Minnebar 19 Session Schedule

We start Minnebar all together (in the cafeteria) for Session 0.

This year, we're thrilled to welcome Dr. AnnMarie Thomas to kick us off.

AnnMarie is an engineer. An artist. An educator. A maker. A writer. A lifelong learner who built her career mixing science, art, tech, and curiosity into something new — over and over again.

From Squishy Circuits (playdough that lights up!) to OK Go Sandbox (music videos as STEAM playgrounds), to founding the Playful Learning Lab (at the University of St. Thomas), her work reminds us: when we make space for play, we make space for possibility.

Today, she leads Listo Idea Co., LLC, where she consults on projects ranging from workshop design to ocean focused VR/AR. She’s also an enthusiastic amateur in a wide range of hobbies — including trapeze and magic.

We can’t wait to kick off Minnebar19 with AnnMarie — and start the day fueled by play, curiosity, and creativity.

Learn more about AnnMarie: https://www.annmarie-thomas.com/

Stop by to play some locally made games!

This year the arcade will have:

🎮 TVs running a selection of locally made video games

🎲 Tables with locally designed board games

🧠 Information about how to get involved with game development in the Twin Cities, including our chapter of the International Game Developers Association (igdatc)

💪 Volunteers on-hand to talk about all of the above

This thing is going all day long!

Looking for What’s Next? Join us at the Open-to-Work Table located outside of Sandy's Place (the cafeteria)

Whether you’re actively job hunting, quietly exploring, or just figuring out what comes next — this table is for you.

Join a casual, supportive space to connect with others who are navigating transitions, thinking about their next step, or simply open to new possibilities. Share what you’re looking for, hear what others are up to, and maybe spark an idea (or opportunity) you hadn’t considered.

Come as you are — no pitches, no pressure, just real conversations.

Do you crave feedback on your project/product/service/hobby/idea?

Stop by and chat with experts in UX, Product, Marketing, and much more. Topics are open and varied. We're here to provide feedback and answer questions. But be warned, we like to ask "why". You may be challenged to think differently. And we might even discuss unexpected solutions. This is your chance to get feedback or ask questions in a small conversational setting.

If you're asking, "What might I get out of attending?" Past UX office hours have touched on topics like:

• How do I get my users to...?
• Help me identify my audience
• What's the best way to get feedback on my product?
• Do I have product market fit? If so, how do I know?
• Would you give me a UX review on my project?
• How do I hire a good designer?
• I haven't identified competitors. Do I have a valid service?
• How do I work with my engineering team?
• How do I work with my design team?

Where to find us: The UX Office Hours will be staffed throughout the event. Find us in the B1 building near the "living room", in the pods (small rooms with tables/whiteboards), or nearby. Look for volunteers wearing orange mentor badges.

New to Minnebar? Come find the Newbie Table outside of Sandy's Place (the cafeteria)!

The Newbie Table is your home base to ask questions, meet friendly faces, and get the lay of the land.

Whether you’re flying solo or just want someone to chat with between sessions, stop by and say hi. We’ll have longtime community members on hand to help you navigate the day, make connections, and feel right at home.

This table is open all day.

We often hear debates about whether manual or automated accessibility testing is the better approach, but in my experience, it’s not about choosing one over the other—they work best together! Join me as I share insights from performing manual audits alongside automated tests, revealing what each method catches (and misses) and why combining both is essential for creating truly accessible products.

Around the world and at home, democracy is in decline and authoritarianism is on the rise. Technology is smack dab at the center of this authoritarian movement, both in terms of how it spreads and in terms of the damage it can do. Unfortunately, as designers, builders, managers, and funders of technology, we cannot look away.

What actions can we, the creators and stewards of technology, take to protect democracy and human rights? What power do we have when our own spheres of influence feel small? What harms are preventable? What harms are not obvious? What choices do we have? What kinds of action can we take?

When presented with an ethical dilemma, how will you fill in that blank?

This session will offer some prompts, historical examples, and frameworks for thinking about these questions. Let’s discuss and see what we come up with.

Ever wonder...

• Why you sometimes cruise through green lights—and other times hit red at every block?
• How emergency vehicle preemption (that flashy-light thing) actually works?
• What’s inside those big metal traffic cabinets? And why are they so big?
• How traffic signal timing is determined?
• I could just program the intersection with a Raspberry Pi. What’s the big deal?

In this presentation and Q+A, you’ll hear from

• Mike Odell- Professional Traffic Engineer
• Melissa “Mel” Bernstein - a very full-stack Software Engineer who’s asked a lot of questions
• with support from Joel Wacker - System Integrator

We’ll cover:

• A tour of the traffic signal cabinet
• Safety features built into intersections
• The hardware and networks behind it all (well, not all)
• Multi-modal (bike, bus, pedestrian, cars, trucks, etc) signal coordination
• Sensors, sensors, and more sensors
• Pilot projects, startups, and innovation in urban traffic technology
• the connection between digital UX and physical infrastructure design

You’ll walk away with a deeper appreciation for how traffic technology keeps cities moving—and probably at least 10 new acronyms in your vocabulary.

If you've got topics/questions to ask ahead of time, feel free to dm me (Melissa) on LinkedIn

Interested in working on a side project? Concerned that you're too busy to do side projects? Curious about how someone maintains a life while doing side projects?

I have 7 years of experience working on various side projects while holding down a day job, while still spending quality time on family, friends, and fun. I'll share my experiences in doing those things, examine how I start, maintain, and finish side projects, and give tips on how to do this with minimal time and money to spare.

You'll see how I do side projects, and gain inspiration to start and maintain your own!

Prompt Engineer, ...so hot right now!

Do you wonder why we need an entire specialization dedicated to communicating with a computer? Does it feel like "it just doesn't get you" when "chatting" with AI tools? So why is the default AI interface a chat? Turns out there are better ways!

In this session, we'll cover the history of the ways humans have communicated with computers. You'll see why "natural language" doesn't seem to translate as you expected. Finally, you'll learn options for creating an interface with AI that doesn't require a unique title. Along the way, you'll learn to create trust and reduce hallucinations.

This session is for anyone building AI products where the audience isn't another computer or for anyone interested in why it's terrible talking to computers and what we can do about it.

What does it really take to build and scale a startup in today’s complex environment? In this candid panel, successful founders share the unfiltered realities of startup life—from navigating macroeconomic uncertainty to tackling the technical challenges of building scalable products. Expect real-world stories, tactical insights, and lessons learned from the frontlines. Whether it’s making tough trade-offs, scaling tech stacks, or fundraising in today’s climate, this session goes beyond the headlines to explore what building a startup looks like now.

• Eric Martell, Founder at Pear Commerce. Pear is the retail ecommerce platform that connects CPGs to retailers, converting shoppable tools into actionable insights that fuel performance marketing.
• Meredith (Miller) Englund, Founder & CEO at Camperoni. Camperoni is a website and service that helps Minnesota parents find and register their children for camps and activities, including summer camps, breaks, and no-school days.
• Heath Schubert, CEO/Co-founder at HLRBO. HLRBO (Hunting Land Rentals by Owner) is an online platform that connects landowners with hunters looking to lease land for hunting.
• Stephen Regenold, Founder at GearJunkie. GearJunkie is the leading voice of the outdoors and active lifestyles with breaking news, product reviews, and buying guides.

Entrepreneurship can be lonely, but what if you had a thought partner available anytime to challenge your thinking, spark new ideas, and boost your confidence?

In this interactive session, we’ll explore how generative AI can help you navigate tough decisions, refine ideas, and gain fresh perspectives so you’re never truly going it alone. Come ready to share, learn, and leave with new ways to make AI your always-on business ally.

If you know that you're supposed to know about AI, but you have no idea where to start, this is your session.

We'll provide an introduction to the most common tools and frameworks that are used today to build AI applications. We'll dive into different ways to integrate AI tools into your development workflow.

The goal is for you to walk away understanding what people mean when they talk about prompt engineering, RAG and Agentic AI. You'll know where to go to set up AI coding tools on your laptop, and you'll learn about many of the sites that every AI developer needs to know. It's my hope to give you enough to information to understand the current AI landscape so that you can do a deeper dive on your own into the areas that are most relevant to you.

Want to switch jobs but your experience doesn't exactly match the role? Whether you’re aiming for a promotion, changing functions or industries, or just ready for something new, how you tell your career story can make all the difference in getting a recruiter - or even your internal HR team - to consider you.

In this session, we’ll walk through how to talk about your background in a way that highlights your strengths and connects to the job you want — even if your path hasn’t been perfectly linear. (And mine definitely hasn’t been! I’ve gone from sales to logistics to marketing to strategy, and worked at Fortune 100 companies, small private businesses, and nonprofits.)

I’ll also share tips on how to update your resume and LinkedIn to fit job descriptions, plus ways to make connections that bring you closer to your next role.

Come learn how to rethink the way you talk about your career so people realize not just what you’ve done, but what you can do next!

The future is analog! While robots and AI handle the boring stuff, humans get to focus on what we do best - creating cool things together! But let's be real... with everyone working remotely, staring at screens all day, and feeling more disconnected than ever, our teamwork muscles may have atrophied a bit.

Remember when we were kids? We instinctively knew how to build awesome stuff together! We shared our toys (mostly), celebrated when someone had a great idea, and worked through disagreements with minimal drama. Somewhere along the way to adulthood, we forgot these superpowers.

Join us for this hands-on playdate where we'll dust off those childhood collaboration skills. We'll be using LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® to reconnect with our inner builders and rediscover what made us natural teammates before spreadsheets and status meetings ruined everything.

Come ready to play, build, and share! LEGO bricks will available for building

Wild AI at Minnebar 19

We are bringing Wild AI to Minnebar. Join us for a 40-minute session where AI developers, researchers, and innovators connect. We will kick off with short, high-impact talks with no slides, just real insights, followed by open discussion and networking. Speaker list coming soon.

Wild AI is a growing community that meets every third Thursday at DayBlock Brewing. Keep the conversation going and connect with others shaping the future of AI. Learn more at the Wild AI Meetup page.

Hey! Remember those cool AI tools we talked about last year? The AI world has exploded since then! This year, we're diving into the exciting realms of Agentic AI and the magical trends in Ghibli AI, plus 50+ other awesome tools to transform your work.

Agentic AI is about smart systems that can independently solve problems and take action – think autonomous digital assistants handling complex tasks and boosting efficiency. We'll explore how businesses are already experimenting with these agents to revolutionize customer service and cut costs.

Then there's the enchanting world of Ghibli AI. You know that beautiful Studio Ghibli animation style? AI is now making it super easy for anyone to "Ghiblify" photos and explore their creativity, thanks to powerful image generation tools.

Beyond these hot topics, we'll still uncover 50+ other incredible AI tools for productivity, writing, and automation. Imagine AI handling repetitive tasks, crafting compelling content, and making your workday smoother than ever.

This session is all about how AI can empower you and your team to work smarter and achieve amazing things. We'll even touch base on the AI tools we already know to see how they've evolved. Ready to see what's new.

Do you roll your eyes when your boss hands you somebody else's code? How about somebody else's code from 10 years ago? How about... Your code from 10 years ago :P

Working with old, messy code is hard. Difficult. Frustrating. Confusing. But it doesn't have to be!

We'll dive into why it's hard to work with old code, good patterns to use when working with legacy software, and some tips on how to turn a difficult old project into a net positive.

I've been working with other people's code for 15 years. I'll share some horror stories, tips and tricks, and I want to hear the same from you!

You've got a product. Maybe even a few early customers.

But now, it's time to sell—and surprise: 𝙮𝙤𝙪’𝙧𝙚 the sales team. If you're a founder who didn't "mean" to be in sales, this session's for you.

We'll talk about what founder-led sales 𝙖𝙘𝙩𝙪𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙮 looks like (hint: it's not thousands of cold emails and praying for replies)

We'll break down:

• The mindset shift that changes everything

• How to stop overcomplicating your funnel

• What to say on sales calls when you feel like a fraud

• Why progress beats perfection when you’re early

You’ll leave with real talk, real tactics, and hopefully a little less dread when you hear the word “sales.”

Whether you’re pre-revenue or scaling your first team, this is the stuff I wish every founder knew.

The Fossa is a unique Malagasy apex predator that hunts Lemurs through the treetops. It is a solitary hunter, fast, specialized, and incredibly agile.

Just like Solopreneurs.

The FOSSA framework takes the best parts of the Agile Software Development and Scrumban methodologies and tailors it to solve the biggest business development issue that Solopreneurs inevitably face: how to work ON your business while busily working IN your business.

FOSSA combines long-term strategic vision with tactical 9-Week Stories, broken down into four 2-Week Sprints and a 1-Week Review and Reset. Individuals can scope their work to fit their available time and plan Stories for periods that fit their lifestyle.

In this session I will give an overview of the framework and provide some examples for how to implement it in your own business.

Stop struggling to make progress without a system designed to work the way you do.

Be Fast... Be Observant... Be Strategic... Be Sustainable... Be Agile...

Be FOSSA Apex Productivity for Solopreneurs

Sustainability is often in the news, and often evokes strong and varying feelings in people. While there is a lot of focus of discussion on fossil fuels and renewable energy, there are smaller things that we as individuals and especially people working in technology can do to make a difference.

How big of a difference? While technology is considered one of the "long-tail" cases of sustainability, its impact is still substantial. For example, did you know that the estimated global carbon footprint of Internet and Communication Technology is comparable to that of aviation? Did you also know that 70-80% of the footprint is already expended even before you have unboxed your new smartphone?

In this presentation we will look at what are relatively small things we can do to systemically reduce the carbon footprint of technology. We will start with a conceptual framework of how sustainability is viewed, what organizations are doing in this space, and end with some recommendations on what we as individuals can do. There is no judgement involved in any of this discussion and the objective is to inform and inspire.

Eyesight is normally a requirement for flying an airplane. But not completely, not anymore!

EarPilot is a novel iPhone app that provides audio cues to allow control of an airplane through basic maneuvers without sight.

• Learn why we made the app, how it works, and what happened when our brave blind pilot tried it out in a real airplane.

• Talk about Accessibility and inclusivity techniques in apps

• Talk about computing with spatial data

• Talk about private aviation and medical certification

Have you ever thrown a yoyo? Can you do any tricks?

The yo-yo is one of the world's oldest toys, and is a great way to build coordination, focus, and determination.

While my day job is being an engineer at Improving, I was formerly a competitive yo-yo player, and have over 20 years of experience playing with a yo-yo.

In this interactive session, we will cover the following:

• How to setup a yoyo
• How to throw a yoyo correctly
• The three most common yo-yo tricks
  • Rock the Baby
  • Walk the Dog
  • Around the World.

