AI/ML & Data Community Durban

We, Azure, AI/ML & Data Community Durban, are continuing the tradition of our hugely successful Data & AI Community Day Durban events — each one bigger, bolder, and geekier than the last. From Copilots & Agents to AI @ Ignite++ to The Age of Agency, we’ve packed lecture halls with 200+ attendees, sparked countless hallway debates, and made Durban a true hotspot for Data & AI. 🚀

Figure 1: Data & AI Community Day Durban: Season of AI - The Age of Agency

Don’t just take our word for it — here’s what attendees said:

This wasn’t just a local event but a world‑class AI and Data Conference for KZN. It reminded me of the Africa AI Expo in Sandton!
An amazing and insightful event to meet likeminded developers. The speakers were wonderful and the panel discussion was a highlight.
Another awesome event 👏 A privilege to attend and listen to such talented individuals do wonders with AI and IT.

Now it’s time for the next chapter: Ready Player 2.

Data & AI Community Day Durban: Ready Player 2 - Augment Yourself with AI Superpowers

Data & AI Community Day Durban: Ready Player 2 - Augment Yourself with AI Superpowers is where we hand out XP boosts for real life. Ready Player 2 is all about augmenting your craft with AI — whether you write code, wrangle data, design systems, build dashboards, or ship products. Expect practical demos, live builds, war stories, and frameworks you can take back to work on Monday. It is a full-day, in-person event for the community by the community where we deep dive into the most exciting innovations in AI, data, and cloud technologies. It is packed with cutting-edge insights and networking opportunities and promises an exciting, in-depth exploration of artificial intelligence and other hot topics in the realm of Data & AI.

We keep the friendly Durban energy, the slightly cheeky banter, and the serious technical depth.

What to Expect

From the title of the event you can gather there will be topics about AI. But wait, there’s more, much more:

Agentic AI & MCP 🤖🧩: Build assistants that do not just chat. Deep dives into Model Context Protocol (MCP), multi-agent patterns, orchestration with LangGraph/AutoGen/AG2, and the emerging agentic mesh.
AI Coding & Vibe Coding 💻✨: Let copilots handle the boilerplate while you shape architecture. Real workflows with GitHub Copilot, Claude Code, prompt patterns, test-first prompting, and repo-scale refactors.
Business Analytics with Microsoft Fabric 📊: End-to-end demos: OneLake, Direct Lake, semantic models, and Power BI for storytelling that lands.
Streaming & Real-Time Intelligence 📡: Kafka, Azure Event Hubs, Flink/Spark Streaming, schema evolution, and low-latency patterns.
Hard‑Core Database Development 🧱: Indexing strategies, partitioning, CDC, Debezium, query tuning, and why your ORM is slow.
GenAI in the Enterprise 🧠: RAG architectures, safety guardrails, evals, vector stores, and cost management in production.
Power Platform & Low‑Code ⚙️: Copilots + makers: accelerate business apps without creating shadow IT.
And Much More: Engage with a variety of topics that cater to all facets of Data & AI.

The format is fast-paced 20‑min lightning talks + 50‑min deep dives. And yes, by popular demand (and a touch of infamy) — the legendary panel discussion returns, ready to tackle your spiciest AI and data questions live on stage a spicy panel discussion, and hands-on Q&A.

So, whether you’re interested in AI Agents, Azure Open AI, eager to explore the latest in Generative AI, passionate about database development, fascinated by machine learning, or interested in the world of streaming, there’s something for everyone. Our expert speakers are ready to share their insights and experiences, providing you with the knowledge and inspiration to propel your projects and career forward. This event is a MUST-ATTEND! 📈🤖

Why Attend

Data & AI Community Day Durban: Ready Player 2 - Augment Yourself with AI Superpowers is a unique opportunity to learn from industry experts, network with peers, and gain valuable insights into the latest trends and technologies in Data & AI. Whether you’re a seasoned professional or just starting out in the field, this event offers something for everyone. Don’t miss this chance to connect with like-minded individuals, expand your knowledge, and take your career to the next level:

Actionable content: no fluffy slides — proven patterns, code, and architectures.
Local + global voices: Microsoft MVPs, architects, thought leaders, and community experts.
Real community: Durban’s friendliest tech crowd, great hallway track, and plenty of time to network.

