Human Resources

For our May meetup, we're delighted to be back at the fabulous Accurx offices. We have two amazing talks lined up and the agenda will be: * 6:30pm - arrive, drinks, networking * 7:00pm - Welcome & Housekeeping * 7:15pm - **Talk** **1: "A practical guide to inner sourcing your IDP"** Bridging the gap between developers and platform teams is hard. Scattered documentation, fragmented language and hidden knowledge leave developers frustrated, while platform teams struggle to understand what devs really need. Treating platforms as products is a start, but treating them like open source projects unlocks real collaboration, allowing developers to contribute and maintain features. In her roles as Developer Advocate and platform engineer, Lian has years of experience working with highly bureaucratic organisations helping to improve developer experience and adoption. In this talk, she’ll share concrete steps to identify contribution opportunities, set up maintainable processes, and measure engagement. You’ll leave inspired with ideas to boost adoption, reduce friction, and turn your platform into a collaborative, thriving ecosystem. **Speaker:** Lian Li, Cloud Native Human *Lian always wanted to save the world. After leaving law school, she decided to work with computers instead. While in Web Dev, she started attending tech events, and soon fell in love with the community. In her roles as Consultant and DevRel, Lian combined technical knowledge with a focus on the human side.* *Currently, Lian works as freelance Platform Engineer in Amsterdam and is the Chief Karaoke Officer for Kuberoke, the first and only Kubernetes Karaoke Community. She also enjoys performing in musical improvisation theatre and standup comedy shows.* * 7.45pm - food, more drinks & networking * 8.00pm - **Talk** **2: "The Humans Behind the Platform: Structuring Teams for Culture and Capability**" It’s easy to focus on the tech when building a Platform team, and that’s tremendously important, but it’s often the people and how they work together that determine success. Over the past couple of years, Claire has led a Platform Engineering Team through different formations, migrations, and tooling adoptions. Whatever shape the team has taken, whatever they're working on, the constants have been a need for clear purpose and a culture where people can thrive, this takes work, and has sometimes been tricky to get right. In this talk, she’ll share what she's learned from shaping and supporting platform teams: what’s worked (and what hasn’t) when it comes to team composition, balancing seniority, and supporting career growth. Collaboration is central to how to operate, so she’ll talk about how her team works with and supports internal customers, and what’s helped to navigate complex, knotty migration projects. She’ll also cover how they built a culture that gives engineers space to lead. We want engineers at every level to feel confident taking ownership, and that takes deliberate effort. If you’re figuring out how to shape your platform teams to enable others as well as deliver, this talk will offer practical ideas, and maybe a few things to rethink. **Speaker:** Claire Reckless, Engineering Manager *Claire is an Engineering Manager and leads a Platform Engineering Team. With a background spanning Tech Support, Testing, and QA across sectors like Finance and Security, she brings a deep appreciation for resilient systems and collaborative teams. Claire is passionate about learning and development, and she’s especially proud of her past work coordinating an apprentice programme, an initiative that’s helped build a more diverse and sustainable pipeline of engineering talent. She’s energised by helping engineers at all levels grow their confidence, take ownership, and shape the future of their teams.* * 8.30pm onwards - drinks and networking. So, please come and join us, we look forward to seeing you there. The LOPUG team. * Food and drinks provided * Good time will be had by all

Fleet Street in London has a grim history - it is named after the River Fleet , one of London's filthiest and most dangerous rivers. Dickens based Fagin's lair along the river in "Oliver Twist" . The river has long since disappeared but the legends remain , including the tale of a bloody barber and his murderous assistant. Join actor and tour guide Nick Richmond for a dark journey through the bloody streets of London in search of Sweeney Todd, tracing his Victorian roots in the Penny Dreadful's to the musical version by Sondheim and the Tim Burton film from 2007. This is an adult themed tour and may not be suitable for younger children or those of a nervous disposition. You have been warned ! Tickets are £10 and we meet at the North entrance of Blackfriars station Any problems you can call me on 07490953722

