User Experience

MCP is changing how developers build with AI, but we're just scratching the surface. Join us for an evening of talks that go beyond retrieval to explore what's actually possible when you give agents real tools, real constraints and real APIs. **Agenda** ​6:00 PM - Doors open, registration and networking ​6:10 PM - Welcome (Upsun & Cloudflare) ​6:20 PM - MCP: Context is Everything! - Carly Richmond, Elastic ​6:45 PM - Sandboxes: how to limit agents so we can use them more - Patrick Dawkins, Upsun ​7:00 PM - Break (Food & Drinks) ​7:30 PM - Cooking with MCP in VS Code - Liam Hampton, Microsoft ​7:55 PM - Efficient tools with MCP code mode - Confidence Okoghenun, Cloudflare ​8:15 PM - Open networking and drinks ​9:00 PM - Close 🗣️ ​**Talks** ​**MCP: Context is Everything! - Carly Richmond (Developer Advocate Lead, Elastic)** ​MCP is a powerful tool for giving LLMs capabilities to not just retrieve information, but to automate key actions based on relevant data. Let’s see how it can be used for retrieving relevant context and other activities such as observability. ​**Efficient tools with MCP code mode - Confidence Okoghenun (Senior Developer Advocate, Cloudflare)** ​Traditional MCP approaches choke on context windows: Cloudflare's 2,500+ endpoint API would require 1.17 million tokens. Code Mode flips the script by having LLMs write code against typed APIs instead of making direct tool calls, achieving 99.9% token reduction. Come learn how code mode works and how to optimize your MCP tools with it. ​**Sandboxes: how to limit agents so we can use them more - Patrick Dawkins (Principal Engineer, Upsun)** ​We want our agents to run longer and use more tools, but we're hampered by constant prompts for approval. Sandboxes are the practical middle ground: isolate the agent so you can stop watching every command and let it work. This talk covers what "sandbox" means, who provides them today and the Linux primitives that let you build one yourself. ​**Cooking with MCP in VS Code - Liam Hampton (Senior Cloud Advocate, Microsoft)** ​In this session Liam will show you how VS Code is fully supporting the MCP spec, from MCP Apps to sandboxing and elicitations. 📅 **Date and Time:** Thursday, May 14, from 6:00-9:00 PM 📍 **Location:** Cloudflare Address: 6th Floor, County Hall/The, Riverside Building, Belvedere Rd, London SE1 7PB, UK 👉 You can also register here: https://luma.com/eb8j6lhu ⚠️ Please make sure you provided your full name (no nicknames or abbreviations will be allowed) and to bring your ID card as it will be mandatory to show it upon check-in to security. Entry will be first come, first served. We recommend arriving early to make sure you get in. **⚡️ Interested in giving a talk? ⚡️** Have you ever considered presenting on your Elastic use case? We welcome 5-10 minute lightning talks, 45-minute deep dives, and everything in between. If you're interested, please submit via our [CFP](https://sessionize.com/elastic-meetups/) or send us an email at [meetups@elastic.co.](http://meetups@elastic.co./)

**The creative practice of writing thought experiments gives you the opportunity to:** * investigate ideas (old and new) * work your imagination * write creatively and playfully * produce compelling conversation starters that you can share with friends and strangers to provoke great discussions Over the past 3 years, I've written over 200 thought experiments and learned a lot along the way. [Here's a bit more about why I enjoy the practice.](https://experimentsingroupwisdom.substack.com/p/writing-thought-experiments) **In this workshop,** I'll share my process and together we'll create new thought experiments by: * Identifying areas of interest * Gathering ingredients for thought experiments * Imagining scenarios * Constructing narratives * Generating relevant, thought provoking questions * Participating in a round of small group discussions - you can volunteer your new thought experiment, or if you'd rather, you can pick one out of the hat. **By the end of the evening** **we'll have** * had some thought provoking conversations * become familiar with a new method for creative thinking * written our own original material for future group discussions :-) Although we’ll be learning a new technique we'll also be aiming to have **an enjoyable evening, with good humour and fun**. This will be less like school and more like a fun TEiP night out with an additional creative twist. **Who should come:** Everyone! We believe that the more perspectives, the richer the conversation. This group is not about being experts, it is about thinking creatively together and learning new ways to develop and communicate ideas. **Tickets** Space is limited (15-20) people and tickets are £15. I'd like to make this event accessible, so if cost is a barrier, please send me a DM. **Where we'll meet:** The Fitzroy Tavern in Fitzrovia. The nearest Tube stations are Goodge Street and Tottenham Court Road. We'll be upstairs in the Private Dining Room. Looking forward to meeting & talking with you! Bonny **[SUBSTACK](https://experimentsingroupwisdom.substack.com/) -** newsletter and further reflections on these events **[WHATSAPP GROUP](https://chat.whatsapp.com/D13LHw5BV3rEtUtO3ORklC)** \- stay in the loop **[INSTAGRAM](https://www.instagram.com/thoughtexperimentsinpubs/)** & **[FACEBOOK](www.facebook.com/thoughtexperimentsinpub)** \- see what we look like **[WEBSITE](www.alltogether.one)** \- everything else #philosophyinpubs #inclusivity #openmindedness #creativewriting #community #newskills

