Lisp

**Venue:** Riverbank House, 2 Swan Ln, London EC4R 3AD **Please note:** 1\. 🚨🚨🚨 A valid photo ID is required by building security\. 🚨🚨🚨 2\. This event follows the [NumFOCUS Code of Conduct](https://numfocus.org/code-of-conduct). Please familiarise yourself with it before attending. If your RSVP status says "You're going" you will be able to get in. No need to show your RSVP confirmation when signing in. If you can no longer make it, please unRSVP as soon as possible. **Code of Conduct:** This event follows the NumFOCUS Code of Conduct. Please get in touch with the organisers with any questions or concerns. As always, there will be free food and drinks, generously provided by our host, Man Group. **Main Talks** 1. [Robin Linacre](https://www.linkedin.com/in/robinlinacre/) - **Rapid deduplication and fuzzy matching of large datasets using Splink** This talk introduces Splink, a free and open source Python library for probabilistic record linkage and deduplication at scale. I’ll explain the core ideas behind the approach, show how it can be used in practice, and reflect on the opportunities of building open source tools from within the public sector. Data deduplication is a common data quality challenge: it arises whenever multiple records are collected about the same person, organisation, or entity without a shared unique identifier. This talk will introduce the core ideas behind probabilistic record linkage and show how Splink, a free and open source Python library developed at the UK Ministry of Justice, can be used to link and deduplicate large datasets quickly and accurately. I’ll cover the practical steps involved in training linkage models, using unsupervised learning, improving performance and accuracy, and visualising results and diagnostics. I’ll also touch on what it has been like to build and maintain open source tooling from within the UK public sector, and the opportunities this creates for solving problems at citizen scale. The talk is aimed at people with basic experience working with tabular data in Python, and assumes no prior knowledge of record linkage. 2. [Filip Makraduli](https://www.linkedin.com/in/filipmakraduli/) - **Small Model Inference Infrastructure: Lessons Beyond vLLM** Embedding models are evolving rapidly, from dense-only architectures, to hybrid dense+sparse (BGE-M3), multi-vector late interaction (ColBERT), and vision-language models (ColQwen2, SigLIP). Yet while LLM serving infrastructure is well-established (vLLM, SGLang), small model deployment still relies on inefficient single-model containers or custom-built systems. Production teams face a dilemma: deploy dozens of single-model containers with 5-10% GPU utilization, or invest months building complex multi-model infrastructure. This talk explains some of the key concepts of embedding inference and how it is different to LLM inference. 3. [Ian Ozsvald](https://www.linkedin.com/in/ianozsvald/) - **Build your own LLM, Live, with MicroGPT** Andrej Karpathy's MicroGPT is a single file no dependency mini GPT, you can run it live with me. We'll talk about how GPT works, we'll look at the code, we'll reflect on the Torch-based nanoGPT "big brother" and you'll end the talk with stronger intuitions about how our next best token guessing overlords are working. Plus you'll have a mini GPT running on your laptop in 200 lines of Python. \-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\- **Logistics** * Doors open at **6.30 pm** (get there early as you'll need to sign in with building security). * Talks start at **7:00 pm**, with drinks afterwards from **9:00 pm** at The Banker (EC4). We have reduced capacity for this event, but there will be plenty of people to discuss data science questions with. Please unRSVP in good time if you realise you can't make it. We're limited by building security on the number of attendees, so please free up your place for your fellow community members. If you want me to trim lightning talks down to two or shorten any abstracts, say which ones.

Join us for a fun and engaging morning filled with conversations and connections with international friends at the English Conversation Café in Chelsea. DOORS OPEN FROM 9:30AM A chance to meet new people, share stories and practice your English in a relaxed and welcoming environment. There will be a different topic every week for us to focus our conversations on. Every Tuesday morning - term time only. Food and drink provided, free of charge! No need to bring anything, just yourself!

