Slavic Cultures and Languages

Our next meet-up is scheduled for March 18th....and we promise it will be a blast! ​Join us for a no-fluff, practitioner-led deep dive into two critical LLM challenges with focus on quantization and cheat-proof evaluations . ​This time we will handle a pannel discussion with two experts in the area - David Kоchoanov and Yordan Darakchiev. ​Pannel 1: Smarter AI at lower cost: How quantization makes LLMs more efficient? ​What can you expect? ​LLMs guzzle RAM and GPU like crazy. Quick rundown: inference modes, bottlenecks, the math behind it. ​Hands-on: when to use each and how to benchmark properly. ​The talk will provide a quick review of LLM inference modes, current bottlenecks, and numerics. The main goal is to explain post-training quantization methods that are most commonly supported by modern software and hardware, and give practical recommendations for their use and model benchmarking. We'll also provide a brief summary of the academic literature and discuss quantization-aware training and distillation. ​Who will present? ​David Kochanov has over 10 years of experience in computer vision research and development. In his current role at CARIAD (Volkswagen Group), he works on autonomous driving and driver assistance systems, with a focus on model deployment for real-time inference, including quantization and architectural optimizations. ​Pannel 2: Everybody Lies: How Language Models (and People) Cheat ​What can you expect? ​Teaching computers and people have the same temptations - students game grades, LLMs game benchmarks. We grade LLMs like exams: bad criteria reward test-taking tricks, not truth. The talk will present specially built for the pannel small BI-style benchmark (SQL, data summaries, and insight generation) with multiple LLM "judges" grade multiple models. With only couple of stress tests on the judges with small changes to the grading scheme all were broken - creating pure chaos! ​Rankings flip depending on who grades, response length beats correctness, and judges favour familiar model "accents". ​We'll end with an "academic integrity" toolkit for LLM evaluation: ensembles, invariance checks, length controls, and lightweight human calibration to make our LLM metrics harder to cheat on, and easier to trust. ​Who will present? ​Yordan Darakchiev is a data scientst and technical trainer. He has helped various teams turn data and ML into modern, measureable, production systems. His specialty are vision and language models, with a sharp focus on evaluation - fairness, privacy, trustworthiness, and robustness. He also teaches math and machine learning and has helped kickstart the career of more than 1000 data and ML professionals. ​Our next meet-up is scheduled for March 18th....and we promise it will be a blast! ​Join us for a no-fluff, practitioner-led deep dive into two critical LLM challenges with focus on quantization and cheat-proof evaluations . ​This time we will handle a pannel discussion with two experts in the area - David Kоchoanov and Yordan Darakchiev. ​Pannel 1: Smarter AI at lower cost: How quantization makes LLMs more efficient? ​What can you expect? ​LLMs guzzle RAM and GPU like crazy. Quick rundown: inference modes, bottlenecks, the math behind it. ​Hands-on: when to use each and how to benchmark properly. ​The talk will provide a quick review of LLM inference modes, current bottlenecks, and numerics. The main goal is to explain post-training quantization methods that are most commonly supported by modern software and hardware, and give practical recommendations for their use and model benchmarking. We'll also provide a brief summary of the academic literature and discuss quantization-aware training and distillation. ​Who will present? ​David Kochanov has over 10 years of experience in computer vision research and development. In his current role at CARIAD (Volkswagen Group), he works on autonomous driving and driver assistance systems, with a focus on model deployment for real-time inference, including quantization and architectural optimizations. ​Pannel 2: Everybody Lies: How Language Models (and People) Cheat ​What can you expect? ​Teaching computers and people have the same temptations - students game grades, LLMs game benchmarks. We grade LLMs like exams: bad criteria reward test-taking tricks, not truth. The talk will present specially built for the pannel small BI-style benchmark (SQL, data summaries, and insight generation) with multiple LLM "judges" grade multiple models. With only couple of stress tests on the judges with small changes to the grading scheme all were broken - creating pure chaos! ​Rankings flip depending on who grades, response length beats correctness, and judges favour familiar model "accents". ​We'll end with an "academic integrity" toolkit for LLM evaluation: ensembles, invariance checks, length controls, and lightweight human calibration to make our LLM metrics harder to cheat on, and easier to trust. ​Who will present? ​Yordan Darakchiev is a data scientst and technical trainer. He has helped various teams turn data and ML into modern, measureable, production systems. His specialty are vision and language models, with a sharp focus on evaluation - fairness, privacy, trustworthiness, and robustness. He also teaches math and machine learning and has helped kickstart the career of more than 1000 data and ML professionals. Agenda: 18:30-19:00 - Welcome drinks 19:00-20:00 - Pannel 1 & Pannel 2 20:00-20:30 - Q&A 20:30-21:30 - Networking ​Note: Event will be handled in English. ​Event is free but registration is mandatory: https://luma.com/8bbbxx1t

