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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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What's Next

This community is just getting started.

If you want to be part of building it:

Join us on Discord — that's where the conversation keeps going between events. Projects, tools, questions, ideas. People actually helping each other. → discord.gg/zXqPQv3Pq

Want to speak or demo at the next one? We're already thinking about what's next. If you're building something worth showing — or you have a perspective worth sharing — reach out. → events@montclair.ai

We had a hunch this community existed.

You proved it.

See you at the next one.

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Montclair AI is a grassroots community for curious, thoughtful people exploring AI — technical and non-technical, builders and beginners alike. Find us at montclair.ai and on Substack.