Maptime Amsterdam – First Meetup of 2026 🎉

Date: Thursday, January 29, 2026 Time: Doors open at 18:15 Location: De Ruijterkade 154, 1011 AC Amsterdam, Amsterdam

Join us for Maptime Amsterdam’s first 2026 meetup — an evening of mapping, learning, and connecting with the local geospatial community! Whether you’re a student, researcher, hobbyist, or professional, everyone is welcome. We’ll explore exciting new topics in mapping, OpenStreetMap, and geospatial technology while sharing ideas and hands-on experiences.

Agenda

• 18:15 – 18:30 \| Walk-in & Welcome Grab a drink, meet fellow mappers, and get settled in.
• 18:30 – 19:30 \| Talks & Fire Chats Short presentations and informal conversations on what’s happening in the mapping world — from open data projects and web mapping tools to innovative geospatial use cases. Open stage: share your own project or story!
• 19:30 – 20:15 \| Collaborative Mapping & Workshop A hands-on session exploring topics such as safety mapping, nature preservation, and other community-driven projects in OpenStreetMap (Netherlands and beyond).
• 20:15 – onwards \| Networking & Editing Sprint Relax, exchange ideas, and continue mapping together.

About the event: This is a hands-on workshop where we dive into geospatial technologies through DIY mapping projects. Learn about OpenStreetMap, geolocation, and data visualization in a friendly and inclusive setting. Let’s map our world together at Maptime Amsterdam’s Geospatial DIY Workshop! 🌍

Please contact Salim Baidoun: [email protected] for more information.

This two-part discussion series will explore how to make humanitarian spreadsheets more “AI-ready,” bringing together UN OCHA’s new guidance project with real-world lessons from recent AI spreadsheet extraction experiments.

UN OCHA is developing a short, practical guide to help humanitarian teams publish “AI-ready” public datasets that work better with tools like ChatGPT, Copilot, Gemini and open source models like Kimi K2 and GPT OSS running on providers like Groq when users simply upload a CSV or Excel file and start asking questions. The focus is on non-technical users who will not configure agents, write code, or reverse-engineer cryptic column names, but instead expect the AI to correctly interpret the file structure and labels out of the box. By recommending clear naming, consistent tabular layouts, and lightweight documentation, the guidance aims to reduce misinterpretation, hallucinations, and broken analyses when consumer AI tools encounter real-world humanitarian data.

Jan Zheng, a Developer Relations Engineer at Groq who helps people design and build AI prototypes, is exploring exactly these challenges from the model and tooling side. His recent experiments with spreadsheet extraction show that messy, multi-table spreadsheets routinely confuse even advanced models and agent frameworks, leading to unreliable extraction, off‑by‑one errors, looping agents, and high costs. These problems are amplified when complex datasets or vast amounts data are processed by non-technical users of commercial AI tools and open models. Lessons learned through research and usage can inform UN OCHA guidance by clarifying which spreadsheet patterns break current AI tools, which structures make extraction more robust, and how to balance “ideal” AI-ready formats with the messy realities of operational humanitarian spreadsheets.

Over two separate meetup discussions, staff from UN OCHA will introduce the AI‑ready data project in more detail, walk through the specific use case they are targeting, and answer questions from participants about scope, constraints, and potential applications in humanitarian settings. These sessions are designed to surface real-world experiences from practitioners who publish, manage, or use open humanitarian data, and to gather concrete examples of what works and what breaks when datasets are run through consumer AI tools and open source tools running through providers like Groq.

On a following date, Jan will join a dedicated session to react to the project, share his experimental findings on spreadsheet extraction, and discuss how infrastructure choices such as model selection, speed, and prompting strategies interact with the way humanitarian data is structured and published. His perspective will help bridge the gap between guidance aimed at data publishers and the realities of building and tuning AI systems that can reliably interpret messy, real-world spreadsheets used across the humanitarian sector.

This two-part discussion series will explore how to make humanitarian spreadsheets more “AI-ready,” bringing together UN OCHA’s new guidance project with real-world lessons from recent AI spreadsheet extraction experiments.

UN OCHA is developing a short, practical guide to help humanitarian teams publish “AI-ready” public datasets that work better with tools like ChatGPT, Copilot, Gemini and open source models like Kimi K2 and GPT OSS running on providers like Groq when users simply upload a CSV or Excel file and start asking questions. The focus is on non-technical users who will not configure agents, write code, or reverse-engineer cryptic column names, but instead expect the AI to correctly interpret the file structure and labels out of the box. By recommending clear naming, consistent tabular layouts, and lightweight documentation, the guidance aims to reduce misinterpretation, hallucinations, and broken analyses when consumer AI tools encounter real-world humanitarian data.

Jan Zheng, a Developer Relations Engineer at Groq who helps people design and build AI prototypes, is exploring exactly these challenges from the model and tooling side. His recent experiments with spreadsheet extraction show that messy, multi-table spreadsheets routinely confuse even advanced models and agent frameworks, leading to unreliable extraction, off‑by‑one errors, looping agents, and high costs. These problems are amplified when complex datasets or vast amounts data are processed by non-technical users of commercial AI tools and open models. Lessons learned through research and usage can inform UN OCHA guidance by clarifying which spreadsheet patterns break current AI tools, which structures make extraction more robust, and how to balance “ideal” AI-ready formats with the messy realities of operational humanitarian spreadsheets.

