Data Storage

Welcome to the first 2026 meetup of **Melbourne 🇦🇺 MongoDB User Group**. The team at Mantel Group has kindly offered to host us for the evening at their office in Melbourne on Flinders Street. **Complimentary drinks and snacks, as well as some SWAG, will be available, proudly sponsored by the team at MongoDB and Confluent**. We're looking forward to seeing familiar faces and welcoming newcomers! Please note that we have limited spots this time, so RSVP early. You will not be able to enter the building after 6 PM, so please be on time. **Agenda** * 5:00 pm - Arrival & Networking * 5:30 pm - Welcome * 5:35 pm - Talk #1 - Stephen Ermann - Avoid the AI Monolith: Deploy Multi-Agent Systems with MongoDB and Confluent * 6:00 pm - Talk #2 - Alex Peng - Sharding in MongoDB * 6:25 pm - Quiz & Swag * 6:35 pm - Networking & Food **Speakers** **Speaker #1 -** **Stephen Ermann** is a **Senior Customer Success Technical Architect at Confluent**, where he helps large enterprises design and operate mission-critical event streaming platforms with **Apache Kafka,** **Confluent Platform/Cloud** and **Apache Flink**. Based in Australia and working closely with major organisations, he focuses on scalable architectures, secure integrations, and smooth cloud migrations. Stephen has deep, hands-on experience connecting operational data stores like **MongoDB** into real-time, event-driven systems—turning CDC streams and transactional data into streaming workloads that power modern applications. He’s passionate about making distributed systems practical, sharing field lessons, and helping teams move from batch to truly real-time data. **Presentation #1** \- Avoid the AI monolith and learn how to design **event-driven multi-agent systems** with Confluent and MongoDB. In this talk, we’ll unpack the shift from classic predictive models to generative and agentic AI, and show why data readiness and real-time context - not just bigger models - determine whether your agents are actually useful in production. You’ll see how treating agents as event-driven microservices with a “brain” helps you avoid brittle point-to-point integrations and instead build scalable, observable systems. We’ll then walk through how **Confluent Cloud, Apache Flink® Streaming Agents, and MongoDB Atlas** fit together to provide the streaming backbone, vector search, and RAG capabilities that modern agentic applications need. Using an automated insurance claims demo, we’ll illustrate how real-time embeddings, external tables, and vector search in Flink SQL work with MongoDB Atlas to power context-aware decisions and end-to-end workflow automation. We will also share practical pointers and resources so you can start experimenting with your own multi-agent architectures after the meetup. **Speaker #2 -** Alex Peng is a Technical Services Engineer at MongoDB, specialising in MongoDB Atlas Support. With deep expertise in cloud deployments, Alex is passionate about helping customers navigate complex challenges on MongoDB Atlas, ensuring they get the most out of MongoDB's products and services. **Presentation #2** explores the fundamentals of sharding in MongoDB, covering the core concepts and architecture that power horizontal scaling in MongoDB. Attendees will gain a clear understanding of sharding's strengths and how to leverage them effectively. We will also provide practical guidance on selecting the shard key to maximise your application's performance and scalability. Thanks, The Melbourne MUG Team!