**RSVP TO ATTEND THIS EVENT. ALL TICKETS MUST BE PURCHASED IN ADVANCE TO ATTEND THIS EVENT..** **Welcome to Socialite Connections - Legal Connections for Solicitors, Barristers & Legal Business Professionals** is designed to connect legal professionals, foster meaningful relationships, and drive business growth. **Ticket & Entry: Here is the payment link:** https://www.fatsoma.com/e/vvg5ev8l/legal-connections-for-solicitors-barristers-legal-business-professionals-at-mint-leaf **Join us for this event to gain insights, discover opportunities, and connect with Legal Industry leaders**! This event is designed to bring together individuals from the legal industry, entrepreneurs, and professionals looking to network, collaborate, and learn from each other. Our events provide a valuable opportunity for like-minded individuals to connect, share ideas, and explore potential partnerships in a dynamic and supportive environment. **We start the event at 6.00pm with a warm welcome.** Having an open-minded approach is ideal, as it will enable you to establish new connections. **The Refinery CityPoint** \- Located just around the corner from **Moorgate Station**, it is a stylish and expansive venue in the heart of the City. With its chic interiors, statement furniture, and welcoming atmosphere, **The Refinery** is the perfect location for **local corporate events**, **business breakfasts**, **working lunches**, **client entertainment.** **Event Schedule** **18:00 – 21:00 \| When you arrive\,** your name will be checked off the guest list, you will be given a name badge and you will be introduced to each other. **19:00 – 19:30 \| One Minute Elevator Pitch:** All attendees will be given the opportunity to introduce themselves to everyone in the room to talk about your startups or ideals. (Pitch starts at 19.00pm sharp, please dont be late) **19:30pm \- 21:10 \| Network & chill: I**t will be a free form event where guests can mingle amongst each other in a relaxed environment, when the pitches are finished. **Why Attend?** Don't miss this exclusive opportunity to expand your network and forge valuable connections. Attend our unique networking event to meet like-minded professionals and discover new business opportunities. Don't miss this chance to gain insights, discover opportunities, and connect with legal industry leaders from different backgrounds. **One Minute Elevator Pitch:** All attendees will be given the opportunity to introduce themselves to everyone in the room talk about your startups or ideals. (Pitch starts at 19:00pm sharp, please dont be late) **Who Should Attend?** Connect with legal professionals in a relaxed setting. **Solictors, Barristers, In-House Lawyers, Judges, Legal Executives, Paralegals, Legal Secretary, Working Professionals, Anyone interested in Legal Networking.** **Tickets are limited to just 40 attendees.** We like to make sure everyone gets the opportunity to talk to each other. **Ticket & Entry: Here is the payment link:** https://www.fatsoma.com/e/vvg5ev8l/legal-connections-for-solicitors-barristers-legal-business-professionals-at-mint-leaf You are invited to join the dedicated Whatsapp group for the event and start networking before the actual event. Register now to secure your spot and be part of this transformative networking experience! **Tickets need to be bought online in advance to attend this event. Tickets are not available at the door.** **Refund policy: There is no refund at this event..**

Your survival depends on knowing who you can rely on. But how can you tell who your real friends are? How can you determine if a person will help make a joint venture successful? Is there a way to predict behavior? Yes. There are fundamental elements to human behavior. When you know them you have insight into your fellow man, and just by observing how people act, you will know *everything* about them. #### On this lecture you will learn: * The important role of trust in human relationships. * The Hubbard Chart of Human Evaluation—the tool to know true character and predict what people will do. * How to evaluate others accurately and guarantee a more certain future for yourself and those you care about. With the knowledge you learn on this course, you will have tools to know who you can trust and who you can depend on. *“Trustworthiness is a highly esteemed commodity. When one has it, one is considered valuable. When one has lost it, one may be considered worthless.”* *—L. Ron Hubbard*

I strongly suspect this recurring event no longer takes place, but I have never received any information about it since I first heard years ago and have never had any enquiry. ======= Blow the cobwebs away and get active at lunch time with a bike ride around Central Park to perk you up for your afternoon's work. Aimed at workers in the area, but all welcome. It may be possible to borrow a bike, by prior arrangement. Contact Nick [dot] Davies [at] lbbd [dot] gov [dot] uk.

