People doing strange things with electricity (and code)! DorkbotPDX is a laid-back meetup and show-and-tell for those who make, modify and use technical tools to weird and imaginative ends. You might run into creative coders, electronic artists, circuit designers, retro computing archaeologists, video game devs, modular synth gearheads and cyberpunk DIYers.

Most of Dorkbot is a freewheeling hangout, but each month we feature a short talk about a cool project or teaching some esoteric wizardry.

This month, Helen Leigh will share some of the musical instruments she's made over the years and share some of the technologies behind them. Helen's projects include: spider harp, purring tentacle, golden disco ball theremin, robotic midi drum machine, and an embroidered kraakdoos. (https://helenleigh.me)

Bring your electronic wonders, monsters, and works-in-progress to show off, or come see what others have been working on! Code or circuits, electronic creativity of all sorts is welcome here. Table space with power will be available for project show-and-tell; we have a table for drinks and snacks, feel free to contribute to the communal cache/BYOB. We do this every month, usually on the second Monday night (check the site for upcoming dates to be sure)

Note: We may be famous for the free parts cart…but the pile has gotten unruly, so we’re not accepting new stuff. If you have things to give away, check the Discord offer/ask channel to see if anyone would like to claim them. Feel free to exchange items at Dorkbot, just no leftovers please!

You can subscribe to our calendar and mailing list, join the Discord and find our social links on https://www.dorkbotpdx.org (It also has our Code of Conduct, which we'd like you to check out while you're there)

ARTHACK is a monthly evening of discussion for computer enthusiasts and artists. We'll be talking about and sharing work that explores the intersection of code, art, hardware, and society.

Come with a laptop and you can share some work on the open projector!

June dMob will be held at Rontoms in SE Portland on Wednesday, June 10 from 6-8pm.

🥃 Cocktails and conversations? Outside? In a beautiful patio space? Sounds like a great time to hang with AIGA Portland!

☀️ Meet us at Rontoms on Wednesday, June 10, from 6 to 8 pm on the Central Eastside for drinks, snacks, and community. Let's take a midweek break and talk about your latest projects and meet other creatives!

(This is a 21+ venue so unfortunately it is age restricted. If you are under 21, please look out for next month's dMob!)

What is dMob?

dMob is a FREE social event launched by AIGA Portland in 2003. Hosted on the 2nd Wednesday of every month, it’s a great way to get out and connect with members of Portland’s energetic design community while exploring the city’s various neighborhoods. AIGA Portland wants to encourage discussion, business development, and foster a more dynamic design community in Portland. You’re bound to find inspiration, and opportunity with this friendly, laid-back group of design professionals!

When you arrive, you’ll get a sticker to wear. Venture forth, find another sticker-wearer and introduce yourself or offer to buy them a drink. It’s a great way to break the ice and meet new people.

Get up-to-date information at: https://luma.com/dltup2wh

Address: Hawthorne Asylum Food Cart Pod Portland, Oregon United States

Hosted by Erin M Miles Rasmussen

The PNSQC and Portland AWS User Group are joining forces this June at ProFocus Headquarters for an evening of technical learning with cloud, security, and quality professionals from across the region.

This month, Trevor Gudeman, Senior Software Engineer at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, takes us inside how AWS can level up code quality across CI/CD workflows. With a focus on CodeBuild and CodePipeline, Trevor will show how AWS-native tools can take the manual effort out of key quality checks — think linting, unit testing, code coverage, static analysis, security scanning, and quality gates — so your team can catch issues earlier and ship with more confidence.

This will be a hybrid meetup, so mingle in person or tune in online. Doors (and virtual lobby) open at 5:30pm for a half hour of pre-talk networking.

Drinks provided by ProFocus. Free to attend! ‎ Schedule:

5:30pm - 6pm Networking 6pm - 7:30pm Tech Talk

A meeting of folks interested in BSD operating systems and related technologies to get together, eat pizza, drink beer, and talk about what interesting things have been going on.

Details

What to Expect:

Code and Coffee is an inclusive, informal co-working session. Drink some coffee, bring your laptop, and have engaging conversations. This is a great opportunity to learn from others, share your knowledge, and possibly collaborate on side projects, online courses, or even your day-to-day work tasks. Still uncertain? Let's chat on Discord!

