AI Forum — Azerbaijani Tech Community, Bay Area
What we're looking for
Work you've actually done — a system you shipped, a result you got, a thing that broke and what you learned Research explained for practitioners, not for reviewers Honest founder and operator stories, including the ones that didn't work Hands-on workshop material where people leave having built something
Session formats
Format Length Notes Talk 18 min + 5 min Q&A The main format. Hard stop, visible timer. Workshop 60 min Parallel track, ~40 people, bring something to build Lightning demo 5 min Show the thing working. No slides required.
What we won't accept
Product pitches or sales decks. If the talk needs a logo slide, it's the wrong talk. Talks that are a survey of someone else's work with no position of your own Anything you can't deliver in the time given
What to include in your proposal
Title and a two-sentence summary a non-specialist can follow What the audience will be able to do or understand afterwards Your format (talk / workshop / demo) and a label from the list A short bio and any link to previous talks or writing — first-time speakers are welcome and we'll help you prepare
Language: sessions are delivered in English. Questions can be asked in Azerbaijani.
Selection: reviewed by the programme team on clarity, substance, and how well the set of talks holds together across the day. We'll come back to everyone either way. Selected speakers submit slides one week before the event.
Submit a proposal
AI Forum brings together the Azerbaijani technology community in the Bay Area — the engineers and researchers inside the major labs, the founders building on top of them, the academics doing the underlying work, and the students trying to find a way in. For one Saturday, all of them are in the same room.
What the day looks like Keynote — one flagship talk to set the terms of the day Six talks, eighteen minutes each — no sales decks, one idea per talk, timer enforced A panel — four voices, a real moderator, twenty minutes of audience questions Two hands-on workshops — running in parallel, small rooms, actual building Demo hour — eight lightning demos, five minutes each, hard timer Evening reception — Azerbaijani food, chai, live mugam, and the conversations that are the actual point Who this is for Engineers and researchers working on AI, at any level Founders and operators — and the people who fund them Students and early-career engineers looking for a path in Anyone in the Azerbaijani community in the Bay Area who wants to know who else is out there How we run it
No queues, no confusion, nothing running long. Badges carry conversation hooks rather than just names, lunch tables are labelled by topic, and there's one structured introduction block so nobody spends the day talking to the person they arrived with. Every talk is recorded and published within two weeks.
Food
Azerbaijani catering throughout, with proper vegetarian and halal options — not an afterthought plate of sides. Chai station in armudu glasses runs all day. Dietary requirements and allergies are collected at registration.
Format: full-day conference · Capacity: 100–150 · Location: Bay Area, CA Date and venue: to be announced
Two things to decide before this goes live: the date/venue line at the bottom, and whether you want a registration link or code-of-conduct paragraph added.