**Dead Product Society \| After Work Drinks** Come along, bring a friend/colleague or two and join us for a relaxed evening of informal product and tech chats over a few drinks and doughnuts. We aim to connect everyone without awkwardness or LinkedIn spiel, and value good conversation over boring presentations. **Who is welcome?** Product Managers, CEOs, UX/UI Designers, Developers, Scrum Masters etc. We welcome anyone who works in, with or wants to break into product. *Note: We intentionally keep our After Work Drinks on the smaller side to allow for more in-depth conversations.* **The Bike Shed** We'll be hanging out in the lounge area (behind the area with all the tables, next to the store). \-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\- **Dead Product Society** Dead Product Society is a collective of like-minded professionals sharing real-talk and joining forces to navigate the twists and turns of the product world. Our down-to-earth community is for anyone who works in, with or wants to break into product teams regardless of their background or experience. **Our Sponsors** Shout out to our generous sponsors at Waggel Pet Insurance; Lifetime pet insurance, simplified. With their support we are able to host these events for you and create a space for those important, honest conversations.

Hi All, There is a few free late art gallery evenings in Mayfair/Soho - so I thought to create this mellow low key event to see this. Lets meet at the Grosvenor Gallery https://www.grosvenorgallery.com/exhibitions/398-george-claessen-works-from-the-estate-of-the-artist/overview/ we will then visit Pilar Corrias Gallery https://www.pilarcorrias.com/exhibitions/523-kat-lyons-the-familiars/ We can visit the following galleries in crawl... 1\. Grosvenor Gallery 2\. Pilar Corrias Optional - More galleries TBC 3\. Plaster shop gallery 4\. Lehmann Maupin 5\. Satchi Yates End at the Kings Head Tavern posts - top floor dinning area for reflection (this is one of my best quiet pubs of london) plan on google maps https://maps.app.goo.gl/Ng4pEQ2aa7X5GLYN7 The event is free - I would like a pint of orange juice or a £1 donation if you like the event as a good gesture. Cheers I will be dressed in a GREEN jacket, cream colour trousers inside the first gallery - will write in the comment

Join us for an informal evening of experimenting, building, and sharing ideas around Umbraco and AI. Whether you're curious about AI-powered content generation, the Umbraco MCP Server, AI-assisted development workflows, or other AI innovations in Umbraco - this is your chance to experiment, learn, and build alongside fellow community members in a relaxed, supportive environment. Bring your laptop, your curiosity, and anything you’ve been meaning to try. You can come with a specific idea, jump into something with others, or just tinker and learn as you go. There’s no strict agenda, just a relaxed space to collaborate, swap ideas, and make progress together. We’ll kick things off with a quick intro, then open the floor for hacking, discussion, and demos. If you end up building something cool (or even just interesting), you’ll have the chance to share it with the group at the end. **EVENT HOSTS** [Novicell](https://www.novicell.com/uk/services/software-development/umbraco/) (Umbraco Gold Partner) have kindly agreed to provide refreshments and host us for the evening in their offices in Shoreditch. If you think you will be making it, please sign up ASAP. Novicell's offices are 21-33 Great Eastern St, London EC2A 3EJ in a building called Fora, approximately an 8 min walk from Liverpool St and Old St stations. If you arrive between 6:00 and 6:15pm there will be someone to meet you in reception with instructions. If you arrive later you might need to phone us to be let in: we shall email all attendees with the contact numbers on the day. **CODE OF CONDUCT** Please read the [Code of Conduct](https://bit.ly/UmbLondonCodeOfConduct) for all our events.