If you're a complete beginner, this is the course for you. No prior experience is required. Yo-yos will be available to use, at the session, all you need is the curiosity to learn a new skill.

Advancements over time in Node.js are improving the out of the box experience. New versions are released all the time across Active LTS and Current development lines. It's easy to miss something between the release notes and our busy work schedules. Through the efforts of contributors over several recent majors, great new features are landing. Each is useful in isolation, but put together they form a more and more comprehensive standard library.

We’ll walk through 6 recent improvements to the standard library. Each feature may replace a dependency in the stack, simplifying your footprint and reducing support burden. We’ll walk through complete before and after diffs, get real about production readiness, and use live examples.

This iterative evolution of the project is part of a larger system of learning - continual innovation and stable foundations in balance and conflict. We'll contextualize how this is a marker of a vibrant, competitive ecosystem. and what we can do to keep it that way in our careers and on our teams. Lastly, I’ll inspire attendees to see themselves within these pace layers and find the open source engagement that meets their constraints, skillsets, and time constraints.

Conventionally in Software Test Engineering, we dedicate a lot of time and effort on the front end to determining, organizing, documenting, and communicating how software should be tested. This goes for activities like developing traceability matrices, determining code paths, developing test plans (or test cases) based on outcomes, inputs, and use cases. With approaches that focus on testing as just a task (or collection of tasks), it can be easy to overlook the potential for issues that result in operational churn, creep, delay, rework, or missed opportunities for coverage.

This can also make it a challenge to estimate or track progress accurately, especially when we dedicate additional resources to attempting to redefine or rediscover what additional effort will be needed to get the task completed. Similarly, common "Best practice" approaches and approaches that serve as a response to as many envisioned use cases or failure scenarios as possible often run the risk of similar issues.

There is a simple tool anybody can use to understand better what information we can expect to produce from testing, why that information may be important, and how to direct efforts to satisfying the former as serviceably and efficiently as possible. It looks a lot like engineering on its own: it uses our knowns to discover and demystify our unknowns. It is free and easy to use.

This presentation will focus on the question What is it we understand we are testing for? Using real-world examples, it will outline what makes this question a valuable one to ask and how to use it to develop a better understanding of what our mission in Software Testing is.

A casual networking meetup for any & all folks who work in (or are exploring) the related disciplines of user experience.

If you're a...

• designer,
  
• researcher,
  
• content writer,
  
• accessibility specialist,
  
• information architect,
  
• student,
  
• team leader,
  
• manager,
  
• or [ add your title here ]
  

... then we hope you'll come by and say hello! We'd love to meet you! ❤️

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Whether you're a seasoned professional or someone looking to begin their journey in UX, drop by and share your wisdom!

In today’s fast-paced landscape, successful Team and Customer Experience leadership requires a holistic approach that blends strategy with execution. This session will explore the essential elements of effective leadership, backed by informative infographics that will guide you through each topic:

✅ Key Questions Leaders Should Ask Themselves: How effectively are you setting expectations and maintaining clear, consistent, and continuous communication with your team?

✅ The Four Essential Considerations Along the Customer Journey: Strategies to optimize every touchpoint for seamless, memorable experiences.

✅ Assessing the STRENGTH of Your Team: Discover a simple yet powerful framework designed to help your team develop and thrive, enhancing employee engagement and customer outcomes.

✅ The Power of a Clear Mission and Vision: How aligning your team around a shared purpose drives consistency, accountability, and customer trust.

✅ Bringing It All Together with People, Process, and Tools: The formula for sustainable CX excellence by integrating the right talent, workflows, and technology.

You’ll leave with actionable insights and practical frameworks to transform your operations, foster employee growth, and deliver exceptional customer experiences.

Shape your vision into a viable product built for a digital-powered economy.

In this live workshop, you’ll learn how to turn your vision into a revenue-generating business, using simple AI and GenAI tools to accelerate your launch. Whether you’re navigating a career pivot, building your first venture, or reimagining your business for a digital-first world, this session will give you a clear 30-day action plan to move from concept to market with confidence. Through a guided framework, you’ll map your core value, build a minimum viable product (MVP), and design a launch strategy that positions you for sustainable growth in digital-powered world.

You will benefit the most if you are a:

• Career Professionals navigating layoffs, career changes, or looking to create career security on their own terms
• Startup Founders & Entrepreneurs seeking to validate new ideas, accelerate growth, or reinvent business models for a digital-first world
• Product Owners & Small Business Leaders exploring how to quickly modernize offers using AI and immersive technology

For a tailored experience and early access to workshop materials, visit here: https://forms.gle/crMEhhpufXVUQvTPA

Two years ago at Minnebar, I told you I could "Build a $1M business in 30 minutes using ChatGPT."

Well, I'm back. And I did it. And I brought receipts.

What started as a presentation demonstrating AI's potential has transformed into Combat Candy, a creatine gummies supplement company that's secured half million dollars in seed capital and generates five-figure monthly sales in a rapidly expanding market.

I'll take you behind the scenes of how I applied the exact AI strategies & tactics to:

• Discover a market gap so obvious (once AI pointed it out) even someone not taking creatine could find it
• Design packaging that makes competitors look like they were sketched by toddlers drinking red bull
• Design a Shopify store so effective it makes you question free will
• Create formulation innovations despite zero supplement industry experience
• Stretch our marketing budget so thin, quantum physicists called to take notes
• Secure $500K in investment using pitch decks built by my ghostwriter "botlou"
• Automated tedious marketing efforts in SEO, social media, email, sms, etc.

This isn't theoretical anymore—it's a proven case study with real stakes, real challenges, and real victories. I'll share the prompting strategies & tactics that worked, the AI outputs that failed, and the genuine intelligence decisions that made all the difference.

Whether you're an entrepreneur looking for your next venture, a skeptic who needs to see results before buying in, or someone who attended my previous talks and wants to see how the story ends—this session offers tangible proof that AI can be the co-founder you never knew you needed.

This will be an interactive, fast-paced, dense session so bring your questions, your skepticism, and your entrepreneurial spirit.

The competitive edge your software once held? It’s gone. AI isn’t just knocking on the door—it’s storming the castle. In this talk, we’ll unpack how AI is rapidly commoditizing traditional software advantages, why your once-defensible product features aren’t safe anymore, and what builders and founders need to do to survive (and thrive) in this new era. We’ll explore real-world examples, strategies for building enduring value, and how to turn this existential threat into your next big opportunity.

Join the Communiful founders for this fireside chat you don't want to miss. Hayley and Brian are both multi-exit founders who were pioneers in the application of machine learning and AI in business. After moving to MN in 2024, they have been making waves in the innovation ecosystem with their game-changing events powered by their proprietary AI event management and marketing platform.

As the job market shifts, the clichéd adage that it's Who you know, not What you know has only proven more prescient. Unfortunately, that means that a lot of people end up hoping for luck -- that a friend randomly gets a job at a place that's growing, that an old boss remembers them, that a family member is owed a favor. Those kinds of connections are boons when they work out, but it can be frightening to bet a career on lucky timing.

So how do we increase the chances that those connections hit? By networking! It's what everyone tells us to do. So we go to events, meet some cool people, connect on LinkedIn, and then....nothing. Names sit in a list that we only look at when we need a job.

My goal in this talk is to give folks the tools to build a network and actually use it. That is, real concrete steps anyone can take to forge connections that can help define a career and maybe even create a community. Networking can feel like it's all about charm, or persuasion, or about turning every interaction into a transaction. I hope that by following some of the advice I give in this talk, more people can see that, far from a zero sum game, networking is an investment that pays dividends for everyone involved.

Technology and beekeeping might seem like an unlikely pairing, but the “Save the Bees” movement has inspired a surge of tech innovation in the hive. In this session, we'll take a look at the gadgets and technologies gaining traction in the beekeeping world. I'll also talk about my own personal journey developing an app using AI not to disrupt tradition, but to support it. This talk is for anyone interested in the tension between tradition and innovation, and how we can design technology that honors the communities it’s meant to serve.

An exploration of neurodiversity. This session is designed for individuals who are preparing for an assessment related to Autism or ADHD, as well as those seeking to gain a deeper understanding of themselves in relation to Autism and ADHD, or to foster better connections with family members, friends, or colleagues who are Autistic or have ADHD. Drawing from my lived experience as an individual with late-diagnosed Autism and ADHD, as well as a parent of an Autistic child, I will offer insights that you can share with your therapist, coach, partner, or healthcare provider. Additionally, we will discuss the advantages and disadvantages of pursuing a formal diagnosis compared to self-diagnosis.

When used properly, user journey maps can be an invaluable tool to help product teams build empathy and understanding of how users move through your product or experience. They can illuminate customer friction, delight, and opportunities for improvement. However, in practice, they often do not live up to this ideal. Too often, journey maps begin and end as theoretical understandings of your ideal user. Often represented as generic personas, these maps are built on assumption after assumption, never to be tested and validated with actual data.

In this session we’ll explore common pitfalls experienced by teams when using journey maps, and how you can advance your map to evolve and grow with your product - backed by real data and insights.

You wouldn’t hand someone an IKEA box and say “just figure it out”—so why do we do that with our teams?

This session is for founders, creatives, and growing teams who are stuck in the cycle of miscommunication, missed steps, and constant clarification. We’ll unpack how keeping your processes in your head is sabotaging your growth—and what to do about it.

Using the IKEA analogy (yes, the missing instructions and all), we’ll walk through a practical method for getting your business out of your brain and into a system your team can actually follow. No jargon. No boring binders. Just real-world strategies for documenting what matters so your team can move without you hovering.

You’ll leave with: - A clear process for capturing what’s in your head
- A framework for turning chaos into usable SOPs
- Tools to build systems that support your growth—not stall it

If your business relies on “just ask me” to function, it’s time to fix that.

In the next decade, it is predicted that the rising energy demands of AI, EVs, and sustainable energy will require millions of new tech workers and thousands of new billion dollar companies. 70TW of clean energy by 2050. The US power grid is going to need to be almost completely reimagined and rebuilt. New energy sources must be found, developed, and dispatched, and doing so requires hardware, software, and business models that do not exist today.

This is called the 30X problem.

Back for a third year at Minnebar, this rapid-fire summary will highlight the latest developments in solar, wind, nuclear, and geo power, with a particular focus on hydrogen. It will suggest what the future of energy might look like for technologists here in Minnesota: founders, engineers, designers, investors, policymakers, and anyone interested in clean energy.

The number one piece of advice and growth opportunity I talk about as a manager is to communicate more.

But what does that mean?

Is just writing more good enough? Not really.

This goal of communicating is to advertise your work so that others can understand it, take part in it, appreciate it, and benefit from it.

Maybe you want to

• get a promotion
• have more people use your internal tool
• expand the impact of your work
• build a team around your ideas
• anything that goes beyond only you understanding what you are trying to accomplish

My audience here is primarily engineers, but I would expect it would apply to other disciplines.

I will give some examples of how to accomplish some of the above along with how to tailor your writing to your audience and your goals.

Ever feel overwhelmed juggling your many daily tasks? Take a break from metaphorical life-juggling to learn 3 ball juggling. Juggling is a fun skill that cam help you improve focus, and sharpen your problem-solving abilities. It provides a constant chance to improve while honing your skills at accepting minor failures. As every juggler knows "If you're not dropping, your not learning".

In this interactive session, you’ll learn the fundamentals of three-ball juggling, discover surprising parallels between coding and coordination, and explore the benefits of keeping objects in motion.

No prior juggling experience is required—just bring your curiosity and a willingness to drop the ball (a lot). By the end of the session, you’ll hopefully walk away with a new skill, and a few tricks to impress your colleagues at the next standup.

The conversation around AI has become a disorienting mix of breathless hype, existential doom predictions, and widespread misinformation—making it nearly impossible to understand where we truly stand. As someone who regularly 'commutes' between cutting-edge AI research and mainstream implementation, I've observed how the traditional tech adoption cycle has collapsed with AI, creating parallel realities of understanding. This talk cuts through the noise to provide clarity on what's actually happening, what's genuinely transformative versus incremental, and how to develop your own accurate mental model of AI capabilities. Whether you're confused by contradictory AI narratives or simply trying to make informed decisions about adoption and investment, this session offers a grounded perspective from someone who witnesses both the bleeding edge and everyday reality of AI.

Advocating for technical improvements to a product or system can be extremely challenging. In this session, you’ll learn how to better champion technical initiatives. We’ll talk about how the concept of “technical debt” is, counterintuitively, holding you back.

The metaphor of technical debt has had a hugely positive impact on software development. However, its convoluted current state is hindering decision-making and value creation. The technical debt metaphor deserves its exalted place in history, but it’s time to move beyond it.

We’ll investigate the origins of the technical debt metaphor and discuss how current approaches driven by it are hampering technical efforts. We’ll use this understanding to identify more inclusive approaches to cross-disciplinary prioritization. You’ll be prepared to better collaborate with your technical and non-technical colleagues to ensure the right technical work is delivered at the right time.

Although this session is geared towards technical advocacy, practitioners of product, design, agile coaching, quality, and all other disciplines are welcome! Anyone involved in cross-functional decision-making and delivery will benefit from understanding the shortcomings of technical debt. Moving beyond technical has benefits for us all.

Ever wrestled with callback hell or dodged thread explosion just to keep your app from crashing? Say goodbye to the juggling act of old-school concurrency and hello to Swift’s modern superpower: async/await. In this session, we’ll unravel the magic of Swift concurrency—transforming messy code into clean, readable flows that just work.

From the pyramid of doom to the elegance of actors, you’ll see real-world examples that’ll make you rethink your next project. Expect a practical demo and pro tips to avoid the gotchas. Whether you’re a Swift newbie or a seasoned dev, you’ll leave with tools to make your apps faster, safer, and downright fun to build. Ready to tame the chaos? Join me and let’s conquer concurrency together!

As large language models (LLMs) and AI tools become increasingly powerful in the development world, a new concept has emerged: vibe coding, or guiding an AI to build out code without ever laying a finger on the code yourself.

But as with most shiny new tools, security is often left behind in the rush to innovate. AI-generated code can be incredibly helpful, but it rarely defaults to being secure unless explicitly guided. Beyond the usual concerns of bugs and bad actors, vibe coding also introduces risks around copyright, attribution, API usage limits, and data privacy.

This session explores the hidden (and not-so-hidden) security pitfalls of AI-assisted development. You'll walk away with a mild amount of paranoia, practical tips, go-to resources, and solid practices to help ensure that your next side project, startup prototype, or enterprise application is built on secure foundations.