Over two separate meetup discussions, staff from UN OCHA will introduce the AI‑ready data project in more detail, walk through the specific use case they are targeting, and answer questions from participants about scope, constraints, and potential applications in humanitarian settings. These sessions are designed to surface real-world experiences from practitioners who publish, manage, or use open humanitarian data, and to gather concrete examples of what works and what breaks when datasets are run through consumer AI tools and open source tools running through providers like Groq.

On a following date, Jan will join a dedicated session to react to the project, share his experimental findings on spreadsheet extraction, and discuss how infrastructure choices such as model selection, speed, and prompting strategies interact with the way humanitarian data is structured and published. His perspective will help bridge the gap between guidance aimed at data publishers and the realities of building and tuning AI systems that can reliably interpret messy, real-world spreadsheets used across the humanitarian sector.

This two-part discussion series will explore how to make humanitarian spreadsheets more “AI-ready,” bringing together UN OCHA’s new guidance project with real-world lessons from recent AI spreadsheet extraction experiments.

UN OCHA is developing a short, practical guide to help humanitarian teams publish “AI-ready” public datasets that work better with tools like ChatGPT, Copilot, Gemini and open source models like Kimi K2 and GPT OSS running on providers like Groq when users simply upload a CSV or Excel file and start asking questions. The focus is on non-technical users who will not configure agents, write code, or reverse-engineer cryptic column names, but instead expect the AI to correctly interpret the file structure and labels out of the box. By recommending clear naming, consistent tabular layouts, and lightweight documentation, the guidance aims to reduce misinterpretation, hallucinations, and broken analyses when consumer AI tools encounter real-world humanitarian data.

Jan Zheng, a Developer Relations Engineer at Groq who helps people design and build AI prototypes, is exploring exactly these challenges from the model and tooling side. His recent experiments with spreadsheet extraction show that messy, multi-table spreadsheets routinely confuse even advanced models and agent frameworks, leading to unreliable extraction, off‑by‑one errors, looping agents, and high costs. These problems are amplified when complex datasets or vast amounts data are processed by non-technical users of commercial AI tools and open models. Lessons learned through research and usage can inform UN OCHA guidance by clarifying which spreadsheet patterns break current AI tools, which structures make extraction more robust, and how to balance “ideal” AI-ready formats with the messy realities of operational humanitarian spreadsheets.

Over two separate meetup discussions, staff from UN OCHA will introduce the AI‑ready data project in more detail, walk through the specific use case they are targeting, and answer questions from participants about scope, constraints, and potential applications in humanitarian settings. These sessions are designed to surface real-world experiences from practitioners who publish, manage, or use open humanitarian data, and to gather concrete examples of what works and what breaks when datasets are run through consumer AI tools and open source tools running through providers like Groq.

On a following date, Jan will join a dedicated session to react to the project, share his experimental findings on spreadsheet extraction, and discuss how infrastructure choices such as model selection, speed, and prompting strategies interact with the way humanitarian data is structured and published. His perspective will help bridge the gap between guidance aimed at data publishers and the realities of building and tuning AI systems that can reliably interpret messy, real-world spreadsheets used across the humanitarian sector.

This two-part discussion series will explore how to make humanitarian spreadsheets more “AI-ready,” bringing together UN OCHA’s new guidance project with real-world lessons from recent AI spreadsheet extraction experiments.

UN OCHA is developing a short, practical guide to help humanitarian teams publish “AI-ready” public datasets that work better with tools like ChatGPT, Copilot, Gemini and open source models like Kimi K2 and GPT OSS running on providers like Groq when users simply upload a CSV or Excel file and start asking questions. The focus is on non-technical users who will not configure agents, write code, or reverse-engineer cryptic column names, but instead expect the AI to correctly interpret the file structure and labels out of the box. By recommending clear naming, consistent tabular layouts, and lightweight documentation, the guidance aims to reduce misinterpretation, hallucinations, and broken analyses when consumer AI tools encounter real-world humanitarian data.

Jan Zheng, a Developer Relations Engineer at Groq who helps people design and build AI prototypes, is exploring exactly these challenges from the model and tooling side. His recent experiments with spreadsheet extraction show that messy, multi-table spreadsheets routinely confuse even advanced models and agent frameworks, leading to unreliable extraction, off‑by‑one errors, looping agents, and high costs. These problems are amplified when complex datasets or vast amounts data are processed by non-technical users of commercial AI tools and open models. Lessons learned through research and usage can inform UN OCHA guidance by clarifying which spreadsheet patterns break current AI tools, which structures make extraction more robust, and how to balance “ideal” AI-ready formats with the messy realities of operational humanitarian spreadsheets.

Over two separate meetup discussions, staff from UN OCHA will introduce the AI‑ready data project in more detail, walk through the specific use case they are targeting, and answer questions from participants about scope, constraints, and potential applications in humanitarian settings. These sessions are designed to surface real-world experiences from practitioners who publish, manage, or use open humanitarian data, and to gather concrete examples of what works and what breaks when datasets are run through consumer AI tools and open source tools running through providers like Groq.

On a following date, Jan will join a dedicated session to react to the project, share his experimental findings on spreadsheet extraction, and discuss how infrastructure choices such as model selection, speed, and prompting strategies interact with the way humanitarian data is structured and published. His perspective will help bridge the gap between guidance aimed at data publishers and the realities of building and tuning AI systems that can reliably interpret messy, real-world spreadsheets used across the humanitarian sector.

