70 People Showed Up. Here's What Happened.

I wasn't sure what to expect.

This was only the second event. A bigger venue. More speakers. 169 people registered, counting the waitlist — a number I did not see coming. All of it felt exciting. And a little terrifying.

But by the end of the night, I had my answer.

The AI scene isn't across the river. It's right here.

Montclair AI Nights — AI for Everyone

Almost 70 people came out to RecRoom on June 25.

A full room. Real energy. Conversations that didn't feel forced.

And I couldn't have dreamt of a better lineup of speakers.

How It Started

Evan Baily opened the night with a live AI newscast.

Not a slide deck. A newscast — interactive, in real time, with the audience in it.

It was funny. It was sharp. It was exactly the right way to open a room full of skeptics and curious people and beginners and builders.

Everyone leaned in — and stayed there the rest of the night.

What Happened in Between

The demos ran deep.

Trustworthy AI for finance. An autonomous council of OpenClaw sub-agents — a multi-agent system built around a real workflow. Running models locally, on your own machine, with nothing leaving your laptop.

Then it got even more grounded. How AI brought a 120-year-old bowling league into the digital age. How it's reshaping entire professions — engineering front and center. How leaders are using it to cut through data and make better calls, faster. And a hands-on workflow for automating your job search with Claude Cowork — the kind of thing you could go home and use that same night.

It wasn't a conference. It wasn't a pitch competition.

It was people showing their work and explaining how they got there.

The talks that landed best had one thing in common: they were specific. Names, tools, real problems, real outputs.

That's what this community is for.

How It Ended

Stephen Ogbonnaya closed the night with something I didn't see coming.

A live review — in front of the room — of an attendee's actual website. AEO/GEO. Real feedback, on the spot, with the person standing right there.

It was generous. It was useful. And it was a perfect ending: not a summary of what AI could do, but a demonstration of what AI is doing, right now, for real people.

The room felt it.

What I Took Away

We're still learning how to do this.

The night ran long. More speakers than we needed. Not enough time to just... talk to each other. A few people told me afterward they wanted more mingling, more networking, fewer presentations past the fourth one.

They're right. Next time: tighter talks, more room to breathe.

But I'll take "growing pains" over an empty room every single time.

Thank You

None of this happens without people who show up and give it everything.

Speakers and demos: Evan Baily, Josh Chaplin, Edwin van Beinum, Tegh Johar, Yash Shah, Andres Ravinet, Keith Timko, Max McMahon, and Stephen Ogbonnaya. Thank you for being unselfishly great.

Host: Niharika Thakkar — the perfect host. Warm, sharp, and exactly the presence this community needed.

Venue: Michelle Ward and Luke at RecRoom — thank you for a space that felt built for this.

And to everyone who came, stayed, connected, gave feedback, and sent those emails the next morning: you're the reason there's a next one.

What's Next

This community is just getting started.

If you want to be part of building it: