There's a lot going on.

132 events from 90+ Sydney organisers

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My picks

Awesome Interactions: the OG AI

Alex Reardon returns to SydJS with fresh thinking on making interfaces feel human, plus insights on how text-to-speech is changing the web.

Wed 20 May · 6pm · Free · Meetup · SydJS

Space Hub Connect: Moving from Seed to Scale with Michael Irwin, Co-founder of Breaker Industries

Michael Irwin from Breaker Industries on finding your market wedge, scaling embodied AI globally, and building the kind of team culture that attracts elite talent.

Tue 19 May · 4pm · Free · Fireside · Cicada Innovations

Disrupted: Power, Water and AI

Panel exploring AI's massive energy and water demands with experts who shape policy and infrastructure at national scale.

Thu 21 May · 5pm · Free · Talk · UNSW Founders

How Investors Evaluate Startups at the First Meeting

Learn the 4Ts framework a working VC uses to assess startups, straight from someone writing cheques in Australia right now.

2pm · Free · Fireside · Sydney Venture Partners

AI always Compiles: Is your Organisation Shipping those Results?

GDG Sydney brings Danny Thompson from Atlassian to unpack why your AI tools work perfectly but deliver the wrong outcomes, plus build a working video summariser.

5pm · Free · Workshop · GDG Sydney

Dazed & Diffused - Sydney

Solid chance to meet the people actually building with generative AI in Sydney, from side projects to serious applications.

6pm · Free · Meetup · Tim O'Neill and Yash Varma

CEO Summit 2026

Two days with Verne Harnish and 200 scaling CEOs, you'll leave with frameworks and peer connections that actually shift how you grow.

7am · Check event page · Conference · UTS Business School

Taiwan Smart Solutions Connect 2026 (Sydney)

Meet 16 Taiwanese tech companies bringing AI, smart city, and healthcare solutions to Sydney, good for spotting partnership opportunities.

10am · Free · Networking · Taiwan Trade Centre, Sydney

The trillion dollar question: Where the **** are the AI investments going?

Small group of tech leaders sharing why their AI projects stalled at scale, plus a former Apple engineering director on the context problem most vendors ignore.

3:30pm · RSVP · Fireside · DevRev

Banking on the Future

Panel unpacking how AI, regulation and macro shifts are reshaping fintech, with Westpac's economist and founders who need to get this right.

5:30pm · Free · Talk · FINTECH & BANKING (Sydney)

Claude Sydney Meetup May 19th

Real demos and workflows from people actually shipping with Claude, practical room where you'll see what works beyond the hype.

6pm · Free · Meetup · Haymarket HQ

SydDT #126: Global Accessibility Awareness Day

Learn from people building accessible tech solutions, then hear them discuss the practical challenges of inclusive design in a panel.

6pm · Free · Talk · Sydney Design Thinking

Builder's Nights @ Spice Alley | Tues @ 6pm | Nick Knows Builders

Small group above Spice Alley to tinker with AI tools alongside other builders, swap workflows, and hear Nick's news about Tech Central.

6pm · $15 · Networking · Nick Knows Events

Code for Sydney Retrospective / Code with me

Post-hack session to keep building on your project with the group and shape how future Code for Sydney events run.

7pm · Free · Meetup · Online

AI Startup Workshop: Validate, Research, Prototype

Working session where you'll use AI tools to stress test your idea, do live competitor research, and leave with clarity on whether to build it.

7pm · Free · Workshop · AI Startup Club

TechTalk: Preseed Primer: Backing Founders before Traction Exists (w/ Maxine Minter, GP @ CoVentures)

Hear what Australia's most active pre-seed investor looks for when there's no traction yet, just a founder and an idea worth believing in.

5pm · RSVP · Fireside · Barker Street Ventures

Build with AI: Build a Resume Reviewer with Google AI Studio

Build a working resume reviewer app in two hours with Gemini, no coding needed, and walk out with something deployed and useful.

5pm · Free · Workshop · GDG Sydney

Vibe or Code? Building the Next Gen Power Platform Apps

Microsoft's Senior Solution Engineer walks you through where Power Platform and AI are heading, helping you think smarter about low-code versus code-first tradeoffs.

5:30pm · Free · Workshop · BizApps Connect

From Portal Panic to Pipeline Power: Introduction to Azure IaC

Learn how to stop clicking around Azure portals and start building reliable cloud infrastructure through code, explained for beginners.

6pm · Free · Meetup · Live Stream: www.ssw.com.au/live/

Sydney | Founder Stories: Dr Olga Oleinikova & Kyrylo Medvediev — co-founders of Heylink.me| Kangaru Talk at AWS

Hear how a couple tested dozens of ideas over five years before finding their pivot to 11M users, told in Russian.

6pm · Free · Fireside · KANGARU

Saari Open Dinner with Vinisha Rathod

Intimate dinner connecting South Asian founders and creatives who are actually building things, hosted by Vinisha in a room you'll want to be part of.

7pm · RSVP · Social · SAARI Collective

AI Salon Sydney May 2026

Three AI founders showing how they're using tech to solve growth, communication and presence, plus solid time to meet the room.

5:30pm · RSVP · Networking · AI Salon (www.AiSalon.ai)

From Startup Curious to Unicorn | Sip & Scale × Build Club × Antler

Panel and pitch night where startup curious folks meet founders actually building, real talk about making the jump from idea to doing it.

6pm · $7 · Networking · Sip & Scale Sydney

From Startup Curious to Unicorn | BuildClub x Sip&Scale Supported by Antler

Panel and pitch night where you'll hear founders at different stages and meet people who are actually building, not just talking about it.

6pm · $7 · Pitch Night · Sip & Scale Sydney

From Startup Curious to Unicorn [Register through Luma]

Panel with founders at different stages plus pitch night, solid mix if you're figuring out your next move in startups.

6pm · Free · Talk · Sip & Scale Sydney

A11y Bytes Sydney

Fourteenth year of this meetup celebrating accessibility awareness, hear from people building more inclusive tech and meet designers who actually care about this stuff.

6pm · Free · Meetup · Sydney Web Accessibility & Inclusive Design

From Startup Curious to Unicorn [Register through Luma - Link below]

Panel with founders at different stages plus pitch night, solid mix if you're figuring out your next move in startups.

6pm · $7 · Talk · Sip & Scale Sydney

Deal Catch: Networking & Pitch in Sydney

Watch pre-selected founders pitch live to VCs, then network with investors and other ambitious builders in the room.

7pm · $5 · Pitch Night · Olivier Club

Banter Bench Friday 22nd May 2026

Relaxed Friday circle where blokes can actually talk about what's going on, leave feeling a bit lighter.

6:30pm · Free · Social · Western Sydney Startup Hub

Vibe Coding Lab Sydney: May Edition

Three hours to build whatever you want with supportive founders who've shipped real products, you'll leave with something working and momentum to keep going.

12:30pm · RSVP · Workshop · Vibe Coding Lab Sydney

Afternoon Networking Drinks #27

Saturday afternoon session where Sydney's UX designers gather for relaxed conversations over Japanese drinks, now with an optional dinner crew afterwards.

3pm · Free · Networking · UX After Dark

Design sprint day @Arrayah

Four-hour working session where you'll untangle your product decisions with two experienced designers, bring your actual mess and leave with clarity.

10am · RSVP · Workshop · Design Labs

TechBallin 5v5

Casual basketball with tech folks at Centennial Park, all skill levels welcome and you'll meet people beyond the usual networking format.

10:30am · Free · Social · TechBallin