Mindstone Bristol January AI Meetup
Welcome to the biggest Practical AI Meetup in Bristol!
Join us once a month as we explore the world of artificial intelligence, its cutting-edge practical applications, and the astonishing projects that are shaping our future.
Why should you attend?
- Get up close and personal with the AI projects that are redefining the boundaries of technology and human potential.
- Learn from the brightest minds in the field and gain valuable insights into the ever-evolving AI landscape.
- Unleash your curiosity, fuel your creativity, and expand your network as you connect with fellow AI aficionados and pioneers.
What you can expect?
Mindstone events consist of three talks covering different aspects:
- What I Learned Building With LLMs: A technical talk breaking down the process for building a product using AI with real-life learnings and insights.
- How To Be More Productive Using AI: A practical demo and step-by-step guide on how to use AI to speed up and improve tasks.
- What Does The Future Look Like With AI?: A theoretical talk on the impact of AI on work, life and society.
After the talks we'll have pizza, drinks, and time to connect with everyone around you.
Don't miss the opportunity to see what's really happening in AI - you'll be surprised at what's already possible today.
We have limited spots available, so get your ticket ahead of time to avoid disappointment!
Agenda
Doors Open
Welcome to the event
Introduction
Welcome and event introduction
The Future of AI by Drue Steele
Exploring the near, mid and long term future of AI and how humans will co-exist
View recordingThe Three Phases of AI by Glenn Smith
Glenn Smith (finance veteran turned startup founder) introduces his background building AI systems—from early “mathematical/structured AI” in quantitative finance to today’s generative and agentic AI. He breaks down what these categories mean, why generative AI unlocked unstructured data, and how agentic systems plan work, spawn sub-agents, and execute longer tasks.
View recordingFrom Chat to Chief of Staff: Building Context-Aware AI Systems with Claude Agent SDK by Charlie Cowan
Join Charlie Cowan, CEO of Kowalah, as he shares the story of building Kowalah Reserved - his AI executive coach and strategic thinking partner. This isn't a technical deep-dive, but rather an honest account of the decisions, trade-offs, and lessons learned whilst building an AI system that genuinely knows his business and challenges his thinking. You'll leave inspired to build your own context-aware AI tools and equipped with practical patterns to get started. What you'll learn: - Why I built it: The moment I realised standard AI chat wasn't enough for strategic work - and what that meant for the architecture - Key decisions that mattered: Choosing Claude Agent SDK, embracing MCP servers, and designing the "skills" framework that makes AI proactive - What worked (and what didn't): Real lessons from six months of daily use - from file organisation to framework integration - The shift from assistant to partner: How persistent context and business system integration transformed how I work with AI What you'll be able to do: - Recognise when you need to build beyond chat - and have confidence to start - Apply the core patterns (context persistence, system integration, autonomous skills) to your own domain - Avoid the pitfalls I hit along the way - Take the first steps toward building your own AI thinking partner
View recordingWrap Up
Closing remarks and next steps
Pizza, Drinks & Networking
Casual networking with food and drinks
Speakers
Attendees
Details
Location