**Note - NEW location for this month only at the AWS Builder Studio!** IMPORTANT - the list of attendees will be provided the day before to security. Just go up the stairs / escalator to level 1 and check with your Photo ID to security. Please get in touch ASAP if you would like to talk at a future event, send us an email at Melbourne(at)serverless.org.au for more info! First time speakers are more than welcome and we can provide you assistance if you need with your presentation beforehand. Please reach out Melbourne(at)serverless.org.au. It can be a regular talk, lightning talk, demo, workshop, whatever is your thing our community will love it - as long as it is serverless related! Venue: AWS Builder Studio, Level 1, 555 Collins St. Melbourne 📅 Agenda 📅 5:30 PM - Doors Open! 6:00 PM - Welcome from the organizers / housekeeping 6:05 PM - **"Changing the engine mid-flight: A startup data pivot" - By Susan Brander, CTO Kaleida** What happens when your startup’s data model is held together with duct tape, but you still have to fly the plane, ship features, and act cool about it? Startups move fast, and sometimes that means making the best architecture decisions you can, and being utterly wrong because you don’t yet fully understand the domain you’re building for. At Kaleida, we chose DynamoDB as the cheapest way to get our product off the ground quickly, pushing relational logic into separate tables and thinking we’d gotten it right and assuming if we hadn’t that we’d clean it up later (if we survived). SPOILER! We survived and thrived! Later came around fast, and it looked like: \- bloated documents * Relational logic spread across tables * Queries dragging us down We knew we’d modelled it wrong, and that not changing it soon would only multiply the difficulties in the future. So, mid-flight, we changed engines. This talk is a candid case study of what it takes to evolve your architecture under pressure: * found our real data inside our current data * Pivoted to a One Table design * Pulled off a zero-downtime migration * Did it all while shipping features and pretending we weren’t panicking. If your team is battling tech debt, scaling pains, a data model that no longer reflects reality, (or you just want to hear about someone else’s war wounds) then come along. 6:35 PM - Pizza & Networking 7:00 PM - "**Let the Agent Read the Boring Reports: AI-Powered Database Auditing for PROTECTED Compliance on AWS**" - **By Christina Chen, Senior DevOps Engineer, Mantel Group** Nobody reads CSV audit reports. But under Australia's IRAP PROTECTED framework, organisations must continuously monitor and evidence database user activity — and assessors want proof. This talk builds a two-stage event-driven pipeline: Lambda extracts MySQL RDS user activity to S3, then a Strands Agent on Bedrock autonomously assesses findings against ISM controls, and generates assessor-ready output 7:30 PM - Networking and finish the Pizza! 8:00 PM - Doors Close, see you next time!

Too many kids as well as teenagers and adults have problems with study. Today's meetup will inform you about the basics in STUDY TECHNOLOGY that provides an understanding of the basics of learning and supplies exact ways to overcome all the pitfalls one can encounter during study. This is applicable to young children, teenagers (or their parents that are trying to help them) and adults alike. Study Technology shows how one studies in order to comprehend a subject so one can apply it. Laws on which learning is based and workable methods have also been discovered for anyone to apply for themselves or when teaching others. Too many students graduate from school and college unable to put to use what they’ve learned in school. It’s not that they’re stupid or that their teachers didn’t know how to teach. More than likely it traces back to the one thing missing from most educations—learning how to learn in the first place. We all went to school, yet isn’t it odd that no one taught us how to study? The information presented at this meetup can help anyone improve others or his own ability to learn. It is a practical tool that parents and teachers alike can use to enhance a child's study performance. You’ll learn the barriers that lie between your own or a child's education. And you will very quickly learn how to overcome them. This technology will enable you or a child to pursue any subject with skill and confidence. Teachers who have "hard to handle/distributive " or slow learners in class will absolutely love the amazing turn around most often seen in improved behaviour and student performance in class. If you or your child has difficulties at school (or learning new things at work or online) than this meetup is important to you. If you can not make it to our meetup than contact the organizer and arrange it to suit your time. This technology can if one was to live far away be taught online. (extension course) You may offcourse also opt to have this technology taught to your own child by experienced volunteeer staff or learn about this yourself and transfer this knowledge to those you want to have better grades. Yes it is possible to improve anyone's study performance. All it takes is just 5 steps. See you at this meetup. Pam

Turn your Thursday evening into something special! Join us at **600 Little Collins St, Melbourne** for a **free beginners Salsa class** that’s all about great music, great people, and unforgettable energy. You don’t need a partner or any experience — just come ready to have fun and learn something new. ✨ **What makes it amazing:** * Easy-to-follow steps designed for first-timers * A vibrant, welcoming crowd * The perfect mix of fun, movement, and social connection 📍 **Where:** The Salsa Foundation — 600 Little Collins St, Melbourne 🕕 **When:** Thursday 6 PM (arrive 5–10 mins early to check in) 🎟️ **Cost:** Free — bookings essential (spots fill quickly!)