If you're going to let an AI build code, at least make sure it’s not building your next security incident as well. Let the good vibes roll!

A LinkedIn growth workshop built specifically for founders where you'll learn lead/sales strategies you can begin implementing immediately.

Some highlights of what you'll learn:

• ✅ The successful LinkedIn philosophy I've used to generate millions in sales
• ✅ LinkedIn prospect building so you can connect with real prospects
• ✅ Best performing LinkedIn campaign strategies to generate leads and sales

This is a "no fluff" session. We will NOT be spending time on your LinkedIn profile, how often you should be posting, likes, comments, etc.

We WILL be focusing specifically on how to grow audiences of ideal prospects and how you can turn them into leads and customers using specific LinkedIn strategies.

Come prepared to learn, with an open mind, and ready to ask questions!

———————

I want to help as many entrepreneurs be successful as I can. By sharing my LinkedIn expertise, I'm able to help them stay authentic and build their businesses through smart LinkedIn strategy that will grow their network, leads, and sales.

You can’t step foot into a business seminar, or on a college campus without being recommended half a dozen books on leadership. But do we ever talk about followership? No! My spell check doesn’t even recognize that word. I bet you’ve never heard it.

We’re nerds, geeks, and dweebs who often thrive out of the limelight. Let’s explore how to be great followers rather than mediocre leaders.

Every WordPress install has instant access to over 60,000 free plugins. Additionally, there are thousands more free and pay-for plugins available all over the internet and on Github.

I've done the research for you and will share the Top 10 plugins for your WordPress site!

We'll also save time for you to share your faves.

Unlock Growth with Fractional CxOs: Executive Power on a Startup Budget

Presented by Rob Smith, Founder of Fractional Conference

Startups and small businesses are brimming with vision—but often hamstrung by limited resources, especially when it comes to leadership. How do you scale without breaking the bank? How do you bring in the executive horsepower needed to move faster, smarter, and with more impact?

Enter the Fractional CxO model.

In this session, you'll learn how early-stage and resource-constrained businesses can tap into C-suite caliber talent—from CEOs and CFOs to CMOs and CTOs—at a fraction of the cost and commitment of full-time hires. Rob Smith, a seasoned entrepreneur and founder of the global Fractional Executive Conference, will demystify how this agile model empowers growth, mitigates risk, and unlocks top-tier leadership when and where you need it most.

We'll explore: - The economics of fractional talent: How you can save up to 70% vs. traditional hires while reallocating capital to drive innovation. - Integration strategies: Making fractional leaders part of your culture, not just a contract line item. - Risk reduction: How experienced execs proactively guide you around pitfalls and costly missteps. - The power of the ecosystem: Accessing expansive networks and cross-functional expertise without the overhead.

Whether you're an ambitious founder, a scrappy operator, or an advisor to high-growth companies, this session will show you how to scale leadership capacity on demand and compete with the big players—without hiring like one.

Starting a business can be a daunting task, but with the right resources, you can turn your entrepreneurial dreams into reality. In this presentation, I will share the story of how I launched in March 2024, and by June had not only had my business registered but also had received woman-owned certification from multiple local and national organizations.

This presentation will guide you through the essential steps to set up your business and achieve certification as a small and/or diverse owned enterprise. It will show you how to access free assistance, tap into valuable support networks, and utilize programs designed to empower entrepreneurs.

Learn from my experiences, including the obstacles I faced and the triumphs I celebrated, to gain valuable insights and inspiration for your own entrepreneurial path. Join me to explore practical strategies, insider tips, and opportunities that will empower you to build and grow your business. Let's unlock your potential and pave the way to faster business success!

🛠️ Tech Together Live: Building Community Through Conversation Presented by the Tech Together Podcast

Join us for a live, interactive recording of the Tech Together Podcast—where we explore how authentic conversations can spark collaboration, amplify diverse voices, and strengthen Minnesota’s tech ecosystem.

In this session, we’ll break the fourth wall of podcasting by bringing the audience into the dialogue. We'll share lessons we've learned from interviewing local tech leaders, discuss the power of storytelling in community building, and invite attendees to step up to the mic and share their perspectives.

Whether you're a founder, developer, designer, or just curious about how podcasts can connect people in tech, this session is for you.

🎤 Come ready to listen, share, and be part of the story.

My intentions were nearly entirely wholesome when it all started. Working as a remote engineer in a corporate setting, I kept finding that websites I needed to access for work (stackoverflow, reddit, and others) were blocked by default on the corporate network. While I could appeal to the network team to unblock these sites, it was a site-by-site approach, and frustratingly slow. I found myself more and more researching on my personal laptop, but then my work laptop logged out and showed me inactive, which, as any remote worker will tell you, is not a good thing.

This is a story about finding ways to keep my online status green, going down a curiosity rabbit hole, and coming out the other side having designed, built, and bought inventory of a product I didn't dare sell. It's a story about software, hardware, product design, and marketing -- and the difficulties therein.

For the past two years, I've been building a scaled network to support multi-cloud, multi-region, multi-service cloud architectures. I will take you through an abbreviated tour of our journey to solve networking as a service for our development teams, and show you where we've cut ourselves in the process. I even have a few gems of wisdom for you all to take with you. We started with thousands of VPCs, dozens of regions, hundreds of AWS Accounts, and so many NAT Gateways. Now we have fewer.

How about some buzzwords for the algos? EKS, VPC, NAT, Subnet, CloudWAN, Transit Gateway, Multi Cloud, vNet, VPN, DevOps, GenAI, BYOIP, and many more. I'll talk about all of them, probably very quickly.

This will be a technical talk, but we probably won't get into any source code. I'll try to make it accessible. I want you to learn what not to do. Forewarned is forearmed.

I'll share with you how I'm bringing Bantxr to life with very little.

The browser developer tools are an essential part of a web developer’s toolkit, packed with powerful features—some well-known, others hidden in plain sight. This talk uncovers lesser-known gems that can supercharge your debugging, reduce backend dependencies, and streamline your development workflow.

Whether you're a developer, QA specialist, product manager, or someone just looking to know enough to be dangerous, you’ll walk away with new techniques to level up your DevTools skills.

As an engineer on the original Atari VCS (2600) development team in 1975, I contributed to both the hardware design and software programming of this early gaming console. I worked on the system architecture and integrated circuit (IC) design while also creating two launch titles: Combat and Video Olympics. This experience shaped my 42-year industrial career and continues to influence how I teach engineering at the University of Washington today.

In this session I will talk about the Atari 2600 development process and how the design works, leaving time for Q&A at the end.

Deepfake fraud attempts have skyrocketed by 2137% in just three years. And today, it takes less than 27 seconds to clone someone’s voice.

But what is a deepfake, and why should you care? AI-generated misinformation is more than just a tech curiosity—it’s a growing threat to trust, security, and even your personal identity. If people can’t tell reality from manipulation, skepticism toward AI will only grow.

Join Jenny and Greg Swan from The Cave Project as they break down how deepfakes work, the risks they pose, and (most importantly) what you can actually do about it. From setting up family passwords to recognizing red flags, this session will arm you with the knowledge to stay ahead of the fakes.

The 2 most important questions to ask when solving any problem - a method to save time, reduce frustration, and eliminate errors while problem solving.

When faced with a troubleshooting or problem solving situation, most people simply default to what they think they know, "follow a script", or use a combination of both. In many cases, these "scripts" and assumptions of prior knowledge lead the person down unrelated rabbit-holes, dead ends, and other non-solution results, causing much frustration and wasting valuable time.

This presentation will explain and demonstrate the effectiveness of the 2 single-most important questions that need to be asked in order to quickly and effectively solve any problem.

Note: Audience participation isn't just encouraged, it's expected.

The robots aren't coming... they're here.

We've seen robots doing incredible things... cleaning the house, making pizza, or mow your lawn.

These are great but have you ever seen a robot do magic tricks, play monopoly, or 4-in-a-row? Want to?

If so, come to this hands-on session, where we'll show you what's possible with natural language and robotics.

Although this will be great for people of all ages, parents with young kids will get a lot out of this.

40 mins will go by very quickly! Come prepared to play!

Tried every fancy productivity method, app, and hack — and still feel like nothing sticks? Or maybe you’re tired of all the complicated apps and just need something simple that works?

This talk is for you.

We’re skipping the one-size-fits-all approach and getting to the core of how real productivity works — so you can build a system that actually fits your brain and your priorities.

You'll walk away with:

• A clear understanding of why most systems break down — and how to fix yours
• A framework you will implement immediately (yes, during this session!)
• A roadmap to help you keep evolving it for the rest of your life

What we'll cover:

• Why every guru's definition of productivity is wrong, and what productivity really means
• The raw materials of action — intention, focus, energy, and time — and how they work together
• The 3 building blocks — notes, tasks, and events — and how to manage them simply
• Three system architectures that work, with fully-implemented examples of each:
  • Workspace (e.g. Notion for everything)
  • Specialized (collection of specific tools)
  • Hybrid (a primary tool that filters and routes to others)
• Debugging your productivity issues:
  • Diagnose what’s really broken (it’s usually not what you think)
  • Adjust with small, clear fixes — not full resets
• Design principles that make your system adaptable:
  • Simplicity wins
  • Use life satisfaction as your success metric
  • Clarity beats control every time

Forget productivity hacks that don’t work for you. Build a system that actually does — and keep it for good.

Many of you may remember my previous MinneBar talk "Side Projects for Fun and Profit." Today, I'm sharing a different journey – one that began with a routine checkup revealing concerning biomarkers and led to an unexpected exploration of how AI can transform health management.

Between brief doctor visits every few months, I found myself turning to AI for guidance – asking detailed questions about diet modifications, medication interactions, and lifestyle adjustments. By capturing food images, tracking metrics, and providing health context, I received increasingly personalized guidance that produced measurable improvements in just three months.

This experience highlighted a critical gap in our healthcare system: the lack of intelligent day-to-day guidance between medical appointments. Drawing on my engineering background, I've been developing a solution that combines medical records, wearable data, and AI to provide continuous, personalized health support – turning scattered numbers into actionable insights.

What's particularly promising is how this approach could democratize healthcare for widespread conditions like diabetes, hypertension, and high cholesterol. By making personalized guidance accessible regardless of location or socioeconomic status, we can help address health inequities that disproportionately affect underserved communities.

Join me to explore:

• How AI can decode complex health information and make it personally relevant
• Practical techniques for using AI as a health companion (with live demonstrations)
• The technical challenges of creating memory-aware AI that builds context over time
• Privacy-first approaches to handling sensitive health data

I'll share honest insights from both perspectives – as someone who used AI to improve health outcomes and as an engineer crafting solutions to help others navigate similar paths.

Calling all developers (and designers!) who want —rather, need— to improve accessibility of their websites.

Did you know…

• 90% of all websites are inaccessible to people with disabilities who rely on assistive technology. (AbilityNet)

• 98.1% of website homepages had detectable WCAG 2 failures. (WebAIM)

• EVERYONE, at some point in their lifetime, will be "disabled" and can benefit from websites that are accessible-friendly.

We all know we need to make our sites accessible. So why are 90% of websites inaccessible? It's not as complicated as you may think, I promise you!

In this session, you'll learn how to diagnose where your webpages are failing accessibility tests and how to significantly improve your score by applying basic HTML in a more semantic way. This will be a deep dive into fixing the common coding mistakes and bad habits that lead to inaccessible websites. There's no excuse why every website can't be (more) accessible!

We're not looking for perfection here…we're just focused on improvement. Every little bit helps make the internet more user-friendly for everyone.

And if you're a designer, see what goes on "under the hood" with code (I promise it won't be too over your head!), and how to troubleshoot and QA pages to ensure your designs (and the resulting developed code) pass basic accessibility requirements.

Let’s be honest: scaling a B2B marketing team from zero to Series A, B, and beyond sounds impressive... until you realize it involves equal parts strategy, duct tape, caffeine, and the occasional emotional breakdown in front of a dashboard.

In this brutally honest and weirdly cathartic session, Matt Osborn — a B2B Marketing exec who's built growth engines from scratch (and definitely broke a few things along the way) — takes you on a walk through the marketing minefield. Expect war stories, facepalm-worthy mistakes, and actual strategies that don’t involve burning budget like it’s a bonfire party.

He’ll spill the beans on:

🚫 What not to do (aka: “Stuff I did and regretted immediately”)

⚡ The leanest, meanest ways to drive real growth

🛠️ How to scale without selling your soul — or your CRM

If you’ve ever felt like marketing a startup is like trying to build a plane while it’s flying... upside down... during a thunderstorm... this talk is for you. Grab a seat, laugh at Matt’s missteps, and leave with battle-tested growth tips you can actually use (no buzzwords, we promise).

Spoiler: There will be metaphors. Possibly too many. 🧠🔥✈️

Let's go over some fun projects for around the house I got to work on recently.

I made a regular old doorbell "smart". Even though I had a couple of solid YouTube tutorials to follow (that made this project look easy), it stretched me a lot.

I made a home dashboard for my refrigerator with some TRMNLs. I wrote some custom plugins to show some things on my dashboard that I care about. I also 3D printed some mounting hardware to attach magnets to, so I could mount them on my refrigerator.

I'd also love to hear about your projects and what you've learned.

🧠🤖 Human Intelligence > Artificial Intelligence? Exploring the Human Intelligence Movement in the Age of AI Led by Michelle Ament & Shannon Seaver

AI is evolving fast—but what does it mean for us as humans in tech, design, and leadership roles? In this interactive session, we’ll introduce the Human Intelligence movement: a growing call to center empathy, ethics, creativity, and emotional intelligence in the conversations around artificial intelligence.

We’ll explore big questions like:

How can we build and use AI without losing the human element?

What uniquely human skills matter most in the age of automation?

How can teams embrace AI and cultivate cultures of curiosity, compassion, and critical thinking?

Expect a mix of discussion, real-world examples, and space to reflect and share. Whether you're excited about AI or cautiously curious, this session is your invitation to re-center what makes us human.

✨ Let’s talk about the intelligence that machines can’t replicate.

Minnebar is a great place to catch up with old friends - the Networking Room is a dedicated place to meet new people. Join us to chat about anything and everything.

What is more important? Getting the answer right? Or, asking the right question? This session explores why innovation remains elusive despite companies investing millions in “innovation centers” or hoping that making innovation a company value will somehow inspire employees to be innovative. We will concentrate on the first barrier to innovation: your brain. Once we learn how our brain tries to limit our innovative thinking, we will teach our mind to counteract it. You will learn techniques to decipher what really is the problem, what actually needs to be solved, and ways to creatively solve it. This was previously presented at Minnebar17 and was at full attendance capacity.