Are you a PhD student, postdoc, faculty member, or research professional looking to grow your academic network, find job opportunities, or explore potential collaborations? ResearchersConnect is your new go-to virtual research networking event, designed to bring together minds from across disciplines, institutions, and geographies. Hosted on a Slack-like platform, this online community for researchers offers a space for idea exchange, knowledge sharing, and career development. Whether you're seeking a new role, scouting research collaborators, or learning about the latest research funding and grants, this platform empowers you to connect meaningfully — all from the comfort of your home or office.

🎥 Watch the explainer video to see how to make the most of your experience: 👉 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K0PaumQ9Rj8

💬 What You Can Expect: Join us in a flexible and engaging academic career fair online, where participants have access to multiple themed channels and direct 1-1 video or text conversations. Here’s how the space is organized to help you thrive:

• General – Your welcome lounge for intros, announcements, and community-wide discussions. Great for getting oriented and starting conversations.
• Intros – Share your academic background, research focus, or current project. Connect with like-minded individuals.
• Networking – Post your portfolio, recent publications, or research goals. Explore interdisciplinary connections and brainstorm with fellow attendees.
• Help Wanted – Looking for a co-author, lab partner, or someone with statistical expertise? Post your ask or offer help here.
• Research Funding & Grants – Exchange tips, resources, and experiences around securing research funding, writing proposals, or navigating fellowship applications.
• Collaboration Corner – Meet potential partners for cross-disciplinary research and innovative joint ventures.
• Industry Room: Research & Academia – Stay up to date on trends, methodologies, and tools shaping the future of research in academia and industry.

You’ll be able to:

• Chat live with fellow attendees across the globe
• Join topic-specific channels tailored to your goals
• Conduct 1-on-1 video chats with researchers, hiring professionals, and peers
• Share resources, publications, and job openings with the community
• Explore a vibrant research collaboration platform that fosters real-world impact

📍 Location: All sessions take place virtually at 👉 https://events.tao.ai/pod/analytics.club/6wmav4fgzzha

🌍 Who Should Join?

• Graduate students and postdocs seeking their next academic or industry role
• Professors and principal investigators open to new projects or interdisciplinary connections
• Research professionals and employers scouting talent or collaborators
• Grant writers and administrators looking for strategic partnerships
• Anyone involved in academic research, scientific collaboration, or proposal development

🕓 When: The event runs from 4:00 PM – 6:00 PM local time in your region. Visit the event link above for details and access.

💡 Have Questions or Suggestions? We’d love to hear from you! Drop us a note here: 👉 https://noworkerleftbehind.org/event_support

📢 Join the movement and amplify your research journey with:

ResearchersConnect #VirtualResearchNetworking #AcademicCareerFairOnline #ResearchCollaborationPlatform #OnlineCommunityForResearchers #ResearchFundingAndGrants #PhDNetworking #PostdocCareer #ResearchJobs #InterdisciplinaryResearch #GlobalResearchEvent #NetworkingForAcademics

Are you a PhD student, postdoc, faculty member, or research professional looking to grow your academic network, find job opportunities, or explore potential collaborations? ResearchersConnect is your new go-to virtual research networking event, designed to bring together minds from across disciplines, institutions, and geographies. Hosted on a Slack-like platform, this online community for researchers offers a space for idea exchange, knowledge sharing, and career development. Whether you're seeking a new role, scouting research collaborators, or learning about the latest research funding and grants, this platform empowers you to connect meaningfully — all from the comfort of your home or office.

🎥 Watch the explainer video to see how to make the most of your experience: 👉 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K0PaumQ9Rj8

💬 What You Can Expect: Join us in a flexible and engaging academic career fair online, where participants have access to multiple themed channels and direct 1-1 video or text conversations. Here’s how the space is organized to help you thrive:

• General – Your welcome lounge for intros, announcements, and community-wide discussions. Great for getting oriented and starting conversations.
• Intros – Share your academic background, research focus, or current project. Connect with like-minded individuals.
• Networking – Post your portfolio, recent publications, or research goals. Explore interdisciplinary connections and brainstorm with fellow attendees.
• Help Wanted – Looking for a co-author, lab partner, or someone with statistical expertise? Post your ask or offer help here.
• Research Funding & Grants – Exchange tips, resources, and experiences around securing research funding, writing proposals, or navigating fellowship applications.
• Collaboration Corner – Meet potential partners for cross-disciplinary research and innovative joint ventures.
• Industry Room: Research & Academia – Stay up to date on trends, methodologies, and tools shaping the future of research in academia and industry.

You’ll be able to:

• Chat live with fellow attendees across the globe
• Join topic-specific channels tailored to your goals
• Conduct 1-on-1 video chats with researchers, hiring professionals, and peers
• Share resources, publications, and job openings with the community
• Explore a vibrant research collaboration platform that fosters real-world impact

📍 Location: All sessions take place virtually at 👉 https://events.tao.ai/pod/analytics.club/6wmav4fgzzha

🌍 Who Should Join?

• Graduate students and postdocs seeking their next academic or industry role
• Professors and principal investigators open to new projects or interdisciplinary connections
• Research professionals and employers scouting talent or collaborators
• Grant writers and administrators looking for strategic partnerships
• Anyone involved in academic research, scientific collaboration, or proposal development

🕓 When: The event runs from 4:00 PM – 6:00 PM local time in your region. Visit the event link above for details and access.

