Peregian Digital Hub

04/06/2026

The Hub's 2026 AI Cadetship Program is open for applications - runs in Term 3.
For Grade 9-11 students.
Applications close 6 July.

More info / application form - peregianhub.com.au/cadetships

01/06/2026

Our next community AI workshop is this Thursday 4 June - 10.30am-12noon.

TOPIC: Create Stunning Visuals with AI: Design, Generate & Edit.
VENUE: Peregian Digital Hub's AI Lab

From blank canvas to finished graphics - all with AI. In this hands-on session, we will cover some of the best tools for generating images from text prompts, editing and retouching photos without design experience, and creating polished graphics for use on social media, presentations, and beyond.

We'll explore the best free and low-cost AI tools available right now, what each one is good at, and how to put them together into a simple creative workflow. Let's get creative!

Bring your own device (ideally a tablet or laptop but smartphone is OK) with a ChatGPT account (you'll need a paid subscription for this workshop).

Instructor: young Hub entrepreneur, Darcy Smith.

All ages are welcome.
Beginner-friendly.
Free.
Bookings required.
Limited to 30 places available.

BOOK your place now: https://AIimagegen4June.eventbrite.com



Noosa Council

01/06/2026

At this month's Coding from Beach meetup (Thurs 4 June, 6-8pm), we're scanning the agent brain.

In this session, we're treating the "agent brain" as being made up of some combination of knowledge, memory, skills.
(whereas, we'll treat tools, mcp's, cli's, etc as "hands").

This is a fascinating area of AI agent experimentation and there is no single approach that has emerged as a winner. That makes it a great topic for show & tell.

The format is open mic and we'd love to hear from those of you who have built agents with functioning “brains” and have some tips and tricks that could help others.

It could be a custom or third party memory system you’re using, or a file system approach you've cooked up, a wiki, rag system or other custom solution that is proving effective in giving your agent the knowledge and context it needs to perform useful tasks.

Join us on Thursday 4 June, 6-8pm. AI newbies, students, teachers are all welcome at CfB meetups.

RSVP now via Meetup, so we order enough pizza! Thank you again to our wonderful sponsors, Bendigo Community Bank Sunshine Coast for the pizza and drinks.

RSVP via https://www.meetup.com/coding-from-beach/events/314992390/?utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=share-btn_savedevents_share_modal&utm_source=link&utm_version=v2&member_id=198300257

Noosa Council

**At this month's CfB meetup we're scanning the agent brain.** in this session, we're treating the "agent brain" as being made up made up of some combination of knowledge,

27/05/2026

Today we welcomed ~50 folks to the Hub from our Noosa Seniors community, for an Intro to AI presentation by Hub Director, Chris Boden. It was the launch of a workshop series aimed at helping our Seniors learn and feel confident using AI to enhance their everyday lives.

Our next workshop for Noosa Seniors will be on 24 June (10.30-12.00) at their venue in Wallace Drive, Noosaville. Topic: Getting the Most from ChatGPT. It's free. Book via https://introchatgpt-24June.eventbrite.com

Our next Noosa Libraries workshops will be held on 11 June (Noosaville) and 25 June (Cooroy) - topic: Advanced ChatGPT. Book via the Libraries website: https://libraryevents.noosa.qld.gov.au/

More workshops will run at the Hub soon too - keep an eye out for details.

All workshops are FREE as part of the Hub's Tokenizer Program - thanks to multi-year funding support from Queensland Government's Regional Enabler Program.

Noosa Council

27/05/2026

Today we welcomed ~50 folks to the Hub from our Noosa Seniors community, for an Intro to AI presentation by Hub Director, Chris Boden. It was the launch of a workshop series aimed at helping our Seniors learn and feel confident using AI to enhance their everyday lives.

Since starting our AI Community workshops back in March, we've run 6 hands-on AI workshops at the Hub, and 2 workshops in partnership with Noosa Libraries at Noosaville & Cooroy ... with many more to come.