Links

Click on respective link for more information:

Speakers
Registration
Agenda
Venue

Speakers

The call for speakers (CfS) has now closed, and we are happy to announce that we have a stellar line-up of speakers for the event: thought leaders in their respective fields, Microsoft MVPs, Software Architects, etc. The line-up looks like so:

View Speakers

Even though the CfS has closed, we are still looking for speakers for upcoming events. If you are interested in speaking, please contact us. New speakers and/or local talent is always welcome!

Sessions

The awesome speakers you see above will be presenting on the following topics:

View Sessions

When you view the sessions, please note the following:

We are feverishly working on the agenda, and it will be published here as soon as it is ready.

We, the organizing committee, are very excited about the topics and speakers, and we hope you are too!

Registration

The registration is now closed as the event is officially sold out! It may be that we get cancellations before the event, so if you’re interested in attending, please email us. If a spot opens up, we’ll notify you!

We are looking forward to seeing you all at the event!

Agenda

Seeing all the awesome speakers and topics, you are probably wondering what the agenda looks like. I am happy to say that we now have an agenda for the event! We believe it is pretty solid (there may be a change or two), and we hope you will like it. The agenda looks like so:

View Agenda

When looking at the agenda, please note the following:

Registration starts at 08:00, and the event starts at 08:20 sharp. There will be some interesting topics covered in the Welcome / Introduction session, so please try to be there on time.
The event ends at 18:00. Please try to stay for the entire event, as we have some exciting things planned for the end of the event.
Some sessions are 20 minute sessions and some ar 50 minutes. In the agenda, we have indicated the start time of the session and the length above the session title.
Thera are 10 minute breaks between sessions, and a 70 minute break for lunch.
The panel discussion we introduced in the previous event is back, and we hope we’ll have some interesting discussions.
Oh, and see below for a small plot twist …

Just to be clear, the agenda is subject to change. We will update the agenda as and when changes occur. However, we are extremeley excited about the agenda, and we hope you are too!

PLOT TWIST

For this event we have a bit of a plot twist (a small one, but still …).

We know Durban is absolutely bursting with brilliant students and fresh grads who are building mind-blowing stuff in Data & AI. The problem? You’re keeping all that genius locked away in your laptops! Time to break out of stealth mode.

For the first time ever at Data & AI Community Day Durban, we’re rolling out the red carpet for YOU. This isn’t just another “student corner” – this is your chance to go from bedroom coder to main stage presenter in front of industry veterans, potential employers, and your future network.

Got a project that makes you proud? A dataset you’ve tamed? An AI model that actually works? A dashboard that doesn’t look like it was designed in 1995? We want to see it!

The Deal

⏰ 50 minutes of pure student power
🎯 Showcase your work (5-10 minutes) to 200+ industry professionals
💼 Direct access to potential employers and mentors
🚀 Launch your reputation in Durban’s tech scene

Ready to level up? Drop us an email at event@aimldatadurban.org with “Student Showcase” in the subject line. Spots are limited (it’s only one session, after all), but if you don’t shoot your shot, you definitely won’t score.

P.S. - You need a ticket to the main event first. Then we’ll talk about putting you on stage! 🎫

Venue

We are excited to announce that the event will be held at Richfield College, Umhlanga Campus:

Figure 2: Richfield College, Umhlanga Campus

Richfield College offers modern lecture theatres, strong Wi‑Fi, excellent A/V equipment, and secure parking.

The venue is located at: Centenary Boulevard, Park Square, 5-9 Park Avenue, Umhlanga. The campus is inside the Park Square complex. Take the elevator in block C to the first floor, and you are there. If you come by car, you enter the parking garage from Centenary Boulevard.

Get directions to the event