💡 Have Questions or Suggestions? We’d love to hear from you! Drop us a note here: 👉 https://noworkerleftbehind.org/event_support

📢 Join the movement and amplify your research journey with:

ResearchersConnect #VirtualResearchNetworking #AcademicCareerFairOnline #ResearchCollaborationPlatform #OnlineCommunityForResearchers #ResearchFundingAndGrants #PhDNetworking #PostdocCareer #ResearchJobs #InterdisciplinaryResearch #GlobalResearchEvent #NetworkingForAcademics

Join us for an immersive session on building agents in Copilot Studio—spotlighting the latest innovations and what’s coming soon. Explore enhancements to knowledge capabilities, groundbreaking advancements in generative orchestration, and robust new tools for testing and debugging. See how Copilot Studio is driving real business impact through customer success stories that showcase greater efficiency, elevated user experiences, and seamless automation. Get a sneak peek into upcoming features!

Building B2B analytics and AI tools that people will actually pay for and use is hard. The reality is, your product won’t deliver ROI if no one’s using it. That’s why first principles thinking says you have to solve the usage problem first.

In this episode, I’ll explain why the key to user adoption is designing with the flow of work—building your solution around the natural workflows of your users to minimize the behavior changes you’re asking them to make. When users clearly see the value in your product, it becomes easier to sell and removes many product-related blockers along the way.

We’ll explore how product design impacts sales, the difference between buyers and users in enterprise contexts, and why challenging the “data/AI-first” mindset is essential. I’ll also share practical ways to align features with user needs, reduce friction, and drive long-term adoption and impact.

If you’re ready to move beyond the dashboard and start building products that truly fit the way people work, this episode is for you.

Highlights/Skip to: 

The core argument: why solving for user adoption first helps demonstrate ROI and facilitate sales in B2B analytics and AI products  (1:34) How showing the value to actual end users—not just buyers—makes it easier to sell your product (2:33) Why designing for outcomes instead of outputs (dashboards, etc) leads to better adoption and long-term product value (8:16) How to “see” beyond users’ surface-level feature requests and solutions so you can solve for the actual, unspoken need—leading to an indispensable product (10:23) Reframing feature requests as design-actionable problems (12:07)  Solving for unspoken needs vs. customer-requested features and functions (15:51) Why “disruption” is the wrong approach for product development (21:19)

Quotes: 

“Customers’ tolerance for poorly designed B2B software has decreased significantly over the last decade. People now expect enterprise tools to function as smoothly and intuitively as the consumer apps they use every day. 

Clunky software that slows down workflows is no longer acceptable, regardless of the data it provides. If your product frustrates users or requires extra effort to achieve results, adoption will suffer.

Even the most powerful AI or analytics engine cannot compensate for a confusing or poorly structured interface. Enterprises now demand experiences that are seamless, efficient, and aligned with real workflows. 

This shift means that product design is no longer a secondary consideration; it is critical to commercial success.  Founders and product leaders must prioritize usability, clarity, and delight in every interaction. Software that is difficult to use increases the risk of churn, lengthens sales cycles, and diminishes perceived value. Products must anticipate user needs and deliver solutions that integrate naturally into existing workflows. 

The companies that succeed are the ones that treat user experience as a strategic differentiator. Ignoring this trend creates friction, frustration, and missed opportunities for adoption and revenue growth. Design quality is now inseparable from product value and market competitiveness.  The message is clear: if you want your product to be adopted, retain customers, and win in the market, UX must be central to your strategy.”

—

“No user really wants to ‘check a dashboard’ or use a feature for its own sake. Dashboards, charts, and tables are outputs, not solutions. What users care about is completing their tasks, solving their problems, and achieving meaningful results. 

Designing around workflows rather than features ensures your product is indispensable. A workflow-first approach maps your solution to the actual tasks users perform in the real world. 

When we understand the jobs users need to accomplish, we can build products that deliver real value and remove friction. Focusing solely on features or data can create bloated products that users ignore or struggle to use. 

Outputs are meaningless if they do not fit into the context of a user’s work. The key is to translate user needs into actionable workflows and design every element to support those flows. 

This approach reduces cognitive load, improves adoption, and ensures the product's ROI is realized. It also allows you to anticipate challenges and design solutions that make workflows smoother, faster, and more efficient. 

By centering design on actual tasks rather than arbitrary metrics, your product becomes a tool users can’t imagine living without. Workflow-focused design directly ties to measurable outcomes for both end users and buyers. It shifts the conversation from features to value, making adoption, satisfaction, and revenue more predictable.”

—

“Just because a product is built with AI or powerful data capabilities doesn’t mean anyone will adopt it. Long-term value comes from designing solutions that users cannot live without. It’s about creating experiences that take people from frustration to satisfaction to delight. 

Products must fit into users’ natural workflows and improve their performance, efficiency, and outcomes. Buyers' perceived ROI is closely tied to meaningful adoption by end users. If users struggle, churn rises, and financial impact is diminished, regardless of technical sophistication. 

Designing for delight ensures that the product becomes a positive force in the user’s daily work. It strengthens engagement, reduces friction, and builds customer loyalty. 

High-quality UX allows the product to demonstrate value automatically, without constant explanations or hand-holding. Delightful experiences encourage advocacy, referrals, and easier future sales. 

The real power of design lies in aligning technical capabilities with human behavior and workflow. 

When done correctly, this approach transforms a tool into an indispensable part of the user’s job and a demonstrable asset for the business. 

Focusing on usability, satisfaction, and delight creates long-term adoption and retention, which is the ultimate measure of product success.”

—

“Your product should enter the user’s work stream like a raft on a river, moving in the same direction as their workflow. Users should not have to fight the current or stop their flow to use your tool. 