Venue:

The Venue is at Roseline Café, who is graciously allowing us to host a space. WIFI, power outlets Recommended Parking: Smart Park, $7 all day https://www.portland.gov/transportation/parking/smartpark

Coffee:

Roseline Café has drip coffee and fixings available for it

Agenda:

10 AM - Arrival 10:15 AM - Introductions: Share your name Discuss your current projects or interests. If you don’t have a specific project, share what intrigues you! Mention your expertise and how you can assist others. Are you job hunting or hiring? Let us know! Community events you wanna plug. If none, that's cool too. 12:30 AM - Wrapping Up: You can stay longer, but we'll officially be done! We usually grab lunch as a group at near by food carts

That PLUG Clinic you like is coming back into style!

The PLUG Clinic returns again this month on June 21, from 1pm-5pm. Note the different venue this month, we are back at the Albina Branch Library. If you need help with your Linux computer, or want to offer help, you are welcome!

Volunteer helpers are as desirable as helpees. Helping is fun and rewarding. If you've ever helped out at a PLUG Clinic before, come checkout the space!

Thanks to the taxpayers of Multnomah County for the beautiful new building!

Get up-to-date information at: https://luma.com/ok3tf9ls

Address: Hawthorne Asylum Food Cart Pod Portland, Oregon United States

Hosted by Erin M Miles Rasmussen

Details

What to Expect:

Code and Coffee is an inclusive, informal co-working session. Drink some coffee, bring your laptop, and have engaging conversations. This is a great opportunity to learn from others, share your knowledge, and possibly collaborate on side projects, online courses, or even your day-to-day work tasks. Still uncertain? Let's chat on Discord!

Venue:

The Venue is at Roseline Café, who is graciously allowing us to host a space. WIFI, power outlets Recommended Parking: Smart Park, $7 all day https://www.portland.gov/transportation/parking/smartpark

Coffee:

Roseline Café has drip coffee and fixings available for it

Agenda:

10 AM - Arrival 10:15 AM - Introductions: Share your name Discuss your current projects or interests. If you don’t have a specific project, share what intrigues you! Mention your expertise and how you can assist others. Are you job hunting or hiring? Let us know! Community events you wanna plug. If none, that's cool too. 12:30 AM - Wrapping Up: You can stay longer, but we'll officially be done! We usually grab lunch as a group at near by food carts

Talks, workshops, installations, demos, and space to hack - check out the schedule.

For anyone interested in hardware: engineers, designers, artists, educators, or enthusiasts.

Early bird tickets are now sold out.

Heavily subsidized tickets for low income individuals are available.

Free tickets for anyone with something interesting to show off as part of a demo table or installation.

Get up-to-date information at: https://luma.com/weiq3t3f

Address: Hawthorne Asylum Food Cart Pod Portland, Oregon United States

Hosted by Erin M Miles Rasmussen

Details

What to Expect:

Code and Coffee is an inclusive, informal co-working session. Drink some coffee, bring your laptop, and have engaging conversations. This is a great opportunity to learn from others, share your knowledge, and possibly collaborate on side projects, online courses, or even your day-to-day work tasks. Still uncertain? Let's chat on Discord!

Venue:

The Venue is at Roseline Café, who is graciously allowing us to host a space. WIFI, power outlets Recommended Parking: Smart Park, $7 all day https://www.portland.gov/transportation/parking/smartpark

Coffee:

Roseline Café has drip coffee and fixings available for it

Agenda:

10 AM - Arrival 10:15 AM - Introductions: Share your name Discuss your current projects or interests. If you don’t have a specific project, share what intrigues you! Mention your expertise and how you can assist others. Are you job hunting or hiring? Let us know! Community events you wanna plug. If none, that's cool too. 12:30 AM - Wrapping Up: You can stay longer, but we'll officially be done! We usually grab lunch as a group at near by food carts

Get up-to-date information at: https://luma.com/fgpd1gc8

Address: Hawthorne Asylum Food Cart Pod Portland, Oregon United States

Hosted by Erin M Miles Rasmussen

Details

What to Expect:

Code and Coffee is an inclusive, informal co-working session. Drink some coffee, bring your laptop, and have engaging conversations. This is a great opportunity to learn from others, share your knowledge, and possibly collaborate on side projects, online courses, or even your day-to-day work tasks. Still uncertain? Let's chat on Discord!

Venue:

The Venue is at Roseline Café, who is graciously allowing us to host a space. WIFI, power outlets Recommended Parking: Smart Park, $7 all day https://www.portland.gov/transportation/parking/smartpark

Coffee:

Roseline Café has drip coffee and fixings available for it

Agenda:

10 AM - Arrival 10:15 AM - Introductions: Share your name Discuss your current projects or interests. If you don’t have a specific project, share what intrigues you! Mention your expertise and how you can assist others. Are you job hunting or hiring? Let us know! Community events you wanna plug. If none, that's cool too. 12:30 AM - Wrapping Up: You can stay longer, but we'll officially be done! We usually grab lunch as a group at near by food carts

Get up-to-date information at: https://luma.com/3e2o26k9

Address: Hawthorne Asylum Food Cart Pod Portland, Oregon United States

Hosted by Erin M Miles Rasmussen

Details

What to Expect:

Code and Coffee is an inclusive, informal co-working session. Drink some coffee, bring your laptop, and have engaging conversations. This is a great opportunity to learn from others, share your knowledge, and possibly collaborate on side projects, online courses, or even your day-to-day work tasks. Still uncertain? Let's chat on Discord!

