M2M Machine-to-Machine

Looking for a relaxed evening to unwind, get creative, and meet like-minded people? Join us on the first Wednesday of every month at Halfway House Pub, Earlsfield, from 7:00pm–9:30pm for a casual craft club. There are no classes, no expectations, and no pressure to be "good" at crafting—just a friendly space to spend a few hours making something and chatting with others. Bring your own project if you're already working on something, whether that's knitting, crochet, embroidery, sketching, journaling, model making, or any other portable craft. If you don't have a project, don't worry—we'll have supplies available for everyone to enjoy, including adult colouring books, yarn, knitting needles, crochet hooks, and simple craft materials. Come for the whole evening or just drop in when you can. Grab a drink, settle in, and enjoy a creative midweek break. Everyone is welcome, from complete beginners to experienced crafters.

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

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.***

WEDNESDAYS at Hammersmith Salsa Club, Hammersmith, London Open Every Wednesday Hammersmith Salsa & Bachata Club, 11 Rutland Grove, Hammersmith, W6 9DH (http://www.incognitodance.com/hammersmith-salsa-club-west-london/) 7pm – 11:00 pm Bachata Classes: 7:30pm – 8:20pm (6 levels) Salsa Classes 8:30 -9:20pm (6 levels) No prior bookings are needed, just turn up and dance. Absolute beginners are warmly welcomed. Wear comfortable shoes and light clothes, to keep you dancing comfortably all night £10 Club Only £16 Two Classes + Club Usually has 200+ dancers every week Fun & friendly classes for dancers of all levels. Plenty of social dancing to the latest Latin grooves.

Let's read Modern Standard Arabic together and help each other. This get-together continues weekly. Please disregard attendee numbers, as most members come without registering here. There is no charge for this time together.

☀️ Summer Time After Work Club ☀️ Long days, golden evenings, and good company, this is your invite to a midweek exhale. Join a relaxed, childfree circle of like-minded women for easy chats, refreshing drinks, and a little sunshine therapy after the workday ends. Whether you want to unwind, laugh, vent, or just soak up the vibe, this is your space to connect and enjoy the summer nights ✌️🫶 ✨ Come as you are. Stay as long as you like ✨

**BOOK HERE**: https://sportas.co.uk/games/49793 **Game Description:** We’re opening up \*\*2 courts at In2Sports\*\* for a fun \*\*King/Queen of the Court–style tournament\*\*. Here’s how it works: 🏐 \*Format\* \- 2 matches at the same time \- Winners move to \*\*Court A\*\*\, losers referee the next round before playing again \- Teams rotate based on match results \- Matches are \*\*12 minutes each\*\*\, aiming for \~8 rounds total \- Max \*\*3 consecutive wins\*\* on Court A \(after that\, the challenger stays regardless of result\) 🌈 \*Rules\* \- Mixed net height\, \*\*no gender restrictions\*\* \- Hosts manage timekeeping ⏰ \- Resting teams help with refereeing 🚩 \- Court A videos uploaded to Balltime\.ai for rewatching 🎥 and highlights editing\. 💸 \*Sign Up Options\* \- 👥 \*Team signup\*: £60 per team \(≈£10 pp\) \- 👤 \*Solo signup\*: £12 per player **Rules** -Winner stays on (maximum 3 consecutive games) -Each game lasts 12 minutes -Court winners move on to play each other in the next round -Mixed net – all genders welcome -Teams rotate as referees when not playing -6 teams total, with 6–7 players per team \*Privacy policy for games sessions\* By attending this game session, you agree to the following: \* Video recordings/photos are allowed only during the games \* Attending means consenting to recordings by the organiser which will be shared via private links \* Distribution limited to session participants only \* Explicit consent required for any public sharing \* Respect others' privacy and comfort \*Please contact the co-organisers if you have any questions about the policy.

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.