On Wednesday 13th May at 6:30pm, we will be having a Midweek Coffee Evening! It's a chance to meet and chat with others in the group in a relaxed setting over a hot drink. On the day, come up to the cafe on the 5th floor, grab a drink and come and join us. The cafe closes at 8:00pm and the bookshop closes at 9:00pm. Hope to see you there! Robert 07905 901 834 (prefer text) or email: [general@cultureseekers.org](general@cultureseekers.org) ***On the day, if you can’t make the trip, just change your RSVP to No or text me to say you can’t make it.*** ***Please don’t post any messages in the comments that you can’t make it, as this generates spam for everyone else.*** ***Please make sure you are aware of the group rules here before RSVPing - [https://www.meetup.com/london_cultureseekers/photos/22974682/523578875/Group_Rules/](https://www.meetup.com/london_cultureseekers/photos/22974682/523578875/Group_Rules/)***

This a BSL practice group for level 1 students and above. We will be meeting at the national theatre in southbank

**Dead Product Society \| After Work Drinks** Come along, bring a friend/colleague or two and join us for a relaxed evening of informal product and tech chats over a few drinks and doughnuts. We aim to connect everyone without awkwardness or LinkedIn spiel, and value good conversation over boring presentations. **Who is welcome?** Product Managers, CEOs, UX/UI Designers, Developers, Scrum Masters etc. We welcome anyone who works in, with or wants to break into product. *Note: We intentionally keep our After Work Drinks on the smaller side to allow for more in-depth conversations.* **The Bike Shed** We'll be hanging out in the lounge area (behind the area with all the tables, next to the store). \-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\- **Dead Product Society** Dead Product Society is a collective of like-minded professionals sharing real-talk and joining forces to navigate the twists and turns of the product world. Our down-to-earth community is for anyone who works in, with or wants to break into product teams regardless of their background or experience. **Our Sponsors** Shout out to our generous sponsors at Waggel Pet Insurance; Lifetime pet insurance, simplified. With their support we are able to host these events for you and create a space for those important, honest conversations.