Join us on Thursday 14 May for a relaxed Italian-style after-work gathering in the heart of Covent Garden. We’re hosting our **Italian Apericena at Amalfi Lounge**, a perfect midweek plan to unwind, meet people and enjoy good food in a friendly atmosphere. 📍 **This time at the GROUND FLOOR (not basement)** More space, open windows and outdoor tables – a much more comfortable setting, especially with warmer weather. You want to go out but: – the pub… same old 😅 – going home and cooking… not happening Instead of the usual pub, expect something different: 🍝 Italian **free buffet** (served 7:00–8:30 PM) 🍹 quality drinks 🌿 relaxed indoor-outdoor vibe 👥 international & Italian crowd It’s ideal if you: * want to go out after work * prefer something more social than a pub * don’t feel like cooking when you get home **Event details:** 📅 **Thursday, 14 May** ⏰ 7:00 PM – 10:00 PM 🍝 Buffet: 7:00 – 8:30 PM 📍 Amalfi Lounge 59 Endell St, WC2H 9AJ **£15 includes:** ✔️ first drink ✔️ access to the Italian buffet Additional drinks available at **£10 each** Looking forward to seeing you there for a relaxed and social Thursday evening. Daniele 📲 07733273626

## **The science of vision, belief and action — turning dreams into real-life results through meaningful conversation.** **Meet2Click Curated Conversations** Each Meet2Click Curated Conversation dinner centres around a carefully chosen topic or shared interest, designed to spark thoughtful conversation and meaningful connection. Do you have a dream you've never quite been able to make real? I've spent years exploring why that happens — and what actually works to change it. So I'm creating a space to explore it together, over dinner, with no agenda other than honest conversation. At the table, we'll explore: ✦ **Why do some people seem to manifest their dreams more easily than others?** ✦ **What does science say about visualisation and belief?** ✦ **How do you turn a vision into real action and results?** No expertise needed. Just curiosity and an open mind. Launch Season Benefit During our initial Meet2Click dinners, guests will enjoy up to **50% off food** at the restaurant. This introductory benefit is available for a limited launch period. Food and drinks are paid individually, directly with the restaurant. **Details** **Location:** Cafe Linea 90, Duke of York Square, London SW3 4LY **Date: 14 May 2026 at 19.30h** **Ticket price:** £15 per person *(includes your seat and contribution to the evening — food and drinks ordered and paid individually at the restaurant)* Seats are intentionally limited to encourage meaningful conversation and genuine connection. **Additional Information:** Photos or videos may be taken during the event for promotional purposes. Should you wish to opt out, please notify the host upon arrival, and your preferences will be respected.

### An Exquisite Cultural Afternoon Tea Journey at The Fan Museum, London The Fan Museum is the UK's only Museum devoted to the history of Fans. Her Majesty The Queen is the royal patron since 2008! This exquisite 2.5-hour cultural experience is thoughtfully curated to nourish both mind and spirit through two timeless elegant arts: * Traditional Chinese Tea Culture * Fan Culture (Asian Fans & British Royal Fans) Date: Saturday 16th May 2026 Time: 1:00pm - 3:30pm Ticket price: £68 Group size: Max 15. **What's included:** 1\. Guided Fan Talk \(30 minutes\) \- Asian Fans 2\. Traditional Chinese Tea Ceremony \(1\.5 hours\) Following the museum talk, transition into a serene tea experience led by tea experts from Amitabha Garden. This guided session includes: * Traditional Chinese Tea Ceremony * Taste three carefully selected premium Chinese loose leaf teas (Jasmine Dragon Well, 2020 Aged White Tea, selected minimum 5 years aged dark tea) * Taste handmade Traditional Chinese pastries (Please let us know in advance if you have any allergies) * Introduction to Gongfu brewing techniques * Mindful appreciation of aroma, flavour, and tea philosophy, history and story This session is designed to help guests slow down, restore inner calm, and engage fully with the present moment. 3\. Guided Museum Exhibition Tour Complete your experience with a guided tour through the beautiful Georgian setting of The Fan Museum for the latest exhibition - The Royal Fans! Learn more about the history and stories of royal Fans.

