(Daytime, In-person) Hands-on AI Workshop in BURLINGTON MA

Space is always limited for in-person workshops, but please sign up for the wait list and we will do our best to accommodate as many as we reasonably can. UPDATE: registration and wait list now closed

Other notes:

1. Exact start and end TIMES to be confirmed and perhaps tweaked, but this is definitely a "during the workday" event on Fri Dec 6 at Microsoft Burlington
2. This is a HANDS-ON event - exact requirements for how attendees should prepare are being confirmed, but a draft appears below as Software Installation Requirements
3. We are trying to figure out whether we can offer food (perhaps via sponsorship - please contact us if that's you) or if instead we will break for "on-your-own lunch" (there are many local options)

Event Details

Hello Boston Azure & North Boston Azure Community!

Join us at the Microsoft office in Burlington MA on Friday December 6, 2024, 9:00-4:00 where we are offering a free, full-day, hands-on AI-focused workshop focused on using Azure OpenAI and Semantic Kernel.

Microsoft has kindly agreed to host this event. Microsoft facilities staff will verify each attendee via government-issued ID before you are admitted to the event. Accordingly, we need to have collected your accurate info ahead of time. Please provide this as part of registering for the event.

WORKSHOP CONTENTS ARE SUBJECT TO MODIFICATION BUT THE FOLLOWING DETAILS ARE INTENDED TO BE SUBSTANTIALLY ACCURATE

Workshop Learning Objectives

1. Understanding role and purpose of Semantic Kernel
2. Basics of setting up and using Semantic Kernel
3. Prompting techniques for your application to interact with LLMs
4. How to implement RAG and use memory
5. How to create and manage single and multi-agent systems

Workshop Outline
Understanding Semantic Kernel and how to use it

• Overview of the Semantic Kernel project
• Add it to an application
• Chat with an LLM
• Add chat history for better context

Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG)

• Overview of RAG
• What is function calling
• Create functions/plugins in Sematic Kernel
• Add memory using a persistent data store
• Ways to improve RAG

Agent framework

• Overview of the Semantic Kernel Agent framework
• Creating your first agent
• Multiple agent orchestration

Software Installation Requirements

Please install this software ahead of the workshop:

1. VS Code (Windows, Mac, Linux) or Visual Studio (Windows)

• VS Code ➜ https://code.visualstudio.com/download
• Visual Studio ➜ https://visualstudio.microsoft.com/
• You should be able to launch the VS Code IDE without errors

2. .NET 8 ➜ https://dotnet.microsoft.com/en-us/download

• You should be able to run the "dotnet" CLI command
• We have validated labs on .NET. We plan to also test on .NET 9

3. You will need access to Azure OpenAI and Azure SQL DB services. For simplicity, we will provide these for use during workshop, after which they will stop working.

• But you are also welcome to create your own resources and use them in the workshop. Since you are paying for them at this point, you can decide when to decommission associated resources.

3. You can expect we will recommend you install additional tools and VS Code or Visual Studio extensions as part of the workshop experience.

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WHAT WE REQUIRE OF YOU

As the event date approaches, the conference organizers will be reaching out via an email from meetup.com. This message will help us collect additional information and confirm your RSVP.

See also the Software Installation Requirements listed above.

Given the limited space at our venue, it’s essential for us to finalize attendance accurately. If your plans change, let us know as soon as possible so we can accommodate others on the waiting list.

We greatly appreciate your understanding and support, and we’re looking forward to seeing you at the workshop!

We kindly ask for your cooperation in this process to ensure we extend the opportunity to attend to those who will be attending.

Sincerely,

Bill, Jason, Juan Pablo