📣 #45 [Cyber Security Talks Bulgaria](https://www.linkedin.com/company/cyber-security-talks-bulgaria/ "https://www.linkedin.com/company/cyber-security-talks-bulgaria/") е готов. 📣 Този път ще говорим за Cloud security, Governance, Quantum threats and something more. 🚨 Подгответе се за едно страхотно събитие в офиса на нашия домакин - KPMG Delivery Network Bulgaria. Темите на събитието: * **Using AWS native solutions for compliance checks (Security hub CSPM and AWS Config) on scale** - *Светломир Балевски* – DevSecOps architect at KPMG Delivery Network Bulgaria (*talk in bulgarian*) * **Passwords, encryption and the quantum threat -** *Alon Rotem* – Manager of Solution Architecture at KPMG Delivery Network (talk in english) * **Cloud security posture and governance -** *Иванка Кабранова* – Identity Architect at KPMG Delivery Network Bulgaria (*talk in bulgarian*) 🆓Както всеки път, входът е безплатен, но се изисква регистрация: 📅ДАТА : 17 март ⏰ЧАС: 19:00 часа 📍КЪДЕ : Офис на KPMG Delivery Network Bulgaria, Бизнес Парк София, сграда 15А, етаж 3

📌 Let's meet in **Sofia** on **March 19th 2026** for an interactive conference and an enriching networking session! Come and discover Odoo, the all-in-one integrated software that will simplify your day-to-day business. Say goodbye to double coding, lost invoices and budgets; create your website in a few clicks... Odoo offers you a wide range of tools built for IT.🧐 🔎 **AGENDA** 🔍 18h00: Welcome! 18h15: Conference - Interactive demo & tips to digitize your company. 20h00: Networking - Snacks and drinks. ➡️ Are you convinced? You can subscribe at the following link: https://www.odoo.com/r/RfP The event is free, but registration is mandatory.❗ **Important:** 📍 Where? Sofia Grand Hotel - 1, General Gurko St str, 1000 Sofia, Bulgaria 📅 Date? Thursday, March 19th , 2026 📝 Registration? https://www.odoo.com/r/RfP 💰 Price? FREE! Hope to see you soon!

We are hosting our next meetup in Sofia! **Address:** Barter Community Hub \| Puzl\, 47 Cherni Vrah BLVD\, Sofia\, Bulgaria https://www.barter-hub.com **Agenda:** 17.45: Doors open, join us for snacks and drinks 18:15: Building Data Products with Logstash 19.00: How Elastic Streams Simplifies Log Data Management 19.45: Networking 20.00: Close **Talks:** **Building Data Products with Logstash** This talk will demonstrate how Logstash can be used to pull data, perform cleanup and enrichment, and create a data product (e.g., asset tracking) visualized in Kibana. *Speaker: Tsvetan Paskov, Full-stack Developer, DevOps, Founder @Move2Chat* **How Elastic Streams Simplifies Log Data Management** Learn how to manage log data more efficiently using Elastic Streams. This talk covers the challenges of unstructured logs, the benefits of schema-on-ingest, and new stream processing capabilities for transforming and structuring log messages. You’ll see how to use AI-assisted Grok pattern suggestions, conditional processing, and the schema editor to map fields accurately. We also explore how to monitor data quality through degraded and failed document tracking, and how to set custom retention policies. Finally, you’ll get an overview of Wired Streams, Elastic’s unified log ingestion model that simplifies routing and stream partitioning post-ingestion. *Speakers: Boris Kirov (Observability - Senior Product Designer) and Giorgos Bamparopoulos (Senior Manager Software Engineering) @Elastic*