Venue:

The Venue is at Roseline Café, who is graciously allowing us to host a space. WIFI, power outlets Recommended Parking: Smart Park, $7 all day https://www.portland.gov/transportation/parking/smartpark

Coffee:

Roseline Café has drip coffee and fixings available for it

Agenda:

10 AM - Arrival 10:15 AM - Introductions: Share your name Discuss your current projects or interests. If you don’t have a specific project, share what intrigues you! Mention your expertise and how you can assist others. Are you job hunting or hiring? Let us know! Community events you wanna plug. If none, that's cool too. 12:30 AM - Wrapping Up: You can stay longer, but we'll officially be done! We usually grab lunch as a group at near by food carts

Get up-to-date information at: https://luma.com/wf629e9l

Address: Hawthorne Asylum Food Cart Pod Portland, Oregon United States

Hosted by Erin M Miles Rasmussen

Details

What to Expect:

Code and Coffee is an inclusive, informal co-working session. Drink some coffee, bring your laptop, and have engaging conversations. This is a great opportunity to learn from others, share your knowledge, and possibly collaborate on side projects, online courses, or even your day-to-day work tasks. Still uncertain? Let's chat on Discord!

Venue:

The Venue is at Roseline Café, who is graciously allowing us to host a space. WIFI, power outlets Recommended Parking: Smart Park, $7 all day https://www.portland.gov/transportation/parking/smartpark

Coffee:

Roseline Café has drip coffee and fixings available for it

Agenda:

10 AM - Arrival 10:15 AM - Introductions: Share your name Discuss your current projects or interests. If you don’t have a specific project, share what intrigues you! Mention your expertise and how you can assist others. Are you job hunting or hiring? Let us know! Community events you wanna plug. If none, that's cool too. 12:30 AM - Wrapping Up: You can stay longer, but we'll officially be done! We usually grab lunch as a group at near by food carts

Get up-to-date information at: https://luma.com/waifbpzl

Address: Hawthorne Asylum Food Cart Pod Portland, Oregon United States

Hosted by Erin M Miles Rasmussen

Portland Starlight Parade

In 2026, the Portland Rose Festival proudly introduces an exciting evolution of two beloved traditions: the CareOregon Grand Floral Starlight Parade. This newly reimagined parade brings together the pageantry of the Grand Floral Parade with the energy and excitement of the Starlight Parade into one unforgettable celebration. By combining these iconic events, the Rose Festival is creating a single, dynamic parade experience that honors tradition while embracing creativity, community, and innovation.

To preserve the distinct character of each parade, the event will unfold in two phases. The Grand Floral portion will step off at 6:30 pm, featuring floral floats, marching bands, equestrian units, and community groups in daylight. Later in the evening, as darkness falls, the Starlight portion will step off at 8:30 pm, showcasing illuminated floats, lighting effects, and nighttime spectacle. The two portions will run sequentially allowing each to shine in its own way.

This format allows for richer storytelling, broader representation, and an enhanced experience for both participants and spectators, while also enabling the Rose Festival to focus resources more intentionally—strengthening production quality, improving operational efficiency, and ensuring the long-term sustainability of one of Portland’s most cherished civic celebrations.

We look forward to welcoming the community to this bold new chapter of the Rose Festival.

Ways To Watch

From The Street Get in on the action for free with a city street spot! The CareOregon Grand Floral Starlight Parade travels through downtown Portland and ends at Lincoln High School. View the Route Map below and find your favorite spot!

Pro Tip! Set your chairs for the parade in the afternoon and enjoy some fair food and carnival rides at CityFair before the parade steps off!

Join us for OBI’s Accelerate Biotech Happy Hour on Thursday, June 4, from 5:30 to 7:00 PM.

Kick off June with OBI’s Accelerate Happy Hour! Good conversations, great people, and a relaxed space to connect. This month’s happy hour is fueled by our beverage sponsors, Ramsey Cox Media Relations and Public Affairs and Nucleate.

It’s a chance to connect with others in the community, build new relationships, and share ideas that move your work forward.

Whether you’re new to OBI or have been part of the community for a while, we’d love to see you there.