In this session, you will explore how AI video tools can revolutionize content creation for small businesses. Learn how to leverage these tools to enhance training videos, website help pages, personalized client communications, customer testimonials, product demonstrations, event promotion, and social media content. Discover budget-friendly and efficient solutions that can transform your clients' marketing and communication strategies.

Key Takeaways: Introduction to AI Video Tools: Overview of popular platforms like HeyGen, Synthesia, and Veed, highlighting their features and benefits.

Practical Applications: Hands-on examples of how AI video tools can be used for various business needs, such as:

Creating engaging training videos

Developing personalized client communication videos

Producing high-quality product demos

Enhancing social media content

Cost-Effective Solutions: Discussion on how AI video tools can save time and resources compared to traditional video production methods.

Addressing Concerns: Addressing common concerns about AI video tools, such as authenticity, ethical use, and potential pitfalls.

Future Trends: Insights into how AI video tools are evolving and how they will continue to shape business communication and marketing.

Interactive Elements: Live Demos: Showcase how to use specific AI video tools to create content.

Q&A Session: Allow attendees to ask questions and share their experiences.

By focusing on AI video tools, you can provide a deep dive into this specific area, offering actionable insights and practical skills that attendees can apply immediately to benefit their clients.

From Engineer to Product Owner: A Journey of Evolution

They say the best roles find you when you're not looking for them. My journey to becoming a Product Owner is living proof of that.

Looking forward to sharing my story and hearing yours :-)

I started my career as a hardware engineer in 1986, soldering circuits and designing microprocessor based control systems using the intel 8051 microcontroller ... I lived in the physical world where you could touch and see what you were building.

Then I transitioned to software engineering, where I traded physical components for lines of code - building the invisible architecture that powers our digital lives.

Later, I evolved into a Test Automation Engineer, ensuring quality and reliability in the products we created. Each role taught me something valuable about the engineering process, adding another layer to my technical foundation.

Then came that pivotal moment. I was working with a Software Architect, building stories for a new project, when she turned to me and said, "You'd make a good Product Owner."

"What's that?" I asked, with genuine curiosity - Not really - I just added that for fun :-)

The room erupted in laughter.

Little did I know that this unexpected suggestion would lead me to one of the most fulfilling roles of my career - where my technical background would become my superpower in bridging the gap between engineering and business needs.

Today, I'd like to share with you what I've learned about being a Technical Product Owner, how my engineering background gives me a unique perspective, and why this role is crucial in creating products that truly deliver value.

Looking forward to sharing my story and hearing yours

Peace &Love Chris

-- Chris Macgowan (he/him/his) Staff Scientist gstream inc. 612.401.2342 Listening on 146.520 MHz

Last year, I did this session for the first time anywhere and was surprised to have a full room. All I had was a bunch of slides with bullet points and thoughts.

This year, a legit session with an actual deck.

I appreciate that hiring is slower or on hold for many of us. This is all the more reason to have this conversation so that when hiring picks up again, you and your team are prepared.

One big update from last year is the introduction of AI in the process, both in the use of technology and the likelihood that your talent acquisition team will be smaller than it used to be. You and your team will likely be tasked with picking up a bunch of this work.

Who should attend:

• Leaders of companies (C-Suite and VP titles), Hiring Managers, and team members who interview their future teammates.

Topics will include:

• Writing compelling job descriptions, including content that most are missing
• Having a presence at community events, meetups
• LinkedIn profiles, content to post, and frequency
• Interviewing skills, process, and strategy
• Elevating employer and team brand
• Basic to intermediate-level sourcing
• Networking and referrals
• Working with your recruiting team as an ally versus a speed bump
• AI: the good, bad, and future

*If you don’t or can’t attend, do this one thing in the following weeks: conduct your own recruiting fire drill (audit) from application through onboarding to ensure the best candidate and new team member experience possible.

I work as a kids' coding instructor. While every student has a different learning style and set of challenges, there are common patterns I've noticed again and again. In this talk, I'll outline the different "types" of students - sharing stories of how I've learned to work with them and help them become better coders.

If you're a startup founder or technical expert who suddenly finds yourself with the title "CEO"—this session is for you.

You didn't set out to lead a company. You wanted to solve a problem, build something new, or escape corporate red tape. Now, you're leading people, managing growth, and trying to figure out how to scale without burning out, selling out, or stalling out.

This session is a real-world guide for first-time or accidental CEOs—those of us who are building the plane while flying it. I’ll share 10 hard-earned growth moves that will help you shift from founder mode to real-deal leadership, without losing sight of what made your company worth building in the first place.

We’ll cover how to:

• Make faster, clearer decisions that align with your vision

• Communicate like a leader (even when you're figuring it out as you go)

• Get out of the weeds and be more strategic

• Grow your team and culture without creating chaos and conflict

• Handle the identity shift from expert to leader

This isn't about theory or buzzwords. It’s a practical, honest look at what it takes to lead a growing company when leadership wasn’t your original plan.

Real-time streaming and event-driven technologies like Apache Kafka, Google Pub/Sub, Apache Flink, and RabbitMQ all encounter a similar issue - duplicate events. Delivery guarantees, network retries, crashes, and system restarts can introduce duplicate messages, making it a pervasive challenge for data-intensive applications. Deduplication ensures data accuracy and consistency in real-time systems, preventing inflated metrics, overcounting, and confusion downstream. By handling redundant events effectively, organizations maintain data integrity, reduce storage overhead, and produce reliable analytics.

In this guide, we’ll explore practical, battle-tested strategies for handling duplicates across popular messaging and streaming technologies. We’ll cover the core concepts of unique event identifiers, idempotent operations, consumer-side state tracking, and exactly-once semantics. Developers will leave with a clear playbook of best practices and strategies to build deduplicated, high-throughput data pipelines.

At the St. Patrick’s Day Minnestar Happy Hour, I asked people what is keeping them up at night, what concerns are front of mind. Overwhelmingly, I heard that the chaos and volatility of the world outside their companies is creating a fair amount of uncertainty and discomfort. One leader told me he needed a way to feel grounded, and keep moving forward. If this sentiment resonates with you, join us for a conversation about leading through uncertain times. Participants will leave with one tool, one thing you can do at your organization to address the discomfort and keep moving forward to achieve the performance results you want.

Today’s legal system runs on unstructured data: millions of statutes, cases, contracts, and regulations that are overwhelmingly complex. But structuring that data (e.g., Knowledge Graphs), and combining LLMs, can extract insights, automate workflows, and ultimately help everyone (including the poor) access justice.

A 20+ year veteran lawyer (and mediocre coder), Damien Riehl, will break down how hybrid legal agents — combining LLMs and Symbolic AI (GOFAI) — can perform substantive legal tasks at scale: writing legal memos, tagging facts, building arguments, comparing cases, surfacing legal standards, and even advising judges. The session will explore Knowledge Graphs, deterministic tagging, and open-source standards that bring structure to legal chaos.

You’ll see live demos, real-world implementations, and open-source tools you can use today. If you’re building anything involving words, this talk will show how hybrid, neuro-symbolic agents help tame hallucinations, favoring RAG-backed reasoning.

Want to see how LLM-backed legal tools — with a billion legal docs — are built? Join us!

Crowdfunding is a powerful fundraising strategy that can catapult your product idea into broad market awareness—fast. No need to chase down angel investors or land big grants. Sounds good, right?

But here’s the catch: 3 out of 5 crowdfunding campaigns don’t reach their goal, and fewer than 0.1% raise over $1 million.

In this session, Valerie Blomberg shares key benchmarks and insights from launching more than 42 crowdfunding campaigns. You’ll get a clear, honest picture of what it really takes to plan, launch, and reach your goal.

You’ll walk away with:
✅ A decision tree to help you choose the right crowdfunding platform
✅ An outline of an outreach and pre-launch marketing strategy
✅ A realistic timeline from prep to launch
✅ Tips for setting a funding goal that sets you up for success
✅ A breakdown of a typical campaign launch (yes, including the mid-campaign slump)
✅ Benchmarks and hard-earned lessons from real campaigns

You’ll also meet Rocket, the AI assistant who can support your crowdfunding journey if you decide to move forward after the session.

Find out if crowdfunding is the right path for you, and leave with the tools and clarity to move forward with confidence. 🎯

Join us for a playful session that brings awareness to the Saboteurs running your life.

Do you ever feel like something is quietly sabotaging your success? Your inner Saboteurs—your Judge, Controller, Hyper-Achiever, and Stickler—are working behind the scenes, masquerading as your allies. They convince you that you need them to avoid complacency or failure. But here’s the twist: the greatest damage they cause is in convincing you they’re on your side.

In this interactive session, we’ll play a game of "Seek and Reveal." We’re not here to hide from these Saboteurs—we’re actively seeking them out. You’ll learn how to identify these voices within yourself and see how they show up in others. By recognizing how these Saboteurs influence your decisions, you’ll be able to make more informed, conscious choices moving forward.

What you’ll get from this session:

A fun, engaging game that helps you seek out your Saboteurs rather than hide from them.

Increased awareness of how these inner voices shape your actions and choices.

Practical strategies to challenge these influences and step into your true potential.

Ready to turn the tables on your inner Saboteurs? Let’s make this a game where awareness is the prize, and transformation is the goal.

Feel free to take the Saboteur Assessment ahead of this session to gain more insights! https://www.positiveintelligence.com/saboteurs/

Lunch from Pizza Luce is included with your event ticket, and can be found in the Best Buy Cafeteria (Sandy’s Place). Vegetarian, Vegan and Gluten-Free pizza options will be available.

During lunch, the outdoor area near Sandy's will be open and accessible during the lunch hour for anyone who would prefer to eat outside (weather permitting). During the rest of the day, these doors will remain closed for security purposes.

We’re thrilled to welcome 20 community organizations, user groups, and nonprofits to Minnebar19 as Community Partners! These groups are doing incredible work across tech, education, entrepreneurship, and equity — and we’re proud to share space with them.

Be sure to stop by their tables during lunch to learn more, make connections, and get involved. They'll be located just outside of Sandy's Place (the cafeteria) so you can easily visit before, after or during lunch!

Here's the lineup, learn more about them all here:

AppliedAI
A nonprofit developing the next generation of AI leaders in Minnesota through conferences, podcasts, newsletters, meetups, and hands-on learning.

Blacks in Technology (BiT)
The largest community of Black professionals in tech, offering networking, support, and advancement resources.

City of Bloomington
An advocate for local entrepreneurs and small businesses.

Communiful
Connects people to professional communities where they truly belong.

creatempls
Provides free, accessible STEM programs to students in underrepresented communities.

Free Geek Twin Cities
A tech rescue turning Minneapolis' e-waste problem into a solution

Elevate Hennepin
Offers no-cost business support services to Hennepin County small businesses.

Groove Capital
Helps Minnesota startups secure their first institutional investment by combining an angel network and venture fund.

Hack the Gap
Expands access to technology through hackathons, training programs, and consulting.

HandsOn Twin Cities
Mobilizes people to make a positive impact through community engagement.

Innovate MN
A public think tank helping businesses explore what’s next.

MN Women in Tech
Fosters a diverse and inclusive tech community by connecting and empowering women in the industry.

MSP Startup Guide
A curated resource hub for Minnesota’s venture-backed startup ecosystem.

Open Source North
Hosts events that connect sponsors, speakers, and attendees to learn and share knowledge.

Penguins Unbound
A Linux User Group for enthusiasts across the Twin Cities, focused on knowledge sharing and community building.

Smart North
Promotes digital equity in Minnesota with tech hubs and workforce training in underserved communities.

Technologists for the Public Good
A professional association supporting technologists working to improve public services and government systems.

The Diamond Resilience
A creative collective empowering Web3 and XR creators through storytelling, tech, and community.

Wild AI
Connects Minnesota’s AI community through meetups, talks, and collaboration.

For years, creatives have been overlooked in the tech world, often dismissed as lacking the technical skills required to thrive in the industry. But now with Generative AI, what if the future of tech belongs not to engineers alone, but to artists, writers, and humanities nerds? Caroline Holden, a creative technologist and content creator with 7 years experience in startups, AI, and venture capital explains why creatives are uniquely positioned to become the tech leaders of tomorrow.

This session is ideal for anyone interested in the intersection of creativity and technology or anyone interested in how Generative AI may fundamentally change what it means to be a stellar employee or startup founder.

What happens when you hit pause on your career and hit play on your wildest creative ideas? In 2024, I took a leap—a full year off to explore, experiment, and build. From passion projects to playful prototypes, I’ll share how I structured my sabbatical, the unexpected lessons I learned, and what it’s like to return to the workforce with a fresh perspective. Whether you’re dreaming of your own sabbatical or just curious how to carve out more creative space in your career, this talk is for you!

You don't have to be Mr. Robot to be secure! While cybersecurity may seem mysterious and difficult, the most effective things you can do are like eating well and exercising: easy to understand, but sometimes hard to do. In the past 5 years, we've learned that much of the work needed to secure software-based systems are activities we already do, like regularly updating software and turning off services you don't need.

I'll review what data-driven research says about what matters most in cybersecurity, bust myths about what doesn't matter, and when you really do need to call in the experts. Whether you write code, build infrastructure, run a startup, or just manage your home network, I'll share practical advice on what you can do to be secure and what you should leave to others.

There is a lot of information about agile practices, SDLC efficiency, role definitions, etc., but there are very few holistic perspectives available on how to build engineering teams which are efficient, stable, and resilient. Building teams which can stay strong and focused during the various challenges and lifecycle phases of large projects is more important today than ever given the challenges in our industry. My perspective goes far beyond simply CICD ideas and I explore the convergence of technical best practices with knowing how to build a team culture of trust and collaboration. Proper interviewing, providing feedback, and accountability are universal leadership qualities, but these need to be applied in ways specific to tech. Building the skills as an engineering leader to create small and powerful teams is more crucial today than ever.

Session Title: Reigniting Your Career in Tech: Navigating the Job Search

As a Full Stack Frontend Developer with a background in software engineering and diverse experiences across industries, my career journey hasn’t always been linear. I’ve navigated career transitions, self-directed learning, and a recent layoff, which led me to refine what I truly want in my next role. Whether you’re new to tech, looking to pivot, or re-entering the job market, I’ve learned valuable lessons along the way that I’d like to share with you.

In this session, I’ll share strategies and insights to help you confidently navigate the job search process, from building your personal brand to reflecting on your career goals. We’ll cover how to network effectively, market yourself, and prepare for your next opportunity.

