Boston Azure AI

This is a bring-your-laptop all-day hands-on event to learn to build with AI. Join us on SATURDAY JUNE 13:

• Registration is CLOSED
• (In-person) Event is Saturday June 13. Doors open at 9:00 (for coffee and bagels!), then event content kicks off at 9:30. We'll wrap up by 4:30 PM.
• We will serve pizza (from AreaFour) and salad at lunchtime
• Sponsored by our friends at Daymark!

TL;DR SUMMARY OF DAY

1. Have government-issued ID to get into the NERD building - facility security will check ID at ground-level then will direct you to the event
2. Bring laptop with VS Code + Python 3.13 + create a free GitHub account
3. Show up at 9:00 to socialize and get set up
4. Program will start promptly at 9:30 AM
5. Have fun
6. Have lunch (mostly pizza - the good stuff from Area Four - thanks to Daymark sponsorship)
7. Learn
8. Go home

EMAIL hq @ bostonazureai.org in a pinch - will check it periodically.

You are invited to join Boston Azure AI for this is ALL-DAY, SATURDAY, HANDS-ON coding workshop focused on Artificial Intelligence. Many concepts will be explained and explored.

IMPORTANT - ACTION NEEDED

1. If your NAME on Meetup does not match your government-issued ID (first, last names) then please correct it in Meetup.com or send email to the account "hq @ bostonazureai.org" with your correct name + your meetup name. Facility security requires that we send them the list of ACTUAL names by this coming weekend, so please do this ASAP.
2. If you are NOT GOING TO MAKE IT please change your RSVP accordingly. We have a large waiting list. If you are ON THE WAIT LIST we will let you know as soon as we can if a slot opens up. The note about name applies to you too, else we may not be able to promote you off the wait list.
3. We will use GitHub, Python 3.13, and VS Code. Please set these up in advance. All are free.
4. https://github.com/
5. https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/free/
6. https://code.visualstudio.com/
7. Python verion 3.13 is assumed for labs - we will also use "venv"

EVENT LOGISTICAL HIGHLIGHTS

1. SAT 9:00 AM ➔ Doors open and COFFEE/TEA will be available: bagels + coffee & tea. (Concerns about the menu? Please reach out to "hq @ bostonazureai.org" - we may or may not be able to accommodate, but please feel free to ask.)
2. SAT 9:30 AM ➔ The event content kicks off at 9:30 AM sharp.
3. SAT NOON ➔ Time is approximate. There will be lunch - mostly pizza + saladd. (Concerns about the menu? Please reach out to "hq @ bostonazureai.org" - we may or may not be able to accommodate, but please feel free to ask.)
4. SAT 5:00 PM ➔ The event will end no later than 5:00 PM, maybe by 4:30

Where: Microsoft NERD (1 Memorial Drive, Cambridge, MA)
⚠️ You need a name, you need an ID, and they need to match.

• ‼️ Government-issued ID is required by facility security staff before they admit you to the building.
• ‼️ Your name on your government-issued ID should match your name on your Meetup account, else facility security staff may not admit you to the building. They require we inform well in advance of all event attendees.

We have a FANTASTIC line-up featuring speakers from Microsoft, Boston Azure AI, and some new faces.

Rough schedule for the day:

What is an AI Agent
Quickstart

Renting Tools to your AI Agents with MCP and x402
The difference between a know-it-all chatbot and a do-it-all agent is tool use. In this talk (and optional lab), we will start by using the Model Context Protocol (MCP) standard to create tools for AI agents. Then we'll see how to apply the Agent-friendly x402 payment protocol to charge the Agent for that use.

Agent Harness in Microsoft Agent Framework

Chatbots and RAG applications have become familiar patterns for many organizations, helping users find information and answer questions. The next step is building agents that can take action on that information - invoking tools, interacting with systems, and completing tasks as part of a larger workflow. Microsoft's Agent Harness, part of Agent Framework, provides a framework for connecting model reasoning with executable actions, making it easier to create agent-driven applications that go beyond information retrieval and simple conversations.

Solving AI Context Window Overflow: Implementing the Memory Pointer Pattern for Token-Bounded Agent
Context window overflow is common in agentic systems. This talk explains why and presents the cloud-agnostic Memory Pointer Pattern to avoid this failure mode in your own agents.

4:30 PM

Speakers:

• Jason Haley - Jason is an Azure MVP and independent Full Stack Solution Architect with a deep focus on Azure and .NET technologies. He is currently focused on helping customers integrate Gen AI functionality into their .NET applications.
• Juan Pablo Garcia Gonzalez - Solution Architect for Startups - day job at AWS
• Bill Wilder - AI x Cybersecurity x Azure builder. Boston Azure AI founder and co-organizer. Microsoft AI MVP. CISSP.

See you there!

Sincerely,