Introducing friction or requiring users to change their behavior increases risk, even if the product delivers ROI. The more naturally your product aligns with existing workflows, the easier it is to adopt and the more likely it is to be retained. 

Products that feel intuitive and effortless become indispensable, reducing conversations about usability during demos. By matching the flow of work, your solution improves satisfaction, accelerates adoption, and enhances perceived value. 

Disrupting workflows without careful observation can create new problems, frustrate users, and slow down sales. The goal is to move users from frustration to satisfaction to delight, all while achieving the intended outcomes. 

Designing with the flow of work ensures that every feature, interface element, and interaction fits seamlessly into the tasks users already perform. It allows users to focus on value instead of figuring out how to use the product. 

This alignment is key to unlocking adoption, retaining customers, and building long-term loyalty. 

Products that resist the natural workflow may demonstrate ROI on paper but fail in practice due to friction and low engagement. 

Success requires designing a product that supports the user’s journey downstream without interruption or extra effort. 

When you achieve this, adoption becomes easier, sales conversations smoother, and long-term retention higher.”

—

Unveil the data platform of the future with SQL Server 2025—guided by one of its key architects . With built-in AI for application development and advanced analytics powered by Microsoft Fabric, SQL Server 2025 empowers you to innovate—securely and confidently. This book shows you how. Author Bob Ward, Principal Architect for the Microsoft Azure Data team, shares exclusive insights drawn from over three decades at Microsoft. Having worked on every version of SQL Server since OS/2 1.1, Ward brings unmatched expertise and practical guidance to help you navigate this transformative release. Ward covers everything from setup and upgrades to advanced features in performance, high availability, and security. He also highlights what makes this the most developer-friendly release in a decade: support for JSON, RegEx, REST APIs, and event streaming. Most critically, Ward explores SQL Server 2025’s advanced, scalable AI integrations, showing you how to build AI-powered applications deeply integrated with the SQL engine—and elevate your analytics to the next level. But innovation doesn’t come at the cost of safety: this release is built on a foundation of enterprise-grade security, helping you adopt AI safely and responsibly. You control which models to use, how they interact with your data, and where they run—from ground to cloud, or integrated with Microsoft Fabric. With built-in features like Row-Level Security (RLS), Transparent Data Encryption (TDE), Dynamic Data Masking, and SQL Server Auditing, your data remains protected at every layer. The AI age is here. Make sure your SQL Server databases are ready—and built for secure, scalable innovation . What You Will Learn [if !supportLists] · [endif]Grasp the fundamentals of AI to leverage AI with your data, using the industry-proven security and scale of SQL Server [if !supportLists] · [endif]Utilize AI models of your choice, services, and frameworks to build new AI applications [if !supportLists] · [endif]Explore new developer features such as JSON, Regular Expressions, REST API, and Change Event Streaming [if !supportLists] · [endif]Discover SQL Server 2025's powerful new engine capabilities to increase application concurrency [if !supportLists] · [endif]Examine new high availability features to enhance uptime and diagnose complex HADR configurations [if !supportLists] · Use new query processing capabilities to extend the performance of your application [if !supportLists] · [endif]Connect SQL Server to Azure with Arc for advanced management and security capabilities [if !supportLists] · [endif]Secure and govern your data using Microsoft Entra [if !supportLists] · [endif]Achieve near-real-time analytics with the unified data platform Microsoft Fabric [if !supportLists] · [endif]Integrate AI capabilities with SQL Server for enterprise AI [if !supportLists] · [endif]Leverage new tools such as SQL Server Management Studio and Copilot experiences to assist your SQL Server journey Who This Book Is For The SQL Server community, including DBAs, architects, and developers eager to stay ahead with the latest advancements in SQL Server 2025, and those interested in the intersection of AI and data, particularly how artificial intelligence (AI) can be seamlessly integrated with SQL Server to unlock deeper insights and smarter solutions

Important: Register on the event website to receive joining link. (rsvp on meetup will NOT receive joining link).

Description: Welcome to the AI virtual seminar series, in collaboration with Docker. Join us for deep dive tech talks on AI, GenAI, LLMs, Agentic AI, hands-on experiences on code labs, workshops, and networking with speakers & fellow developers from all over the world.

Tech Talk: Going beyond the chatbot with event-driven agents Speakers: Michael Irwin (Principal Engineer at Docker) Abstract: Agentic systems have the ability to use models and tools to perform many different types of tasks. However, many of them are launched by a user opening a browser tab to a chatbot and entering a prompt that then initiates the action. While that's still valid, it is quite limiting. What if we can go farther? In this talk, we're going to take a real-life scenario in which PRs are opened for training/workshop repos with completed work and create an agent that will analyze the PRs to determine if it can be automatically closed. To automate the process, we'll connect the agent to GitHub webhooks. We'll walk through the steps - from model and tool selection to writing the code to final packaging. You'll be introduced to some of Docker's tooling, including the Docker Model Runner and MCP Gateway. Regardless if you're new or seasoned to AI development, there will be something for everyone!

More upcoming sessions:

• Oct 15th: AI DevTalks Live with Google Cloud - Ep 3
• Oct 28th: AI Webinar with Oracle (Ep 10) - Implementing AI Vector Search

Local and Global AI Community on Discord Join us on discord for local and global AI tech community:

• Events chat: chat and connect with speakers and global and local attendees;
• Learning AI: events, learning materials, study groups;
• Startups: innovation, projects collaborations, founders/co-founders;
• Jobs and Careers: job openings, post resumes, hiring managers *

Important: Register on the event website to receive joining link. (rsvp on meetup will NOT receive joining link).

