Public Speaking

**Join Us for PyData Meetup @ Melio!** Get ready for insightful sessions, networking with the PyData community, and, of course, pizza and beer! A big thanks to **Melio** for hosting us and supporting the community. **📅 Details** Date: Sunday, June 14th, 2026 Time: 18:00 - 21:00 Location: Melio Office, Hagag Towers, North Tower, Floor 32, HaArba’a St 28, Tel Aviv Language: This meetup will be held in Hebrew **🕒 Agenda** 18:00: Gathering, snacks, and drinks 🍕🍻 18:30: Welcome words 18:45: **A Match Made in Heaven: LLM Judgment at Vector-Search Speed,** Shon Mendelson, Staff AI Scientist @ Intuit 19:15: **Dr. Data: How We Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the AI Bomb**, Dr. Adi Sarid, CEO @ Sarid Research 19:45: **Cost-Efficient AI Systems in Practice,** Michael Levinger, Senior AI Engineer @ Melio **🎤 Featured Sessions** **A Match Made in Heaven: LLM Judgment at Vector-Search Speed** **Speaker: Shon Mendelson, Staff AI Scientist @ Intuit** Last year, I spent far too long chasing a stubborn data quirk: why our system couldn't see that “The Law Offices of John Miller” and “Miller, John S. PLLC” were the same entity. It led to a bigger question: can you achieve LLM-level judgment at vector-search speeds? Traditional vector search is fast, but often misses subtle context like this, while relying entirely on LLMs is too slow and costly for production at scale. In this talk, I’ll share how we bridged that gap at Intuit with a hybrid system that combines fast vector search, efficient small transformer-based models, and fine-tuned SLMs. The result is a system capable of handling millions of weekly entity comparisons, significantly boosting recall while maintaining precision levels comparable to traditional methods. **Dr. Data: How We Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the AI Bomb** **Speaker: Dr. Adi Sarid, CEO @ Sarid Research** When GenAI dropped, our quant market research agency had a beautifully naive thought: "We can finally replace all our human labelers with a simple API call!" Spoiler alert: Scaling AI without hallucinations isn't quite that simple. Join us for a brutally honest, technical look at our data science team's journey from prompt-panic to AI-powered productivity. We’ll share our biggest wins and hardest lessons regarding evaluation frameworks, the rapid obsolescence of custom packages, and the newfound "full-stack audacity" of modern data scientists. **Cost-Efficient AI Systems in Practice** **Speaker: Michael Levinger, Senior AI Engineer @ Melio** Deploying large language models and AI agents in real-world systems requires a constant trade-off between cost, latency, and performance. This talk explores how to optimize LLM- and agent-based systems using techniques such as caching, model routing/cascades, tuning, RAG, and distillation—significantly reducing costs without sacrificing quality. Through a case study of an ATO-agent system, we’ll also cover practical approaches to cost estimation, monitoring, and budgeting. In addition, we’ll compare leading industry models—such as Gemini, Claude, and GPT—focusing on differences in response speed, cost efficiency, and real-world performance, and how to choose the right model for each use case within broader agentic workflows. **🚀 RSVP** Space is limited – RSVP now to secure your spot! We look forward to seeing you there! **📍 How to find us:** Enter the North Tower in Hagag Towers (Ha'Arbaa 28), go up to floor 32, and find us there. **We highly recommend using public transport, but if you’re coming by car, [here is a list of nearby parking lots](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/15GIvUZWui78k4b0EyikjvzNMnDede4lY/edit?gid=751370004#gid=751370004).**

