Bars & Pubs

**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).**

It's Ken's Garage Band! Ken isn't in the band, but he provided the garage! Join us for a great night of music! The band starts at 9!

Join NoVA Live Music Mingle's very own Joe Reiman for his solo gig debut at Herndon's World Famous **Jimmy's Old Town Tavern**. After countless open mic and Memorial Day & Labor Day weekend sets at Jimmy's, he's beyond excited to spend a full afternoon entertaining the JOTT crowd. Expect a mix of folk, roots, rock, country and blues. John Prine to Ozzy Osbourne, Kacey Musgraves to Seven Mary Three, Zac Top to The Cars, Avett Brothers to The Grateful Dead, Elton John to Jimmy Buffet. And maybe even some Louis Prima! If the skies are clear, the show will take place on the outdoor stage of the back bar patio. In case of rain, the show will move inside. https://www.facebook.com/events/1718001989235752 Jimmy's has a full bar and a great food menu. (https://www.jottnew.com/) There is some street parking nearby, but the easiest thing to do is use the public lot at 740 Ancel Ln, Herndon, VA 20170. www.JoeReimanMusic.com See ya there!

**Can we ever get enough of the Pool Boys???** **We will meet by the beer tent**

To secure your spot, purchase your ticket from the Eventbrite link ([https://www.eventbrite.com/e/clarendon-drink-for-america-bar-crawl-tickets-380061443007](https://www.eventbrite.com/e/clarendon-drink-for-america-bar-crawl-tickets-380061443007)). RSVPing only on the Meetup page, doesn't allow you to attend the Event. ADVANCE TICKET PURCHASE IS REQUIRED. ABOUT THE EVENT What’s better than day drinking?! Bar hoping and day-drinking for AMERICA! Come celebrate the good ol' USA in your most patriotic red, white and blue outfits and get ready for one heck of a party! Sport your American pride with all day drink specials, DJs, bands, dancing, patriotic swag and tons of give-a-ways. You must get a wristband to participate in the fun. Registration : is from 3-6pm. But the party continues till 10PM! You or a friend must pick up your ticket before registration ends. If you couldn't make it before 6PM, text the QR Code of your ticket, to your friend. So that they would be able to pick up your wristband. **What your ticket to Freedom includes:** Cover-free admission to each venue (venues will charge entry without wristband) Drink & food specials throughout the day Independence Day signature mug or koozie Patriotic swag Give-a-aways to most patriotic crawlers Tons of your closest friends to cheers with **Participating Bars:** B Live The Lot Clarendon Ballroom + Rooftop Pamplona More coming soon \*Registration Bars If you’re proud to be an American, you don’t want to miss this epic bar crawl. Come alone or bring a group but remember to suit up in your most patriotic gear and be ready to celebrate! It’s time to party in the USA! FAQ: **What if I can’t pick up my wristband before registration cuts off?** A friend may pick up your wristband and meet you later on the crawl. **Can someone under 21 participate?** Sorry, you must be 21+ to enter participating venues. Please bring proper identification. **Will food be available at the participating bars?** Yes, every establishment participating in the crawl serves food available throughout the day. **How can I get to the bar crawl?** If you are not taking public transportation, please do NOT drink and drive! Take A Ride Share OR Taxi Service OR Metro. Stops are also conveniently located near all participating establishments (Orange and Silver lines). **ID** Government issued ID is required! It will be checked at every participating bar that you choose to go to. All participants must be 21 years old or older. **WEATHER** Event goes on rain, snow or shine! **STILL HAVE QUESTIONS?** Reach out to info@merevents.com **HAPPY CRAWLINGS!!!** Payment Instructions : 1\. Click on the ticket link and 'Pay Now' button\, after RSVPing\. Then hit the button\. 2\. Verify correct dollar amount for number of people you're paying for\. **3\. If you don't have a Paypal account\, click "Pay with a Debit or Credit Card"\.** 4\. If you have a Paypal account\, simply log in\, and pay as you normally would via Paypal\. **How to Unblock the Pop-up Blocker on Your Phone** Many of our patrons advised us that they have a Pop-up Blocker on their iPhones and it hinders them from buying tickets. To unblock, please follow the following steps : For Safari Users : 1\. Go to Settings\. 2\. Scroll down to Safari and click on it\. 3\. Select Block Pop\-ups and turn it off\. For Google Chrome Users : 1\. Open Google Chrome\. 2\. Click on the three dots and you will see many options\. 3\. Click on Settings\. 4\. Scroll down to content settings\. 5\. Select Block Pop\-ups and turn it off\. Refund & Ticket Resell Policy All sales are final. We only refund the full amount, if the event is canceled. If it is rescheduled, we will send an email to ticket holders advising that. A full refund will be given to those that let us know within 2 calendar days of the update email, if you are unable to make it on the new date. No refunds will be given after that time. However, you can sell your ticket to someone else if you are unable to attend. Please, feel free to post in the comment box for the event, that you have a ticket for sale. Work out payment between yourselves, and have the seller only send the organizers a message, letting us know the full name of the person taking your spot. You must let us know two hours before the RSVP close time, on the day of the event. \****For further info, refer the Eventbrite Invite. We may have already answered one of your questions, see our FAQs.***

**\*\*\* Date Change - Thur June 18, 2026 @ 5pm\*\*** This place could not accomodate our large group on a Sat night, and we wanted to include everyone to this chill place! so the date changed. Hope to see you there. SSB Happy Hour isn’t just drinks, it’s where strangers become regulars and regulars become friends. Every HH, we’re building something simple but real: good people, great conversation, and a table that always has room for one more. Pull up. Feel the difference.