Description: Welcome to the AI virtual seminar series, in collaboration with Docker. Join us for deep dive tech talks on AI, GenAI, LLMs, Agentic AI, hands-on experiences on code labs, workshops, and networking with speakers & fellow developers from all over the world.

Tech Talk: Going beyond the chatbot with event-driven agents Speakers: Michael Irwin (Principal Engineer at Docker) Abstract: Agentic systems have the ability to use models and tools to perform many different types of tasks. However, many of them are launched by a user opening a browser tab to a chatbot and entering a prompt that then initiates the action. While that's still valid, it is quite limiting. What if we can go farther? In this talk, we're going to take a real-life scenario in which PRs are opened for training/workshop repos with completed work and create an agent that will analyze the PRs to determine if it can be automatically closed. To automate the process, we'll connect the agent to GitHub webhooks. We'll walk through the steps - from model and tool selection to writing the code to final packaging. You'll be introduced to some of Docker's tooling, including the Docker Model Runner and MCP Gateway. Regardless if you're new or seasoned to AI development, there will be something for everyone!

More upcoming sessions:

• Oct 15th: AI DevTalks Live with Google Cloud - Ep 3
• Oct 28th: AI Webinar with Oracle (Ep 10) - Implementing AI Vector Search

Local and Global AI Community on Discord Join us on discord for local and global AI tech community:

• Events chat: chat and connect with speakers and global and local attendees;
• Learning AI: events, learning materials, study groups;
• Startups: innovation, projects collaborations, founders/co-founders;
• Jobs and Careers: job openings, post resumes, hiring managers *

Important: Register on the event website to receive joining link. (rsvp on meetup will NOT receive joining link).

Description: Welcome to the AI virtual seminar series, in collaboration with Docker. Join us for deep dive tech talks on AI, GenAI, LLMs, Agentic AI, hands-on experiences on code labs, workshops, and networking with speakers & fellow developers from all over the world.

Tech Talk: Going beyond the chatbot with event-driven agents Speakers: Michael Irwin (Principal Engineer at Docker) Abstract: Agentic systems have the ability to use models and tools to perform many different types of tasks. However, many of them are launched by a user opening a browser tab to a chatbot and entering a prompt that then initiates the action. While that's still valid, it is quite limiting. What if we can go farther? In this talk, we're going to take a real-life scenario in which PRs are opened for training/workshop repos with completed work and create an agent that will analyze the PRs to determine if it can be automatically closed. To automate the process, we'll connect the agent to GitHub webhooks. We'll walk through the steps - from model and tool selection to writing the code to final packaging. You'll be introduced to some of Docker's tooling, including the Docker Model Runner and MCP Gateway. Regardless if you're new or seasoned to AI development, there will be something for everyone!

More upcoming sessions:

• Oct 15th: AI DevTalks Live with Google Cloud - Ep 3
• Oct 28th: AI Webinar with Oracle (Ep 10) - Implementing AI Vector Search

Local and Global AI Community on Discord Join us on discord for local and global AI tech community:

• Events chat: chat and connect with speakers and global and local attendees;
• Learning AI: events, learning materials, study groups;
• Startups: innovation, projects collaborations, founders/co-founders;
• Jobs and Careers: job openings, post resumes, hiring managers *

Important: Register on the event website to receive joining link. (rsvp on meetup will NOT receive joining link). If you can't make to the live session, still register to receive the recordings/credits.

Description: Welcome to the AI virtual seminar series, in collaboration with Docker. Join us for deep dive tech talks on AI, GenAI, LLMs, Agentic AI, hands-on experiences on code labs, workshops, and networking with speakers & fellow developers from all over the world.

Tech Talk: Going beyond the chatbot with event-driven agents Speakers: Michael Irwin (Principal Engineer at Docker) Abstract: Agentic systems have the ability to use models and tools to perform many different types of tasks. However, many of them are launched by a user opening a browser tab to a chatbot and entering a prompt that then initiates the action. While that's still valid, it is quite limiting. What if we can go farther? In this talk, we're going to take a real-life scenario in which PRs are opened for training/workshop repos with completed work and create an agent that will analyze the PRs to determine if it can be automatically closed. To automate the process, we'll connect the agent to GitHub webhooks. We'll walk through the steps - from model and tool selection to writing the code to final packaging. You'll be introduced to some of Docker's tooling, including the Docker Model Runner and MCP Gateway. Regardless if you're new or seasoned to AI development, there will be something for everyone!

More upcoming sessions:

• Oct 28th: AI Webinar with Oracle (Ep 10) - Implementing AI Vector Search
• Nov 4th: NVIDIA FLARE Webinar 4 - Federated Learning from Industrial Perspectives

Important: Register on the event website to receive joining link. (rsvp on meetup will NOT receive joining link).

Description: Welcome to the AI virtual seminar series, in collaboration with Docker. Join us for deep dive tech talks on AI, GenAI, LLMs, Agentic AI, hands-on experiences on code labs, workshops, and networking with speakers & fellow developers from all over the world.