**Join Us for PyData Meetup @ Melio!** Get ready for insightful sessions, networking with the PyData community, and, of course, pizza and beer! A big thanks to **Melio** for hosting us and supporting the community. **📅 Details** Date: Sunday, June 14th, 2026 Time: 18:00 - 21:00 Location: Melio Office, Hagag Towers, North Tower, Floor 32, HaArba’a St 28, Tel Aviv Language: This meetup will be held in Hebrew **🕒 Agenda** 18:00: Gathering, snacks, and drinks 🍕🍻 18:30: Welcome words 18:45: **A Match Made in Heaven: LLM Judgment at Vector-Search Speed,** Shon Mendelson, Staff AI Scientist @ Intuit 19:15: **Dr. Data: How We Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the AI Bomb**, Dr. Adi Sarid, CEO @ Sarid Research 19:45: **Cost-Efficient AI Systems in Practice,** Michael Levinger, Senior AI Engineer @ Melio **🎤 Featured Sessions** **A Match Made in Heaven: LLM Judgment at Vector-Search Speed** **Speaker: Shon Mendelson, Staff AI Scientist @ Intuit** Last year, I spent far too long chasing a stubborn data quirk: why our system couldn't see that “The Law Offices of John Miller” and “Miller, John S. PLLC” were the same entity. It led to a bigger question: can you achieve LLM-level judgment at vector-search speeds? Traditional vector search is fast, but often misses subtle context like this, while relying entirely on LLMs is too slow and costly for production at scale. In this talk, I’ll share how we bridged that gap at Intuit with a hybrid system that combines fast vector search, efficient small transformer-based models, and fine-tuned SLMs. The result is a system capable of handling millions of weekly entity comparisons, significantly boosting recall while maintaining precision levels comparable to traditional methods. **Dr. Data: How We Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the AI Bomb** **Speaker: Dr. Adi Sarid, CEO @ Sarid Research** When GenAI dropped, our quant market research agency had a beautifully naive thought: "We can finally replace all our human labelers with a simple API call!" Spoiler alert: Scaling AI without hallucinations isn't quite that simple. Join us for a brutally honest, technical look at our data science team's journey from prompt-panic to AI-powered productivity. We’ll share our biggest wins and hardest lessons regarding evaluation frameworks, the rapid obsolescence of custom packages, and the newfound "full-stack audacity" of modern data scientists. **Cost-Efficient AI Systems in Practice** **Speaker: Michael Levinger, Senior AI Engineer @ Melio** Deploying large language models and AI agents in real-world systems requires a constant trade-off between cost, latency, and performance. This talk explores how to optimize LLM- and agent-based systems using techniques such as caching, model routing/cascades, tuning, RAG, and distillation—significantly reducing costs without sacrificing quality. Through a case study of an ATO-agent system, we’ll also cover practical approaches to cost estimation, monitoring, and budgeting. In addition, we’ll compare leading industry models—such as Gemini, Claude, and GPT—focusing on differences in response speed, cost efficiency, and real-world performance, and how to choose the right model for each use case within broader agentic workflows. **🚀 RSVP** Space is limited – RSVP now to secure your spot! We look forward to seeing you there! **📍 How to find us:** Enter the North Tower in Hagag Towers (Ha'Arbaa 28), go up to floor 32, and find us there. **We highly recommend using public transport, but if you’re coming by car, [here is a list of nearby parking lots](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/15GIvUZWui78k4b0EyikjvzNMnDede4lY/edit?gid=751370004#gid=751370004).**

Our next club meeting is on Sunday will start at 2:15, please join early. if you're coming in-person, parking is free and usually ample at the Community College on Sundays, and most of us park where the spaces are designated for staff and have never had a problem. 👉 Everyone is welcome to join our meeting, participate and practice. You'll get a chance to hear our club members speak and then have an opportunity to play the table topics game. **Agenda for the Meeting:** 1. Warm Up 2. Prepared Speeches (By club members) 3. Table Topics Game (Learn to think on your feet) 4. Feedback **Online - Join us via Zoom** https://us05web.zoom.us/j/86218205188 If you haven't used Zoom before, watch this short video on how to join our meeting - https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=45&v=vFhAEoCF7jg **In-Person** **\- Join us at Montgomery Community College** Meet us at Science Building, room SC 152. The room is located on the ground floor. The exact building address is https://goo.gl/maps/ZEgQH7bKLvzdqtSQ9 For help, please text or call, 301-917-4202.

Our next club meeting is on Sunday will start at 2:15, please join early. if you're coming in-person, parking is free and usually ample at the Community College on Sundays, and most of us park where the spaces are designated for staff and have never had a problem. 👉 Everyone is welcome to join our meeting, participate and practice. You'll get a chance to hear our club members speak and then have an opportunity to play the table topics game. **Agenda for the Meeting:** 1. Warm Up 2. Prepared Speeches (By club members) 3. Table Topics Game (Learn to think on your feet) 4. Feedback **Online - Join us via Zoom** https://us05web.zoom.us/j/86218205188 If you haven't used Zoom before, watch this short video on how to join our meeting - https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=45&v=vFhAEoCF7jg **In-Person** **\- Join us at Montgomery Community College** Meet us at Science Building, room SC 152. The room is located on the ground floor. The exact building address is https://goo.gl/maps/ZEgQH7bKLvzdqtSQ9 For help, please text or call, 301-917-4202.

