I don’t charge for workshops. Altruism? No: it’s self-interest.
“If you’re not paying for it, you’re not the customer; you’re the product being sold.” Andrew Lewis, via Tim O’Reilly, 2010.
My workshop process is designed to benefit me first.
I pick topics I want to learn, not stuff useful to the audience. Example: I picked DuckDB for my PyCon India 2025 talk to learn it.
I experiment on the audience. Example: I tried voice-vibe-modeling in my RIP Data Scientists talk. Experiments fail often, e.g. vibe-coding Minecraft in PyCon IN 2023.
I learn from the audience. Example: Rakesh Roshan’s K-fetish is statistically significant, via my Vibe Analysis workshop.
I collect data from the audience. Example: How student copy.
I gather ideas. Example: skills AI will replace, from my IITM DOMS commencement talk.
I publish these, too, with recordings and transcripts.
LLMs let me do more such stuff:
- LLM simulations. We play an LLM-driven case. I learn from the choices.
- LLM Q&A talks. Audience questions → LLM → live slides.
- Cluster polls. Audience answers a question. We cluster live and learn.
- Compare models. I show multiple answers to same question. You votes. We review diffs.
- Learn code prompting. You build the same app with your own prompts. We analyze what works.
- Security testing. Try to jailbreak or inject prompts. We map what works and why.
If your HR team or college is OK with all the above, ping me. I’m game for a free talk / workshop!