When: Thursday, June 4 | 5:30 to 7:00 PM Where: OBI Event Space | Suite 230

RSVP and join us for an easy, welcoming evening built around connection and good company.

topic: Agentic AI

description:

You're a developer. You know AI can write code. You've used Copilot, Claude, or ChatGPT to ship faster, debug, or figure out what a library is doing. That part is well-trodden ground.

This talk explores something different: using agentic AI as a general-purpose problem-solving tool. Yes, the tool is called Claude Code. But what I want to show is what happens when you stop thinking of it as "the thing that writes my code" and start thinking of it as "the thing that can build me something useful in 20 minutes."

That's the idea behind disposable software: small, single-purpose tools you spin up to solve one specific problem, use as long as you need, and then move on. There's a whole class of problems sitting on your plate right now that don't warrant a project plan, a sprint, or a code review. They need someone to build the thing and move on.

In this session, we'll go over how to set up an agentic environment, dive into a real-world problem, and then spend a good amount of time on Q&A and diving into real solutions that people are solving today with agentic AI.

Speaker Lucas Bennington is the founder of Codi Tech, an AI-native software development agency. Over the past three years, he's built a practice around helping teams turn ideas into working products using AI and modern development tools. His team uses AI across every part of how they operate, from project intake and scoping to building internal tools and delivering client work. Lucas brings a practitioner's perspective: he's not talking about AI in the abstract, he's building with it every day.

Portland Indie Game Convention (PIGCON) is a brand new convention celebrating independent game developers from Portland and beyond! A weekend for indie developers to learn, share, and connect, PIGCON will consist of two days of showcases, workshops, talks, an artist alley, as well as events featuring familiar and under-the-radar indie game development talent. Saturday hours are 10AM-10PM and will feature an all-day talk track as well as a curated showfloor featuring ~40 indie games and an artist alley. Sunday hours are 10AM-7PM, featuring a second all-day talk track, an all-day workshop track, and a free and open-to-the-public BYO Game showcase where anyone can come to play games, and even bring their own games to set up and showcase! No sign up is required for the BYO game showcase, just show up and grab some table space and power.

Additional special events will be hosted on site both Saturday and Sunday night.

PDXOSGeo connects again this week, Wednesday May 27, 6:30p Hot Lips Pizza @ the Natural Capital Center 721 NW 9th Ave, Portland OR. Join us for some show and tell and good open geo discussion!

This month bring your current projects for show and tell to share whatever open-source geo-goodness you have recently been working on! Don't have a project to share? Feel free to share the best thing you saw at GIS in Action, the QGIS plugin that helps you the most, or anything you've recently seen that you think the group would enjoy.

Topic

Writing proper alt text is hard. But it doesn't have to be. There's a minimum standard and an advanced approach. People who need alt text will appreciate you for the former and love you for the latter. Alt text is also a whole lot more than the alt attribute. That's just one of the many ways to make content accessible. In fact, there are a number of considerations for writing great alt text.

In this presentation, Mark Wyner will help you understand the spectrum of options so you can take good care of your audience. We'll walk through implementation methods, phonetics, composition, complex sources, and tackling social media.

Let’s give screen readers and other assistive technologies something to talk about.

Agenda

The event begins at 6 pm; join early, starting at 5:45 pm for networking.

• 5:45 Networking
• 6:00 Introductions and announcements
• 6:15 Presentation
• 6:45 Q&A and discussion

About the presenter

Mark Wyner is an autodidactic polymath with over two decades of experience in design and development. His approach prioritizes usability, accessibility, and inclusivity. He’s also an antifascist humanitarian. So diversity and equity are overarching principles for everything he does in this space. Currently, as the Lead Product Designer at BookNook. His pronouns are he/him/his. You can follow him on Mastodon or his accessibility writings on his website.

Accommodation requests

If you have any accommodation requests, don't hesitate to contact us before the event to discuss.

Please register on either Meetup (https://www.meetup.com/pnw-software-quality-professionals-pnsqc/events/314648123/) or Luma (https://luma.com/60m4kgqw) so we can count attendance!

Converge with your fellow software professionals this May at Steeplejack on NE Broadway!

What are project managers actually saying about AI, quality, and delivery — and what does it mean for us in QA? Jahzeel Ormeño, Founder and Principal Consultant of SimplexityPM, is bringing the conversation from the PMI Portland Annual Conference straight to our Meetup with her informal talk "From the PMI Conference Floor: What the PM World Is Saying About Quality, AI, and Getting Work Done Right".