**London Bridge – poor health, bad debts but a Grade I pub at the end** This walk is presented by Central London Humanists and led by volunteer Robert Hall. Humanists believe we have just one life to be lived rationally and well, with compassion for others. This event is a guided walk of +/- 2.25 hours pointing out places of interest. We will be walking 3.5 Km / 2.2 miles. This walk is a companion to the walk we did from Borough station almost exactly a year ago and there is a slight overlap. Amongst highlights we see a former church that is now being put to better use, view a building containing an operating theatre dating from 1822, a rather more modern hospital, the site of a debtors prison and a rather puzzling statue of Alfred the Great. We’ll also meet Henry (no – not the vacuum cleaner!). **Date:** Saturday 16th May 2026 **Time:** 2 pm with a prompt departure at 2.15 pm **Place:** Toilets at London Bridge Mainline station. The toilets are not well signposted so leave plenty of time to find them! **Finishes:** About 4.30 pm at The George, 75 Borough High St, Southwark SE1 1NH The walk is led by Robert – 07981963681. He can be contacted for further information but please note he won’t be able to respond to messages or calls after the walk has started. **The formal bit:** These walks are not suitable for dogs, sorry. CLH events are 18+ unless accompanied by a parent or guardian. The maximum group size is 40 people. If you have signed up but find you can't attend, **please change your RSVP** on Meetup (it’s very easy to do) as soon as possible so others can join. You are responsible for your own actions and safety; there is no liability on the walk leader or CLH for anything that may happen on the walk. You must be able to keep up with the walk leader at 4 Km/h (2.5 mph) for 5 Km (3 miles). It is participants' responsibility to safely cross roads. Where appropriate, pedestrian controlled lights will be used and obeyed unless it is obvious that the whole group can cross safely. When the group stops at a point of interest, please be mindful not to block pavements so members of the public can pass by safely. Don’t forget this is the UK and it may rain at any time! The walk will go ahead whatever the weather unless conditions are dangerous so please bring clothing for all seasons. **A donation of £3 to Central London Humanists would be appreciated.** The majority of Central London Humanists events are free, but we welcome a £3 contribution per head. This helps towards the running and organising of events, as well as various admin expenses. If you can't attend and would still like to contribute, or would prefer to pay online, please **[click here](https://checkout.square.site/merchant/ML71XMH66FX5E/checkout/ALWCDLQ3S7AVPLFZ62PZGXLU)**. We encourage anyone who is interested in Humanism and Central London Humanists to consider becoming a member: * If you wish to register as a full member of CLH (no membership fee) please register on our website: [https://centrallondonhumanists.org.uk/signup](https://centrallondonhumanists.org.uk/signup) * If you wish to join Humanists UK and support its work to promote humanism in British life, please go to: [Humanists UK – Think for yourself, act for everyone](https://humanists.uk/) We encourage dialogue, debate, and sharing of information, but ask people to keep their comments cordial. Any individual's views expressed (most definitely including the walk leader!) do not necessarily reflect the views of the group at large.

Sunday rehearsal with Castellers of London. Meet us at the OBC Community Centre to help build human towers! This get together is a great opportunity for you to meet new friends, socialise and have a go and explore your abilities as a human tower builder a.k.a Casteller! For newcomers we have a team of trained Castellers who will introduce you to the group, guide you through the activity and help you safely take part in this unique Catalan tradition. When you arrive just approach us as we are really friendly! If in doubt ask for Cuss! Please let us know if you are bringing guests. After the rehearsal we go to a nearby pub for social drinks where everyone is welcome :) What do you need? 1. Ideally a cotton shirt: to protect your neck and shoulders, the more durable the shirt/top the better. We do not recommend any thin items of clothing! 2. Jeans: allowing you to move freely without breaking. 3. Mask: We still require the use of a mask as you will be very close to your fellow Castellers - basically you will be hugging people! The rest of the equipment is on us! We take health and safety very seriously, both in relation to COVID-19 and also the activity- please be assured that the safety of all participants is of the utmost importance to us and we take all necessary precautions to minimize the risk, ensuring we all have a great time! Our regular members won't be filling in the Meet Up to say they are going 🙂 So don't be put off if you see only a handful have said they are going. A minimum of 25 on the day is normal. What the Meet Up may show is how many new people like yourself are going.

If you love anime & manga then please join us for our weekly meetups, where we basically just sit, chat and read anime & manga! We usually sit in the back of the pub. If the weather is nice we may sit outside at the back of the pub, or even outside on the downstairs floor. In this meetup, you can BYOM (bring your own manga) or read one from the selection we will bring. See this as an opportunity to discover, recommend or simply enjoy Japanese comics & anime with like-minded people! Note: This is not a book club. Also, the TCR bar is kind enough to allow us to use their space to host this meetup, and has asked if possible for attendees to support the venue by purchasing a drink or food while you're there. Please don't bring your own food or drink to consume at the venue, as the venue does not allow this!