Tech Talk: Going beyond the chatbot with event-driven agents Speakers: Michael Irwin (Principal Engineer at Docker) Abstract: Agentic systems have the ability to use models and tools to perform many different types of tasks. However, many of them are launched by a user opening a browser tab to a chatbot and entering a prompt that then initiates the action. While that's still valid, it is quite limiting. What if we can go farther? In this talk, we're going to take a real-life scenario in which PRs are opened for training/workshop repos with completed work and create an agent that will analyze the PRs to determine if it can be automatically closed. To automate the process, we'll connect the agent to GitHub webhooks. We'll walk through the steps - from model and tool selection to writing the code to final packaging. You'll be introduced to some of Docker's tooling, including the Docker Model Runner and MCP Gateway. Regardless if you're new or seasoned to AI development, there will be something for everyone!

More upcoming sessions:

• Oct 15th: AI DevTalks Live with Google Cloud - Ep 3
• Oct 28th: AI Webinar with Oracle (Ep 10) - Implementing AI Vector Search

Local and Global AI Community on Discord Join us on discord for local and global AI tech community:

• Events chat: chat and connect with speakers and global and local attendees;
• Learning AI: events, learning materials, study groups;
• Startups: innovation, projects collaborations, founders/co-founders;
• Jobs and Careers: job openings, post resumes, hiring managers *

We’re stepping into a new era where we don’t just query data — we talk to it. Thanks to advances in AI and language models, it’s now possible to interact with data using natural language, making insights more accessible than ever.

In this session, we’ll explore how organisations are shifting away from static dashboards and complex query languages, towards tools that allow anyone — not just data experts — to ask questions and get meaningful answers directly from their data.

We’ll look at what it takes to build these conversational data experiences, how they work behind the scenes, and why getting governance, quality, and context right is more important than ever. You’ll also hear examples of how this is already being used to unlock faster, smarter decision-making.

Whether you’re a data leader, architect, or someone helping your organisation make sense of information, this session will offer practical ideas on how to make your data truly talk.

The Data Roundabout: Experiences with Generative AI 📍 Hosted by Crosstide 🗓 Thursday 18th September 📍 66-67 Sun Ct, Cornhill, London EC3V 3NB ⏰ Doors from 6pm, Talks kick off at 6.30

Data Roundabout is our meetup for people working with data and AI – a space for practical inspiration, unvarnished lessons, and conversation that cuts through the hype. This edition: Generative AI in real life – where it’s working, where it’s not, and how to avoid the trap of using tomorrow’s tools to do yesterday’s work.

🎤 Talks on the night:

Steven Thompson Technical Director @ Crosstide "Vibe Coding: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly" The way we build for the web has changed beyond recognition. Vibe coding promises speed and creativity, but it also magnifies risk. It can make great engineers fantastic, good engineers better, and poor engineers far worse. The real question is how leaders make sure it amplifies the right things.

Robert Hardman Chief AI and Digital Transformation Officer @ Inchcape plc "AI is about reimagining the future, not automating the past" Paradigm shifts bring promise—and pitfalls. Robert shares real-world examples of what “new” means in business transformation, the traps companies fall into, and how to successfully bring GenAI into the C-suite without pouring money down the drain.

Sasha Bilton CTO @ Planday "Hidden Treasures: DIY GenAI to Clear Years of Backlog" Meet Clarence, a Swedish VP of Sales who wiped out hundreds of low-value backlog stories and cut onboarding costs by 20%—armed with GenAI, a prompt, and a killer 80s soundtrack. Sasha will share how they did it safely, how it changed the relationship between sales and engineering, and how it’s sparked a culture of useful AI automation across Planday.

The Data Roundabout: Experiences with Generative AI 📍 Hosted by Crosstide 🗓 Thursday 18th September 📍 66-67 Sun Ct, Cornhill, London EC3V 3NB ⏰ Doors from 6pm, Talks kick off at 6.30

Data Roundabout is our meetup for people working with data and AI – a space for practical inspiration, unvarnished lessons, and conversation that cuts through the hype. This edition: Generative AI in real life – where it’s working, where it’s not, and how to avoid the trap of using tomorrow’s tools to do yesterday’s work.

🎤 Talks on the night: Steven Thompson Technical Director @ Crosstide "Vibe Coding: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly" The way we build for the web has changed beyond recognition. Vibe coding promises speed and creativity, but it also magnifies risk. It can make great engineers fantastic, good engineers better, and poor engineers far worse. The real question is how leaders make sure it amplifies the right things.

Robert Hardman Chief AI and Digital Transformation Officer @ Inchcape plc "AI is about reimagining the future, not automating the past" Paradigm shifts bring promise—and pitfalls. Robert shares real-world examples of what “new” means in business transformation, the traps companies fall into, and how to successfully bring GenAI into the C-suite without pouring money down the drain.

Sasha Bilton CTO @ Planday "Hidden Treasures: DIY GenAI to Clear Years of Backlog" Meet Clarence, a Swedish VP of Sales who wiped out hundreds of low-value backlog stories and cut onboarding costs by 20%—armed with GenAI, a prompt, and a killer 80s soundtrack. Sasha will share how they did it safely, how it changed the relationship between sales and engineering, and how it’s sparked a culture of useful AI automation across Planday.

Are you a PhD student, postdoc, faculty member, or research professional looking to grow your academic network, find job opportunities, or explore potential collaborations? ResearchersConnect is your new go-to virtual research networking event, designed to bring together minds from across disciplines, institutions, and geographies. Hosted on a Slack-like platform, this online community for researchers offers a space for idea exchange, knowledge sharing, and career development. Whether you're seeking a new role, scouting research collaborators, or learning about the latest research funding and grants, this platform empowers you to connect meaningfully — all from the comfort of your home or office.