Jahzeel is excited to debrief her experience from the conference with an honest conversation about what PMs are actually talking about: where AI is showing up (and where it isn’t), what else dominated the room, and how the PM practices most of us take for granted connect directly to software quality outcomes. Come ready to share what you’re seeing on your end too — the best part will be comparing notes.

You don’t need to be a PM to get something out of this. It’s a good fit if you’re curious about any of the following: • What PMs and quality folks have in common (and where they still talk past each other) • How AI is actually landing in delivery teams — beyond the hype • Which PM habits quietly prevent quality problems before they start • Continuing the conversations from PMI Portland 2026

This will be a hybrid meetup, so mingle in person or tune in online. Doors (and virtual lobby) open at 6pm for a half hour of pre-talk networking.

Schedule:

6pm - 6:30pm Networking (online included) 6:30pm - 7:30pm ‎Open discussion led by Jahzeel

(While free to attend, food and drinks from the delicious Steeplejack menu will not be covered.)

A meeting of folks interested in BSD operating systems and related technologies to get together, eat pizza, drink beer, and talk about what interesting things have been going on.

That PLUG Clinic you like is coming back into style!

The PLUG Clinic returns again this month on May 17, from 1pm-5pm. Note the different venue this month, we are back at the Albina Branch Library. If you need help with your Linux computer, or want to offer help, you are welcome!

Volunteer helpers are as desirable as helpees. Helping is fun and rewarding. If you've ever helped out at a PLUG Clinic before, come checkout the space!

Thanks to the taxpayers of Multnomah County for the beautiful new building!

Come join Community Broadband PDX to talk about building a publicly owned broadband network here in Portland.

See you there!

Details

What to Expect:

Code and Coffee is an inclusive, informal co-working session. Drink some coffee, bring your laptop, and have engaging conversations. This is a great opportunity to learn from others, share your knowledge, and possibly collaborate on side projects, online courses, or even your day-to-day work tasks. Still uncertain? Let's chat on Discord!

Venue:

The Venue is at Roseline Café, who is graciously allowing us to host a space. WIFI, power outlets Recommended Parking: Smart Park, $7 all day https://www.portland.gov/transportation/parking/smartpark

Coffee:

Roseline Café has drip coffee and fixings available for it

Agenda:

10 AM - Arrival 10:15 AM - Introductions: Share your name Discuss your current projects or interests. If you don’t have a specific project, share what intrigues you! Mention your expertise and how you can assist others. Are you job hunting or hiring? Let us know! Community events you wanna plug. If none, that's cool too. 12:30 AM - Wrapping Up: You can stay longer, but we'll officially be done! We usually grab lunch as a group at near by food carts

The Portland Linux Kernel Meetup for May 2026 will be at...

• Date: Thursday, May 14, 2026
• Time: 06:00 PM to 09:00 PM US/Pacific
• Location: Lucky Labrador Beer Hall, 1945 NW Quimby St, Portland, Oregon 97209 US

Come enjoy a beverage and chat with other people who are interested in the Linux kernel. All experience levels are welcome. This is a friendly and casual meetup. Look for a table with a plush Tux penguin.

To get timely reminders of Portland Linux Kernel Meetups, see https://ikluft.github.io/pdx-lkmu/subscribing-to-pdx-lkmu-events.html.

This presentation introduces D3.js as a powerful tool for transforming complex data into clear, meaningful visual stories which non-technical audiences can understand and use. It explains what D3.js is, how it works with web technologies and why visualization is essential for revealing patterns and insights raw data alone cannot show.

This talk emphasizes designing visualizations with the audience in mind while also covering core D3 concepts such as data binding, scales, layouts and interactive graphics. Through examples, case studies, design principles and practical tips, this presentation demonstrates how builders can use D3.js to communicate ideas effectively and empower people to discover insights from data.

Cloud Native PDX May: Change-driven Architecture and Serving Inference at Scale

This May is all about scaling; scaling your infrastructure management, or scaling your LLM inference serving. Join us to find out about some open source tools to make managing large modern stacks easier.

Date: Thursday, May 14 Time: 5:30–7:30 PM Location: Reperio Health, 4784 SE 17th Ave Suite 120, Portland, OR

Recording: Talks are typically recorded (opt-in by speakers)

A big thank you to Microsoft for sponsoring food & beverage, and to Reperio Health, our venue host.

Drasi, a new take on Change Driven Architectures: Aman Singh, Microsoft

Modern cloud-native systems constantly generate data changes, and applications often need to react to them. Building change-driven solutions that respond to specific changes in distributed data is challenging. This talk introduces Drasi, a CNCF Sandbox project that simplifies the design and implementation of change-driven architectures using Graph Queries and pluggable components. For example, with Drasi you can declaratively write automation to detect and respond to running containers with newly identified vulnerabilities across pods and deployments in a Kubernetes cluster. Join us for a walkthrough of real-world use cases that show how Drasi’s approach brings structure and responsiveness to complex distributed environments - without writing custom code.