You want to do your best! You want to realise your potential! You want to make the right decisions at the right time! Obviously- you want to be a success! Do you have all the skills in place? Do you have areas in your life or personality that are weaker and you feel can stop you or hold you back? Would you like a free personal consultation to help locate your strengths and weaker areas? We can help you to maximise on your potential. If you would like a free 1 hour consult then register now! We have various times available for your own personal consultation This is hosted at the Scientology Life Improvement Centre in London. We use the Oxford Capacity Analysis test. https://www.scientology-london.org.uk/personality-test/

MCP is changing how developers build with AI, but we're just scratching the surface. Join us for an evening of talks that go beyond retrieval to explore what's actually possible when you give agents real tools, real constraints and real APIs. **Agenda** ​6:00 PM - Doors open, registration and networking ​6:10 PM - Welcome (Upsun & Cloudflare) ​6:20 PM - MCP: Context is Everything! - Carly Richmond, Elastic ​6:45 PM - Sandboxes: how to limit agents so we can use them more - Patrick Dawkins, Upsun ​7:00 PM - Break (Food & Drinks) ​7:30 PM - Cooking with MCP in VS Code - Liam Hampton, Microsoft ​7:55 PM - Efficient tools with MCP code mode - Confidence Okoghenun, Cloudflare ​8:15 PM - Open networking and drinks ​9:00 PM - Close 🗣️ ​**Talks** ​**MCP: Context is Everything! - Carly Richmond (Developer Advocate Lead, Elastic)** ​MCP is a powerful tool for giving LLMs capabilities to not just retrieve information, but to automate key actions based on relevant data. Let’s see how it can be used for retrieving relevant context and other activities such as observability. ​**Efficient tools with MCP code mode - Confidence Okoghenun (Senior Developer Advocate, Cloudflare)** ​Traditional MCP approaches choke on context windows: Cloudflare's 2,500+ endpoint API would require 1.17 million tokens. Code Mode flips the script by having LLMs write code against typed APIs instead of making direct tool calls, achieving 99.9% token reduction. Come learn how code mode works and how to optimize your MCP tools with it. ​**Sandboxes: how to limit agents so we can use them more - Patrick Dawkins (Principal Engineer, Upsun)** ​We want our agents to run longer and use more tools, but we're hampered by constant prompts for approval. Sandboxes are the practical middle ground: isolate the agent so you can stop watching every command and let it work. This talk covers what "sandbox" means, who provides them today and the Linux primitives that let you build one yourself. ​**Cooking with MCP in VS Code - Liam Hampton (Senior Cloud Advocate, Microsoft)** ​In this session Liam will show you how VS Code is fully supporting the MCP spec, from MCP Apps to sandboxing and elicitations. 📅 **Date and Time:** Thursday, May 14, from 6:00-9:00 PM 📍 **Location:** Cloudflare Address: 6th Floor, County Hall/The, Riverside Building, Belvedere Rd, London SE1 7PB, UK 👉 You can also register here: https://luma.com/eb8j6lhu ⚠️ Please make sure you provided your full name (no nicknames or abbreviations will be allowed) and to bring your ID card as it will be mandatory to show it upon check-in to security. Entry will be first come, first served. We recommend arriving early to make sure you get in. **⚡️ Interested in giving a talk? ⚡️** Have you ever considered presenting on your Elastic use case? We welcome 5-10 minute lightning talks, 45-minute deep dives, and everything in between. If you're interested, please submit via our [CFP](https://sessionize.com/elastic-meetups/) or send us an email at [meetups@elastic.co.](http://meetups@elastic.co./)

Practical AI for Power BI Developers A year ago, “agentic AI” was mostly hype for Power BI teams. Today, it deserves your undivided attention. For Power BI pros, there is now a real opportunity to reduce repetitive development work, accelerate delivery, and help developers do more, but only when strong DataOps practices are in place to make AI workflows effective. This session is a no-nonsense introduction to effective AI patterns for Power BI and Fabric development. Along the way, we will make sense of the growing pile of terminology, including skills, plugins, hooks, and MCP. You will see examples of how modern AI tooling can help with development tasks across Power BI and Fabric, along with the prerequisites, guardrails, and DataOps principles needed to use it responsibly. Whether you're burned out on AI hype or already using Copilot CLI daily, this session will show you the foundations that are finally making AI-assisted development genuinely useful.