**Ready to build AI agents for the real world?** Join NEXTGEN and AWS for a **hands-on half-day workshop** on building **production-grade AI agents** with **Amazon Bedrock AgentCore**. Designed for technical **AWS partners**, this session will help you move beyond prompts and start building agents that can **reason, take action, use tools, connect to data, and run multi-step workflows**. You’ll hear directly from AWS experts, get hands-on in guided labs, and learn how to design, test, and prepare agent-based applications for production on AWS. **Who should attend:** This workshop is geared towards technical professionals, software engineers, solution architects, IT consultants and AI specialists. Experience working with Python is helpful but not essential. **You’ll walk away with:** * Practical hands-on experience with Bedrock AgentCore * A clear understanding of agent architecture and workflows * Guidance on building secure, scalable AI agents * Real examples of how agentic systems are being applied today **For all attendees please complete the official registration form [here](https://share.hsforms.com/1Y7G0uyy3SD69M8uT9h5OxQccl9o?utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-9Qzcg9ArhVhcB4Eu599PPVLksuWkmDEAnnlhxJbXeeTs0xBA2lJFxJZU4gZ_6cD44DNldH) for entry on the day!**

**Social Pickleball - All Levels Welcome!** ** [Instagram: @rmit_pickleball](https://www.instagram.com/rmit_pickleball/) [WhatsApp: RMIT Pickleball Club](https://chat.whatsapp.com/G7VE0NcThWWIgLnnJBVQBq)** ** Paddles and balls provided! Beginner friendly - simply show up and we’ll teach you the basics ** Grab a paddle, play pickleball, and meet new people! ** Who is it for?** * Members of public and RMIT students * Complete beginners * Intermediate players * Advanced players (up to DUPR 4.5 expected) **✅ How to join?** 1. **Become a club member** [at the RMIT Store](https://store.rmit.edu.au/pages/club/pickleball) (one-off payment) 2. **RSVP** on Meetup to join the session 3. When marked as **“Going”**, pay for the session: **\- Payment link** is in the **comment section below** (posted 1-3 days before) \- Use your RMIT Store account with a club membership \(from step 1\) 4. Can’t attend? Update your RSVP to “Not Going” **⏳ Priority on waitlist** 1. Clear Meetup profile with name and photo 2. RMIT students 3. Regular attendees ** On the day** * New players, please **introduce yourself to the host** * New players wanting a **rules intro**, please arrive on-time and ask a host * Have your **emailed ticket receipt ready** \- it will be checked on the day ** Cancellations and Refunds** * No refunds for change of mind, non-attendance, or no-shows * Refunds only if the event is cancelled (weather or court availability) * Credit for a later session may be offered by agreement in case of event cancellation * Pay only when we share the payment link in Meetup - using old links is at your own risk Whether you are new to pickleball or a regular player, this is a great way to get some games in and connect with the community. Come solo or bring a friend - everyone is welcome! ** Spots are limited, so RSVP early! **

Quantum physics is now pointing at something the ancient sages already knew: reality is far stranger, and far more intimate, than anything we were taught. What's surprising is that two Indian sages, one in a small Bombay room, one on a sacred hill in Tamil Nadu were pointing at the same thing long before the science caught up. **What You'll Discover:** In this talk you'll discover the exciting discoveries in quantam physics and how they resonate with non duality. It will leave you with a clarity that doesn't depend on a belief system, or next spiritual experience. Just a direct recognition of what has always been here. **Schedule** * Talk by Rajiv followed by open Q&A * Guided Meditation * Spiritual networking. Make friends with others on the spiritual path **About Rajiv** Rajiv dedicated years of his life seeking enlightenment. His pursuit for truth, reality, emptiness and self-discovery took him through the profound depths of mysticism. He meditated 14 hours a day, stayed with monks, lived in the Himalayan caves, learned from wise sages and researched every major spiritual system, including Zen, Non Duality, Yoga, Buddhism etc. Then one momentous morning in 2005, he experienced his first shift into higher states of consciousness, an inner spiritual awakening. This was followed by days of infinite ecstasy and bliss. Finally, the years of seeking culminated and he realised his own true nature. He now shares his deep insights to help seekers progress on the path of awakening & meditation. His approach is secular, based on personal experience. You can read about his spiritual journey here — [https://innerspiritualawakening.com/rajiv-agarwal/my-journey/](https://innerspiritualawakening.com/rajiv-agarwal/my-journey/) **Venue** Kathleen Syme Library 251 Faraday Street, Carlton, VIC We will be in Multipurpose Room 2. We may take some photos to capture the moment. If you prefer not to be photographed, please let the organiser know at any time. This event is free and open to all adult seekers (18+). For inquiries please email Manpreet — [mysteriousmk@yahoo.com](mailto:mysteriousmk@yahoo.com)