Dynamo: Large Scale Distributed Inference David Zeir, Director, DL System Software, Nvidia Neelay Shah, Distinguished Engineer, Nvidia

This talk introduces Dynamo, NVIDIA's open-source Kubernetes-native distributed inference platform. We'll cover the problem space, walk through Dynamo's architecture — disaggregated prefill/decode, KV-cache-aware routing, and a transport layer that moves KV blocks directly between GPUs — and dig into the Kubernetes integration for scheduling, autoscaling, and graceful failure handling. We'll close with a demo of Dynamo serving a real workload.

Note: Your RSVP is required in order to attend this event.

Let’s get together for an informal BEAM PDX hangout: coffee, conversation, and light co-working.

This is a low-key monthly meetup for folks working with Elixir, Erlang, Gleam, and other BEAM languages, aimed at reconnecting the local community and rebuilding momentum after a long quiet stretch. We'll holding this on the second Thursday of each month.

There will be opportunities to:

• Ask questions about Elixir and other BEAM languages
• Share what you’ve been working on (or stuck on)
• Get help with programming or design problems
• Co-work: get things done with like-minded folks nearby
• Brainstorm ideas for future talk-based meetups and identify potential speakers
• Bring your laptop if you’d like. It's totally optional.

New to BEAM languages, or just curious? You’re very welcome.

Please RSVP so we know roughly how many people to expect. If your plans change, un-RSVP when you can.

This meetup is also part of our transition away from Meetup to a new home for the group, where we’ll be organizing future events.

Get up-to-date information at: https://luma.com/76lre84o

Address: Hawthorne Asylum Food Cart Pod Portland, Oregon United States

Hosted by Erin M Miles Rasmussen

Pull your shorts out of the back of the drawer and don’t forget the sunscreen! 🍷

Join us on Wednesday, May 13 at 6:00 PM for a golden hour evening with friends, wine, and refreshing drinks at Company Wine Bar in SE Portland.

Come join Community Broadband PDX to talk about building a publicly owned broadband network here in Portland.

See you there!

Take a break from panels, and meet the people building things in Portland.

This is a casual, walk-around event where early-stage founders will be demoing what they’re working on from small tables.

You’ll be able to:

• See what local startups are building

• Talk directly with founders and teams

• Meet others in the tech community

• Move freely between demos and conversations at your own pace

To help make those moments easier, we’re featuring Wyrl, a networking app built for in-person events. Wyrl shows you who’s around you in real time, lets you view their profiles, and message other attendees so you can connect while you’re attending this and other Startup Week events.

Free drink tickets are available with Wyrl sign up. Download it at wyrl.io/app

Hosted by Wyrl

Sponsored by TiE Oregon Foundation

A toolkit for founders from Ali Maaxa, Ph.D., incubation product & marketing strategist (founder: ProductTheory.io, former: AWS AI, New Relic AI, Meta AI, Recreation.gov), guest VC expert Marianne Motus (UC Berkeley Business School), PDX startup dev team Semi-Decent, and leaders from CHIFOO and the ORPIB Incubator.

This is a FREE lightning workshop to help scrappy startup founders nail product-market fit (PMF) and go-to-market strategy (GTM). Be your own incubator, be nimble, and be ready to answer deep strategic questions for potential investors, flagship customers, or strategic partners — in a flash.

Sure, PMF and GTM are buzzwords thrown around constantly. But they stand in for due diligence that actually makes a difference. Skipping the fundamentals is the primary reason 91% of startups fail:

The classic frameworks that undergird successful incubations — from enterprise AI to EdTech startups Rigorous market research powered by smart AI context engineering Real-deal, progressive hypothesis-testing toward a heavy-hitting MVP In fact, 82% of "failed" founders say that challenging their assumptions about their market would have saved their business.

Most startups don't find product-market fit for one of two reasons: consultancies charge high overhead to run studies and then throw their findings over the wall — or founders rely on raw AI outputs without the frameworks and context engineering that hold up under VC scrutiny and real product + user discovery.

Founders need a toolkit they can use throughout their entire product and business development journey. Before you hire a fractional, take generic expert advice from someone who doesn't understand your context, or worse — guess your way into brand damage — let us help you develop your ProductTheory with startup-friendly canvases that will anchor your pitch deck and your upcoming rounds of critical business decisions.

