Civic Groups Sydney

VIVID Sydney

An evening ride to enjoy the 7.30 pm Vivid Sydney Drone Show *Star-bound* followed by *Laser Lightfall*, the inaugural Vivid Sydney choreographed Laser Show and a free hourly nightly tour-de-force over Cockle Bay. Followed by a short ride around Barangaroo to Hickson Road to view the Sydney Opera House where the sails will be lit up with a major new work, *Opera Mundi* by renowned French multimedia artist Yann Nguema, known for his mesmerising projections onto significant buildings around the world. Distance : 21 km at a medium pace START AND FINISH Pioneers Memorial Park, Leichhardt **WHAT TO BRING :** Bike in good mechanical order, helmet, water, spare inner tube(s) and pump in case of puncture. Cyclists MUST have **good quality working front and rear lights**. Bring warm clothing. Riders must be financial for this year. First time riders may have a trial ride with us before joining ($10 a year) - please contact ride leaders before attending. **RIDE LEADER** : Laura 0439 901 613/Michael Gill 0418 498 797 **WEATHER**: Ride will be cancelled if there is significant rain. Call Ride Leaders if unsure.

🔥Asian Background Social: Lounge Asia Sydney (Easy English) 6pm

**⚠️ IMPORTANT: TONIGHT’S RULES ⚠️** **🎟️ NO TICKET = NO ENTRY** **(If you are on the WAITLIST, you cannot enter tonight.)** **🪑 SIT IF EMPTY** **Please take a seat if you see one to help create more space.** **📧 SHOW SCREEN AT DOOR** **Have your confirmation email/screen ready for Chris & Kev.** **NO WALK-INS. THANK YOU!** **“The perfect Saturday night to meet new friends in a warm, relaxed atmosphere”** **✨ 5,000+ Members have joined across Australia** **✨ Early RSVP FREE / Last-Minute Ticket $5** **✨ Relaxed & Friendly (Not a loud party, perfect for conversation)** **Why Join Us?** **First-timers welcome: About 70% of people are new every time!** **Easy to join alone: Most people arrive by themselves and leave with new friends.** **Language friendly: Japanese, Korean, Chinese, Taiwanese & English OK 🧋** **📍 WHEN & WHERE** **🗓 Every 2 weeks on Saturday** **🕕 6:00pm – 10:00pm** **📍 Harts Pub (The Rocks) Located in the heart of historic Sydney!** **🚶‍♂️ Super Easy Access:** **• 5 min walk from Circular Quay Station** **• 8 min walk from Wynyard Station** **Easy to drop by after exploring The Rocks!** **💰 Cost:** **Early RSVP FREE** **Last-Minute Ticket: $5** **⚠️ Limited spots available — we highly recommend reserving early.** **👉 HOW TO JOIN** **Please click “Join” on Meetup.** **Follow & DM us on Instagram: @_lounge_asia** **⚠️ HOUSE RULES & SAFETY POLICY** **To ensure a safe and comfortable environment for everyone, Lounge Asia has a ZERO TOLERANCE policy for the following behaviors:** **🚫 No Solicitation:** **Any form of business recruitment, MLM, religious proselytizing, or poaching is STRICTLY PROHIBITED.** **🚫 No Harassment:** **Unwanted pick-up activities, persistent pestering, or making others feel uncomfortable will not be tolerated.** **Action:** **Any attendee reported for misconduct will be removed immediately and banned from future events without warning.** **⚠️ IMPORTANT** **Photo ID Required:** **Passport or Driver’s License only (Student IDs NOT accepted).** **18+ only:** **The venue is a licensed bar, and ID checks are required under NSW law.** **🎁 BECOME A FOUNDING MEMBER (VIP)** **We are building an official app to connect our community safely!** **Join the VIP list for early access and priority invites to special parties.** **👉 [Join the VIP List here]** **https://forms.gle/T2KukvgEiGWEz3VR9** **━━━━━━━━━━━━━━** **初参加・一人参加も大歓迎です！** **혼자 오셔도 편하게 즐길 수 있어요!** **欢迎大家轻松交朋友！** **歡迎輕鬆認識新朋友！** **มาคนเดียวก็สนุกได้ครับ/ค่ะ** **Mọi người đều được chào đón!** **Welcome ang lahat!** **Semua dialu-alukan!** **Semua orang diterima dengan hangat!** **👥 Your Host:** **🎤 Chris – Your friendly Sydney host, ready to welcome you**