Welcome to our first indoor session as the weather cools down. This month, we've picked Dymocks Cafe for our venue as it's centrally located and has a nice upper level that can accommodate us. And of course, if you don't have a book, you can conveniently buy one downstairs! **ITINERARY** 11am: Meet at Dymocks Cafe (upstairs) inside Dymocks Bookstore, 234 Collins St. Choose your spot. Order a drink to support the cafe. (They have a decent range of sweet and savoury snacks.) Enjoy your book. 12.15pm: Let's chat about what we read, what we loved, and why. 1pm: End of event. [OPTIONAL EXTRA] For those who are not too tired, we can go for lunch together after the event. **COST:** There is an organizer fee of $5 for this event. You can bring cash on the day or PayID me at 0403 413 056 (Serena Low). **GETTING THERE:** The closest train stations are Town Hall (4 min) and Flinders St (6 min).

Do you live in the Southern suburbs? Want to explore what the Southern suburbs has to offer? Or are you just interested to catch-up with like-minded people? Once a month Steph hosts our Southern socials. It is a great opportunity to meet others. Our emphasis is on fun whilst helping and supporting each other. The socials include drinks and chats, casual coffees, dinners and other activities suggested by members from time to time. Our socials are informal and open to all. We pay for own food and drinks individually and there is no charge for the organisation of the events. We hope to see you!

In his final presentation on Numerology, Allan Meers takes us on a journey through the 10 energy numbers which form the basis of our psycho-spiritual energy system. Allan’s approach integrates Numerology with the numerical systems of the Chakras, the Enneagram, the Tarot and the Great Rays to provide a holistic approach that assists in answering two key questions: Who am I, and Why am I here? The presentation follows on from previous presentations in May and November 2025 and addresses how the energy of numbers can be used to recognize unhealthy ways of being and doing which limit our ability to connect with the true self. The approach explains how energies can be devalued, disowned and relegated to the shadows, or taken to extremes and adopted as a persona to help us thrive and survive in a challenging world. This presentation will provide an understanding of how we can each move towards a state of energetic health. The starting point for this journey lies in recognizing our current reality and awakening to what it means to become healthy, healed and whole as a spiritual being having a human experience. Much of the presentation is from Allan’s latest book - Living your Numbers – which will be available at the presentation. The session is interactive and designed to provide practical information that can be applied to everyday life.