Learn more about Ali Maaxa's work: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alimaaxa/

Get on board with ProductTheory.io: https://www.producttheory.io/

People doing strange things with electricity (and code)!

DorkbotPDX is a laid-back meetup and show-and-tell for those who make, modify and use technical tools to weird and imaginative ends. You might run into creative coders, electronic artists, circuit designers, retro computing archaeologists, video game devs, modular synth gearheads and cyberpunk DIYers.

Bring your electronic wonders, monsters, and works-in-progress to show off, or come see what others have been working on! Code or circuits, electronic creativity of all sorts is welcome here.

Most of Dorkbot is a freewheeling hangout, but each month we feature a short talk about a cool project or teaching some esoteric wizardry.

This month, Matthew Nielsen is sharing: A novel, super efficient data compression technique used for audio time stretching (and more!). The intended audience is not just synthesizer/sampling nerds but anyone with an interest in digital signal processing, particularly the efficient embedded variety. I've successfully applied this to weather data, GPS/IMU, and a range of industrial transmitters. See demo here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hQ3FgaHN-ig

Table space with power will be available for project show-and-tell; we have a table for drinks and snacks, feel free to contribute to the communal cache/BYOB.

We do this every month, usually on the second Monday night (check the site for upcoming dates to be sure)

Note: We may be famous for the free parts cart…but the pile has gotten unruly, so we’re not accepting new stuff. If you have things to give away, check the Discord offer/ask channel to see if anyone would like to claim them. Feel free to exchange items at Dorkbot, just no leftovers please!

You can subscribe to our calendar and mailing list, join the Discord and find our social links on https://www.dorkbotpdx.org (It also has our Code of Conduct, which we'd like you to check out while you're there)

Summary:

Secure Boot and how to deal with the upcoming certificate updates that are going to be required when the old Microsoft CA expires in June. Many systems will need this update.

"I am hoping to go into the details of both installing your own certificates if you don't want to use the Microsoft certificates and how to deal with the Microsoft CA when you need to such as fulling the IT requirements for your employeer when you want to run Linux as your main operating system. I've had to deal with that to get my primary work laptop dual-boot enabled and with working Nvidia drivers that needed to be signed with a MOK."

Bio:

"While I got to play with my first Sun Workstation running Solaris back in 1996, but it was getting Red Hat Linux where my interest really took off. Since then, I have moved to better options and have spent some time contributing to various distributions and even a little time with FreeBSD ports. My primary job revolves around embedded engineering of some sort. I am currently working at Intel and am one of the very few people on the floor with an IT-approved Linux desktop for my primary workstation."

​Better Futures Club is a weekly event (alternating Tuesdays and Thursdays) focused on imagining and making better futures.

Imagine an artist community, a think tank, and a research center in the same building. People in all of those fields working alongside each other imagining and creating different futures together. Cross pollination and inspiration. Liberal Arts and STEM and R&D. Photographers, physicists, authors, astronomers, musicians, makers, mathematicians, designers, developers, fashionistas, climatologists and all manner of imaginative optimists.

All Better Futures Club events are covered by the Contributor Covenant Code of Conduct (https://www.contributor-covenant.org)

Think & Drink Trivia Night returns to OBI

Join us at the Oregon Bioscience Incubator for an evening of dinner, drinks, and friendly competition. Whether you come solo or with friends, we'll form teams of four or fewer to keep things fair and fun, so bring your A-game!

Your ticket includes a delicious catered dinner and two drink tickets to keep your mind sharp and your energy up.

Get ready for classic pub-style trivia with a mix of general knowledge questions. Not too tricky, not too simple, and just challenging enough to keep the competition lively.

Doors open at 5:30 PM for networking and mingling. Trivia starts promptly at 6:00 PM and yes, there will be prizes worth bragging about.

Come for the trivia. Stay for the community. Leave with bragging rights.

Come join your fellow idealists, builders, and shitposters for another meetup about the atmosphere! Together, we’re doing our part to create a more social web so the internet belongs to The People and not the oligarchs.

Co-organizer Brittany Ellich will give us a preview of the AT Proto 101 talk she’s presenting at CascadiaJS June 2nd - including a raffle for a ✨ free ticket to the conference ✨. And, since we got lots of love re: the open, collaborative style of our last meetup, we’re doing it again!

