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AgentCon Brisbane
Saturday, November 1
Badge Collection
Room 2 ·Breakfast and networking
Room 1 ·Building a pizza-ordering agent with Azure AI
AI agents are rapidly transforming the way we live and work. In this talk, you’ll get an understanding of how agents work, see a live video agent interacting with customers, and learn how to build your own interactive agent to order pizza.
David Smith is an AI team leader for Microsoft Developer Relations in Australia. A data scientist and Generative AI expert, he is a co-author of "Introduction to R" and a founding board member of the R Consortium. Follow David on social media as @revodavid.
Time to get with the vibe (coding)!
Vibe coding is here — and it’s not just a phase. With tools like GitHub Copilot, ChatGPT, Cursor, Cody, Claude, and Gemini changing how we write software, coding with AI is becoming less science fiction and more everyday workflow. In this session, we’ll explore the different flavours of vibe coding, from casual autocomplete to full-blown AI pair programming. You’ll get tips on how to prompt effectively, spot when the vibes are lying to you, and keep your AI co-pilot from flying you straight into a mountain. Whether you’re already deep in the vibe or just starting to experiment, this talk will help you code faster, smarter, and with fewer existential crises.
Through 20 years of experience, I have consulted and worked across a large range of sectors, public and private, small and large. I've been a developer, lead teams, managed and coached people and consulted and advised clients from development teams up to C level staff.
Lessons Learned Building the Ultimate AI Bug Reporter
Traditional specs slow you down, and vague bug reports drive devs crazy. What if backlog items could practically write themselves?
In this session, Adam Cogan takes you behind the scenes to see exactly how to build a real-world AI tool. From a messy prototype to a enterprise ready production app, the tool automatically captures, transcribes, structures, and assigns actionable work items. Using Azure, Whisper, and the ChatGPT API, you'll see a practical implementation that eliminates frustrating context switches, clears up ambiguity, and drastically speeds up bug and feature reporting.
Along the way, Adam hit the MCP world. Come learn his candid insights and hard-earned lessons about integrating AI into everyday software workflows, so you can avoid common pitfalls and get a head-start building your own AI-powered development tools.
Adam Cogan blogs at adamcogan.com and interviews for tv.ssw.com frequently. He is the Chief Architect at SSW, a Microsoft Certified Gold Partner specializing in custom enterprise .NET and Azure solutions mostly using Angular and React. His solutions also involve Office365, SharePoint, Dynamics 365, and Power BI. *Clients* - At SSW, Adam has been developing custom solutions for businesses across a range of industries such as Government, engineering, banking, insurance, and manufacturing since 1990 for clients such as Microsoft, CBA, and Aurecon. *Scrum* - Adam is a Certified Scrum Trainer with scrum.org, trains developers in Australia, the US, UK and Europe, and contributes to scrum.org thinking. He consults with development teams on improving their scrum process through mentoring and being an SSW Solution Architect and Scrum Master. He has written many rules around Scrum best practices. *China* - Adam has also run multiple consulting firms in China for the last 12 years. Adam has seen the whole Chinese software ecosystem develop and understand the differences that the Chinese market requires in order to be successful. Adam helps western companies modernize their software, so they are not only servicing the USA and European markets, but also grabbing a slice of the Chinese market of 1.4 billion consumers. *Speaking* - In addition to being a Microsoft MVP in Azure DevOps, Adam is one of only 3 Microsoft Regional Directors in Australia. In this role, he regularly presents in conferences such as TechEd (USA, Australia, New Zealand, Europe and Malaysia). A couple of times a year, he visits Microsoft headquarters in Seattle to learn the latest on Microsoft strategic directions and to undertake training in development technologies. His favourite Microsoft teams that he loves to work with are Nat Friedman’s GitHub and Azure DevOps team, James Phillips’ Power BI team, and Jeff Teper’s SharePoint team. *Software Architecture* - Adam enjoys working with teams, improving their usage of Scrum and DevOps, reviewing the architecture of large .NET and Azure projects, while also taking an active interest in the overall User Experience (UX). He is also the founder and a mentor of SSW’s FireBootCamp, an intensive 9-week .NET training course where developers are retrained learning developer and architecture best practices.