To secure your spot, purchase your ticket from the Eventbrite link ([https://www.eventbrite.com/e/drink-for-america-bar-crawl-tickets-1987874964531](https://www.eventbrite.com/e/drink-for-america-bar-crawl-tickets-1987874964531)). RSVPing only on the Meetup page, doesn't allow you to attend the Event. ADVANCE TICKET PURCHASE IS REQUIRED. ABOUT THE EVENT It’s time to celebrate America’s birthday, DC, come join us! 🇺🇸 has arrived and our legendary, not-to-be-missed annual Independence Day Bar Crawl is taking over the nation’s capital, Washington DC. Let’s celebrate America’s birthday in brand style wearing the colors of independence- red, white and blue. Expect cover-free admission at Dupont Circles' top bars. Crawl your way over to each bar throughout the day and sport your American pride with endless drink specials allowing you and your friends to fuel yourselves on shots of luck and chilly pints. A crowd of red, white, and blue make American pride swell and culminate in cheers, dancing, and all-out revelry. Time: 2pm-10pm (ticket pick up is from 2-4pm) Registration is from 2PM-4PM. You'll receive your wristband. If you can't make it by 4pm have a friend present your ticket and pick everything up for you. Text/email them your QR Code. But the party and specials continue till 10PM! **There will be hundreds of people. Use the comment box to coordinate amongst the group.** **This is also a wicked 'MeRtUp' with a saving!** **What is MERTUP?:) Mer + Meetup = Mertup.** **Mer is known as the Meetup guy. He likes to connect people and his fans coined that name for him. So, at his events, everyone will become a Wing Person to everyone:) When you get get there, we will introduce you to someone and you will be responsible to introduce that person to another person. That is MERTUP!** **Enter the Promo Code 'MERTUP' to redeem your 20% discount!** (https://www.eventbrite.com/e/drink-for-america-bar-crawl-tickets-1987874964531). Specials : ● $4 Light Beers ● $4 Independence shots, ● $5 Rail Drinks What You Get: All Day Specials Largest Costume Contest Surprise Giveaways A chance to dress in outrageous costumes FAQs REGISTRATION Registration is from 2PM-4PM. You'll receive your wristband. If you can't make it by 4pm have a friend present your ticket and pick everything up for you. TEXT/EMAIL them your QR Code. TICKETS You MUST print a copy of your ticket or have with you or on your phone. Tickets are transferable and not refundable. You can give your ticket to a friend to use if you cannot attend the event. ROUTE You’re able to go to any of the participating bars at your leisure after you register! A map will be sent to all participants the day of the event. DRESS CODE ***Break out your Red, White and Blue.*** ID Government issued ID is required! It will be checked at every participating bar that you choose to go to. All participants must be 21 years old or older. WEATHER Event goes on rain, snow or shine! STILL HAVE QUESTIONS? Reach out to [info@merevents.com](http://info@merevents.com/) HAPPY CRAWLINGS!!! You must be over 21 years of age to participate. Please don't drink and drive! Have a designated driver ready to pick you up upon the conclusion of the bar crawl, take public transportation, or call a cab. Payment Instructions : 1\. Click on the ticket link and 'Get Tickets' button\, after RSVPing\. Then hit the button\. 2\. Verify correct dollar amount for number of people you're paying for\. 3. **If you don't have a Paypal account, click "Pay with a Debit or Credit Card".** 4\. If you have a Paypal account\, simply log in\, and pay as you normally would via Paypal\. **How to Unblock the Pop-up Blocker on Your Phone** Many of our patrons advised us that they have a Pop-up Blocker on their iPhones and it hinders them from buying tickets. To unblock, please follow the following steps : (see the eventbrite link for details). Refund & Ticket Resell Policy All sales are final. We only refund the full amount, if the event is canceled. If it is rescheduled, we will send an email to ticket holders advising that. A full refund will be given to those that let us know within 2 calendar days of the update email, if you are unable to make it on the new date. No refunds will be given after that time. However, you can sell your ticket to someone else if you are unable to attend. Please, feel free to post in the comment box for the event, that you have a ticket for sale. Work out payment between yourselves, and have the seller only send the organizers a message, letting us know the full name of the person taking your spot. You must let us know two hours before the RSVP close time, on the day of the event. \****For further info, refer the Eventbrite Invite. We may have already answered one of your questions, see our FAQs.*** http://photos2.meetupstatic.com/photos/event/9/b/9/b/600_436539835.jpeg http://photos4.meetupstatic.com/photos/event/b/0/8/8/600_436665192.jpeg

**KleptoRadio just loves music and they want to share, appreciate and celebrate that music with everyone!!! They bring everyone at every show together by bringing to life the magic of great music, from the latest instant classics, to timeless hits from every decade.** **We will meet by the beer tent.**