**Bookable via our website ➡️** [https://www.thegoodlifecentre.co.uk/events/intro-to-machine-sewing-1-day-89/](https://www.thegoodlifecentre.co.uk/events/intro-to-machine-sewing-1-day-89/) ⋆⋆⋆ If you would love to run up some new clothes or just fix a seam but are daunted by all those controls on a sewing machine, our one-day workshop will demystify them all and send you home with newfound confidence and a simple item you will make during the day. Experienced tutor Ian McQueen will guide you through how to recognise all the parts of a machine, thread the bobbins, and sew neat rows of stitching on basic materials. How to read rulers and tape measures and cut fabric accurately. Make hems, seam allowances and French seams. We have various user-friendly machines for you to try which will help you choose if you are planning on purchasing one soon. Bring lots of questions and we will supply everything else. Our classes are small and each person has a machine to themselves for the day. This is an excellent confidence booster and a great primer for all of our project sewing courses.

🟤 THE FIRST 10 TICKETS ARE **£4.50 ONLY** 🟢 REMAINING TICKETS ONLINE ARE **£9.50 ONLY** 🟣 TICKETS AT THE DOOR ARE **£15** **Click The Link Below To Buy Tickets**: [https://www.eventbrite.com/e/1987834350052](https://www.eventbrite.com/e/1987834350052) In this workshop Ryan explains how conversations function, how to make them flow with brain training exercises that can be practiced to get sharper at conversations. This also helps conversations to be more engaging for everyone involved including yourself. 🟡 - Get rid of awkward silences in your conversations 🟤 - Make your conversations flow smoothly ⚪ - Make your conversations more engaging for everyone involved including yourself 🔴 - Indirectly benefit other areas of your social skills because if you’re not thinking about how to keep the 🟢 - conversation flowing you have more free thinking space to focus on other areas like humour or body language 🔴- Decrease your nervousness in social situations as often nervousness comes from not knowing what to say 🟣 - Brain training exercises designed to increase sharpness at this area of social skills 🟡 - A challenge at the end to bring everything from the workshop together Ryan has been coaching people social skills full time for over 10 years. As a quiet & shy person he wanted to work on his own social skills & after making huge improvements plus understanding how social situations work & how to improve he developed a process to help others for every area of social skills. He has helped thousands of people over the years to improve & now has a huge following including over 180000 followers on TikTok. More info on Ryan & Social Shortcuts can be found on the website [www.socialshortcuts.com](https://www.socialshortcuts.com) After workshops we spend time hanging out together, a great opportunity to practice the workshop content & make new friends. Plus Ryan is happy to answer any questions you want to ask one to one. 🟢After this, the next workshop is: **Creating Or Joining A Social Circle Workshop** Sun, July 12, 2026, 5:45 PM - IN LONDON **[Click to purchase ticket](https://eventbrite.com/e/1987834365097)**[ - eventbrite.com/e/1987834365097](https://eventbrite.com/e/1987834365097) In this workshop Ryan explains how to easily expand, create or join a social circle with the kind of people you want to hang out with plus how to maintain it long term. Ryan also gives some brain training exercises to sharpen your conversation skills to make conversations flow. 🟡 - How social circles function 🟤 - How modern society changes the dynamics of a social circle ⚪ - How to add to your existing social circle if you have one 🔴 - How to build a completely new social circle 🟢 - How to join one that’s already existing 🔴- Ways to make sure you hang out with the types of people you want to 🟣 - How to maintain your social circle over time 🟡 - Brain training exercises designed to increase sharpness at holding & maintaining conversation In person workshops are at 40 Store St. - Store Street Espresso: London. For any questions feel free to contact Ryan or Gabriel. Please don't contact the other group organisers as they are not involved in running the event & won't be able to provide much help:
 ✉ **Ryan**: info@socialshortcuts.com
 ✉ **Gabriel**: gabrielsocialshortcuts@gmail.com **OTHER EVENTS LINED UP** 🟡 Developing Humor And Quick Thinking In Social Situations
 🟢 Persuasion Workshop
 🟤 How To Manage Emotions Workshop 5 minute documentary on our workshops - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9rlbCYdeaws We have a score of 4.9 out 5 on Trustpilot - https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/socialshortcuts.com Our WhatsApp chat where we discuss social skill, give updates about our events & you can ask questions - https://chat.whatsapp.com/H3mLsvkNJwpCcOELRX28nQ For one to one coaching on social skills and also our free trial session - [ http://www.socialshortcuts.com We have over 180000 followers on TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@socialshortcuts.com Our video courses - [https://social-shortcuts.teachable.com/p/conversation-course DISCLAIMER
This workshop is intended for educational and or entertainment purposes only. It is not intended to diagnose, treat or cure any medical condition. **Follow us on the sites below also**:
 http://www.socialshortcuts.com
http://www.youtube.com/c/socialshortcuts
http://www.facebook.com/socialshortcutsofficial
http://www.Instagram.com/socialshortcuts **📜** Mary Kay Ash **📜** Pretend that every single person you meet has a sign around his or her neck that says, ‘Make me feel important.’ Not only will you succeed in sales, you will succeed in life

