AWS UG Cloud Del Norte

2:3 Hands-On With Live Expert Guidance
OVERVIEW REGISTRATION: Jan 14 6 PM | Jan 15 1 PM MST
⬆️ register for overview access from AWS

Learn compute basics, databases, serverless, ai applications, cost management, or exercise your big idea and extend your existing knowledge with Artificial Intelligence.

Amazon Web Services is providing a series on the AI skills you need to compete in the 10,000 AIdeas for $1000 in cloud credits. The competition will provide you with instructions on how to take advantage of an AWS Free Tier account, brand new for 2026 with features the Free Tier team is excited for you to try. Some of the tools you'll have free access to for 6 months, others you'll learn how to use free forever, and the competition enables access to $200 credits to cover further chargers. As AWS is hosting this competition, it's all about what kind of cool solutions you can build if given free access to multi-trillion dollar tools from Amazon for 6 months.

These free overview of Amazon's Web Services Strands Agents guiding you through bringing an idea to life via Agentic AI solutions empowered by Language Models customizable through Amazon Bedrock AgentCore, covering these topics:

• Intro to agents and agentic systems
• Intro to customizing AI with Strands Agents SDK
• Understanding choosing between different AI Models
• Tool Support
• Getting what you want out of your AI with Bedrock AgentCore
• Q&A

Other AWS services you are encouraged to learn in orchestration with Strands SDK are Simple Notification Service, Lambda, Simple Queue Service, DynamoDB, and the hottest ghost on the block Kiro agentic software creation environment.

## What's This Hackathon All About?

The Global 10,000 AIdeas Competition is one of the largest developer competitions in AWS history, inviting developers worldwide to build innovative AI applications using AWS tools. You can join the competition to compete for $250,000 in cash prizes as well as recognition at AWS re:Invent 2026 and across AWS channels.

The requirement is simple: pitch an application idea for one of the five competition tracks: workplace efficiency, daily life enhancement, commercial solutions, social impact, or creative expression. Your initial submission is a written pitch—no code required at this stage—that describes what you want to build and why it matters.
If selected as a semi-finalist, that's when you'll build your app. Your finished app needs to use the agentic IDE Kiro for at least part of development, stay within AWS Free Tier limits, and be completely original and not yet published. For more details and FAQs about the competition you can head to the announcement post.

## The New AWS Free Tier: Everything You Need to Know

Now let's dig into how to use free tier for this competition. AWS recently revamped Free Tier for new accounts (created after July 15, 2025), so here's how it breaks down:

• $100 in credits when you sign up
• Up to $100 more in credits by completing five onboarding activities (including one specifically for Bedrock!)
• Total: Up to $200 in credits
• Duration: 6 months (or until you exhaust your credits)

One of those extra $20 credit activities? Using Amazon Bedrock in the playground. So literally just experimenting with LLMs in the Bedrock console earns you credits. How easy is that?!

Submit your idea by Jan 21st, no code involved with idea submission. Brainstorm now, learn & get help, build during the competition with your new skills.

Register and attend one that fits your schedule:

4. 6:00 pm MST on Jan 14 (Register )
5. 1:00 pm MST on Jan 15, (Register )

"Let's address the elephant in the room - Will AI Take My Job?" - Amazon CTO Werner Vogels opening question at Amazon Web Services's re:invent 2025 keynote.

If anyone can fill in Werner's shoes and catch you up on the year of progress that's happened with technology and how to navigate AWS newest innovations, and have fun doing it, it would be Darko Mesaroš!

Here to re:Cap the announcements and innovations revealed by Amazon Web Services heading into 2026 from Amazon's annual developer-focused conference re:Invent; Kathie (Amazon Web Services User Group Leader for Cleveland and DMV) and Angelo (of Columbus) have organized an event welcoming User Groups across the USA. AWS Community Hero Margaret of AWS Chicago User Group was inspired to make the event graphic where AWS Principal Solutions Architect Darko Mesaroš is the sun and the AWS UGs are planets. Get it? It's universal.

Stay up to date with AWS news and updates:

• Official AWS news website and RSS
• AWS YouTube channel with re:Invent talks and keynotes
• AWS Hero Luc van Donkersgoed 's (unofficial) The AWS News Feed
• Psst. Can't wait for the details? Download the summary of AWS re:Invent announcements: https://s12d.com/AWSreCapPDF

2:3 Hands-On With Live Expert Guidance
OVERVIEW REGISTRATION: Jan 14 6 PM | Jan 15 1 PM MST
⬆️ register for overview access from AWS

Learn compute basics, databases, serverless, ai applications, cost management, or exercise your big idea and extend your existing knowledge with Artificial Intelligence.

Amazon Web Services is providing a series on
the AI skills you need to compete in the 10,000 AIdeas for $1000 in cloud credits. The competition will provide you with instructions on how to take advantage of an AWS Free Tier account, brand new for 2026 with features the Free Tier team is excited for you to try. Some of the tools you'll have free access to for 6 months, others you'll learn how to use free forever, and the competition enables access to $200 credits to cover further chargers. As AWS is hosting this competition, it's all about what kind of cool solutions you can build if given free access to multi-trillion dollar tools from Amazon for 6 months.

These free overview of Amazon's Web Services Strands Agents guiding you through bringing an idea to life via Agentic AI solutions empowered by Language Models customizable through Amazon Bedrock AgentCore, covering these topics:

• Intro to agents and agentic systems
• Intro to customizing AI with Strands Agents SDK
• Understanding choosing between different AI Models
• Tool Support
• Getting what you want out of your AI with Bedrock AgentCore
• Q&A

Other AWS services you are encouraged to learn in orchestration with Strands SDK are Simple Notification Service, Lambda, Simple Queue Service, DynamoDB, and the hottest ghost on the block Kiro agentic software creation environment.

## What's This Hackathon All About?

The Global 10,000 AIdeas Competition is one of the largest developer competitions in AWS history, inviting developers worldwide to build innovative AI applications using AWS tools. You can join the competition to compete for $250,000 in cash prizes as well as recognition at AWS re:Invent 2026 and across AWS channels.

The requirement is simple: pitch an application idea for one of the five competition tracks: workplace efficiency, daily life enhancement, commercial solutions, social impact, or creative expression. Your initial submission is a written pitch—no code required at this stage—that describes what you want to build and why it matters.
If selected as a semi-finalist, that's when you'll build your app. Your finished app needs to use the agentic IDE Kiro for at least part of development, stay within AWS Free Tier limits, and be completely original and not yet published. For more details and FAQs about the competition you can head to the announcement post.

## The New AWS Free Tier: Everything You Need to Know

Now let's dig into how to use free tier for this competition. AWS recently revamped Free Tier for new accounts (created after July 15, 2025), so here's how it breaks down:

• $100 in credits when you sign up
• Up to $100 more in credits by completing five onboarding activities (including one specifically for Bedrock!)
• Total: Up to $200 in credits
• Duration: 6 months (or until you exhaust your credits)

One of those extra $20 credit activities? Using Amazon Bedrock in the playground. So literally just experimenting with LLMs in the Bedrock console earns you credits. How easy is that?!

Submit your idea by Jan 21st, no code involved with idea submission. Brainstorm now, learn & get help, build during the competition with your new skills.

Register and attend one that fits your schedule:

4. 6:00 pm MST on Jan 14 (Register )
5. 1:00 pm MST on Jan 15, (Register )