**Tuesday Badminton Session – 8:00–10:00pm at Queen Mother Sports Centre, Victoria** **Venue** Queen Mother Sports Centre (Everyone Active), 223 Vauxhall Bridge Road, SW1V 1EL It’s a 5‑minute walk from Victoria Station. Full sports hall with 5 courts. **RSVP Required** Everyone attending must RSVP in advance. Members can also confirm by email or text. **Session Fee** £14 per session Includes premium feather shuttles. **Payment** Please pay at the start of the session. First‑timers must pay in cash due to previous no‑shows and non‑payment. All first‑timers must also register on our in‑house MatchMaking app before joining the courts. If you haven’t registered, you won’t be able to start playing. Mobile reception in the hall is poor, so if you are set up to pay by bank transfer, you must pay in advance before attending. If we have to chase payment afterwards, the fee becomes £20. Bank transfer is available from your second session onwards once it’s set up and we confirm your playing level fits the standard of the club. Please only attend if you have RSVP’d on Meetup and are able to pay the session fee on arrival or have already transferred in advance. If payment still isn’t settled, you will be removed from the group and blocked from attending future sessions. The same applies to no‑shows who do not release their RSVP within the cancellation policy. **Membership Options** We are a membership‑based club and offer several membership options if a place is offered to you and your playing level fits the club. If membership isn’t for you, pay‑as‑you‑play is also available by RSVP on meetup. Full details: [https://www.sidsbadmintonclub.org.uk/membership.php](https://www.sidsbadmintonclub.org.uk/membership.php?utm_source=copilot.com "www.sidsbadmintonclub.org.uk") **Skill Level** We keep a good standard at our Tuesday sessions, but don’t worry if you’re a bit rusty or haven’t played for a while. We’ll help you find your level. Our MatchMaking app grades you over your first three consecutive sessions, and we offer a three‑session trial for £36 so you can settle in and see where you fit. As a guide, Tuesday sessions are for intermediate to strong intermediate ladies, and strong intermediate to advanced men. If you’re unsure of your level, come along — we’ll assess it on court and point you in the right direction. **What’s Included** • Premium feather shuttles (Yonex, Yehlex, Victor) • 5 courts • Fair and organised rotation • Players grouped by level • Optional grade‑based competitive courts in the last 30 minutes when possible. • MatchMaking app available for those who want to track results **Cancellation Policy** Please cancel at least 12 hours before the session. Late cancellations or no‑shows will be charged the full fee. Outstanding fees must be cleared before attending again. **Parking** Free after 6:30pm on single yellow lines and after 7:00pm on single red lines. Always check local signs. **Liability** Sid’s Badminton Club is NOT responsible for personal property loss or injury. **Questions** Message us on Meetup or email info@sidsbadmintonclub.org.uk Website: [www.sidsbadmintonclub.org.uk](http://www.sidsbadmintonclub.org.uk/) Looking forward to seeing you on court. Sid’s Badminton Club

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!

**BOOK HERE**: https://sportas.co.uk/games/45396 **Game Description:** Come and play Tuesday evenings Lower-Intermediate volleyball session in Poplar 🔥 Picturesque court with plenty of serving space and also space to stay warm on the side when your team is off waiting for the next game 🙌 **Rules** 3 teams of 6 Games to 15 points

Free English lessons in London taught by our trainee teachers! **[Register Here](https://www.dcteachertraining.com/london-free-english-lessons)** Location: St Giles London Central, 154 Southampton Row, WC1B 5JX (Nearest Tube: Russell Square) Afternoons * Monday to Friday (each weekday) * 1:50pm to 4:00pm Levels available: Pre-Intermediate (A2), Upper Intermediate (B2) (Lessons for adults only - 18 years+) We can't wait to welcome you to the English lessons!

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.

Do you want to submit a talk to a Postgres conference? Do you want to try out the challenge of fitting a bunch of interesting information into 5 minutes for a lightning talk? Can you talk for 1 to 2 minutes on a Postgres topic you've just heard? On the 6th of May, we will be back at Star of Kings, running an event which is all about speakers and speaking. With the Call for Papers for PGDay UK closing on the 12th, we are inviting anyone who has a talk idea, is unsure of whether the topic fills the time, or just might enjoy a bit of technical improv to join us. If you would like to present a talk or a lightning talk, please get in touch. We will update this event description a people come forward. In the absence of any volunteers it will be Postgres-themed improv talks and, maybe, an organiser taking a talk for a spin. Don't let it come to that :)

Improve your Spanish/English with a bunch of friendly people over a pint! ¡Puedes mejorar tù Español/Ingles con un grupo de personas amables con una bebida!