Our next club meeting is on Sunday will start at 2:15, please join early. if you're coming in-person, parking is free and usually ample at the Community College on Sundays, and most of us park where the spaces are designated for staff and have never had a problem. 👉 Everyone is welcome to join our meeting, participate and practice. You'll get a chance to hear our club members speak and then have an opportunity to play the table topics game. **Agenda for the Meeting:** 1. Warm Up 2. Prepared Speeches (By club members) 3. Table Topics Game (Learn to think on your feet) 4. Feedback **Online - Join us via Zoom** https://us05web.zoom.us/j/86218205188 If you haven't used Zoom before, watch this short video on how to join our meeting - https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=45&v=vFhAEoCF7jg **In-Person** **\- Join us at Montgomery Community College** Meet us at Science Building, room SC 152. The room is located on the ground floor. The exact building address is https://goo.gl/maps/ZEgQH7bKLvzdqtSQ9 For help, please text or call, 301-917-4202.

Our next club meeting is on Sunday will start at 2:15, please join early. if you're coming in-person, parking is free and usually ample at the Community College on Sundays, and most of us park where the spaces are designated for staff and have never had a problem. 👉 Everyone is welcome to join our meeting, participate and practice. You'll get a chance to hear our club members speak and then have an opportunity to play the table topics game. **Agenda for the Meeting:** 1. Warm Up 2. Prepared Speeches (By club members) 3. Table Topics Game (Learn to think on your feet) 4. Feedback **Online - Join us via Zoom** https://us05web.zoom.us/j/86218205188 If you haven't used Zoom before, watch this short video on how to join our meeting - https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=45&v=vFhAEoCF7jg **In-Person** **\- Join us at Montgomery Community College** Meet us at Science Building, room SC 152. The room is located on the ground floor. The exact building address is https://goo.gl/maps/ZEgQH7bKLvzdqtSQ9 For help, please text or call, 301-917-4202.

At Toastmasters, we empower individuals to become more effective communicators and leaders. Our meetings provide a supportive and positive learning environment where members grow through prepared speeches, impromptu speaking (Table Topics), and constructive evaluations. Whether you're looking to overcome your fear of public speaking, enhance your work communication, or develop leadership skills, you're welcome here. Guests are always invited to observe first. If you'd like to speak, we’ll ask before inviting you to participate - no pressure at all. See how Toastmasters can help you build confidence, develop new skills, and connect with a community focused on growth.

**Curious about Toastmasters?** We're Free Spirits Toastmasters - an established club that meets twice monthly on Sundays from 3:30 - 5:00pm. **Meet us and join a meeting in action at our Open House on Sunday, June 14th from 3:30 - 5:00pm.** No need to get fancy - come as you are and enjoy refreshments with a casual, friendly, and encouraging group. *This year is our 30th Anniversary!* What Free Spirits Toastmasters Club is all about: * Build confidence speaking in front of people, * Learn the art of interesting conversation, * Have fun and build skills to speak "off the cuff" and through prepared speeches, * Members supporting other members in bettering ourselves, * A rich learning environment - our members span a wide range of ages, backgrounds, careers, languages, and life experiences! * A hybrid (in person and via Zoom) meeting option means you can join us remotely if unable to attend in person. **So that we can plan quantity for food and drink, please RSVP soonest by text to 703.795.2967 or by email to officers-5160@toastmastersclubs.org.** #PublicSpeaking #BestSelf #Confidence #Friends #Leadership #Learning #PositiveFeedback

At Toastmasters, we empower individuals to become more effective communicators and leaders. Our meetings provide a supportive and positive learning environment where members grow through prepared speeches, impromptu speaking (Table Topics), and constructive evaluations. Whether you're looking to overcome your fear of public speaking, enhance your work communication, or develop leadership skills, you're welcome here. Guests are always invited to observe first. If you'd like to speak, we’ll ask before inviting you to participate - no pressure at all. See how Toastmasters can help you build confidence, develop new skills, and connect with a community focused on growth.