Code for Sydney - Monthly Hack Day

Code for Sydney is now running meetups every month. Code for Sydney is a volunteer civic innovation organization created by Sydney-area developers, designers, and activists with an interest in solving civic and social problems through the use of technology. During our monthly hack day we: \- brainstorm ideas around the theme \- propose a few solutions that we can work on together \- research and code the components of an MVP \- present what worked \(or didn't\) to your peers Together, we can make an impact on civic challenges and build a better city. Networking with fellow software engineers, designers and student/s welcome! If anyone would like to present a quick talk or propose a project idea, do talk to us! Also please do join the discussion on Discord https://discord.gg/wPmp25Xnm5

World Bicycle Day and Balmain bike bus

Join us for UN world bicycle day. Join the Balmain Bike Bus and others for a special World Bicycle Day ride featuring a trip through the White Bay Power Station precinct — a route normally unavailable to the general public. Three joining points: Option 1 7.30 am – Depart Pioneers Memorial Park, Leichhardt, to ride to Loyalty Square, Balmain, to join the Balmain Bike Bus. Option 2 8.10 am – Depart Loyalty Square (outside Woolworths), Balmain with the Balmain Bike Bus and ride to White Bay Power Station. Option 3 8.20 am – Meet at the Robert Street gate, White Bay Power Station. The ride will continue via Rozelle Parklands, the Anzac Bridge, Pyrmont and Darling Harbour before finishing at Parliament House at approximately 9.00 am. We expect Peter McLean (Bicycle NSW) and Kobi Shetty MP, co-chair of the Parliamentary Friends of Active Transport), will join us for a short welcome and photographs - probably on the Hospital Road (Domain) side of Parliament House. Coffee nearby with anyone who can stay around 9.30-10-ish. About the Southern Link through the White Bay Power Station site. It was originally proposed by Bike Leichhardt members Bob Moore and Keith Stallard and subsequently developed with support from Placemaking NSW. The route was designed both to provide a shared path through the site and to serve as an emergency exit from the White Bay Power Station precinct. It is currently used by the Balmain Bike Bus when activities at the Power Station permit. There is a longer-term aspiration for the route to become part of a continuous off-road cycling connection between Balmain and the city, including a future cycle route along Robert Street. What is the Balmain Bike Bus? Meeting Wednesdays at Loyalty Square, at the bike racks outside Woollies Balmain at 8am. They leave at 8.10am, cycling single file down quiet back streets of Balmain, ending up along Robert St in Rozelle, then stop at the White Bay Power Station to pick up more participants. They leave White Bay power station at 8.20am, making their way across the Anzac Bridge to Pyrmont. After this they are flexible depending on the desires of participants that week - sometimes to help them get to their destination/s, or sometimes stop for a coffee before heading off to work or to make the return journey to Balmain. • For more information about the Balmain Bike Bus, contact Rebecca Fernandez, by email on rebeccafernandez@outlook.com

Vivid 2026

In its 18th year, Sydney's annual Vivid festival has become an institution, and a favourite of Sydney's photographers. Each year the festival grows and develops and creates new locations and ways to experience this festival of light. Come join us as we do battle with the crowds to get the perfect shot of all of the interesting light installations. Bring your camera, your phone, your favourite lens, or just yourself. Beginners, pros, and “I mostly just press buttons and hope” photographers all welcome! (We will meet near the entrance to the Chinese Garden of Friendship in Darling Harbour).