Join us on May 7th from **6:00pm** for a Data Streaming meetup hosted by **[Fresha](https://www.fresha.com/)**! 📍**Venue:** **Fresha** The Tower, 207 Old Street London, EC1V 9NR 7th Floor **PLEASE bring your PHOTO ID and REGISTER with your First and Last Name, Email. Thanks!** **DOORS CLOSE AT 7PM FOR SECURITY.** 🗓 **Agenda:** * 6:00pm – 6:30pm: Food/Drinks and Networking * 6:30pm - 7:00pm: Anton Borisov, Principal Data Engineer, Fresha & Nicoleta Lazar, Sr. Data Engineer, Fresha * 7:00pm - 7:30pm: Olena Kutsenko, Staff Developer Advocate, Confluent * 7:30pm - 8:00pm: Tom Scott, Founder & CEO, Streambased * 8:00pm - 9:00pm: Q&A Networking 💡**Speaker One:** Anton Borisov, Principal Data Engineer, Fresha & Nicoleta Lazar, Sr. Data Engineer, Fresha **Title of Talk:** Apache Fluss: Streaming Storage for Real-Time Analytics **Abstract:** Apache Flink has largely solved streaming computation, but state management remains a bottleneck. Operator state—often backed by RocksDB—is scoped to individual jobs, making it hard to share state across pipelines without re-emitting it through systems like Apache Kafka. This leads to expensive joins and added operational complexity. Apache Fluss (incubating) addresses this by externalizing state into a streaming storage layer backed by S3. Its PrimaryKey tables act as upsertable key-value stores with replicated changelogs, enabling shared state tables accessible from Flink, Spark, or native clients. With Flink 2.1’s Delta Join, both sides of a join can perform lookups against Fluss-managed indexes—eliminating the need for large join state altogether. In this talk, we’ll introduce Fluss, show key use cases like CDC enrichment and bilateral joins, and share lessons from running it in production on EKS —including the trade-offs and rough edges we encountered. 💡**Speaker Two:** Olena Kutsenko, Staff Developer Advocate, Confluent **Title of Talk:** The journey of a record from Kafka topic to analytics table **Abstract:** Modern data platforms increasingly rely on streaming systems like Apache Kafka as the source of truth—but turning event streams into reliable, queryable analytics tables is far from trivial. This talk explores what really has to happen when moving data from a Kafka topic into an Apache Iceberg table. Beyond simple ingestion, we will walk through the essential steps: schema evolution, data normalization, partitioning, exactly-once guarantees, late-arriving events, and table maintenance. Using Confluent Tableflow as one concrete example, we will examine how these challenges can be addressed in practice. Along the way, we will compare alternative approaches—such as Kafka Connect sinks, stream processing pipelines, and custom ingestion frameworks—to highlight trade-offs in correctness, latency, and operational complexity. The goal is not to promote a single solution, but to provide a mental model for designing robust streaming-to-lakehouse pipelines, helping you understand what matters regardless of the tooling you choose. **Bio:** Olena is a Staff Developer Advocate at Confluent and a recognized expert in data streaming and analytics. With two decades of experience in software engineering, she has built mission-critical applications, led high-performing teams, and driven large-scale technology adoption at industry leaders like Nokia, HERE Technologies, AWS, and Aiven. A passionate advocate for real-time data processing and AI-driven applications, Olena empowers developers and organizations to use the power of streaming data. She is an AWS Community Builder, a dedicated mentor, and a volunteer instructor at a nonprofit tech school, helping to shape the next generation of engineers. As an international speaker and thought leader, Olena regularly presents at top global conferences, sharing deep technical insights and hands-on expertise. Whether through her talks, workshops, or content, she is committed to making complex technologies accessible and inspiring innovation in the developer community. 💡**Speaker Three:** Tom Scott, Founder & CEO, Streambased **Title of Talk:** *Infinite Kafka? Rethinking Retention with Iceberg* **Abstract:** Apache Kafka is designed for high-throughput, low-latency event streaming, not cost-efficient long-term storage. Yet we constantly see cases like event sourcing, audit/compliance, and large-scale reprocessing forcing that pattern onto it. As retention increases, costs grow linearly to support edge cases, one-time runs, and “checkbox” use cases. Can Iceberg help here? In this talk, Tom explores a hybrid architecture that separates hot and cold data while preserving Kafka’s log semantics. Using a combination of Kafka and Apache Iceberg, he demonstrates how to extend Kafka into low-cost object storage, enabling effectively unlimited retention without sacrificing performance or access patterns. The result is a unified log that supports both real-time processing and long-term replay, removing the traditional trade-off between cost and capability in Kafka-based systems. **Bio:** Long-time enthusiast of Kafka and all things data integration, Tom has more than 15 years of experience in innovative and efficient ways to store, query, and move data. Tom is currently CEO at Streambased, a company focused on unifying operational and analytical data estates into a single, consistent, and efficient data layer. \*\*\* If you are interested in hosting/speaking at a meetup, please email community@confluent.io