How it will work:

• @BrittanyEllich.com , will kick the meeting off with her AT Proto talk, including:
  • The problem with social media
  • What is the atmosphere?
  • Overview of DIDs/lexicons/etc
  • How we can get involved
• We’ll ask for 3 -4 volunteers to lead a discussion group
• Then, we’ll break out into huddles, and everyone can join their chosen discussion group

Example discussion ideas:

• How to Make ATProto Normie-Friendly
• Here’s how I built XYZ
• My Experience Working on ATProto as an Absolute Beginner
• Let’s Discuss: Getting Funding for Our Projects

Agenda:

• 6:00 - 6:10 (ish) | Snacks, hangout, shooting the shit, whatevs
• 6:10 - 6:40 (ish) | AT Protocol 101 by Brittany Ellich
• 6:40 - 6:45 (ish) | Discussion huddle ideas
• 6:45 - 7:15 (ish) | Huddle breakout
• 7:15 - 7:30 | Regroup and discuss
• 7:30 | Close, announce raffle winner, and after-hangout at a nearby bar

Special thanks to @jason.energy for offering his CodeTV studio for our meetup space! Hope to see you all there!

Portland 503 Day Block Party

Ankeny Alley

featuring local vendors + artisans, a silent disco dance party, live performances

InventOR Bootcamp Mentor & Judge Opportunities | Support Oregon Student Innovators

Join the PSU Center for Entrepreneurship (https://www.pdx.edu/entrepreneurship/) in supporting the 10th Annual InventOR, Oregon’s only statewide collegiate invention competition.

InventOR (https://www.inventoregon.org/) is an 8-week experiential program that helps collegiate inventors and innovators refine their ideas through mentorship, prototyping, storytelling, and exposure to Oregon’s startup ecosystem.

We are expanding our mentor and judge network and invite professionals from across industries to participate in one (or both) of the following InventOR Bootcamp opportunities:

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Mentor Match Mixer

Saturday, May 2 | 6:00–8:00 PM
SEC Event Space, Portland State University
2130 SW 5th Ave, Portland, OR 97201

A speed-networking style event where student finalist teams and prospective mentors meet to explore mentorship fit.

How it Works

• ~20 student finalist teams participate
• Teams give a 60-second overview of their project
• Mentors give a 60-second intro/background
• Brief Q&A / discussion
• Participants rotate through multiple pairings

Important

Mentor matches are made after the event based on mutual interest and fit.
Attendance does not guarantee a mentor assignment.

Matched mentors receive a $500 honorarium for:

• Meeting with their team at least twice during the 8-week program
• Providing strategic guidance and feedback
• Virtual/Zoom meetings are welcome

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Pitch for Feedback Judge Session

Sunday, May 3 | 9:00 AM–12:00 PM
Embassy Suites, Downtown Portland

Help teams prepare for InventOR Finals by serving as a practice pitch judge.

Judges Will

• Listen to 3-minute student pitches
• Ask follow-up questions
• Provide written feedback
• Offer recommendations on design, strategy, and next steps

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Interested?

Please fill out our Mentor/Judge Interest Form:
Get Involved: Support the Next Generation of Innovators!

Then email Stacey Hoshimiya at [email protected] to confirm your participation at one or both Bootcamp events.

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Help us support the next generation of Oregon innovators!

Kick off the month with First Friday at UpStart Collective, a relaxed happy-hour style gathering for good conversation, new connections, and a little end-of-week celebration. Join the UpStart Collective community on the 5th floor in downtown Portland for an easygoing hour of meeting people, catching up, and easing into the weekend with a festive vibe.

​Whether you’re stopping by after work or making this your first Friday tradition, it’s a great chance to unwind, share what you’re working on, and enjoy a welcoming space with a lively crowd. Come as you are, bring a friend if you’d like, and settle in for a fun start to the month.

​Better Futures Club is a weekly event (alternating Tuesdays and Thursdays) focused on imagining and making better futures.

Imagine an artist community, a think tank, and a research center in the same building. People in all of those fields working alongside each other imagining and creating different futures together. Cross pollination and inspiration. Liberal Arts and STEM and R&D. Photographers, physicists, authors, astronomers, musicians, makers, mathematicians, designers, developers, fashionistas, climatologists and all manner of imaginative optimists.

All Better Futures Club events are covered by the Contributor Covenant Code of Conduct (https://www.contributor-covenant.org)

The Portland Linux Kernel Meetup for April 2026 will be at...

• Date: Thursday, April 23, 2026
• Time: 06:00 PM to 09:00 PM US/Pacific
• Location: Lucky Labrador Beer Hall, 1945 NW Quimby St, Portland, Oregon 97209 US

Come enjoy a beverage and chat with other people who are interested in the Linux kernel. All experience levels are welcome. This is a friendly and casual meetup. Look for a table with a plush Tux penguin.

To get timely reminders of Portland Linux Kernel Meetups, see https://ikluft.github.io/pdx-lkmu/subscribing-to-pdx-lkmu-events.html.