DenverBricks

Building community, one brick at a time.

denverbricks.org Banner - Connect and learn A community for all Databricks users in Colorado

Purpose & Scope

The DenverBricks (also referred to as Colorado DataBricks) user group is a new community initiative designed to bring together all users of the Databricks platform—data engineers, data scientists, analysts, architects, and AI/ML practitioners—from across Colorado.

Mission

  • Build a network of local Databricks users who can share knowledge, best practices, and lessons learned.
  • Foster collaboration between practitioners in diverse industries.
  • Provide a forum for showcasing real-world use cases and emerging Databricks capabilities.

Audience

  • All skill levels welcome—from beginners exploring their first notebook to advanced production architects.
  • Anticipated attendance: 12–30 participants initially, with growth expected as the community builds momentum.

Future Vision 🚀

Our goal is to build a sustainable, long-term Databricks community in Colorado. Over the next year, we aim to:

  • Grow attendance to 50+ members per meeting.
  • Host cross-community events with groups like DAMA-RMC, PyData Denver, and Colorado AI.
  • Offer hands-on workshops and hackathons in addition to talks.
  • Create a knowledge-sharing hub for Databricks best practices, open-source projects, and success stories from local companies.

By combining monthly knowledge-sharing with quarterly networking, we’ll create a vibrant, collaborative ecosystem that helps Colorado practitioners succeed with Databricks and adjacent technologies.

Why Support This Group?

  • Builds stronger local Databricks community ties.
  • Creates a trusted peer network for sharing platform knowledge.
  • Encourages adoption and deeper use of Databricks across industries.

Logistics & Meeting Format

Meeting Cadence

  • Monthly virtual meetings (60–90 minutes):
    • Format: 1 short intro session + 60-minute main talk or a single deep dive session.
  • Quarterly in-person meetings (120 minutes):
    • Format: Two 1-hour sessions with Q&A, networking, and optional “birds of a feather” guided topic tables.

Launch Timeline

  • Target launch: Mid-September 2025 or January 2026.

Hybrid Model

  • Virtual meetings to broaden participation across Colorado.
  • In-person meetings for deeper networking and community engagement.

Venue & Support Needs from Databricks Denver

  • Meeting space for quarterly in-person events.
  • Light refreshments for attendees.
  • Small monthly budget (≤ $100) to offset technology costs and occasional door prizes.

Organization

  • Free to attend and volunteer-run.
  • Led by local Databricks practitioners with support from the Databricks community team.

Membership & Participation 🙌

DenverBricks is free to attend and open to all — whether you’re just starting your first notebook or architecting production-scale platforms.

Ways to get involved:

  • Attend our monthly virtual and quarterly in-person meetings.
  • Speak by sharing a 30, 60, or 90-minute session.
  • Volunteer to help with logistics, outreach, or event coordination.
  • Sponsor to support refreshments, venue space, and community growth.

This is a community-led group, and everyone’s participation matters.

Code of Conduct 🤝

DenverBricks is committed to providing a friendly, safe, and welcoming environment for everyone, regardless of background, experience level, or identity.

Guidelines:

  • Be respectful and inclusive of all attendees.
  • Share knowledge without judgment — beginners and experts are equally welcome.
  • No sales pitches or aggressive recruiting during sessions.
  • Follow the Databricks Community Code of Conduct as a baseline.

Violations may result in removal from events or the group. Let’s work together to create a positive space for learning and collaboration.

Call for Speakers 🎤

We’re always looking for community members who want to share their knowledge and experiences! Whether you’re just getting started or have years of production experience, your perspective can help others learn.

Session Formats

  • 30-minute Intro Topics – Quick overviews, tips & tricks, case studies, or lightning talks.
  • 60-minute Full Sessions – Standard presentations, walkthroughs, or demos with time for Q&A.
  • 90-minute Deep Dives – Extended sessions that explore advanced topics, architectures, or hands-on scenarios in detail.

Topics We’re Interested In

  • Core Databricks Lakehouse features
  • Delta Lake best practices
  • Data engineering and orchestration patterns
  • Machine learning & AI/ML pipelines with MLflow
  • Streaming & real-time analytics
  • Adjacent technologies: Azure, AWS, GCP integrations, dbt, Fabric, Spark, Python, SQL, etc.

If you’d like to present, reach out to us! We’re happy to help you shape your talk, provide feedback, and make sure you feel supported.

DenverBricks CFS Page

Sponsorship Opportunities 💡

DenverBricks is a free, volunteer-run community group. Sponsorships help us cover meeting space, refreshments, technology, and community-building activities. We offer four medallion sponsorship levels:

🟤 Bronze Sponsor

  • Recognition on event slides and Meetup page
  • Logo placement on group website
  • One social media thank-you per quarter

⚪ Silver Sponsor

Includes all Bronze benefits plus:

  • Recognition during event opening remarks
  • Option to provide swag or raffle items
  • Two social media thank-yous per quarter

🟡 Gold Sponsor

Includes all Silver benefits plus:

  • Logo featured on event banners/materials
  • Priority option to host an in-person meeting at your office
  • Four social media thank-yous per quarter

💎 Diamond Sponsor

Includes all Gold benefits plus:

  • Opportunity to deliver a 5-minute welcome at an event (non-salesy)
  • Prominent logo placement on all promotional materials
  • Ongoing recognition as a Community Partner
  • Six social media thank-yous per quarter

Interested in sponsoring?
Please contact us at [email protected] for details. Sponsorships directly support the community and help us grow the Denver Databricks ecosystem.

About the Organizers

Jason Horner — Lead Dis-Organizer

My name is Jason Horner, and I have been attending and leading user groups in the Denver area since 2000. I’m an independent consultant at Empty Cup Consulting LLC, primarily working with Azure tools to deliver BI and advanced analytics solutions. Over the years, I’ve delivered and contributed to several Databricks projects—while Databricks is currently a smaller part of my consulting practice, I want to deepen my engagement with the platform and community.

In addition to consulting, I provide and deliver training independently and as a subcontractor for Microsoft, and I occasionally work on exam development. I currently serve on the local DAMA Rocky Mountain Chapter (DAMA-RMC) board as the VP of Professional Development, where I am responsible for delivering our CDMP certification study groups.

My main interest in running this group is to stay more connected to the Databricks ecosystem, learn from peers, and help foster a vibrant local community.

Co-Organizers

TBD

Become a Co-Organizer 🙌

Denver Bricks is a community effort — and we’re always looking for volunteers and co-organizers to help make our meetups even better.

Why not you?

Whether you can lend a hand with logistics, outreach, content, or just want to be more involved in the local data community, we’d love to have you on the team.

👉 Interested? Drop us a line at [email protected]