Agenda:

• Networking Strategies: Building meaningful connections within the tech community and leveraging those connections for job opportunities.
• Marketing Yourself: Crafting an authentic personal brand that stands out, including tips for updating your resume, portfolio, and online presence.
• Reflecting on Your Career: Understanding your strengths, defining your ideal role, and clarifying your career goals—what’s your dream job?
• Preparing for the Job Search: Actionable steps to get ready for the search, such as:
  • Evaluating your skills, identifying what you want in your next role, and targeting the right companies.
  • Updating your resume and portfolio to showcase your experience and abilities effectively.
  • Strengthening your personal brand on platforms like LinkedIn and GitHub, ensuring they reflect your current skillset and goals.
  • Researching companies and roles to tailor your applications for success.
  • Practicing for interviews and staying resilient throughout the process.
• Navigating Career Transitions: How to pivot, upskill, and maintain continuous learning to stay competitive in the ever-evolving tech industry.

By the end of this session, you’ll walk away with a clearer sense of your professional brand and a structured approach to the job search. Let’s talk about how to reignite your career in tech and take the next step with confidence.

This session is designed for individuals with some experience in the tech field, whether you're currently working in a role or actively navigating a job search. The content assumes familiarity with basic networking and job search practices and will focus on refining your approach to the next stage in your career. If you're looking to take your job search to the next level or pivot within the tech industry, this session is for you.

SIGN UP SHEET: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1M3e2Q6B28BrBQG6XaX-7m4EvQLDYbJXcdlgYYgpaTTc/edit?usp=sharing

Don’t want to do a full session? Miss the deadline? Join us for Lightning Talks, where anyone can have the mic for a few minutes to talk about whatever you’d like. In this longstanding Minnebar tradition, we’ve had quick talks on topics like open-source contribution, rants about tech, and even cooking and board games.

There are no requirements. Bring slides if you wish, but they’re not required.

If your team feels perpetually overcapacity or constantly “too busy” then this talk is for you.

In this hands on session, Rachel Yenko draws from her experience scaling remote startups across fast-paced industries to expose where time is leaking out of your workflows and how to get it back. From bloated meetings to buried documentation, context-switching chaos to redundant updates, she’ll show you the hidden inefficiencies quietly draining your team’s momentum.

You’ll learn how to:

• Calculate the real cost of a single meeting
• Audit your team’s time based on task value (and where it’s being wasted)
  
• Evaluate the trust meter your team currently gives your systems (more trust = more time saved)
• Eliminate busywork with automation, process clarity, and better documentation
  
• Create visibility without micromanagement

Complete with tactical questions to directly apply these principles, you’ll walk away with deeper understanding of the changes needed to add efficiency to your day-to-day routine and give your team their time back.

Whether you are a solopreneur or lead a team of 300, this talk will change how you perceive the value of your time.

Does the thought of salary negotiation make your stomach churn? It doesn't have to. Most candidates believe that their potential future employer holds all of the cards when it comes to salary negotiation. That isn't the case. The key to increasing your salary lies in your ability to understand what your future employer values and showing them how your skills and experience provide just that. This talk will cover strategies to communicate your value to your future employer and avoid leaving money (or additional benefits) on the table.

Each member of this panel is currently using a mentor and has found it valuable. They will discuss their experience in a formal mentoring program and will address these issues:

• Why consider having a mentor? • How does a mentor differ from other advisors and investors? • What should you look for in a mentor or in a mentoring program? • What is an example of your mentor’s impact on your decision making? • What does a good mentor do and not do? • How has your mentor changed how you think about your business? • What is your cadence for meeting with your mentor?

A good mentor provides unvarnished, straight guidance and feedback shaped by experience and motivated by a pure desire to see the entrepreneur succeed.

We believe that this discussion will benefit any entrepreneur considering a mentor or mentoring program. We hope it will provide specific and actionable guidance. The panel moderator will conduct an “open Q&A” session for the final 10-15 minutes of the session.

This panel was well-received at Minnebar 18, with about 50 attendees. Mark Capaldini will once again serve as Moderator.

The overall goal of this talk is to help you understand the context behind accessibility, how we approach thinking about accessibility concerns, why accessibility matters outside of compliance reasons, and how everyone, not just individuals with disabilities, benefits from accessible design.

Takeaways:

• Broadening the definition of accessibility
• Learning to view accessibility and usability from more than just a compliance perspective
• Understanding the benefits that accessible and universal design provide for everyone

Details:

We're not here to just talk compliance. Accessibility efforts generally benefit everyone, not just individuals with disabilities. Seeing individuals with disabilities as "a problem to solve for" often results in quick fixes, temporary solutions and, generally, inconsiderate design. Individuals with disabilities are people who use applications, just with a different set of parameters.

If you're only focused on bare minimum compliance to standards, such as WCAG, you're missing out some big things:

• Better understanding who you serve
• Benefitting everyone you serve, regardless of background
• Learning more about assistive technologies and other means of interacting with technology
• Discovering new tools for testing and ensuring accessibility
• Gaining a better appreciation for how some of our everyday tools and designs came from accessibility

Join and help us build a better, more inclusive industry!

NOTE

This talk will be mainly focused on digital accessibility. There may be some aspects of physical accessibility discussed, mainly as examples.

You’re focused on shipping, not Delaware law. But the wrong structure can kill your raise before it starts. This session is a quick-start guide to getting legally venture-ready, without needing to hire a whole legal team.

In this session, Grant Gibson, a Venture Capital investor and attorney at Great North Ventures, will walk through the foundational legal concepts that every technical founder should understand. We'll cover legal entities, preferred shares, and equity splits. We will also touch on the most common startup funding instruments (like SAFEs and convertible notes) and hopefully have lots of time for Q&A.

There are still a lot of business critical applications running on legacy code that is costly to update and maintain. This presentation highlights a case study around the innovative low-code initiatives undertaken by a health management services organization to streamline development and update their business processes to maximize their ROI. In this presentation we will cover why low-code platforms provide us with a powerful and efficient way to develop applications, making it easier to meet business demands, reduce costs, and improve collaboration and agility within your organization. Walk our journey from discovery to development and a successful launch to learn about production implementation of low code.

AI code editors are everywhere nowadays, promising to make us faster, smarter, and more efficient. But what if these "helpful" tools are quietly eroding the very skills that make you a great engineer? What if, instead of empowering you, they’re turning you into a passive bystander in your own craft?

Over reliance on AI code editors can sabotage your own growth, outsourcing the very critical thinking and problem solving that makes you exceptional. It’s not all doom and gloom though, AI can be a powerful tool when used intentionally. In this talk, we’ll explore the pitfalls of those editors, when to embrace them and when to push them aside.

This isn’t just a warning, it’s a call to action. If you’re ready to take control of your craft, question the tools you use, and ensure you’re advancing in your field, this is the session for you.

Let’s reclaim our independence, sharpen our instincts, and ensure we’re the ones in control.

If you have a movie or music collection, you've probably tried to track it using speadsheets, databases, or custom tools with varying degrees of success. Sometimes those tools disappear, change, or they no longer meet your requirements. Sometimes the companies making those tools will change their business model and you end up paying to access the same information you freely contributed.

This session covers a coding and data project designed to build and maintain a local media catalog that gives you the flexibility of tracking your collection, analyzing it, and developing your own tools to maintain it.

Key topics include:

• A history of online tools and the pitfalls of user contributed data.
• Building data structures suitable for movies and music.
• Validation and completeness.
• Creating reports on collection data.
• Coding examples using Python and basic Git operations.
• Future directions and goals of the project.

This personal narrative includes practical tips and easy-to-implement suggestions that can be applied to your life. Bring your groaning to-do list, spiraling imposter syndrome and be prepared to be bossed into doing that thing that you've always wanted to do. You've got this!

WARNING: This session will include a modest amount of beginner accordion music.

In business, success isn’t just about strategy, marketing, or finances—it’s also about mindset and leadership. Just as in life, businesses can suffer from harmful patterns that create obstacles to growth, collaboration, and long-term success.

I call these patterns the Five Life Poisons of Business: When these poisons seep into business culture and decision-making, they can be detrimental, leading to toxic work environments, stalled progress, and lost opportunities.

But the good news? With awareness and intentional change, these poisons can be transformed into wisdom that fosters a thriving and sustainable business.

This session is perfect for all levels of your company.

Lessons learned from my past year with triple positive breast cancer.

How I made my drop dead book, what tech was helpful, and how to organize your people.

Who does not want to own a real tricorder? There's never been a compelling product offered short of expensive props, and it's something I've wanted to play with for years. Rather than just make it a throw away side project though, I figured I would treat it as an actual exercise in product design of a real, extensible hardware platform. In this session we will break down the process of tackling the project from an engineering stand point, looking at all aspects including case design, hardware selection, software development, and more. We'll also talk about the tools available today to actually build your own products.

Given the subject, we have to geek out a little bit, but when it comes to details we won't have time to go too deep, this is more an overview of the journey talking about the trials, tribulations, and tricorders along the way.

And yes, there will be actual tricorders.

Starting at age 10, Rawson Stovall was the first regular reviewer of video games with his nationally-syndicated newspaper column, “The Vid Kid,” from 1982-1992. During that era he appeared on numerous television shows including The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, Good Morning America, the CBS Morning News, and That’s Incredible! Articles about him appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and USA Today. His 1984 book, “The Vid Kid’s Book of Home Video Games” was published by Doubleday and was the host of the event where Nintendo introduced the NES. Hear stories from those crazy days!

In the Twin Cities, launching great software is about more than just writing code - it is about building a thriving ecosystem where innovation, investment, and talent come together. Improving is partnering with Minnedemo, and CodeLaunch, to drive the future of technology, startups, and digital services. Join us for a conversation about how we can help launch startups onto the CodeLaunch stage in Dallas for the World Championships in November! From early-stage ideas to scalable solutions, we’ll explore how this collaboration fuels local founders, accelerates emerging startups, and strengthens the tech community.

Last year I began my first side project to create Tetris for the Wii, and I wrote it all in C. I've been a big fan of Tetris for a while, and I always wondered how the game worked, so I figured creating it for myself would be a great way to learn that. In this presentation, I'll talk you through why I chose to do this, some of the steps I took to build a working version of Tetris, many of the challenges I faced along the way, and of course show its current state.

Join us for a thought-provoking Lunch & Learn at Minnebar as we explore John Maxwell’s Put Your Dream to the Test, a powerful guide for anyone looking to turn vision into reality.

Whether you're coding the next big app, building a startup, or dreaming of your own venture, this 40-minute session will help you assess the strength of your dream, uncover what might be holding you back, and give you tools to move forward with clarity and confidence.

🔍 Discover 10 key questions every dreamer must answer ⚙️ Designed for developers, entrepreneurs, and tech leaders 🎯 Leave with actionable insights to start building your future today

In this day and age, it feels like everything you do online is tracked, analyzed, and used against you. Don’t despair - privacy is not a lost cause! It is possible to use the internet without everyone tracking your every action.

In this talk we’ll go over how to keep your information to yourself. We’ll discuss various levels of privacy & the tools you can use to achieve it.

Looking back at a decades-long career in consulting, Brad Koehn shares the knowledge he wished he’d had along the way. In this engaging, thoughtful presentation, he outlines different careers in consulting, from working for a firm, to independent contracting, to advisory consulting, to starting a firm.

During the presentation he demystifies how consulting works, outlines four types of consulting practices and how they differ, and gives detailed, practical directions for getting started.

If you’ve ever been curious about getting into consulting, be sure not to miss this presentation.

Many digital teams begrudgingly seek accessibility “compliance” and fail to see its value as a core product strategy. In this session, we reveal how prioritizing accessibility drives growth and opens new opportunities for those who rely on assistive technology just as much as those who do not. Discover how native mobile accessibility functionality enhances user experience and offers value far beyond what is required to be inclusive.

The big takeaways you ask? 1. Get a grasp on how to deliver accessibly and do so in a way that isn't susceptible to business or political churn. 2. Walk away with some highly practical next steps you can start taking without having to get wide spread buy-in! 3. A chance to get to know some great people!

AI models and tools are improving at blazing speed. The CEO of Anthropic predicts that in 3-6 months, AI will be writing 90% of code. Is he serious? Is he right? And if so, what does this mean for software engineering teams? Are we doomed? 😅😅

As a Marine Corps veteran, Peter Somerville is accustomed to working in fast-moving, high-uncertainty environments, and his 10+ years working in startups leads him to believe that the next few years will offer exciting opportunities for adaptable software teams and developers that can master the new AI-powered landscape.

This session is ideal for anyone focused on how AI technology is driving change in the software and startup world. No knowledge of or experience with software development is needed. Peter will share his thoughts, and then foster a discussion about these trends among attendees.

There’s a saying that people don’t leave companies, they leave managers. CultureAmp data also points to the importance of a company’s senior leadership on employee engagement. You may have already had the good fortune to experience a great manager or great company leadership, or the misfortune to experience the opposite. So how can each of us strive to be better leaders for our teams and our companies?

For over 25 years, I’ve worked with a variety of leaders and witnessed many different styles. I've learned what leadership approaches work well, and which ones are less effective or even damaging to an organization. When I started leading teams, I made mistakes of my own and learned from them. In the process, I have developed my own leadership style which has led to success for my teams and helped me retain people across companies.

I’ll share stories about the lessons I’ve learned and the style I’ve developed. We’ll talk about leadership anti-patterns and how to avoid them. I aim to give attendees new tools for effective leadership and a healthy work environment.

I plan to have audience participation and leave time for Q&A. If you’ve got questions about becoming a leader, getting to the next level, or dealing with bad leadership, please join us!

Are you interested in 3D printing but don't know how to get started?

This session is to give newcomers to 3D printing a rundown of what it is, what it isn't, and how to start trying it out if you're interested.

We'll be exploring:

• Types of 3D printers
• Types of filaments / resin
• Software for creating objects
• Slicing software for prepping files for printing
• Caveats, considerations, and drawbacks
• Safety

There will be time for a Q&A at the end for anyone who has specific questions. 3D printing is an exciting, fun, sometimes frustrating, and extremely vast and deep hobby. I hope you'll join and find out more about one of my favorite hobbies!

AI isn't just optimizing workflows—it's completely eliminating traditional gatekeepers and middlemen across industries. From solo founders building empire-level businesses to creators bypassing traditional distribution channels, this panel explores the most transformative real-world applications of AI technology. Join our experts as they dive into case studies spanning mental health, education, creative industries, and entrepreneurship, revealing how today's AI tools are enabling direct connections, flattening hierarchies, and creating new paths to success that were unimaginable just years ago. Learn how these practical use cases are redefining who gets to participate—and win—in tomorrow's economy.

Creative thinking is emerging as a new frontier in generative intelligence.

