🧠 The AI Collective Chicago | Pre-Holiday Open Mic 🎤 Un-conference Style Celebration 🎉🎄🕯️
🎉 Get ready for a festive twist on our usual AI meetup! We're throwing a pre-holiday celebration at Microsoft's Chicago office with an open mic format—bring your wildest AI experiments, your side projects, or that product idea you've been cooking up. You'll have 3-4 minutes to share whatever's on your mind (AI-related, of course). Whether it's a breakthrough, a spectacular failure, or just something cool you discovered, the mic is yours. Please fill out this form if you're interested in sharing a lightning talk: https://forms.gle/mUPDKKz1VdmWaboXA
If we are going to have 5 speakers or fewer, we're switching to un-conference mode after the Open Mic, where *you* set the agenda, and everyone can be speaking! For those new to the concept, an un-conference is a participant-driven format where attendees:
propose discussion topics on the spot
vote on what sounds interesting
break out into smaller groups to dive deep into whatever sparks curiosity!
Think structured chaos meets organic conversation. Learn more about un-conferences here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unconference. Come ready to talk, listen, demo, debate, and toast to another year of AI adventures. Holiday cheer and tech talk—what better way to wrap up 2025? 🎄🥂
** Suggested attire (not required): Put on your favorite holiday wear!! 🧥🧦🧣 Ugly sweater is welcome 😂🎉🎅 🎄 🎁 ✨
AGENDA (CST / GMT-6)
5:30-6:00 Social networking / Refreshments
6:00-6:10 Intro & Announcements
6:10-6:50 Open Mic (up to 5 speakers)
6:50-7:00 Un-Conference Intro
7:00-7:30 Topic suggestions & Voting
7:30-8:00 Breakout discussions (mini forums)
8:00-8:15 Breakout discussion team reports
8:15 Post-event social networking
8:45 Lights out