**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.

**1st Sunday of every month,** join our **Cultural Club** for a fun and social way to explore Chinese culture while supercharging your language skills. This isn't just practice; it’s **accelerated progress** through content you love — transforming learning into a **fun cultural discovery**! **This Month’s Theme – Trending in China 热搜中国 📱✨** Ever wonder what’s actually taking over screens in China right now? This month, we’re stepping away from the textbooks and into the “Trending” tab! From the latest viral clips to trendy news that everyone is sharing, come decode the digital culture that’s shaping modern China today, while learning new phrases along the way! It’s fast-paced, fun, and 100% real-world. * **All levels welcome**: our expert host provides active support so you can participate with confidence, regardless of your level. * **Price:** £10 (includes all materials + refreshments 🍵✨) * **Secure your spot** - [Tap here to Pay](https://monzo.com/pay/r/china-unbound_qsboSdlMTJ8Q1R) **How it works - no 'prep work', just chat!** * **We provide the inspiration:** Each month, we hand-pick authentic "cultural gems" to share (like a song, a short clip, or book). * Feel free to bring your own material, but there's no pressure to! * **We provide the treats:** we stock up on free coffee, tea, and biscuits in our beautiful office. 🍪☕️ * **You show up and enjoy:** Watch your Mandarin skills soar with natural, real-world practice! This is the ultimate fun way to fluency. We can't wait to welcome you! \-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\- **Take your Mandarin beyond the event.** If you’re looking for a bit more structure to accelerate your learning, let’s chat! We're offering **FREE 1-on-1 course advice sessions** to help you find the perfect class. **No commitment** required. [Book your Free Session](https://eu.bigin.online/org20070515371/bookings/course-advice) **[China Unbound](https://china-unbound.co.uk/personal/)** is the best place to learn practical Chinese for adults. While most schools prioritise grammar and writing, we empower you to communicate confidently in real-world situations. Join us and discover a fun, fast, and personalised way to master Chinese! \-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-

