A couple of weeks ago, over a casual lunch with my friends Vahini B. and Bhoomika Shah, the conversation (inevitably) turned to AI — and how I’ve been using it in both my personal and professional life.

Vahini paused mid-lunch and asked, “Can you do a session on this for a few of my friends — many of them are non-technical, but curious?” That offhand comment turned into the spark.

But the idea didn’t come out of nowhere — it was the culmination of signals:

  • Discussions with a software provider about how my clients were provisioning Open Source AI models (Thu).
  • A former colleague from AWS, now with a big consulting firm, asked what I was seeing around AI Agents in the field (Fri).
  • A friend I hadn’t spoken to in 20 years reached out for AI tips before a job interview with a Chief Data Officer at a Financial Services company (Sat).
  • A casual dinner conversation turned into discussions about AI in the job market (Sat!).

I floated the idea with Karen Cashion on Monday, who not only confirmed the need but generously offered Tech Alpharetta as a venue.

By the following Monday, we had a room full of curious business professionals eager to learn. A few reflections from the experience:

  • I hit flow-state multiple times while creating content (#vibewriting).
  • I revisited books, articles, and examples to distill complex topics into simple drawings and slides (Excalidraw Gamma).
  • The session ran from 6:30 PM to 8:15 PM (6:00–6:30 PM was networking) — no one left early, and we had some healthy debates!
  • It sparked 7–8 new content ideas that I’ll be writing about shortly.
  • I got validation for an app idea I’ve had — it suddenly felt very real and relevant (enough so that I woke up in the middle of the night to write it down and draw it out).
  • I knew I’d speak a bit fast and try to cover too much, so I had been chatting with speaking coaches, including Kathryn Woods, whose advice really helped.

Last night, I attended Neha Negandhi’s “Storytelling for Founders” session, and a couple of interesting things happened:

  • I ran into Laxmi Naik at the event. She had attended my session the night before, and while I didn’t get to speak with everyone who attended, her words — paraphrasing a bit — were absolutely gratifying:
    “I’d never really understood AI or heard anyone speak about AI. While I didn’t catch all the words, I went home and signed up for a Coursera.”

  • Four people asked me when I plan to do the next session (zero marketing!).

The demand is there. The feedback was honest and energizing — I better get to work! Thank you to all who attended!