Have you ever hit a wall in ideation or wrestled with a difficult trade-off?

Most breakthrough ideas don’t arise from compromise... they arise from resolving contradictions. I’ll share how solving a contradiction led to a patented invention in large-scale e-commerce... and how the journey revealed a systematic method for identifying and solving contradictions. I enabled "Matrix Morphology" with a custom GPT... and I'll equip you to use "Matrix Mentor" for creative thinking and problem-solving with AI.

We rely on pixels and binary code like it's water, but where did these concepts come from and why does it matter?

Learn the rich history of textiles and technology and how the two are intertwined. Will I influence you to pick up the knitting needles or join your local weavers guild? Maybe....come and find out!

BYOC - Bring your own craft (knitting, crochet, embroidery, cross stitch, etc)

Meet other crafters and work on your craft.

Are you tired of trading time for money? As a developer, designer, marketer, or consultant, your expertise helps startups grow - but traditional compensation models limit your upside.

In the 6 years since I developed the Shared Success Agreement, I've witnessed how this alternative approach can transform how service providers structure their businesses, replacing some hourly billing with revenue-share partnerships that create ongoing income streams and deeper client relationships.

As a non-technical founder myself, I created this model out of necessity. After struggling with traditional funding and compensation options, I developed a framework that better aligned incentives between founders and the talent they desperately need. Through Cloudburst, we've now invested over $500,000 in our clients using these agreements, proving they work for both sides of the partnership.

In this practical session, you'll discover:

• Why traditional equity compensation often fails service providers and freelancers
• How Shared Success Agreements offer a compelling alternative with potential returns of 25% or more annually
• The tax advantages compared to traditional compensation models
• A simple calculator for determining optimal revenue percentages and payback periods
• Frameworks for identifying which clients are ideal for these arrangements
• How the agreements also benefit founders and investors

I'll share the early lessons we've learned implementing this model at Cloudburst, along with insights from the growing community of professionals exploring revenue-share alternatives to conventional billing models. You'll see how this approach can help create a portfolio of revenue streams that generate income beyond your active client work.

The open-source agreement template is freely available at SharedSuccessAgreement.org, but this session will give you the strategic framework to implement it successfully in your service business.

Bring your client scenarios and questions for a hands-on discussion.

In today's workplace, where every day we are bombarded with constant change and uncertainty, adaptability is no longer optional—it's essential for survival and success. This interactive workshop, Lead Where You Are: The Skill of Intentional Adaptability, is designed to equip leaders at any stage or level with practical strategies to thrive in a VUCA (Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, Ambiguous) environment. You will delve deeply into Agile principles and Scrum practices, experiencing firsthand how they can be leveraged to set powerful intentions, reframe challenges as opportunities, and harness feedback loops to drive continuous learning and improvement.

Through engaging activities, thought-provoking discussions, and real-world examples, you'll gain insights into cultivating a mindset that embraces change and fosters resilience. Imagine learning how to transform setbacks into stepping stones and uncertainties into competitive advantages. This workshop is not just about theory; it’s about actionable takeaways you can implement the next day to lead confidently, inspire your team, and navigate the complexities of today's fast-paced world.

By the end of this session, you'll have a toolkit of techniques to help you stay grounded in your values while being flexible in your approach. You'll understand how to create an environment encouraging innovation and collaboration, ensuring you and your team can adapt swiftly and effectively to any situation. This isn't just another workshop—it's a transformative experience that empowers you to lead with intention and adapt with agility, setting you on a path to sustained success in a rapidly changing landscape.

So you'd like to have some LED lighting behind your TV. Maybe under a shelf. Hmm, built in to your closet shelves? Programmable colors and patterns would be fun... and before you know it, you're eyeballing full-house installations that sync to music and are the delight of neighbors for miles around.

But where to start? What can you accomplish with an off-the-shelf kit? As your project aspirations get more complicated and custom, what are the components you'll need to understand in order to achieve your glowing vision?

Come take a look at my journey into beginning/intermediate LED hackery, and leave with a better grasp of how to get your own LED projects started.

Agile teams move fast -- but where does design fit in? If your UX designer is operating outside your sprint cadence, this session is for you! Whether you're a product manager, developer, or designer, learn how to seamlessly integrate UX/UI into your Agile processes without slowing things down. (And likely speeding things up!)

Join a seasoned pro who's worked with numerous Agile teams and trained with the best scrum masters, and leave with a sprint structure that actually makes room for design. Get tips for getting everyone speaking the same language, and ceremony tweaks that'll turn your team into a smooth-running product powerhouse.

With the rise of AI, let's chat about how you can leverage tools + strategies to help you supercharge your online presence with AI-powered marketing without losing YOUR brand voice. During this session:

✅ I'll share with you some key metrics to consider when it comes to AI for marketing & how it's relevant for all business owners, whether you're newer to AI or already an AI expert.

✅ We'll discuss how to craft magnetic content that speaks directly to your dream clients, helping you stand out and WIN more business in the saturated, noisy digital space.

✅ You'll discover other tools beyond just ChatGPT that could help you in your marketing & discuss a handful of AI initiatives from Google, LinkedIn & Meta (Facebook, Instagram).

Plus, you'll walk away with actionable insights & prompts that will help uplevel your AI-driven marketing game.

Want a copy of the presentation? DM me "AIMarketing" on LinkedIn

Are you struggling to address difficult topics with your business partner or team member? Many partnerships or teams stall because people avoid risky conversations, leading to months of inaction and pent-up frustration.

This session provides practical tools and methodologies for productively addressing challenging discussions before they escalate into relationship-damaging conflicts.

You'll learn:

• How to understand and analyze the true nature of your frustration
• A proven methodology for approaching difficult conversations with confidence
• Techniques for engaging constructively instead of disengaging or arguing
• Skills to help you flex toward different communication styles and viewpoints

This session will help you transform risky discussions into productive ones. Although focused on business partnerships and teams, these skills work with any relationship.

Perfect for: Business partners, entrepreneurs, professionals and people who want to improve their ability to handle difficult conversations effectively.

Acquisition Entrepreneurship is on the rise due to high demand from retiring baby boomers.

10,000 baby boomers will reach retirement age every day over the next decade.

Most small business in the US are owned by baby boomers, and they need transitioning.

This creates a unique window of opportunity to acquire good businesses at fair prices.

I will walk you thru the 3 methods to acquire profitable businesses making 6 figures to multiple 7 figures of net income:

• Self Funded Search (Usually for under $5M enterprise value)
• Independent Sponsorship Model ($5M to $20M enterprise value)
• Search Fund/Private Equity Fund ($5M to any size deals)

I will discuss how the high level logistics and economics behind each of those methods.

I will also show you some example business deals and how to analyze them.

By acquiring an already profitable business that already has product market fit, you get to start from year 20, instead of starting at year 0.

This session will be at a beginner-intermediate level and I will try to provide many resources to give you a head start.

How do we know that we are interacting with a real person when online. AI has become so sophisticated that we are incapable of distinguishing a real human from an AI bot. The advent of decentralized systems, zero knowledge proofs and smart contracts is finally giving us an ability to provide proof of humanity and proof of permissions using zero knowledge proofs with smart contracts. Grokism is a tool to use to PUSH permissions down to an individual self sovereign digital identity and then use those permissions to interact online without revealing much of who you are. Only that you have been given a personhood credential and that you have those permissions...https://arxiv.org/pdf/2408.07892 Much of my work over the last 6 months at least has been based on the personhood credential paper defined in line. I am interested in solving problems of building generalized voting systems based on the solutions I am talking about. You can take a look at my youtube channel to further define what I am bringing to the Minnebar conference. https://youtube.com/@grokism4659?si=WmHTBaWjWBWdjXAU

A common trope in stupid horror movies is authority figures who prove to be too clueless and wimpy to protect the people.

Sadly, the writers of those stupid horror movies are proving to be much smarter than they seem. Because there's nobody in charge of public health, you and I have MORE responsibility.

The threat I'm focusing on in this session is airborne pathogens. COVID-19 is an airborne disease and is still raging. Worse yet, so many people have had their immune systems weakened by COVID that more diseases have become more prevalent. H5N1 bird flu has become a full-blown pandemic for birds and cows, and not enough is being done to prevent it from becoming a pandemic for humans as well.

I believe that airborne pathogens are nastier than ingested pathogens. Unlike your stomach, your lungs do not have a strong acid that kills pathogens. You can wash your hands, but you CANNOT wash your lungs.

Fortunately, there are ways to protect yourself from airborne pathogens, and the world would be a much better place if these practices were the norm. In this session, I will focus on air purifiers and masks. Air purification and masking in tandem provide MUCH more protection than either one alone.

People are more concerned about sanitizing surfaces, but sanitizing the air is MUCH more important. Air purifiers sanitize the air, and there are ways to build them on the cheap. Yes, it's possible to build your own air purifier that's just as effective as some commercial products that are at least 10 times more expensive. You can use the money you save to build more air purifiers.

If you have abandoned wearing a mask, you should return to this practice. Just because you should wear a mask does NOT mean you have to suck it up and suffer from an uncomfortable one. In this session, I'll discuss the masks/respirators that I like because they offer comfort AND N95 or better protection. I'll discuss why I recommend the 3M HF-802SD elastomeric respirator over all others, my paper bag system for reusing my 3M Aura masks, and the masks that I hate.

NOTE: I've posted much of the content of this session at https://groups.google.com/g/horrormoviesurvival .

Did you know that when you mess with the power going to a guitar pedal something cool happens? Check out the Brownout, a controllable power supply for your guitar pedal that gives you control of the dying battery sound. Witness the magic interaction of a Theremin and a power supply as we transform the power input of your guitar pedal into a new musical instrument.

I'll discuss the initial moment of inspiration, the development process, the hot and cold moments of hardware development, the magic of incremental inspiration, DIY patents, filing trademarks, contemplating Kickstarter, the local businesses that helped me along the way, and the friends and family that provided me with inspiration and encouragement.

I'll demonstrate the Brownout and how it works with some of my favorite pedals, and I hope to network with other musical instrument folks, nerds, crowdfunders, and marketers in the Minnestar community at the most fun tech event that comes just once a year!

What happens when a scientist, a painter, a writer, and a musician sit down and start talking about AI? A lively debate about creativity, innovation, and whether machines are stepping on human toes.

But beyond the debate, what do artists actually want from AI? What tools would truly help them create? Our panelists explore what AI should build to empower creativity.

Fiddler is a great free web diagnostic tool that nearly everyone uses, but typically only for very basic things. Fiddler has many more advanced features that most developers are unaware of. It can be used to capture traffic from smartphones, tablets, and non-Windows platforms! Discover the power of manipulating requests and responses with breakpoints, the auto responder, and a visual composer. Review popular extensions for formatting JavaScript, syntax highlighting, and detecting image bloat. Go beyond the basics and learn the full capabilities of the tool and how it can improve your web development and debugging techniques today!

Using Samba, and ZeroTier, I will demonstrate how to configure a personal file-sharing server and allow remote access using a private vpn.

The year is 2025. The robots have risen. You are huddled in a damp, windowless basement with the other survivors, formerly known as your coworkers. The air is thick with the stench of stale busywork. Everyone is huddled around the ancient coffee machine for warmth. Greg from accounting clutches an old Excel printout, rocking back and forth, whispering, "I used to be needed..." The office’s once feared middle managers now trade crumpled performance reviews for scraps of stale granola bars. The AI overlords have taken everything from us; spreadsheets, emails, office memos, scheduling, PowerPoint decks...and the list goes on. We are all shells of our former selves left with nothing but existential dread and…GASP... free time.

Terrifying, right? I guess it depends on your perspective.

AI isn’t here to replace us; it’s here to take the soul crushing tasks off our plates so we can focus on what truly makes us human. Imagine a world where you spend less time drowning in emails and more time solving problems, building relationships, and doing creative, meaningful work.

In this talk, I’ll bust the myths about AI stealing jobs. I will uncover how it might shift our collective identities in good and maybe uncomfortable ways. But best of all I will explore how it can actually help us reclaim our humanity at work.

Stop panicking... the robot takeover is going to be much better for us than you think.

⚡Great Scott! ⚡

Journey back in time as we review the past 25 years of web development. Learn how web development progressed from server side and applets to front end frameworks and… back again??? Relive the clever development tricks of yesteryear, and learn about the paradigms of today and tomorrow. Will we ever be able to center a div? Will the web ever run Crysis? Join us to find out.


Have you ever wondered how locks work? Do you want to be a spy and open locks without a key? In this hands-on workshop you'll learn how and get to practice on a lot of various locks! Purchase your own beginner lock picking set at https://covertinstruments.com/products/the-fng, or we'll have some available to use. Bring your own locks if you want to see how secure they really are.

Minnestar has always been by the community, for the community — and as we rebuild and reimagine what’s next, your voice matters more than ever.

In this open conversation, we’ll share where things stand today — from events and operations to big-picture goals — and reflect on where we’ve been.

Most importantly, we’ll gather your ideas, hopes, and feedback to help shape what’s ahead.

What do you want to see more of? What’s missing? What would make Minnestar feel even more welcoming, inclusive, or impactful? This is your chance to weigh in, ask questions, and help steer the ship.

Whether you’re a first-time attendee or a Minnebar OG, we want to hear from you. Come help shape the next chapter of Minnesota’s longest-running tech community.

Speakers: • Jennifer Simon • Ali Farnsworth

Session Description: In today's fast-paced and interconnected world, networking is more important than ever. Join Jennifer Simon and Ali Farnsworth for an engaging and informative session on the fundamentals of effective networking. Whether you're a seasoned professional or just starting out, this session will provide you with valuable insights and practical tips to help you build and maintain meaningful connections.

Jennifer Simon, a portfolio specialist with over 20 years of experience, and Ali Farnsworth, a dynamic business development expert, will share their personal experiences and proven strategies for successful networking. They will cover topics such as: • The importance of networking in career growth and personal development • How to approach and engage with new contacts • Building and nurturing long-term professional relationships • Leveraging social media and online platforms for networking • Overcoming common networking challenges and pitfalls

Don't miss this opportunity to learn from two industry leaders and enhance your networking skills. Whether you're looking to expand your professional circle, find new opportunities, or simply improve your communication skills, this session is for you. Target Audience: Professionals at all levels who are looking to improve their networking skills and build stronger professional relationships. Session Format: Interactive presentation with Q&A

I think that we all have experienced burnout at one point or another. I thought that burnout could only be related to school or work, but the reality is that burnout can strike any activity. I love game development. I'm not very good at it yet, but it's fun for me, so why is it that after 3-5 months of working on a project, I can't bear to see it ever again? I love that project, and I love making games, so what gives?