**Pre-Registration is REQUIRED. RSVP here - [https://luma.com/ppyy0sqw](https://luma.com/ppyy0sqw)** ## 🚀 From OpenClaw to Cowork: The Rise of Agentic AI in 2026 **Agentic AI is moving beyond chat and into execution.** Join us for an evening of deep-dive insights as we explore the shift from simple LLM interactions to autonomous, AI-native workflows. Whether you’re a developer, product manager, or business leader, this session will help you navigate the practical future of AI agents. ## The Speaker **Sheamus McGovern,** *Founder of ODSC AI \| Venture Partner at Cortical Ventures \| Author of "The AI Skill Flip"* ## The Topic: The Rise of Agentic AI In this talk, Sheamus explores how tools like **OpenClaw**, **Claude Cowork**, and the emerging **Model Context Protocol (MCP)** are starting to automate real workflows. We’ll move past the hype to look at how agents are working across tools and systems to solve actual production challenges in 2026. ## Our Partners A huge thank you to our partner **[Snowflake](https://www.snowflake.com/en/)** for supporting the London AI community and providing the incredible venue for this event. ## Details * **Date:** 7th May, 2026 * **Time:** 18:00 – 20:00 BST (London Time) * **Perks:** Pizza and soda will be provided 🍕🥤 * **Venue:** Snowflake HQ, 3 Crown Place, London EC2A 4EF, UK ## Agenda * **18:00 - 18:30:** Networking, Pizza, & Drinks * **18:30 - 19:15:** Talk: From OpenClaw to Cowork (Sheamus McGovern) * **19:15 - 19:30:** Interactive Q&A * **19:30 - 20:00:** Closing & Community Networking Come ready to learn, connect with London's AI community, and see what the next phase of automation looks like in practice! **Some useful links:** • Get free access to more talks/trainings like this at Ai+ Training platform: [https://aiplus.training/](https://aiplus.training/) [•](https://hubs.li/H0Zycsf0%EF%BF%BC%E2%80%A2?utm_source=luma) ODSC blog: [https://opendatascience.com/](https://opendatascience.com/) [•](https://opendatascience.com/%EF%BF%BC%E2%80%A2?utm_source=luma) Slack Channel: [https://hubs.li/Q038cQBy0](https://hubs.li/Q038cQBy0) [•](https://hubs.li/Q02ZkDV90%EF%BF%BC%E2%80%A2?utm_source=luma) Code of conduct: [https://odsc.ai/code-of-conduct/](https://odsc.ai/code-of-conduct/)

We're excited to invite you to ***our next Meetup***! Join fellow graph enthusiasts, Neo4j developers, and members of the AI community as we explore how graphs, knowledge graphs, and context engineering can unlock smarter applications and better answers. We look forward to connecting with the community to exchange ideas on graphs, tech, and AI - join the discussion! Session 1: **From Weak Assistants to Super Agents** Sefik Serengil, Senior Software Developer - Neo4j Session 2: **The Latest on Working with Agents** Baptiste Fernandez, DevRel - Tessl A synthesis of data, experiments, and developer feedback on how to build with agents and steer them in practice.