Our next workshop for Noosa Seniors will be on 24 June (10.30-12.00) at their venue in Wallace Drive, Noosaville. Topic: Getting the Most from ChatGPT. It's free. Book via https://introchatgpt-24June.eventbrite.com

Our next Library workshops will be held on 11 June (Noosaville) and 25 June (Cooroy) - topic: Advanced ChatGPT. Book via the Libraries website: https://libraryevents.noosa.qld.gov.au/

There will be more workshops running at the Hub soon too - keep an eye out for details/booking links.

All workshops are FREE as part of the Hub's Tokenizer Program - thanks to multi-year funding support from Queensland Government's Regional Enabler Program.

Noosa Council
Noosa Seniors
Noosa Libraries

18/05/2026

Join us this Thursday at the Hub for our next AI community workshop - topic: Advanced ChatGPT.

Young Hub entrepreneur, Darcy, will again lead this hands-on session. We'll cover practical prompt engineering techniques to get sharper, more reliable responses - plus how to use custom instructions to reduce sycophancy and keep the model working honestly in your favour. We'll explore Canvas mode for collaborative, side-by-side editing, voice mode for conversational brain dumps and quick back-and-forth, and learn when to use research tools such as Thinking and Deep Research.

For ChatGPT Plus subscribers, we'll also walk through what Custom GPTs are, how to build one, and how to put them to work for you.

It will be a relaxed and interactive workshop - with time for experimentation, questions, and you’ll be able to get help if needed.

Suitable for all ages. No technical experience needed - although familiarity with the basics of ChatGPT is desirable. Bring your smartphone, tablet, or laptop with ChatGPT installed (free or paid version).

Date: Thursday 21 May
Time: choose from 10.30am; or 1.30pm (90 minutes per session)
Location: Peregian Digital Hub's AI Lab

TO BOOK, go to: https://AdvChatGPT-PDH.eventbrite.com

(if you miss this Hub session, we will repeat the workshop at Noosaville and Cooroy Libraries in June - for info/bookings, go to the Noosa Libraries event calendar - https://libraryevents.noosa.qld.gov.au/)


Noosa Council

This workshop series is part of the Hub's Tokenizer Program - AI upskilling. Tokenizer is a multi-year program supported by funding from Queensland Government's Regional Enabler Program

29/04/2026

This month's Coding from Beach meetup theme is Going Loco. Local LLMs, local AI agents, local beach — take your pick.

We'll take a deep dive into all things 'local' with some of CfB's regular members ...

Sage has been building out a local-agent presentation and will walk us through what they've been working on. Chris Drake has been deep in benchmarking different model versions and quantisations across Mac and Windows, and may preview his upcoming M3AAWG talk on wrangling standards bodies toward some agreement on how to handle the wave of AI agents now creeping into IDEs, inboxes, browsers, and pretty much everything else.

There'll be an open mic, too: if you've been running local models for real work, building agents, or have something else to share, bring it along. Half-baked experiments and "this didn't work" stories all welcome.

No project to share? Come along anyway to see what others have been up to. AI newbies are always welcome - including students and teachers.

Join us on Thursday 7 May, 6-8pm.

Please RSVP, so we can order enough pizza - https://www.meetup.com/coding-from-beach/events/314520721/?slug=coding-from-beach&eventId=314520721

A big thank you to our sponsors, Bendigo Community Bank Sunshine Coast for the pizza and drinks 🙂

Noosa Council

28/04/2026

Join us for our next Sunshine Coast Screen Collective Meetup on Wednesday 6 May (6-8pm), featuring acclaimed cinematographer and documentary filmmaker Wes Greene.

Wes is a Director of Photography, Director, and Producer working across short-form, series, and feature documentaries for independent productions as well as major broadcasters including ABC and SBS. With extensive experience navigating film agency funding and delivering broadcast-ready content, Wes brings a practical, real-world perspective to documentary filmmaking.

He is best known for shooting and directing the internationally awarded feature documentary Return to Bosnia, recognised for both its direction and cinematography. His most recent feature, Chasing the Gold, supported by Screen Queensland and Screen Australia, enjoyed a nationwide cinema release in October 2025.