Shaping tomorrow’s intelligence
Take a look at where we have reached in the development of AI currently, and what’s possible with the tools we have available to us. Explore customising LLM system prompts, MCP Servers, and basic AI agents using n8n. Then look to the future of what the next 10 years of AI development might look like and some considerations for important decisions.
Liam D’Souza is a third-year software engineering student at the Queensland University of Technology, with a strong interest in emerging technologies including AI and cyber security. He’s passionate about using technology to solve real-world problems and enjoys working on projects that combine innovation, collaboration and creative thinking to create meaningful impact. Liam has held leadership roles in student-led initiatives and thrives in team environments where diverse ideas are turned to reality. He has led University teams to co-organise events that bring together students, academics and industry, helping foster connections and knowledge sharing across all areas of technology.
Lunch
Lunch Break
LEGO Meets GPT on Azure: Gear up for an Agentic Robotics Adventure!
"Why can't ChatGPT make our LEGO robot move?" That's the question my 13-year-old daughter and her school robotics team threw at me. As a so-called tech-savvy dad (who can't resist a good challenge), my answer was: "Let's do it for the FIRST LEGO League season!"
This talk is the story of how we brought LEGO robotics agents to life - super fun, interactive agents that can listen, plan, and actually move a real LEGO Spike Prime robot. All powered by GPT, Azure, and a dash of dad-determination! We'll take you on a hands-on journey of transforming GenAI models into a group of agents that can control the LEGO robot.
What you will discover:
- Agentic Brains 101: How we transformed an LLM into a goal-driven agents that can make plans and execute robotic tasks.
- Enhance Models: Teaching GPT to 'think' like a LEGO master and interact with Spike Prime hub.
- Making it Real: Building an integration loop that connects AI, LEGO, and physical world for real-time feedback.
- Zero to Hero App Dev: Creating an AI-powered app on Azure for students to learn coding and command the robot.
- Demos: Watch the robot in action following prompts like "drive in a square" or "tell me the weather today".
This isn't just another AI coding talk. It's about building smarter apps, nurturing curiosity, and having fun along the way. Whether you're a parent, a maker, or an AI enthusiast, you'll leave inspired with practical ideas for building intelligent agents that go beyond chat - all the way to LEGO land.
Daniel is a passionate solution architect with 20 years of experience in developing enterprise-scale software solutions within banking, payment, finance, health and workforce management domains. He possesses hands-on expertise across all phases of solution delivery lifecycle, demonstrating strong technical leadership. Additionally, he has seasoned knowledge in modern app architecture, including development, integration, and migration. Daniel can lead and execute with a cloud-first mindset to help organizations realize benefits of cloud-based architecture. He has proven skills and abilities of design and development in a complex environment (legacy/ brownfield/ greenfield) via multi-year roadmap.
Vide Coding Your First Agentic Business App
Imagine you're given 48 hours to demonstrate whether a paper-based business process can be automated with an agentic process and business application.
Could you use Microsoft Power Platform and AI services to meet the challenge?
Join in this session as Neil Benson puts Copilot to the test and demonstrates how far beginners can get vibe coding their first agentic application.
I founded Novagentic to build standardised agentic processes for regulated industries such as financial services, healthcare, education and public sector. I also run Customery, which provides agile training to Microsoft Dynamics 365 and Power Platform professionals. I host several podcasts including Amazing Apps and That Super Show.
🤖 Offline AI Magic: Run LLMs Locally with LM Studio & .NET 9
Discover the full power of offline AI in this epic deep-dive session with Jernej Kavka (JK), SSW Solution Architect + Microsoft MVP. From understanding why offline LLMs matter for privacy, data sovereignty, and latency to configuring tools like LM Studio, Docker, and .NET 9, JK walks you through everything you need to run local models like a pro.