Let's grab some coffee/food and share a morning chat! The East Market has an ample parking lot and outdoor and indoor seating. Grab a cup of coffee from Winston's Coffee & Waffles or on your way to East Market and meet us on the second floor - table behind or east of the elevator. Per what this group is about: "Everyone is welcome! International transplants to Columbus who want to improve language skills, Columbus residents who enjoy talking to people from other countries, and those who would like to discuss international travel and culture, and who enjoy getting together for good conversations."

Come out to Improving for our monthly iOS and Mac meetings. This Month's Presentation: Nothing yet. (You should volunteer). What is Cocoaheads (http://cocoaheads.org/)? CocoaHeads is a group devoted to discussion of Apple Computer's Cocoa Framework for programming on MacOS X and iOS (including the iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch). During monthly meetings, members present on their projects and offer tutorials on various programming topics. What is BuckeyeCocoa (http://buckeyecocoa.org/)? BuckeyeCocoa is a group of Objective-C/Swift developers/enthusiasts. We host monthly Cocoaheads and near-weekly NSCoder meetings in Columbus, Ohio. The meetings are free to attend. Presentations! Presenters welcome! We are always in need of people willing to present material. Any Swift and/or Objective-C related topic is welcome. Times can be 5 minutes (i.e. lightning talks) to a maximum of 2 hours. Interested? Contact info is on the BuckeyeCocoa website. To volunteer for a presentation contact us at @BuckeyeCocoa on Twitter. Follow us on Twitter! @BuckeyeCocoa (https://twitter.com/#!/Buckeyecocoa/) For more information: http://buckeyecocoa.org/

Rev. Steven Clevenger is an ordained spiritualist minister with over 40 years experience as a Spiritual Healer, Clairvoyant and Spiritual Teacher, educated and trained at the White Lily Chapel. Rev. Siobhan Wolf Shaffer is an ordained spiritualist minister and certified medium and healer with over 20 years experience. She began her development in 1988 in Pennsylvania and continued when she moved to Ohio in 1998 where she studied at Rays of Lights Church with Rev. Steven Clevenger. Our full worship services consist of an inspirational lecture, healing meditation, and messages from the spirit world that serve to demonstrate evidence of eternal life. Please visit our Official Church Website (http://raysoflightchurch.com) for more information.

**Improving Office in Franklinton** Physical location: Improving Office 330 Rush Alley Suite #150 Columbus, OH 43215 Schedule: 6:00 p.m.: Socialize, eat, and drink. Improving will be providing pizza and beverages. 6:30 to 8:00 pm. Main meeting and presentation(s). Topic: This month John Lairson will share a notebook describing the Alpaca (Paper) Trading API and discuss different algorithms for evaluating stock trades. We meet on the last Monday of each Month. Presentations are given by members and friends of this group. If you would like to do a presentation (small or large) on a python topic, please contact Central OH Python at centralohpython@gmail.com

We will have our certified mediums available and you can receive 3 10-minute readings for $20. To keep you safe, we will be following all CDC and Health Dept. guidelines at our psychic fair today. Sitters and readers required to wear a mask. We will maintain a minimum of 6 foot physical distance during readings. Please, if you can, bring your own portable chair to use during your readings. Please note that we are at our wonderful new home at Unity of Columbus, 4211 Maize Road, Columbus, OH

Join us for a practical, beginner-friendly guide to choosing the right large language model. We’ll compare major models like ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and Llama, talk about when to use hosted APIs versus local models, and break down the tradeoffs around cost, speed, quality, privacy, context windows, coding ability, and reliability. You’ll leave with a clearer mental model for picking an LLM based on your actual use case instead of hype, benchmarks, or brand names. No deep AI background required. 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.

**Latest Dojo Location!** **Knotty Pine Brewing** 1765 W 3rd Ave, Columbus, OH 43212 We're going to try a new dojo location for a few weeks and see how it works Dojos are informal Python group study sessions where everyone interested in Python gathers to learn about Python, help others with Python, or just hang out. Everyone is welcome from Python beginners to experts. Bringing a laptop is encouraged (we'll have extension cords and power strips). If there's something you want to learn leave a comment on this invite so we can plan ahead. We're looking for speakers for our Monthly Meetups! Fill out the form if you are interested in presenting to the Python Community. https://forms.gle/ehSfUAC2WgR34Crq9