Once a month, we slow things down. No courts. No rushing. Just good food, easy conversation, and a social that actually feels… social. This is the **Second Serve games night** — a more relaxed, sit-down version of the group. 📍 **Venue (Croydon / easy access)** We rotate between: * Cosy restaurants with bookable tables * Private/semi-private dining spaces * Quiet venues where we can actually hear each other (Final location shared after approval) 🕒 **Format (Monthly Saturday)** * **6:30 – 7:15pm** → Arrivals + dinner orders * **7:15 – 8:15pm** → Dinner & natural conversation * **8:15 – 9:45pm** → Games + guided social * Wrap up on time — no dragging the night out 🎲 **The Twist (What makes this different)** This isn’t just “dinner and hope for the best.” We structure it lightly so it never gets awkward: * Small tables (4–6 people max) * Subtle **table rotations** (optional, not forced) * Simple games that spark conversation, not competition 💬 **Conversation Style** No cringe icebreakers. We use light prompts that are easy to answer and easy to build on. 👥 **Who this is for** * People who don’t want loud, chaotic nights * People who actually want to talk and connect * People who prefer structure over randomness ✅ **Approval & Attendance** * RSVP approval required * Limited seats (kept intentionally small) * Priority goes to consistent attendees 👉 If you RSVP, we expect you there (No-shows affect future approvals) **The vibe** A proper social. Not loud. Not forced. Not endless. Just a good evening, done right. *Pictures and Videos may be taken for marketing purposes.* *All attendees consent to the use of their pictures by The* Second Serve Social 🎾

**BOOK HERE**: https://sportas.co.uk/games/48733 **Game Description:** Social fun mixed and beginner friendly badminton session based in East London. Founded in 2024 delivering weekly badminton sessions 🏸 Please note even if session isn't full, there will attendees coming internally :) Find more about us at @sportingdllm (IG)! **Rules** Mixed doubles up to 21! always be friendly, respectful and match each other levels. We all started somewhere!

**BOOK HERE**: https://sportas.co.uk/games/45752 **Game Description:** Come and play in a casual 6 aside game on a Sunday afternoon ⚽️ It’s a beautiful pitch with larger goals 😍 💦 Showers, changing rooms, water fountain and toilets available. **Directions:** 🚶‍♂️1 minute walk from Poplar DLR station 🚗 No designated car parking **Rules** \- Change keeper every 6 minutes \- Classic 6 aside rules \- No slide tackles\, play safe \- Respect everyone on the pitch

**BOOK HERE**: https://sportas.co.uk/games/45572 **Game Description:** Come and join a casual Friday indoor volleyball session in Shoreditch 🤘 This is a mixed ability session so standard varies from week to week 🧡 Please familiarise with the rules of the game below ⬇️ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLZ44KBWEbo Pleasure adhere to these rules when entering the hall: No food or drink except water No outside footwear No chewing gum No music allowed as we don’t have license No changing on court after 8pm **Directions:** 🚶‍♂️7 minute walk from Hoxton or Shoreditch High Street overground stations 🚿Showers and changing rooms available **Rules** \- 3 teams of 6 \- 6v6 games up to 15 points \- Max 2 games in a row

**BOOK HERE**: https://sportas.co.uk/games/48034 **Game Description:** Please be aware that our sessions are also on our own mobile app. Therefore, the number of participants you currently see may not reflect the total number of participants. To participate in this session, your first step is to attend one of our coaching sessions and receive approval from one of our experienced coaches. Our game is designed for players who possess a strong understanding of the sport and are eager for a more challenging experience. With fast-paced rallies, strategic plays, and a competitive atmosphere, you'll have the opportunity to refine your technique, enhance your agility, and strengthen your teamwork. This environment provides the perfect platform to elevate your volleyball skills and strive for victory. Join our vibrant community of passionate volleyball enthusiasts and prepare to showcase your talent on the court. Let's come together to play, learn, and excel in this exhilarating intermediate-level volleyball game! Rules By booking this session, you acknowledge and agree to comply with our terms and conditions, privacy policies, and cancellation policy, which can be found below. Participation in this session requires prior approval from one of our coaches during our coaching sessions. Kindly be aware that booking this session without a pre-existing invitation may lead to potential denial of entry, with no refund available. Terms & Conditions at: https://www.littlegiantsvc.com/terms-and-conditions Privacy Policy at: https://www.littlegiantsvc.com/privacy-policy Cancellation Policy: Bookings are non-refundable, non-transferable and non-exchangeable. This includes tournaments, volleyball camps, monthly memberships, 1-on-1 and 1 to 6 trainings & team membership fee. Social sessions are exchangeable if we are contacted within 24 hours prior to attendance at a social or coached session to transfer payment to your preferred date(within 30 days of the original booking) Little Giants VC will contact you in the event of postponement or cancellation to work with you.

