Here’s what’s happening in the thriving tech scene in Tampa Bay and surrounding areas for the week of Monday, May 11 through Sunday, May 17!
This list includes both in-person and online events. Note that each item in the list includes:
✅ When the event will take place
✅ What the event is
✅ Where the event will take place
✅ Who is holding the event
This week’s events
- Monday, May 11
- Tuesday, May 12
- Wednesday, May 13
- Thursday, May 14
- Friday, May 15
- Saturday, May 16
- Sunday, May 17
Monday, May 11
Tuesday, May 12
Tuesday at 8:00 p.m., online: Need something to watch on Tuesday evening? I’ll be participating in an online discussion titled about a discussion titled AI Is Stealing Your Job — What can you do about it? A Gen Alpha Perspective.
The disucssion will feature:
- Sam Kasimalla as the host. You’ll know him from all sorts of local events, including Tampa Java User Group. He wears many hats, including IT business owner, ex-FAANG engineer, and Board of Director MATA.
- Dakshesh Kaki will provide the Gen Alpha perspective. He’s a TED Talk speaker, multiple FBLA award winner recognized by the CEO of Publix, and he’ll bring his generational lens to the future of work.
- Your Truly will be the Gen X representative.
Each of us has their own take and tactics for the era of AI. Come watch this online show and learn!
Find out more and register here.
Wednesday, May 13
Thursday, May 14
Thursday at 6:30 at Wild Rover Brewery (Tampa): It’s time for another Lean Beer for All Things Agile!
This long-standing Meetup group is all about promoting knowledge sharing and networking among professionals with a passion for Agile Product Development. Whether you’re a Scrum enthusiast or just curious about Agile practices, this is the perfect platform to exchange experiences, network, vent, and foster your Agile knowledge. All this while drinking beer together!
Find out more and register here.
Friday, May 15
Saturday, May 16
Saturday from 8:45 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. at USF Marshall Center (Tampa): It’s that time again! BSides Tampa 13 is happening, and it’s Tampa Bay’s largest cybersecurity conference!
With 7 tracks (“The Cursed Track”, Leadership, AI/ML, Compliance, Defense, Offense, and Career) along with an all-day Capture the Flag and badge challenge, BSides Tampa is a community-driven cybersecurity conference run through the ISC2 Tampa Bay Chapter, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. Every part of it is organized by the BSides Krewe without paid staff, and without a corporate agenda.
If you want to learn about cybersecurity — and you really should, especially in an era where we’re giving increasing amounts of control to machines — you’ll want to attend BSides Tampa!
Find out more and register here.
Sunday, May 17
| Event name and location | Group | Time |
|---|---|---|
| Saltmarsh and Beyond (5e 2024 D&D Campaign) Sunday, May 17 · 3:00 PM to 7:00 PM EDT |
Adventurers of Central Florida | 4:00 PM |
| Sunday Gaming Tampa Bay Bridge Center |
Tampa Gaming Guild | 1:00 PM to 11:00 PM EDT |
| Sunday Chess at Wholefoods in Midtown, Tampa Whole Foods Market |
Chess Republic | 2:00 PM to 5:00 PM EDT |
| D&D Adventurers League Critical Hit Games |
Critical Hit Games | 2:00 PM to 7:30 PM EDT |
| IMPROV Drop-In Class! (FUN! No experience required) [$20] Spitfire Theater |
Tampa 20’s and 30’s Social Crew | 2:00 PM to 4:00 PM EDT |
| Traveller – Science Fiction Adventure RPG Black Harbor Gaming |
St Pete and Pinellas Tabletop RPG Group | 3:00 PM to 6:00 PM EDT |
| Sunday Pokemon League Sunshine Games | Magic the Gathering, Pokémon, Yu-Gi-Oh! |
Sunshine Games | 4:00 PM to 8:00 PM EDT |
| Return to the top of the list | ||
About this list
How do I put this list together?
It’s largely automated. I have a collection of Python scripts in a Jupyter Notebook that scrapes Meetup and Eventbrite for events in categories that I consider to be “tech,” “entrepreneur,” and “nerd.” The result is a checklist that I review. I make judgment calls and uncheck any items that I don’t think fit on this list.
In addition to events that my scripts find, I also manually add events when their organizers contact me with their details.
What goes into this list?
I prefer to cast a wide net, so the list includes events that would be of interest to techies, nerds, and entrepreneurs. It includes (but isn’t limited to) events that fall under any of these categories:
-
- Programming, DevOps, systems administration, and testing
- Tech project management / agile processes
- Video, board, and role-playing games
- Book, philosophy, and discussion clubs
- Tech, business, and entrepreneur networking events
- Toastmasters and other events related to improving your presentation and public speaking skills, because nerds really need to up their presentation game
- Sci-fi, fantasy, and other genre fandoms
- Self-improvement, especially of the sort that appeals to techies
- Anything I deem geeky