Jernej Kavka (JK) is a Microsoft AI MVP, SSW Solution Architect, and organizer of several user groups like AI Hack Days and Global AI The Podcast. JK is a full-stack .NET developer, but his passion lies in Azure Cognitive Services, AI and machine learning. He is the main architect behind SSW's virtual receptionist - SophieAI: https://sswsophie.com He is also very active in the developer community and enjoys speaking at conferences like NDC, DDD, as well as User Groups and Hack Days.
Your Niche, Your AI
Discover how to build world-class AI products by leveraging your domain expertise to create impactful, AI-first solutions for underserved market niches.
Jason Tan boostrapped Engage AI from concept to 100,000 users worldwide, enabling clients to generate revenue for their B2B businesses. He now helps companies unlock new growth by building AI products.
Bridging Heart, Mind & Machine: The Future of Human-Centred Learning in the Age of AI
In a world where AI can automate knowledge, the real challenge is designing experiences that still engage the human. In this lightning talk, Jalpa Dattani from Kokoro Bridge Consulting, shares how her team is blending behavioural science, learning design, and AI to build learning ecosystems that are not only intelligent — but empathetic.
Discover how Kokoro Bridge is transforming corporate capability programs through AI-enhanced learning design, adaptive pathways, and data-driven personalisation — helping organisations bridge the gap between knowing and doing. This session explores how we can use AI to augment human potential, not replace it, and why the future of learning belongs at the intersection of heart, mind, and machine.
Jalpa is the Learning Strategist of Kokoro Bridge, a learning-design consultancy that blends human-centred creativity with technology-driven innovation. With over a decade at the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, she has led large-scale capability uplift programs for lenders and business bankers, shaping how professionals learn, adapt, and grow in an evolving digital world. Her career spans senior learning and development roles across The College of Law, Chartered Accountants ANZ, Think Education Group, and Kaplan Professional, bringing together expertise in education, design thinking, and commercial strategy. A passionate advocate for social innovation, diversity, and mental well-being, Jalpa works to create learning environments that connect technology with purpose — where AI enhances human potential rather than replaces it.
Coffee break
Afternoon Beverages
Making AI Systems You Can Trust in Production
Building impressive AI demos is easy - building AI systems that work reliably in production is hard.
This talk dives into battle-tested patterns and techniques for creating robust RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation) applications and agentic workflows that your users can depend on.
We'll cover everything from handling hallucinations and managing context windows, to implementing proper error handling, semantic routing and monitoring for AI systems.
Through real-world examples and hard-learned lessons, you'll discover practical strategies for moving beyond proof-of-concept to production-ready AI applications.
I have worked for more than 15 years both in Australia, and Germany, as a consultant in software development, AI & machine learning, operations research and automation. I'm passionate about software development, AI & ML, operations research and their broader effects on organisations and society.
Search, Summarize, Simplify: Copilot Multi-Agents for Everyday Productivity
In a world overflowing with emails and documents, staying productive means finding the right information quickly and acting on it without delay.
In this session, we will discuss how to build and deploy Copilot Multi-Agents that simplify everyday work by automatically summarizing emails, extracting action points, and searching SharePoint for related content.
We will explore how AI, Microsoft Copilot, and Power Platform come together to create intelligent workflows that save time, reduce context-switching, and empower users to focus on what really matters.
Whether you’re an IT professional, a developer, or a business leader, you will get to see and experience a live demo showing how AI agents can become your everyday productivity partners.
Asif, is a Solution Architect at Munich Re, Singapore. He drives the development of innovative app solutions by leveraging cutting-edge technologies and cloud-native applications. With over 11 years of diverse experience as a software engineer, architect, and product owner, he has successfully navigated roles in both product-based companies and financial institutions. As a Microsoft MVP for the past 3 years in Microsoft Azure, Asif is not just a certified solution architect but also a passionate developer, blogger, speaker, technical evangelist, and co-organizer of the Microsoft Azure Singapore user group and Data Platform User Group.