The May Ohio North Database Training user group meeting will be held on **May 5th, 2026 at 5:00PM**. This will be a **HYBRID** event and we will be joined in person by **Sam Nasr.** You're welcome to come meet in-person at our meeting location, the offices of Improving at **[6000 Freedom Square Dr,](https://www.google.com/maps/place/Improving/@41.4004167,-81.6614462,17z/data=!3m2!4b1!5s0x8830e5b8255c5919:0xd8297060eb68fe04!4m6!3m5!1s0x8830dc7a0fe35dc9:0xbfc4710ecadfc5c!8m2!3d41.4004127!4d-81.6588713!16s%2Fg%2F1hm3hkqp3?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI1MDQzMC4xIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D)** **[Unit 110,](https://www.google.com/maps/place/Improving/@41.4004167,-81.6614462,17z/data=!3m2!4b1!5s0x8830e5b8255c5919:0xd8297060eb68fe04!4m6!3m5!1s0x8830dc7a0fe35dc9:0xbfc4710ecadfc5c!8m2!3d41.4004127!4d-81.6588713!16s%2Fg%2F1hm3hkqp3?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI1MDQzMC4xIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D)** **[Independence, OH 44131](https://www.google.com/maps/place/Improving/@41.4004167,-81.6614462,17z/data=!3m2!4b1!5s0x8830e5b8255c5919:0xd8297060eb68fe04!4m6!3m5!1s0x8830dc7a0fe35dc9:0xbfc4710ecadfc5c!8m2!3d41.4004127!4d-81.6588713!16s%2Fg%2F1hm3hkqp3?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI1MDQzMC4xIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D)** [Teams Link ](https://teams.microsoft.com/meet/287759659366576?p=kCaammjECnUCvZzEJv)if anyone needs it after RSVP-ing for in person. If you would like to subscribe to our email list outside of Meetup, we have changed platforms recently and you will need to register [here in Kit ](https://ohio-north-data-training.kit.com/b8f036f615)instead to receive emails. Agenda: **5:00 PM EST**: Online and in-person meeting begins with a social hour. This is an unstructured hour where you can join us to catch up and meet other group members before the session starts. There will be food brought in for in-person attendees. **6:00 PM EST**: Elections, announcements, followed by our feature presentation. See below for presentation details. **7:30 PM EST**: Optionally after the main presentations, the in-person crowd may go out for snacks and drinks at a local establishment. We hope to see you there! Session Abstract ### Data Cleansing using Data Bricks Machine Learning is highly dependent on adequate data. Not only does quantity matter, but more importantly quality. In this session we’ll cover how to build a custom automated process using Data Bricks. This will provide methods for cleaning data in a data lake using functions in Azure. \*Please note, that we will be using Microsoft Teams for the online portion of this meeting. You may want to join a few minutes early to ensure you do not have any issues. If you are attending in person, there are large TVs at the office, and you do not need to bring a laptop or use Teams.

It feels like we just saw each other 🤷. Join members of the local design and UX community for our monthly breakfast. For May we’re stopping in for Rooh’s popup breakfast/cafe concept. You know someone is getting the lobster yuzu croissant, and that’s not even the prettiest thing on the menu!.

Dear Illinois Prairie PUG members, Our next meetup will take place in a **new location**. Please read **the whole announcement** carefully to note all the changes. Our new meeting place is **Chicago Innovations at 1 W. Monroe**. *Talk Title*: pg_lake: Unifying transactional and analytical data with Postgres *Speaker*: Elizabeth Christensen, Snowflake *Talk Description* The data world used to be defined by “transactional" (OLTP) and “analytical” (OLAP) workloads, but we’ve asked ourselves, “Why not both?” A new series of extensions called pg_lake has just been released to connect Postgres to object storage and open table formats - like csv, Parquet, and Iceberg. pg_lake bridges the two worlds of transactional and analytical data for a vendor neutral, open source, unified data stack. This talk will explore the pg_lake extension, including how to build it, and demos of using it with modern data workloads in object storage like Amazon S3. We’ll create simple data pipelines with no ETL and high performance analytics. pg_lake is more than just an extension. It is the foundation to a fully unified data path with 100% open source tools backed by PostgreSQL, DuckDB, Iceberg, and Polaris. *Agenda* 5:20 - doors open 5:30 - pizza arrives 6:00 - 6:10 - Hettie D. Opening remarks 6:10- 6:20 - Hettie D. Data warehouse history overview 6:20 - 6:50 Elizabeth C. pg_lake: Unifying transactional and analytical data with Postgres 6:50 - 7:00 Q&A 7:00 - 7:50 - Open discussion and networking 7:50 - 8:00 - Cleanup time and closing *Notes about our new venue*. I am delighted to have an independent venue for the first time since I am hosting the meetups. I hope that this will be our permanent home. And as you all know, with more freedom comes more responsibilities. You will notice the change in the RSVP form. We are thankful to our hosts and promise to be responsible. We comply with the [PostgreSQL Code of Conduct](https://www.postgresql.org/about/policies/coc/). We do not want to waste food, so please indicate your dietary preferences. We will not close the RSVP in the morning of the meetup, but please do your best to RSVP in advance so that we can order the appropriate amount of food and drinks. Also, all meetups will be hybrid - please don't forget to indicate whether you are attending in-person or virtually. Thank you, and I look forward to seeing you all at our new location! Hettie Dombrovskaya Illinois Prarier PUG Organizer