Main Library, Meeting Room 2B Join us for a welcoming evening of reflection, gentle music, and meaningful conversation. We’ll begin with a short grounding moment, followed by a brief reading from spiritual or philosophical traditions, and an open reflection circle where participants can share (or simply listen). Libera Animae is an interfaith community focused on inner growth, creativity, and authentic connection. All backgrounds are welcome.

Bring your business cards and network in person with other business professionals! Gold Star Referral Clubs is one of the most established professional networking organizations in the country, with multiple groups in central Ohio. Join us!

Sleep in on Sundays. When you've had your fill of pajama-time, roll out and have some tasty brunch with your fellow Humanists!

**Total Eclipse of the Chart: School Redistricting Dashboards** In this presentation, we will explore the utilization of maps, sets, and SQL within a Tableau dashboard to help provide “what-if” analyses generated through the use of a mapped dashboard, providing different scenarios and the potential implications of these. While in this use case we are focused on a large school district, the concepts of utilizing existing data to explore the future impacts of modifying different geographic boundaries can be useful to many industries, balancing the mix of maps with visual analytics. **About Our Speaker** Robert Kramer is the Data Systems and State Reporting Coordinator at South Western City Schools in Grove City. He has worked there for 17 years, serving previously in the roles of Data Analyst, Programmer, and Operations Coordinator. Prior to working at South Western, he worked as a Systems Engineer at Pinnacle Data Systems in Groveport. He graduated in 2005 from The University of Toledo with his Bachelor’s in Computer Science and Engineering, and a minor in Mathematics. Robert resides in Obetz with his wife, and their 15 and 12 year-old daughters. He was also just elected to his 3rd four-year term on the Obetz City Council. 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)

Start your week the right way with Manic Mondays. Giving you an enjoyable Bachata lesson with a push of cool moves. The second hour has Beginner/Intermediate Salsa on 1. You must understand basic Salsa skills to participate. 730pm-830pm Bachata Cool Moves 830pm-930pm Salsa On 1 (Beginner/Intermediate) 15 for One Class 20 for Both Free Parking & Plenty of Dance Space. Viva Dance Columbus 2809 Festival Lane Dublin OH 43017

Customer identity resolution becomes increasingly complex as organizations scale across multiple systems, regions, and data formats. Traditional rule-based approaches often fail to keep up with data variability, require constant manual tuning, and struggle with real-time processing needs. This session presents a practical approach to building a scalable identity resolution pipeline using AWS services and modern AI techniques. The architecture combines data ingestion through Amazon S3 and AWS Glue, transformation pipelines using Spark on EMR, and machine learning models deployed via SageMaker for entity matching and standardization. Graph-based relationship modeling is implemented using Amazon Neptune to improve resolution accuracy by incorporating household and shared attribute context. We will walk through how machine learning models can be used for name and address normalization, how intelligent blocking strategies improve matching efficiency, and how feedback loops can be introduced to continuously improve accuracy. The session also highlights how serverless components such as AWS Lambda can be used for orchestration and real-time processing. **SPEAKER BIO** Mosaic Syed is a Senior Data Engineering and Cloud Solutions Architect with over 20 years of experience designing and delivering scalable, secure, and high-performance data solutions across global enterprise environments. https://www.linkedin.com/in/mosaic-basha-syed-92300856 **CALL FOR SPEAKERS** Learn more: [https://www.awscolumbus.com/get-involved/](https://www.awscolumbus.com/get-involved/) **THANK YOU** *VEEAM* for hosting our meetup! To learn more about *Veeam*, please visit their website: [https://www.veeam.com/](https://www.veeam.com/) **DIRECTIONS** 8800 Lyra Dr #450 · Columbus, OH go to 4th floor. **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