Continuation of Circle Sydney

Segment Four - 7 June : Meadowbank to Clyne Reserve (Barangaroo) Take the 8.37 ferry from Circular Quay to Meadowbank arriving at 9.30. Alternatively, train from Redfern platform 4 at 7.40 AM. If on the train take the Bay Drive from the station towards the harbour (down hill). Check transport schedules beforehand please. Meet at the Meadowbank Ferry Terminal for a 9.35 start. This segment is 35 kms and relatively hilly. There are lots of toilets, water refill stations and food options up until the Lane Cove cafe at the causeway at the bottom of the hill, then there is nothing on the route until you arrive in Wollstonecraft. There are a couple of steep climbs . One is on Anzac Avenue in West Ryde/Deniston is a 11% climb with a steeper 12% section. The second one is the very long 11% climb out of Lane Cove up Fullers Road. The first safety issue is at the intersection of Station Street and Victoria Road near West Ryde Station. It’s a right turn and a buses only R turn. The Brooke Street Motorway underpass is awkward and slow. My thanks to Fran and Peter for detailing this segment. Watch for updates closer to the departure date.

Sydney Data Eng meetup with VeloDB

Hey all, please join us for a special meetup with VeloDB this June. Join us for an engaging session filled with exciting discussions and networking opportunities. Don't miss out—RSVP to secure your spot. Please reach out if you'd like to host us! 🎉 🏠 Location: Stone & Chalk @ Tech Central 🍕 Catering: VeloDB 😊 💬 Join our Slack Group here: [Data Engineers Slack Channel](https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSd09iTwpNulQH0b1BdslM1RzgImOGlX4WgOx6_rzvmVANwGmw/viewform) **Schedule:** \- 5\.30pm: Doors Open \- 6\.00pm: Announcements and Welcome \- 6\.10pm: 1st Talk \- 6\.40pm: 2nd Talk \- 7\.10pm: Networking \- 7\.30pm: Doors Close **Speakers:** 🎤 Mingyu Chen, Apache Doris PMC Chair & VPE@VeloDB **Talk Title**: When Every Second Counts: Real-Time Analytics for AI Systems **Talk Summary**: AI applications are changing what “real-time” means. It is no longer enough to analyze data after the fact. In AI-driven products, decisions often need to happen while events are still unfolding: a user is interacting with an agent, a model is generating output, a workflow is waiting on a tool call, or an operational issue is emerging in production. This talk introduces real-time analytics and explains why it has become more important in the AI era. We will look at common AI-era use cases, including observability, user behavior analysis, operational monitoring, and agent performance tracking. Using Apache Doris as the implementation layer, we will explore how a real-time analytics system can support fast ingestion, low-latency queries, and scalable interactive analysis. I will also share a brief introduction to the Doris open source community and demonstrate a real-time observability use case for AI agents. The goal is to show how teams can turn streaming events into actionable insights quickly enough to improve user experience, reliability, and decision-making. **Speaker Bio**: Mingyu Chen is the Apache Doris PMC Chair and Vice President of Technology at VeloDB. As a seasoned big data developer and one of the founding engineers of the Apache Doris project, Rayner has been a pivotal force in driving the community's growth and technical roadmap. Throughout the project's history, he has spearheaded the technical innovations across every major version and architectural evolution, nurturing Apache Doris into the flourishing analytical database it is today. 🎤 Shilin Wu, Principal Solution Architect@VeloDB **Talk Title**: Realtime AI observability and analytics with Apache Doris - Live Demo **Talk Summary**: AI systems don’t behave like traditional software. When something goes wrong, it’s rarely obvious why. In this live session, we’ll walk through how you can start making AI systems more observable in practice. We’ll explore how to: * Understand what your AI system is actually doing under the hood * Trace how outputs are generated across different steps * Identify where things start to drift or break down * Analyze usage patterns, performance, and cost over time We’ll also show how Apache Doris can be used to store, query, and analyze AI interaction data at scale—so you can move beyond intuition and actually reason about your system. This is a live, evolving demo focused on ideas you can take back and apply immediately. **Speaker Bio**: Shilin is Principal Solution Architect at VeloDB, specializing in the design and optimization of distributed real-time analytical platforms. With an impressive career spanning industry leaders such as Google, Ant Financial, and Confluent, Shilin brings a wealth of expertise in architecting high-performance data systems at scale. He is dedicated to helping organizations successfully transition Apache Doris and VeloDB into production, ensuring their environments are robust, scalable, and highly efficient. If you'd like to **present** at future meetups, please submit your talk [here](https://dataengbytes.com/forms/meetup-talk)! Remember to bring along some great questions! See you all there...