Central Ohio Radio Enthusiasts—CORE—is an informal community for anyone enthusiastic or curious about radio—whether you're new to radio and want to learn or you've been tinkering for years and want to share. Ham radio operators, GMRS users, Meshtastic fans, software-defined radio nerds, makers, and technical and non-technical folks are all welcome. No experience required or expected. This month we have **Radio Signal Analysis Using SDRs and OpenWebRX+** with **Scott McCrory**. Details are are [core.radio](https://core.radio/).

**We'll have two meetings covering AI - this second one is for Positron** We will review which AI features are linked in for Positron, and how to use them. **Source documents:** the repository is public, at: https://github.com/BarryDeCicco/AARUG_2026_04_09_AI_In_Positron You can download documents, or clone/fork the repository. **Location:** The meetup will be at SPARK's ([https://annarborusa.org/](https://annarborusa.org/)) Ann Arbor site: [SPARK HQ (Ann Arbor)](https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.google.com/maps/place/Ann*Arbor*SPARK*Headquarters/@42.2792515,-83.7447708,17z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m5!3m4!1s0x883cae3effe193cb:0x5296a53db2a282bf!8m2!3d42.2792515!4d-83.7447708?hl=en-US__;Kysr!!HXCxUKc!3EEdBNXRJKknP6LCGkZetSuEsdtChFojQnOVitFUC5C0fyilqXEbiMstT9ajBR3Cw-55qoFkrElCjQvjMdTxUw$). There is on street parking, and parking at local structures. **This will be a hybrid meeting - the Zoom session starts at 6:30 PM.** **Time:** The doors will be open at 6:00, with pizza and beverages provided. We will have a meet-and-greet-and-pizza session, and then at 6:30 we'll have a presentation. **Zoom information:** https://us06web.zoom.us/j/6658850479?pwd=Snd1UmZTT3pjZktENlczUXh4SERwUT09&omn=89012971377 Passcode: 940392 **If you can't get in, please call me at: 734 223-3307** **The github repository is at: https://github.com/BarryDeCicco/AARUG_2026_04_09_AI_In_Positron**

Bring your Raspberry Pi, Arduino, microcontroller, or any other electronic project and join fellow electronics makers for a night of creativity and collaboration! This session is open forum to share your current projects—whether complete or in progress, it’s all interesting! Whether you’re deep into embedded systems, exploring new ideas, or just getting started, you’ll find a welcoming space to collaborate, share, and get inspired. **New to electronics or curious about tinkering?** You’re absolutely welcome. If you’re a beginner and want to experiment, I’ll have a couple of starter kits available so you can try things out—whether that’s blinking your first LED, putting something on a display, or experimenting with simple sensors. No pressure and no experience required—just an interest in learning and building. While we continue to pursue a more permanent venue for this Meetup, we’ll be using public library facilities based on availability. This session will be at the Worthington Park Library in the Olentangy Meeting Room.

Topic to be announced. **CALL FOR SPEAKERS** Learn more: https://www.awscolumbus.com/get-involved/ **THANK YOU** *VEEAM* for hosting our meetup! To learn more about *Veeam*, please visit their website: https://www.veeam.com/ **DIRECTIONS** 8800 Lyra Dr #450 · Columbus, OH go to 4th floor. **Want to sponsor the pizza and/or bar tab?** Please contact me if you would like to sponsor this meetup's pizza and/or bar tab: angelo@mandato.com