Big Data Jax (BDJ) was founded in early 2013 by two technology visionaries, Robby Robertson, COO, NLP Logix, and Jack Caven, Technology Entrepreneur and Founder of multiple tech-enabled companies, with the goal of providing a forum to network with other data-driven professionals. This vision has grown to one of the largest tech meetup groups in Northeast Florida, attracting an average of 50–75 attendees who gather each month to network and see a presentation by a person or organization that is using data to solve business problems.

BDJ sets itself apart by not only consistently attracting a large group for each event but also by attracting top-quality presenters who speak on a range of topics, from technical deep dives to business use cases. In the past two years some of the speakers have included:

• Jacksonville Jaguars—how they use analytics to drive customer engagement.
• Professional Golfers Association (PGA)—how they have transformed into a digital organization to support their members.
• The Florida Poison Information Center Network—presented its state-wide analytics platform and algorithmic monitoring of the poison exposure reporting.
• Ravi Nair, CTO of Percipient and Big Data technology guru
• The Florida Data Science for Social Good—gives a yearly presentation showing data science projects completed by interns.

The meetup group is now organized and led by Katie Bakewell, Lead Statistician, NLP Logix, and Karly Jacobsen, PhD, Senior Analyst, NLP Logix. The two data professionals use their network of other data practitioners to recruit and attract new and interesting speakers as well as attract corporate sponsors whose cash donation goes to purchasing beer and pizza for the events.

MILESTONES

January 2013 — BDJ was founded
June 2016 — BDJ hit 1,000 members!
May 2017 — Moved into NLP Logix Office
January 2018 — Biggest Talk to date: Matt Berseth of NLP Logix and a team of neurosurgeons from Mayo Clinic spoke about identifying strokes through image recognition