“**A mentor is someone who allows you to see the hope inside yourself.**” – Oprah Winfrey ✨ And that’s the whole truth! 🥸 At the event **“The Power of Mentorship in My Career,”** Maria Saykova, VP Product Support 👩, will tell us more about the role her mentors have played in her career path 🤝, the lessons she has learned 📖, how to properly navigate the path of mentorship 🚀, and what AI mentoring is all about 🤖. The event is free, but **prior registration is required -** [https://luma.com/25egpx1d](https://luma.com/25egpx1d?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTAAYnJpZBEwWExlUkhYT3Y3SkVrVUc0SXNydGMGYXBwX2lkEDIyMjAzOTE3ODgyMDA4OTIAAR7i3nm8kC9n59ctarjyMXUlPlaD7HLthTigYvnr-PDwrxWIjArB3opCy7BiXg_aem_HBLFO9T_OM8lufotC4VnCA)

**Founders Running Club** (FRC) brings founders, investors, tech, creative people and startup enthusiasts together for weekly easy runs and networking. We like to be comfortable when we run and finish with coffee and conversations. Choose your pace or follow a pacer—pets, friends, family, are welcome. 🗓️ Launched in San Francisco, July 16, 2022 🌍 Now in 35+ cities 📅 Running + Networking events + Community **Join the community** [http://foundersrc.com/chats](http://foundersrc.com/chats) **Stay updated**: Instagram [http://instagram.com/foundersrc/](http://instagram.com/foundersrc/) Podcast [http://podcast.foundersrc.com/](http://podcast.foundersrc.com/) LinkedIn [http://linkedin.com/company/foundersrc/](http://linkedin.com/company/foundersrc/) Strava [http://strava.com/clubs/foundersRC](http://strava.com/clubs/foundersRC) Website [http://foundersrc.com/](http://foundersrc.com/)

We meet to learn and practice American Sign Language and to grow our familiarity with Deaf culture. Facilitated by hearing folks (with a connection to a professional interpreter) using Deaf-created content. People of all ASL skill levels are welcome! As we learn, we hope to connect more with the Deaf community in Central Ohio. Join us as you're able! Come regularly or just once - whatever you're looking for! Each meetup will explore different topics related to ASL/Deaf culture, and will feature time to practice conversation with one another. Just bring yourself and a willingness to learn!

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 want to discuss international travel and culture, and anyone who enjoys getting together for good conversations."

We thought of one of the interesting things that can be enjoyed at this time of the year. We will be meeting at Immaculate Conception Catholic Church for a "Fish Fry" in Marian Hall on Friday, March 27th at 5:00 PM. It might be fun for you to experience what has become a tradition on the Fridays before Easter. They will have fried fish or baked fish, French fries and Cole slaw, as well as beverages, all for $16.00 for adults. They will have other beverages and desserts available for sale, as well. We have never tried this, and sometimes there are quite a few people at these events so we hope that we will be able to find each other easily. I'll try to have signs outside Marian Hall that Identify our group. We hope to have you join us!

**Important time note:** Please plan on arriving between 5:30 and 6:00 as the elevators lock after 6 and you'll need to message us and we'll need to come get you. The building address is 4450 Bridge Park The entrance is 6620 Mooney St, Suite 400 **Abstract** TBD **YouTube Link** TBA

Hey Everyone! Let's meet at Belle's Bread Bakery and Cafe. There is lots of free parking and easy access to the cafe and many shops and restaurants as well. This is a great way to meet new and old friends while chatting about life and practicing English language speaking skills. All are welcome and encouraged to join us anytime between 11am and 1pm. Looking forward to seeing you soon.

**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: Type Annotations with John Cassidy 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

The aim of this group is to get together and practice our German. Doesn’t matter if are a beginner or a native speaker. The goal is to speak and improve our German. Everyone is welcome! If the weather is good, look for us in the Biergarten. Pro Tip: Get there before 6:00 for happy hour pricing.