🎥 Watch the explainer video to see how to make the most of your experience: 👉 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K0PaumQ9Rj8

💬 What You Can Expect: Join us in a flexible and engaging academic career fair online, where participants have access to multiple themed channels and direct 1-1 video or text conversations. Here’s how the space is organized to help you thrive:

• General – Your welcome lounge for intros, announcements, and community-wide discussions. Great for getting oriented and starting conversations.
• Intros – Share your academic background, research focus, or current project. Connect with like-minded individuals.
• Networking – Post your portfolio, recent publications, or research goals. Explore interdisciplinary connections and brainstorm with fellow attendees.
• Help Wanted – Looking for a co-author, lab partner, or someone with statistical expertise? Post your ask or offer help here.
• Research Funding & Grants – Exchange tips, resources, and experiences around securing research funding, writing proposals, or navigating fellowship applications.
• Collaboration Corner – Meet potential partners for cross-disciplinary research and innovative joint ventures.
• Industry Room: Research & Academia – Stay up to date on trends, methodologies, and tools shaping the future of research in academia and industry.

You’ll be able to:

• Chat live with fellow attendees across the globe
• Join topic-specific channels tailored to your goals
• Conduct 1-on-1 video chats with researchers, hiring professionals, and peers
• Share resources, publications, and job openings with the community
• Explore a vibrant research collaboration platform that fosters real-world impact

📍 Location: All sessions take place virtually at 👉 https://events.tao.ai/pod/analytics.club/6wmav4fgzzha/source--me

🌍 Who Should Join?

• Graduate students and postdocs seeking their next academic or industry role
• Professors and principal investigators open to new projects or interdisciplinary connections
• Research professionals and employers scouting talent or collaborators
• Grant writers and administrators looking for strategic partnerships
• Anyone involved in academic research, scientific collaboration, or proposal development

🕓 When: The event runs from 4:00 PM – 6:00 PM local time in your region. Visit the event link above for details and access.

💡 Have Questions or Suggestions? We’d love to hear from you! Drop us a note here: 👉 https://noworkerleftbehind.org/event_support

📢 Join the movement and amplify your research journey with:

ResearchersConnect #VirtualResearchNetworking #AcademicCareerFairOnline #ResearchCollaborationPlatform #OnlineCommunityForResearchers #ResearchFundingAndGrants #PhDNetworking #PostdocCareer #ResearchJobs #InterdisciplinaryResearch #GlobalResearchEvent #NetworkingForAcademics

Are you a PhD student, postdoc, faculty member, or research professional looking to grow your academic network, find job opportunities, or explore potential collaborations? ResearchersConnect is your new go-to virtual research networking event, designed to bring together minds from across disciplines, institutions, and geographies. Hosted on a Slack-like platform, this online community for researchers offers a space for idea exchange, knowledge sharing, and career development. Whether you're seeking a new role, scouting research collaborators, or learning about the latest research funding and grants, this platform empowers you to connect meaningfully — all from the comfort of your home or office.

🎥 Watch the explainer video to see how to make the most of your experience: 👉 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K0PaumQ9Rj8

💬 What You Can Expect: Join us in a flexible and engaging academic career fair online, where participants have access to multiple themed channels and direct 1-1 video or text conversations. Here’s how the space is organized to help you thrive:

• General – Your welcome lounge for intros, announcements, and community-wide discussions. Great for getting oriented and starting conversations.
• Intros – Share your academic background, research focus, or current project. Connect with like-minded individuals.
• Networking – Post your portfolio, recent publications, or research goals. Explore interdisciplinary connections and brainstorm with fellow attendees.
• Help Wanted – Looking for a co-author, lab partner, or someone with statistical expertise? Post your ask or offer help here.
• Research Funding & Grants – Exchange tips, resources, and experiences around securing research funding, writing proposals, or navigating fellowship applications.
• Collaboration Corner – Meet potential partners for cross-disciplinary research and innovative joint ventures.
• Industry Room: Research & Academia – Stay up to date on trends, methodologies, and tools shaping the future of research in academia and industry.

You’ll be able to:

• Chat live with fellow attendees across the globe
• Join topic-specific channels tailored to your goals
• Conduct 1-on-1 video chats with researchers, hiring professionals, and peers
• Share resources, publications, and job openings with the community
• Explore a vibrant research collaboration platform that fosters real-world impact

📍 Location: All sessions take place virtually at 👉 https://events.tao.ai/pod/analytics.club/6wmav4fgzzha

🌍 Who Should Join?

• Graduate students and postdocs seeking their next academic or industry role
• Professors and principal investigators open to new projects or interdisciplinary connections
• Research professionals and employers scouting talent or collaborators
• Grant writers and administrators looking for strategic partnerships
• Anyone involved in academic research, scientific collaboration, or proposal development

🕓 When: The event runs from 4:00 PM – 6:00 PM local time in your region. Visit the event link above for details and access.

💡 Have Questions or Suggestions? We’d love to hear from you! Drop us a note here: 👉 https://noworkerleftbehind.org/event_support

📢 Join the movement and amplify your research journey with:

ResearchersConnect #VirtualResearchNetworking #AcademicCareerFairOnline #ResearchCollaborationPlatform #OnlineCommunityForResearchers #ResearchFundingAndGrants #PhDNetworking #PostdocCareer #ResearchJobs #InterdisciplinaryResearch #GlobalResearchEvent #NetworkingForAcademics