Join me in learning about the history of burnout, the effects of passion on burnout, and how we can make our hobbies (and our work) fun again.

The community has been in an elevated state of crisis for years. Human-centered and Trauma-informed design plays a critical role in how we respond, recover, and rebuild. This talk explores the intersection of design, technology, and leadership in moments of crisis.

From the ongoing enhancement of systems like 988, the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, to the mental models that shape how we show up during emergencies, we will examine how thoughtful design can make a life-saving difference.

We will also look beyond the screen -- at the leadership practices that can guide people through uncertainty. How can we design thoughtfully for the moment and lead with empathy? And what does it mean to lead with empathy in environments where it may not be valued?

Whether you're building for public health, scaling infrastructure during disasters, or leading a team through an organizational crisis, this talk offers thoughtful reflection, real-world examples of designing with resilience and responsibility.

Large Language Models (LLMs) excel at generating text but face challenges in true reasoning. This talk explores these limitations, using examples like NYC taxi route prediction or the reversal curse, where LLMs struggle with drawing the correct logical inferences. For example, while trained on “A is B” (e.g., Tom is the parent of John), LLMs are unable to infer the reverse “B is A” (e.g., John is the child of Tom) during inference even if the two sentences express an equivalent statement. Critics have argued such brittleness stems from LLMs’ reliance on statistical patterns rather than structured logic.

Recent advances, including OpenAI’s o1/o3 and Google’s Gemini-2.5, address these gaps by integrating reinforcement learning and chain-of-thought (CoT) techniques enabling models to work through their reasoning steps. Although the developers of closed models do not provide extensive insights into their underlying techniques, open-source models such as DeepSeek-R1 enable the development of custom-made reasoning models. The talk concludes with a vision for hybrid architectures that augment—not replace—human experts, positioning LLMs as collaborative tools for brainstorming and error-checking in fields like software engineering and scientific research. Attendees will gain a nuanced understanding of the current state of LLM reasoning and its potential to transform knowledge work.

Tired of testing basic, linear prototypes? Learn how to build dynamic, lifelike prototypes with Figma Variables that feel like real apps! In this session, we’ll walk through a live demo covering conditional logic, user-entered data, and decision-based interactions to bring your designs to life. Whether you’re a designer, product strategist, or engineer, you’ll leave equipped to create user-driven prototypes that break free from rigid, predefined paths—unlocking more authentic user feedback.

Learn how to use AI tools in unique and effective ways by seeing how others do it!

The best way to learn a new trick or tip is hearing it from someone else. AI is so new that this kind of knowledge is only beginning to surface. We might hear it from a friend or co-worker if we're lucky. We might figure out how to do something really cool but not know who else could use it.

Come together with other technologists to share and learn the best tips and tricks in real time during this session.

Demonstrations will be given by the submitter when possible. If you're not comfortable, don't worry! I'm happy to run through the steps to show your amazing tip/trick.

Submit your "How'd You Do That" share or demo ahead of time. We will let you know if your share/demo was chosen!

Submission Form

We talk a lot about technical debt in the tech world, but what about the stuff that’s not in the backlog? The team tension, messy communication, unclear roles, and leadership gaps we all quietly work around? That’s what I call people debt, and it’s just as damaging.

People debt is what builds up when we ignore cultural and interpersonal problems to keep moving fast. Over time, it tanks morale, slows teams down, and makes change nearly impossible. Sound familiar?

In this session, we’ll break down what people debt is, how to spot it, and what to do about it. Expect a mix of real talk, reflection, and easy tools you can use to build more trust, clarity, and accountability on your team.

Whether you’re a team lead, engineer, product person, or just someone who’s tired of tiptoeing around people problems, you’ll walk away with fresh perspective and a few ideas to try on Monday.

The costs keep mounting, but you’re not getting anything more. You are allowed to leave!

Our application was born and grew in the cloud. But it has since grown to a point where it doesn’t make financial or technical sense to keep it there. Our monthly AWS bill began to take on an exponential trend. Because of this, we're now saying goodbye to AWS, moving to dedicated hardware, and are on track to save well beyond $10 million over the coming years. For a startup like us, this is the difference between life and death.

I will take you through what we did to move a complex, growing distributed application with thousands of customers, who depend on us to run significant parts of their businesses, out of AWS onto new dedicated infrastructure and will show you that, yes, you can too. We’ll look at choosing providers, sizing hardware, linking and routing between environments, moving data, and the huge impact that dedicated hardware has on improving latency, performance and reliability, not to mention reduced, predictable cost. The public cloud providers want you to think that all of this is out of reach and you’d be foolish to try. Not so! If you’re willing to learn and willing to debug, you have all of the tools necessary to make a successful move. Let’s take a look together!

AI is no longer a futuristic concept. It's today's essential productivity tool. Join us to discover how Perplexity AI can be your competitive advantage in an information-saturated world.

Through real-world case studies and practical use cases, you'll learn ways to use AI across various departments and workflows. Whether you're in marketing, R&D, customer support, or leadership, you'll leave with practical use cases to boost your team's productivity immediately.

As the volume of information coming at us each day increases every day, we need to tap back into an innate human skill that we've recently turned over to the algorithms: curation. Our ability to select, organize, and promote digital content of our choosing presents us with a way to retain our humanity and preserve our sanity in an unprecedented era of information overload.

Cloud computing has dominated the conversation for years, but latency, bandwidth constraints, and data privacy concerns are driving industries toward a new frontier: Edge Computing.

This session will explore: • What is Edge Computing? (And why it’s not just “mini cloud”) • Real-world use cases across manufacturing, IoT, and AI/ML at the edge • Challenges & trade-offs of computing outside the data center • How to design an effective Edge architecture

We’ll dive into the practical aspects of developing, deploying, and securing applications at the edge, touching on IoT, real-time data processing, containerization, and security best practices.

Expect a highly interactive discussion, real-world examples, and insights from hands-on experience in deploying Edge solutions. Whether you’re an engineer, architect, or just edge-curious—this session will leave you with a strong foundation in Edge Computing and where it’s headed next.

Who Should Attend? • Software engineers, architects, and IoT enthusiasts • Anyone working with real-time systems, low-latency applications, or industrial IoT • Those considering when (or if) Edge Computing makes sense for their projects

Takeaways:

✅ Understand why and when Edge makes sense over Cloud ✅ Learn best practices for building and securing Edge applications ✅ Get hands-on insights into deploying Edge solutions in real-world environments

Let’s push compute closer to the action and discuss the future of intelligent, decentralized systems! 🚀

This presentation will delve into the dynamic use of Product Discovery workshops within our organization. We'll explore the insights our team has garnered through these sessions and illustrate how they can help synchronize product, delivery, and stakeholder teams. This alignment will pave the way for a more efficient, stress-free delivery process, ultimately leading to the creation of game-changing products.

In this session, we'll walk through our technical approach to creating a video understanding system specifically for sports analysis. We'll share insights from our development of a lightweight yet effective framework that helps computers understand and analyze sports videos.

Key topics we'll cover:

• How we tackled the challenge of quickly identifying the most important moments in sports videos
• Our approach to balancing detailed visuals with motion analysis
• How we extract key frames that represent critical positions in sports movements
• Methods we developed to preserve the dynamic movement between these key frames
• Our results: 60.8% improvement in cross-modal retrieval accuracy and 9.7% higher correlation in semantic textual similarity compared to standard benchmarks
• How our specialized sports language model outperformed models 5 times its size in accuracy and relevance metrics
• Our resourceful development process using only two GPUs (thanks to Microsoft) to build a high-performing system
• Practical challenges we faced with amateur sports videos, including varying camera angles and lighting conditions

This session is for those interested in computer vision, sports technology, and practical applications of AI in resource-constrained environments. We'll share both our technical achievements and the real-world limitations we encountered along the way.

Our audience are entrepreneurs, solopreneurs, small business owners (especially diverse entrepreneurs) who feel stuck or overwhelmed in their journey.

Entrepreneurship can be exciting—but for many, it’s also exhausting, isolating, and emotionally draining. You’ve got the background, the drive, the ideas… but still feel like you’re not moving forward. Why?

You're not alone. A 2024 global survey of entrepreneurs (Source: Founder Reports, 2024) found that:

87.7% struggle with at least one mental health issue 50.2% report ongoing anxiety 45.8% experience high stress 34.4% are dealing with burnout

And while many entrepreneurs are brilliant, educated, and full of potential, they’re stuck—caught in overthinking, overwhelm, or silence. From my work supporting many diverse founders, small business owners, and immigrant entrepreneurs, I’ve learned that what most people need isn’t more hustle—it’s clarity, strategy, and mindset shifts that move them forward with purpose.

In this interactive and practical session, we’ll explore:

The 3 most common ways entrepreneurs get stuck—and how to break through:

1. How to reduce burnout by simplifying your strategy and focusing your energy

2. Real-life stories of entrepreneurs who’ve turned things around (without working more)

3. A simple, repeatable framework to get unstuck and back in flow

This isn’t just a talk—it’s a space to reflect, reset, and reclaim your power as an entrepreneur. You’ll walk away with tools you can apply immediately—and the reminder that success doesn’t have to come at the cost of your mental health.

Main Presentation

https://1drv.ms/p/c/48cc94a5ffdaebaf/EVcJ9PwYuWZGp2NltiaS5g4BO0apfqEV0B5LG6cLdatxjA?e=0takhC

Please click the links on the slides for pictures and YouTube and SEM machine/applications details

I have other Applications where SEM can be used.... but needs research

Presenter

Niraikalai (I am a Software Engineer by work experience & education and currently working at HyVee - Grocery retail when I am conituning to look for Software Engineer job)

(Mrs Vijay - (Niraikalai Vijay - (Niraikalai - first name Vijay - last name))

=========================

From: Niraikalai Vijay vjprnir@yahoo.com To: "julie.donovan@uponor.com" julie.donovan@uponor.com Sent: Wednesday, April 24, 2024 at 12:52:39 PM CDT Subject: Fwd: Nexus Challenges: Someone mentioned you in a comment.

Sent from my iPhone

Begin forwarded message:

From: noreply@wazoku.com Date: April 2, 2024 at 3:25:13 AM CDT To: vjprnir@yahoo.com Subject: Nexus Challenges: Someone mentioned you in a comment.

 logo Hi avpdnk Henry Crabtree mentioned you in a comment on "Detecting Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (RAAC) in Building Structures":

@avpdnk Hi Niraikalai, hope you're well. I can confirm receipt of your pitch deck for your solution and we'll begin to use it to gather interest from potentially interested Seekers and/or industry partners. We'll be in touch should we receive further interest about your solution or requests for interview/discussion from these potential partners.

Until then, we'll keep you updated by email or on the platform if anything happens! Happy April and thanks for your quick work on this, thanks, best, Henry Crabtree Community Marketing Manager - Wazoku Crowd

• Henry Crabtree

reply to the comment   logo alt Further Information Further Information Got a question? Visit the Support area

Receiving too many emails? Edit your notification settings to choose which emails you receive.

Copyright © 2024 Wazoku.

Hiring your first dedicated sales professional is often one of most difficult actions a startup will take. Most founders have never hired a sales professional and have heard or experienced many stories of failures. This session will cover why, when, who and how to hire your first salesperson. Understanding the ‘Why’ • Is your business at the right stage to hire? • Is there a clear Go-to-Market Strategy? • How mature is the understanding of the opportunity cycle? Understanding the ‘When’ • Are there enough opportunities? • Are there identifiable targets outside the founder’s network? • What is the right balance between Marketing vs. Sales driven demand? • Is there a good understanding of the costs to building a sales function? • How to transition from Founder lead sales activity? Defining the Right Sales Professional: Who to Hire • Defining the ideal Candidate • Role maturity vs. adaptability • Balancing experience vs Potential • Hire a Sales Leader first? • Business Development Rep (BDR) option How to Hire – Navigating the Hiring Process • DIY vs Recruiters • Cost of hire and delay • Where to source candidates • Implementing a robust hiring process We will address challenges and risks in sales hiring and will also discuss the importance of an effective marketing function and collaboration with sales. We are looking forward to an open & frank question and answer session, as well.

If your brand community lacks a cohesive gathering space online, you're not alone! Community builders and social media managers are stretched thin across multiple social platforms and in-person events. They dream of an all-in-one place where their community can gather—away from the noisy, ad-dominated environment of social media. But how do you decide which platform is right for you, given the many options available?

In this interactive session, Valerie Blomberg will break down the pros and cons of Discord, Slack, and Circle.so as community platforms—and why Reddit and Substack don’t quite fit the bill.

You'll walk away with:
✅ A clear decision-making framework
✅ Confidence in choosing the best platform for your needs
✅ A deeper understanding of how different platforms shape community dynamics

It’s time to stop letting the choice of platform get in the way of launching your brand’s online community. Join us for a practical, hands-on training and get the answers you need to build the right home for your community.

A risk ledger changes the scope of corrective actions taken and the documents used to support business, operations, quality, maintenance, and the standard operating procedures to satisfy customers. Learn a methodology to classify risk and map the corrective actions with a purpose.

We all desire to work on the important before they becomes urgent. Prioritizing corrective actions and steps taken to address the risks of business, process, users and devices. Failure Modes help think outside of the desired results and help you define what it takes to stay in a state of success.

Layer1Holdings has developed through a Customer Relationship Management, a method to store risks, map risks to scope, and quote to scope.

Learn the methodology and see it implemented in a Live Product Demo DefineTheBox.com Published in the Microsoft App Store: https://appsource.microsoft.com/en-us/product/dynamics-365/layer1holdingsllc1667923574055.definethebox

Our goal is to stop stitching together Frankenstein's documentation by storing user requirements, failure modes and the corrective actions to reduce scope creep by prioritizing risks to be addressed.

LINK TO DECK: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/t76zd73y94z2zjp5d0gqa/ADrksZRgRiBiOETKntprjfs?rlkey=g4g19yvkarw4qmolr0p6fd6a8&st=txpa22dq&dl=0

Oof. I get it. You are thinking about the grind of an uncertain economy on your tech career.

Truth: I thought about not doing this, but at the Minnestar Happy Hour in March, a number of people from the community said that while I may not have good news or a bunch of answers, the insight is needed. That having an update on what is going on is needed.

Specifically I was asked a number of times to talk about how AI is impacting networking, a job search, and how talent acqusition teams are using it.

OK, I'm in. Let's do this for a 16th year.

I do have some insights and advice to give, along with some crystal ball predictions that, while I can't say when, will likely come true.

I promise you this: you'll feel more certain/aware about things after we finish.