Wes is also a familiar face within the Showdown community, having shot and directed previous winning films Skate or Cry; and Rustworthy.

In this session, Wes will share insights from his body of work and open the floor to discussion, offering a rare opportunity to ask questions and gain practical knowledge about the craft, process, and realities of documentary filmmaking.

Whether you're an emerging filmmaker or looking to deepen your documentary practice, this is a valuable chance to learn directly from an experienced industry professional.

We’ll kick off at 6pm with networking over gourmet pizza and drinks (registration is free for SCSC members, $35 for non-members).

Thank you to the Hub's meetup sponsors – Bendigo Community Bank Sunshine Coast.

RSVPs are essential – via https://app.glueup.com/event/documentary-filmmaking-with-wes-greene-177677/

Noosa Council | Sunshine Coast Screen Collective

23/04/2026

Community-focused AI upskilling at Peregian Digital Hub

Recent AI workshops at the Hub explored both the level of interest among Noosa’s non-tech community and how to support people in moving from curiosity to confidence with AI tools. The focus was practical: helping participants improve their thinking, expand their knowledge, build on their ideas, and apply AI in everyday life.

The program began with three “Getting the Most out of ChatGPT” workshops held on 30 March and 10 April. Seventy locals attended, many of them beginner or occasional users. The sessions were open to all ages, with strong participation from those aged 60 and over.

Led by one of the Hub’s young entrepreneurs, Darcy, the workshops covered key ChatGPT features including Custom Instructions, personalisation settings, Projects, and Voice, along with practical techniques for improving prompts and outputs. Building confidence with these tools also provides our community with a solid foundation for exploring other AI platforms.

Feedback highlighted the value of the relaxed format, clear explanations, and an opportunity to experiment and learn in a supportive environment. Participants consistently reported they now have more confidence using AI.

Insights from attendees about topics of interest are shaping our next phase of AI workshops, with sessions also planned in partnership with Noosa Libraries and Noosa Seniors. Upcoming workshops will be held at Cooroy Library, Noosaville Library, Noosa Seniors on Wallace Drive, as well as the Digital Hub.

Details of further AI workshops for our community will be announced very soon.

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Peregian Digital Hub is a Noosa Council initiative – to build a local technology sector. These AI workshops are part of the Hub’s Tokenizer Program - a multi-year AI upskilling initiative supported by funding from Queensland Government’s Regional Enabler Program. More information about Tokenizer - www.peregianhub.com.au/tokenizer


Noosa Council | Noosa Libraries | Seniors

23/02/2026

The Sunshine Coast Screen Collective's next meetup is a must for anyone who wants to take their short film global!

Join the region's Screen industry (film & TV) for a special evening (Wednesday 4 March, 6-8pm) with Australian actor and filmmaker Hannah Levien, one of our newest SCSC members bringing international experience to the Sunshine Coast.

Hannah will screen her award-winning sci-fi short Hunting Season, which she wrote, co-produced and stars in. The film premiered at the Oscar-qualifying Rhode Island International Film Festival and went on to screen at Tribeca and the Cannes Short Film Corner, alongside FrightFest London and Whistler Film Festival.

Following the screening, Hannah will share insights into:

• Developing a short film with global ambition
• Navigating the international festival circuit
• Working across acting and producing
• Adapting a short into a feature
• Building a sustainable creative career across continents

This is an opportunity to connect with a filmmaker who understands both craft and industry - and who is now investing her experience back into our local screen community.

A big shoutout to our amazing catering sponsors for Hub meetups - Bendigo Community Bank Sunshine Coast.

NOTE: SCSC Members enjoy complimentary pizza and drinks as part of their annual Screen Collective membership.

Non-members are warmly welcome — $35 tickets include full event access, screening, Q&A and catering.

Registration is required for all attendees.

REGISTER NOW via https://app.glueup.com/event/taking-a-short-film-global-hannah-levien-on-hunting-season-screening-q-a-171598/


Noosa Council