Secret 2nd "GreenWay" to Brighton-Le-Sands!

On Saturday 6 June we're heading south via a wonderful corridor quietly announced in the shadows of the GreenWay opening! The M6 Active Transport Corridor stretches 4 kilometres from Kyeemagh to Monterey, wide, separated, and genuinely lovely. It's the kind of infrastructure that makes you wonder why we don't build everything like this. We'll also be passing through some of the Inner West's cycling infrastructure along the way: the quick-build route on Meeks Road, the Carrington Road cycleway, and the Botany Bay foreshore path. **We're closing this meetup page soon, to hear about future rides, join our mailing list here:** https://bikemarrickville.short.gy/MailingList Check out the route: https://ridewithgps.com/routes/54645516 Be sure to bring a functioning bike and your water. Info on the corridor: https://transportnsw.info/document/8525/M6-PROJECT-CYCLEWAY-MAP.pdf

SydDT #127: The Human Loop – Keeping the Customer at the Core of AI

As AI rapidly accelerates product delivery, it’s easier than ever to ship features that look impressive but fail to solve real customer problems. For SydDT’s 11th birthday celebration, we’re collaborating with our friends from GenAI Lab to bring together a panel of design and product leaders to discuss how to balance the sheer speed of AI with genuine, human-centered design. We’re lucky to have Tarra van Amerongen, Alex Zinoviev, Riley Coleman, and Kristin de la Fuente sharing their observations and insights. They’ll cut through the hype to explore how user research needs to adapt for generative AI models, how to design for trust and transparency, and how the designer’s role is shifting from pixel-pusher to system orchestrator. Come join us for some fun conversations with interesting people in and around the design thinking community. New members are welcome! **SPEAKERS** **[Tarra van Amerongen](https://www.linkedin.com/in/tarravanamerongen/)** **VP of Product & Design \| Asia\-Pacific\, Thoughtworks** Tarra is an award-winning user experience and digital transformation leader, guiding creative, technical and business teams towards experiences that change the game. She's worked as a practitioner, lecturer, consultant and leader with in-house teams, consultancies and agencies for the past 15 year after pivoting into design from software development. Tarra is focused on taking a human-first approach to the application of AI, and challenges us to provide an informed view of what should remain human-first, what work means in this new paradigm, and how we stretch our craft as good design matters more than ever. **[Alex Zinoviev](https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexzinoviev/)** **Head of Product, Neo Intelligence & Founder, GenAI Lab** Alex Zinoviev has spent 15+ years in product, most recently as Head of Product at Neo, an operations management platform for construction. He founded GenAI Lab, a 1,400-member community of product and design practitioners across Sydney, Melbourne, and Brisbane, because he kept seeing the same gap: teams excited about AI but unsure how to adopt it without losing sight of the humans they're building for. GenAI Lab runs workshops grounded in first-hand experimentation. **[Riley Coleman](https://www.linkedin.com/in/riley-coleman-a185754/) (they/them)** **Founder, AI Flywheel** Riley started their career as service designer creating behaviour change programs for marginalised communities in the not-for-profit sector. Before studying a masters in human-centred multimedia and transitioning to user experience design. Riley has spent the last 12 years working in design leadership roles in Australia, Germany, Netherlands and Sweden. Now, as founder of AI Flywheel, Riley teaches human-centric AI training programs to designers and leaders. Drawing from their extensive experience in behaviour change, human-centred design and technology transformation, they’re building a community of practice around effective Human+AI products, services and operations that people can trust. **[Kristin de la Fuente](https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristindelafuente/)** **Design Lead – AI Products, SEEK & GenAI Lab Design Partner, GenAI Lab** At SEEK Kristin is pioneering trust architecture for automation and agentic experiences by recognising that trust failures are often psychological failures, not necessarily technical ones. She's designed practical mechanisms that keep customers centred and in control of agentic workflows. Working with teams to integrate Responsible AI principles and Strategic AI plays, Kristin leverages these frameworks to translate principles into concrete design decisions, ensuring they show up meaningfully in user experience. She moves beyond shipping impressive features to ask harder questions: where should AI actually be used? How do we maintain human agency at scale? Her work makes the invisible visible turning complex AI capability into systems people can understand, trust, and actually control. **EVENT SPONSORS** This event is brought to you by [Thoughtworks](https://www.thoughtworks.com) and [Dynamic4](https://dynamic4.com/). We take photos and record our events for documentation and promo purposes. Just let us know if you prefer not to be featured.