**Please register on [Eventbrite](https://www.eventbrite.com/e/ljc-meetup-at-neo4j-smarter-search-with-spring-ai-and-neo4j-tickets-1991379537804) to join this event.** **About this event** We're excited to invite you to our next Meetup, co-hosted with neo4j! Join the London Java Community for an evening of technical talks, networking, and knowledge sharing hosted by Neo4j. This month’s meetup explores two of the hottest areas in modern software development: integrating Generative AI into Java applications and deploying Machine Learning models within Java ecosystems. Whether you’re a Java developer, architect, data engineer, or simply curious about the latest innovations shaping our industry, this session will provide practical insights and real-world examples from experienced practitioners. **SPEAKER 1** **Akmal Chaudhri**, Neo4j Title: Smarter Search with Spring AI and Neo4j Abstract: In this session, we'll walk through a Spring Boot app that integrates Spring AI with Spring Data Neo4j to build intelligent search over real Goodreads book data. We'll cover how to set up a Neo4j vector store, generate embeddings via OpenAI and expose results through a REST API. We'll also explore how graph search and vector search work together and what it takes to configure and connect these pieces in a Spring application. If you've been wondering how to bring GenAI capabilities into your existing Spring stack, this talk offers a practical, code-first look at how it all fits together. Bio: Akmal is a technical leader and evangelist with extensive experience across databases, AI and developer enablement. Specialised in technical writing, education and community strategy, he has a proven ability to translate complex technology into clear, engaging narratives that inspire learning and adoption. He is a regular international speaker, published author and contributor to thought leadership in data systems, AI and developer education. **SPEAKER 2** **Matt Scott**, CTO, Nimbus Pay & **Alex Callinan**, Data Scientist, Nimbus Pay Title: Integrating Machine Learning models with Java Abstract: This presentation walks Java developers through the full journey of integrating machine learning into their applications. It then weighs up the pros and cons of two practical deployment paths. Matt Scott bio: Matt is a cloud-native architect and fintech leader with over twenty years building secure, scalable payment platforms, including containerized JVM-based systems. As CTO of NimbusPay Technologies, he designs cloud-agnostic card issuing solutions, with deep expertise in Java architecture, distributed systems, and DevSecOps. Alex Callinan bio: Alex is a Data Scientist at NimbusPay Technologies, where he builds and ships machine learning models into production. He's passionate about bridging the gap between trained models and the real-world applications that put them to work. This event is organised by RecWorks on behalf of the London Java Community. The London Java Community is sponsored by Hazelcast, Neo4j, Redis, and Discover

**Looking for a business networking event in London with focus on business owners, agencies, service providers?** Join us in **Covent Garden** for a quality business networking hosted by digital business card app GMax Card and web/eCom agency **Getshop Today**. **What to Expect** * **Meet business owners and B2B decision-makers** across industries in a relaxed, purposeful environment. **Build partnerships, generate referrals, and connect with potential clients, suppliers, and service providers.** * Exchange ideas, spot market trends, and uncover new opportunities. * A **lightly structured event** \- not a formal conference\, nor a random pub mingle\. * An **atmosphere that feels high-quality yet relaxed,** with space for real business conversations. * Hosts are there from the start to **help with introductions.** **Who You'll Meet** * **Business owners and founders from startups to established SMEs** * **B2B service providers** and agencies looking to grow their client base * **Business decision-makers** actively seeking partnerships, referrals, and new opportunities * Local businesses and London-based professionals across industries * Business professionals visiting London looking to expand their commercial network Please note: our events are theme-led rather than closed-sector events, so you may also meet relevant professionals from adjacent areas such as finance, property, tech, and business services. **How the Evening Flows** 18:30 - Arrival 19:00 - Short introductions 19:30 - Open networking 21:30 - Close Hosts are there from the start to **help with introductions.** **Venue - Sycamore Bar at Middle Eight Hotel** A stylish, design-led bar inside the 5-star Middle Eight Hotel in central London. Located in the Covent Garden/Holborn area, just a short walk from Holborn, Covent Garden and Tottenham Court Road stations, it offers a relaxed and refined setting for business networking. **Entry & GMax Cards** * Free RSVP: Event access only * Paid ticket (when available): Includes a contactless GMax Card (ask host to claim; not distributed automatically) **Dress Code** Business / smart casual **Hosted by:** [GMax Card - a digital business card](http://www.gmaxcard.com/) platform designed for modern networking and professional connections beyond LinkedIn. Share **all** your contact details through one simple link. **Important Info** * 18+ (ID may be required) * Photos/video by [CineEye Audiovisual Production Studio](http://www.cineeye.co.uk/) (inform us if you prefer not to appear) * Attendance is at your own risk. Organisers and the venue are not liable for any injury, loss, or damage. **Limited spots - register early!** Join our [WA Business Community](https://chat.whatsapp.com/FJdEP809H5U8WQ4y4BLLS5?mode=hqctcli) to stay connected between events, and follow us on [LinkedIn](http://linkedin.com/company/gmax-card) for upcoming dates.

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.

We're planning a hands-on technical session focused on building AI solutions in ServiceNow - think skills, agents, and real-world use cases. If you’re curious about AI on the platform, RSVP now and stay tuned for more details. Let's build together!

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

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.