Invent 2025 Practical examples: API creation, hooks, and steering docs Live coding demonstration with real-time problem solving Who Should Attend - Developers, solutions architects, and technical leaders interested in modern AWS development tools and AI-assisted coding workflows. **Speakers Bio:** Matthew Jorat: Matthew Jorat is a Customer Solutions Manager at AWS with nearly three decades of expertise in AI, cloud transformation, migration, modernization, IT, technology, and business. His career spans infrastructure engineer, solutions architect, security auditor, customer success director, support and services director, and operations officer. He was an early adopter of AWS services as a customer, and his current role at AWS uniquely blends his technical and business skills as he partners with executive teams to translate strategic priorities into measurable business outcomes through cloud adoption, AI implementation, and operational excellence. Matt leads end-to-end AI initiatives for enterprise customers, identifying high-impact use cases and maintaining relentless focus on measurable ROI. He holds eight AWS certifications and serves as Adjunct Professor at Franklin University teaching cloud computing and AWS architecture. His expertise encompasses GenAI, agentic AI systems, migration, modernization, and optimization strategies that drive transformation at scale. [https://www.linkedin.com/in/mattjorat/](https://www.linkedin.com/in/mattjorat/) Girish Bhatia: Girish Bhatia is a seasoned technology delivery leader with deep expertise in cross-domain program management. He holds multiple AWS certifications, including AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate, AWS Certified Developer – Associate, and AWS Generative AI Practitioner, and is also an AWS Community Builder. Girish brings over two decades of experience in the information technology industry. Throughout his career, Girish has led major technology-driven business transformation from modernizing on-premises applications to driving large-scale cloud migrations. His work includes API-based integration platforms, data-center and mainframe modernization, and enterprise cloud adoption initiatives. Based in Columbus, Ohio, Girish works at a tech-forward fintech company. He is passionate about AWS serverless architectures, Generative AI and emerging cloud technologies. An avid learner and builder, he continues to explore and apply the latest innovations in AWS to help organizations accelerate their digital transformation. https://www.linkedin.com/in/girishbhatia/[https://www.linkedin.com/in/girishbhatia/](https://www.linkedin.com/in/girishbhatia/) **THANK YOU** *Franklin University* for hosting our meetup! To learn more about *Franklin University*, please visit their website: https://www.franklin.edu/ **DIRECTIONS** Franklin University Fisher Hall 300 E. Main St, Columbus, OH 43215 Map: https://maps.app.goo.gl/jxjBA2hUmS5qrvhq8 Parking is FREE! Please park in Lot C in front of Fisher Hall. See attached map. NOTE: Map the address only. When mapping with Google Maps it may use the Fisher Hall at OSU, which is NOT correct. **Want to sponsor the pizza and/or bar tab?** Please contact me if you would like to sponsor this meetup's pizza and/or bar tab: angelo@mandato.com

Meeting @ Improving's office in Downtown Columbus, near Cosi. Parking is paid, food & drink are free! This time we're hanging out after the long winter break. We are going to look at a group-member's project used to help learn the fundamentals of Go, and if time allows, we can take a look at how we like to build Go projects using AI.