WE ARE NOT POWERLESS  

Last June some of our members accompanied Muzafar Ali out of Sydney on his epic 4,000km Ride for Education fundraising ride from Maleny, Qld to Adelaide. (Short video of the ride here: [https://vimeo.com/1192453516](https://vimeo.com/1192453516) ) Muzafar’s film *We Are Not Powerless* is now finished and will be screened at Randwick Ritz cinema, followed by a Q&A with directors Jolyon Hoff and Muzafar. Their film tells the story of what can happen when a community refuses to give in and work together for hope, love, and education. We will ride from Pioneers Park, Leichhardt to Randwick to arrive in time for the 1.00 pm screening (finishes at 3 pm) Buy your ticket in advance from the website [wearenotpowerless.com.au](https://w7r4.engage.squarespace-mail.com/r?m=6a0ba8a6e4e23a10cee91407&u=https%3A%2F%2Fwearenotpowerless.com.au&w=65fe21b643328317b4d5a6d5&c=b_6a0ba3ea8c459265c0db8eae&l=en-US&s=zkW_8OD_e7A6Br5lKzQ1AnHd_6o%3D) or online from www.ritzcinemas.com.au **WEATHER**: IF RAINING you have 2 options \# One \- ride anyway \(as Muzafar did\); Bring wet weather gear #Two make your own way to Randwick Ritz, 45 St Paul's Street, Randwick and meet in Foyer **DISTANCE** 15 km (one way) Make your own way home, OR 30 km return to start with ride leader. **WHAT TO BRING :** Bike in good mechanical order, helmet, water, spare inner tube(s) and pump in case of puncture. Riders must be financial for this year. First time riders may have a trial ride with us before joining ($10 a year) - please contact ride leader before attending. **RIDE LEADER** : Laura 0439 901 613

Birchgrove and Balmain meander

Meet at Pioneers Memorial Park, Norton St Leichhardt at 8.30am for an 8.45am start to finish no later than 11am. A ride designed to get back to Pioneers Memorial Park by 11am for the WE ARE NOT POWERLESS ride. Check Meet Up for updates re rain, etc. We'll pedal along at a relaxed pace along the waterfront to Iron Cove bridge and onto Birchgrove Oval, across Balmain to the cruise ship terminal, meander along James Craig road, past Pyrmont Bay, along Whites Creek and up Hill St to finish at Bar Italia. Those joining Laura for the movie 'WE ARE NOT POWERLESS' at Randwick can continue 200 metres down Norton street back to Pioneers Memorial Park to join that ride. There will be a few substantial hills, about half the ride will be on streets so you need to be comfortable riding on narrow streets with traffic. Bring a bike in good condition, spare tube, tools and pump in case of a flat tyre. If feeling unwell please do not ride. If you can't attend please change your RSVP status as soon as poss. The weather has been changeable and cooler so bring wet weather gear and wear layers. This will be a sedate ride but challenging at times because of a few hills.

Tuesday Badminton - 5 Courts, 2 Hours