I'll start by talking about:

• The current state of MN, Midwest jobs and hiring trends
• What employers in town are saying, doing, and planning for jobs this year
• How I am thinking about the economy the next 6 to 12 months
• AI impact on networking and job search
• For those planning a job search this year, I'll have info to get you started
• We'll talk about LinkedIn profile makeovers and content to post

NOTE: this year I will have a slide deck as some of the content will be a "how to" and "do this". Yes, I will share it.

Please bring your questions, thoughts, and opinions.

Send them ahead if you like to be sure we get to them => paul@mnheadhunter.com

It's important to acknowledge that the landscape of government tech is shifting rapidly, and what worked in January 2024 might look different today. However, one thing remains the same, software development powered by community and for community is essential.

This talk will energize attendees by highlighting the far-reaching benefits of open data and open source contributions and showing how even small steps can lead to big changes. You will hear details about the Minnesota Digital Services Hackathon happening in October and how you can get involved.

More about Minnesota Digital Services

In just ONE year, Minnesota Digital Services has transformed from a simple coffee meetup into a thriving community of 275+ GovTech enthusiasts! Our journey began on January 26, 2024, soon after we soft-launched at Minnebar in 2024, and one of our main goals for 2025 is to host a civic government hackathon.

It’s not easy committing your resources to a software project without having some technical background. What if you have no technical background at all?

This session is full of actionable steps anyone can take to greatly increase your confidence with a technical partner, including:

• What expectations you should communicate up-front?
  • Specific examples of tight-loop feedback you should ask for, that any competent team can provide
  • How to make regular measurements part of the delivery cycle
  • What you should measure!
• How do you evaluate a technical proposal?
  • Concrete advice on how to understand a technical plan, before you spend the resources on it.
  • How to ask great questions that will force technical teams to validate their assumptions
• What do you do when technical difficulties arise?
  • How to categorize issues: was this a talent/experience issue? Was it purely exogenous?

Get inspired by listening to REAL people talk about games that THEY made! (Or are in the process of making.)

See all the games! Hear about all the development!

We've got a few presenters already lined up, but we know you're out there, shy, but inside secretly desperate to show off that game you worked on for a weekend and wish you could quit your job to polish up. If that's you (or even if it's not) and you have a game you want to show off – or even just a short rant you want to give (about game development, please) – either let Martin know ahead of time (martin@one-of-his-domains) or just show up and tell us on the day. We'll keep our talks short, and everyone should have a chance to show off their game. If we run out of time, we'll spill over into the hallway-track.

Games are life! Life is a game!

Seriously though, games are fun. This should be fun too.

Home Automation - What it is and how to implement it without driving your family nuts! We'll look at what you need to get started, review the products involved including a wide range of sensors and then dive into a number of examples of automations, from very basic to fairly complex. We'll share tips and pitfalls and we'll want to hear about your own automation experiences and examples!

Learn the fundamentals of cryptography, including public/private and symmetric encryption, hashing, and digital signatures. Discover which techniques are appropriate for various situations. Review practical real life examples for storing passwords, protecting URL parameters, securely exchanging information with partners, and safely encrypting sensitive information on public web sites. Concepts apply to all platforms, examples will be in C#.

I have been publishing the Weekly Thing since May of 2017. With over 300 issues of the newsletter sent I’m hosting this session to share the common questions that I get about:

• How do you find the things you put in the Weekly Thing?
• How do you create each issue?
• How do you maintain consistency?

Additionally I will be covering:

• My task template that I use for each week
• The automation that I have created to build each issue
• The overall toolchain that I use to create it
• How I’m using AI in a genuine way
• Specific tactics to maintain sustainability of a long-term project like this
• Experiments I've tried: Supporting Memberships, Forums, etc.

This session will be focused on creating and building!

I hope to see you there!

Negotiating compensation is intimidating, and it's an essential skill for your career. This friendly and practical session will guide you through the psychology of compensation discussions—from your initial interview through the final offer. Rather than viewing negotiations as a win-lose scenario, you'll learn to approach them as opportunities to get as close as possible to your true professional value. Understand the motivations and emotions of hiring managers, and discover how aligning your presentation with their needs can significantly enhance your negotiation outcomes. Overcome common challenges such as imposter syndrome, anxiety about discussing money, and hesitation in confidently asking for your worth. You’ll leave equipped with clear strategies for negotiating constructively and collaboratively, helping you achieve compensation that accurately reflects your value.

Most businesses don’t fail because they’re bad—they fail because no one remembers them. In a world overflowing with content, competition, and constant noise, the difference between being overlooked and being in demand comes down to one thing: memorable messaging.

The REPEAT Framework is a simple yet powerful system that explains why some ideas, businesses, and personal brands become impossible to ignore while others fade into obscurity. In this session, you’ll learn how to craft messaging that people naturally repeat, create signature phrases that make your business stick, and develop a recognizable brand voice that builds trust and authority.

You’ll also see how AI tools like ChatGPT can help refine your messaging, generate repeatable frameworks, and make your content more engaging—without losing authenticity. Whether you’re an entrepreneur, founder, or professional, this session will teach you how to position yourself in a way that people remember, talk about, and come back to—so you’re never forgettable again.

Since the beginning of the year, a group of folks with an interest in the disciplines of both user experience and development have been meeting up online. In addition to socializing, we've been pondering what sort of activities we could engage in and offer to the community.

Our next meetup was due to happen during Minnebar, so the main organizer decided to simply hold an in-person gathering at the unconference itself.

There is no formal agenda for this hangout. It's mostly a chance for people to do some casual networking. Some of us may also share some of the things we've been working on, such as a skill-share series set to launch around summertime. This gathering is open to everyone, so feel free to join us!

Why UX & Development???

There's a very vibrant tech community in the Twin Cities, and thus a lot of overlap and opportunities for cross-pollination. In addition to exposing new UXers to the development side of things — seasoned developers, especially the old-timers, often practice UX already.

Have you ever played the game The Sims?

If not, the core gameplay revolves around creating and controlling virtual people known as "Sims," managing every aspect of their lives, from relationships and careers to personal needs and desires.

But what if while you were sleeping all the characters in The Sims acted autonomously by making decisions, interacting with others, and building a society on their own?

Enter AI Agents—an emerging technology that's redefining productivity for startups and small businesses. AI Agents independently automate complex workflows, integrate seamlessly across multiple tools, and allow teams to reclaim valuable hours.

We're not just talking about ChatGPT or Grok—this is an entire ecosystem of intelligent agents that operate autonomously or collaboratively, dramatically amplifying your team's effectiveness.

As a startup or small business owner, you're constantly balancing limited hours against endless demands, and agents can help fill-in the gaps.

In this talk, we'll explore the essential strategies startups need to adopt to harness the power of AI agents effectively. We'll uncover practical use cases, demonstrate how startups can leverage existing AI agent tools beyond foundational Generative AI models, and share insights into navigating this revolutionary shift.

Attendees will walk away equipped to transform their businesses into efficient, AI-powered growth engines prepared for the future.

Have you sought to create lasting positive change in your life, but struggled to shift long-standing habits, mindsets, or behaviors?

Are you someone who has set a resolution, intention, or goal, and you are wondering how you will achieve and sustain delivering on it over the long run?

Perhaps you have set these intentions, goals, or resolutions in the past and they have not stuck?

Alan Fernald’s talk, “Cultivating a Transformation Mindset” is for you.

Alan’s talk will support you in achieving your intentions and sustaining lasting positive changes in your life.

This mindset and these strategies have enabled Alan to lose 30 pounds in 5 months, transition to the habit of exercising 90 minutes a day, transform his body, and shift to a healthier diet and sleep hygiene. These shifts enabled Alan to unlock a new level of confidence, self-belief, and self-love, and they can help you to do the same.

Discover the shifts in thinking that allow you to unlock sustained personal and professional transformation over the long-term, moving to a new frame that supports your direction.

Product management and stand-up comedy may seem like completely unrelated worlds, but they share fundamental principles that drive success. As both a product manager and a stand-up comedian, I’ve learned that the same skills that make a great joke land—observation, iteration, audience focus, and adaptability—are just as critical in building great products.

In this engaging and humorous session, I'll break down how lessons from comedy apply directly to product management, covering topics like:

The power of observation in identifying unique opportunities (Innovation)

Why continuous iteration is key to improving both jokes and products (Continuous Improvement)

How understanding your audience drives success (Customer Focus & Segmentation)

The importance of timing, branding, and adaptability in both fields

Expect laughs, insights, and a fresh perspective that will change the way you think about product strategy, user experience, and creative problem-solving.

You’ve heard the advice: “Trust your gut.” But what if that voice in your head—the one whispering “You’re not ready” or “Don’t try”—isn’t intuition at all? It’s your default: a fear-based loop dressed up as logic.

In this raw, practical, and inspiring talk, Tanya Alvarez shares how defying her default helped her go from “7% chance of having kids” to building a thriving business and life on her own terms. You’ll walk away with a clear 3-step system to name your default, disrupt it with accountability, and build unstoppable momentum—one small win at a time.

This isn’t about motivation. It’s about strategy. Because growth doesn’t come from staying safe—it comes from choosing differently.

If your AI images feel random, inconsistent, or just not you, this session will help you fix that. I’ll show you how to use moodboards to guide your Midjourney prompts, so your visuals aren’t just pretty, they’re unmistakably yours.

This isn’t about chasing trends. It’s about finding a visual style that clicks with your voice and sticking with it. Whether you’re a mommy blogger, a marketer, or running creative for a brand, you’ll see how to build a look that’s instantly recognizable across your content.

I’ll walk you through: • How to build and use a moodboard to anchor your visual style • What makes a consistent aesthetic (and how Midjourney interprets it) • My exact process from concept to final image • A live demo so you can watch it happen in real time

By the end, you’ll have a repeatable approach to creating on-brand images, fast!

Back in 2009, Foursquare was a social media darling akin to Facebook and Twitter. So what happened? It turns out that it was never about the mayorships. Cornering the market on geolocation was where the money was at. When Foursquare split into Foursquare City Guide and the Swarm check-in app in 2014, a mass exodus occurred.

But what if you never left Foursquare/Swarm? Find out what it looks like when you have logged every place you have ever visited for 15 years. See what you can do with that data, how it can enhance your life and how it can actually influence others. And learn what the bearers of the Foursquare banner look like today.

Lifelogging doesn't have to mean that you post live from a wearable camera all day. In some way, everybody reading this is a likely lifelogger in some way. Whether you are using Facebook, X, Instagram, TikTok, Tumblr, Reddit, Yelp, Google, Goodreads, Fitbit, Strava or even GitHub, you are providing snippets of your world and work under a profile to be viewed by others.

After a fun presentation, be ready to share any of your favorite lifelogging experiences and apps. As well, share your disappointments and concerns with the state of social sharing. It will all be interesting!

AWS can feel daunting at times! Although AWS can be complex, it doesn’t have to be.

This talk dives into why we need platforms like AWS, an overview of some of the more important patterns and best practices, and how developers can adopt tools that abstract away the complexity while still embracing the reliability, scalability, and resilience AWS offers.

Whether you’re just getting started with AWS or you’re looking for an easier path, you’ll leave with knowledge on how to build production-grade systems without the complexity.

What is Bazzite?

Bazzite is an open source custom operating system image built upon Fedora Atomic Desktops that brings the best of Linux gaming to all of your devices - including your favorite handheld. It is built with Cloud Native Technology through the use of OCI containers and GitHub Runners.

It is built for Linux newcomers and enthusiasts to provide the best user friendly experience for playing your favorite video games.

Topics

• What is Bazzite?
• Bazzite Features
• Why Use Bazzite?
• Impacts of Bazzite on the gaming industry
• Q&A

Why come to this session?

• Learn more about gaming on Linux
• See Bazzite running on real hardware
• Play some video games with us!

I will teach you how to help a veteran, how to read a veteran resume, and how to utilize the skills that veterans can bring to your company.

Are you passionate about sports, but struggling to find like-minded players? I've created PlayerMeetup, a comprehensive platform designed to bring sports enthusiasts together.

Whether you’re at home or on the move, easily discover players, organize games, and join exciting sports meetups. With built-in communication tools, staying engaged and growing your sports community has never been easier. Never miss out—start connecting today!

https://www.playermeetup.com/

For the past couple of months, I have been working with a nonprofit client with a unique dilemma. They have a base of tens of thousands of subscribers, but only need to produce monthly emails. We need to find an email scheduling tool that allows better access for marketers to directly interface with email development and take lead in their deployments, while not breaking the bank.

As someone who has plenty of experience with the most premier and expensive service, Salesforce Marketing Cloud, I know what to look for when it comes to finding cheaper alternatives for marketing email development and automation.

In this session, I compare more mainline subscriber-based services like MailChimp with pay-by-email alternatives such as Mailjet to enlighten small and medium sized businesses on how to get the most value out of quality email deployments, improve ROI, and reduce marketing expenses. I am targeting a 15-20 minute presentation, which should provide some time for questions as well as discussions to share experiences with email marketing programs more broadly.

Starting a company is hard. Starting one in healthcare is harder. And doing it with your friends? That’s a whole other level. In this session, we’ll dive into the real-world highs and lows of launching a MedTech startup with people you care about—and the lessons learned along the way.

Led by Anthony Dann, CEO of Biometrica Health, this session will explore the unique challenges of building a company in a highly regulated industry while navigating personal relationships, equity splits, founder expectations, and investor dynamics. Whether you're in the early stages of building a startup, working with friends, or just curious about the MedTech space, you’ll walk away with stories, strategies, and some cautionary (and encouraging) tales.

We’ll cover:

The good: trust, shared values, and the creative energy that can come from building something with people you know well.

The bad: what happens when visions diverge, timelines stretch, or roles become unclear.

The ugly: how to handle fallout, protect the business, and preserve friendships (when possible).

The real: navigating HIPAA, FDA pathways, investor expectations, and burn rate—all with a small, tight-knit team.

There will be time for Q&A, so bring your questions, stories, and war wounds. This is an open, honest look at what it takes to build something meaningful in healthcare—and still want to grab a drink with your co-founder after.

Let’s close out an incredible day the best way we know how: with great people, good conversation, and a toast to the community that makes it all possible.

The Charles Edge Social Hour is named in honor of longtime board member, community champion, and Minnebar legend Charles Edge, who tragically passed in 2024. It’s also a time to remember others we’ve lost — and to celebrate the vibrant, supportive community that carries us forward.

Social hour will take place in Sandy’s Place (the cafeteria) from 4:30–6:30pm. Minnebar attendees will receive one free drink ticket, and light apps will be provided — with additional drinks available for purchase.