**Building a great product is one thing—building momentum behind it is another.** Join **Senior Product Manager Adam Solaiman** and **User Experience Manager Tyson Smith** for a behind-the-scenes look at what it takes to turn complex ideas into scalable products inside large organizations. In this session, they’ll share how teams move from ambiguity to execution—navigating organizational complexity, aligning stakeholders, and continuously evolving products after launch. You’ll walk away with insights on how to: * Build and sustain momentum across teams * Adapt to changing priorities without losing direction * Scale products thoughtfully in complex environments Whether you're driving a new initiative or growing an existing product, this conversation will give you practical strategies to keep things moving forward. Come connect, learn, and swap stories with fellow product professionals. \-\-\- Food and drinks will be provided by Switchbox, our generous host. Free parking will be available at the front and back sides of the Switchbox Office.

Customer identity resolution becomes increasingly complex as organizations scale across multiple systems, regions, and data formats. Traditional rule-based approaches often fail to keep up with data variability, require constant manual tuning, and struggle with real-time processing needs. This session presents a practical approach to building a scalable identity resolution pipeline using AWS services and modern AI techniques. The architecture combines data ingestion through Amazon S3 and AWS Glue, transformation pipelines using Spark on EMR, and machine learning models deployed via SageMaker for entity matching and standardization. Graph-based relationship modeling is implemented using Amazon Neptune to improve resolution accuracy by incorporating household and shared attribute context. We will walk through how machine learning models can be used for name and address normalization, how intelligent blocking strategies improve matching efficiency, and how feedback loops can be introduced to continuously improve accuracy. The session also highlights how serverless components such as AWS Lambda can be used for orchestration and real-time processing. **SPEAKER BIO** Mosaic Syed is a Senior Data Engineering and Cloud Solutions Architect with over 20 years of experience designing and delivering scalable, secure, and high-performance data solutions across global enterprise environments. https://www.linkedin.com/in/mosaic-basha-syed-92300856 **CALL FOR SPEAKERS** Learn more: [https://www.awscolumbus.com/get-involved/](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/](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

Practical AI for Power BI Developers A year ago, “agentic AI” was mostly hype for Power BI teams. Today, it deserves your undivided attention. For Power BI pros, there is now a real opportunity to reduce repetitive development work, accelerate delivery, and help developers do more, but only when strong DataOps practices are in place to make AI workflows effective. This session is a no-nonsense introduction to effective AI patterns for Power BI and Fabric development. Along the way, we will make sense of the growing pile of terminology, including skills, plugins, hooks, and MCP. You will see examples of how modern AI tooling can help with development tasks across Power BI and Fabric, along with the prerequisites, guardrails, and DataOps principles needed to use it responsibly. Whether you're burned out on AI hype or already using Copilot CLI daily, this session will show you the foundations that are finally making AI-assisted development genuinely useful.

**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**

Join the Columbus AI community for our quarterly gathering — a casual, community-focused evening where everyone has a chance to share, learn, and connect. These open mic–style events give anyone in the community up to **5 minutes** to present a project, share a tool, pose a question, or offer a perspective on the evolving AI space. No slides required — just a welcoming space to exchange ideas and keep the local AI conversation moving. If you’d like to take the stage, message \*\*Chris (the organizer)\*\*with a **title and short description** of what you’d like to share. Whether you’re deep in the field or just getting curious, come connect with others building and exploring AI in Columbus. Sponsored by [Transform Labs](https://www.linkedin.com/company/transformlabs/) Sign up also accessible via [Transform Labs Luma](https://luma.com/transformlabshq)

Columbus Code & Coffee is an inclusive, informal co-working session. People of all skill levels attend, and we love it that way. Many people (optionally) bring projects to work on, and many other people (optionally) socialize the entire time. It's entirely up to you! **What to Expect at the Intro Circle** \~\~\~\~\~\~\~\~\~\~\~\~\~ Near the beginning of the event (1:30 pm), we do a standup: * Organizer announcements, updates, and logistics Round 1 - (7 secs max): * Your name * What you're working on * What you can help others with Round 2: * Community events you wanna plug. If none, that's cool too. Round 3: * Job opportunities you're hiring for OR announce that you are looking for one. If none, that's cool. After the introduction circle, everything is self-organized! Feel free to work alone, pair up, attend one of our workshops/presentations, or mingle!