Tuesday 1:30 PM - 5:00 PM · Room A314
Unlocking AI: A Practical Guide for Business and IT Pros
Treb Gatte
Marquee Insights, make better, faster decisions with smarter data.
"Treb was very knowledgeable and provided great insight on the past and future of AI."
"Great overview of what's possible with AI."
"I thought Copilot and ChatGPT was all there was to AI. Now I know there's a lot more." --Attendee Quotes from Feedback Survey
Many are struggling with AI A recent study from Slack showed that core AI literacy is a blocker for many AI projects. Discover why AI literacy is a game-changer for businesses worldwide. Join our workshop to demystify AI concepts, overcome common challenges, and gain a competitive edge. Let me guide you through the intricacies of AI and empower you to lead with confidence.
Problem #1: Lack of Clarity on AI's Practical Impact. Many organizations still struggle to understand impactful AI use cases beyond initial experiments.
Problem #2: Integration Into Existing Processes. Difficulty in smoothly integrating AI into current workflows without major disruptions.
Problem #3: Skepticism and Resistance. Employees and leaders have mixed feelings, ranging from fear of job loss to skepticism about AI's abilities.
Yet we know we work better with AI, we still struggle.
"...those who are trained to use AI are up to 19 times as likely to report that AI is improving their productivity." Workforce Index Study 2024, Slack.
AI Literacy with Focus on the Real World Embark on a transformational journey with AI literacy tailored for business and IT professionals. Overcome the hurdles of AI technology adoption and pave your path to business excellence. Gain practical insights and strategies to thrive in the evolving digital landscape.
You'll learn: Understand AI Concepts Discover the diverse applications of AI across industries and how they drive innovation and efficiency in business operations.
Enhance Communication with AI Master the art of AI communication, transitioning from search queries to insightful dialogues with ease.
Master AI Training Techniques Elevate your skills by understanding the distinctions between training, fine-tuning, and grounding practices.
Curriculum
- Introduction
- What is AI, where we cover the different types of AI and how they are used
- What are the best AI uses today?
- Basics of how LLMs work, hallucinations, and more
- What's next in AI? Agents, Agencies, and Swarms
- Conclusion
Wednesday 11:40 AM - 12:50 PM · Room A404
How to Avoid AI Disasters: Copilot, Data Security, and Unintended Consequences
Treb Gatte
Marquee Insights, make better, faster decisions with smarter data.
Say your company rushes in the coming months to implement a Copilot over their Intranet. An employee asks the Copilot, "How much does my co-worker make?" How will it answer?
This scenario becomes plausible as Copilot is connected to data sources for Q&A activities. If the data related to pay, layoffs, and other sensitive topics is accessible by the AI, it's possible that an employee could get an answer to their question. You should take great care before connecting it to your own internal data.
Unfortunately hearing GPT, AI and Machine Learning terms thrown about like doubloons at a Mardi Gras parade in the news is giving many organizations FOMO. We'll discuss what you should know before you jump in.
In this session, we'll address:
- What are these technologies and how they will impact you
- How can these technologies be used in your organization
- Data and security considerations
- Preparing for unintended consequences
Join us to learn about this brave new world and how you could apply it in your own work.
Wednesday 2:00 PM - 3:10 PM · Room A402
Build custom copilots and Agents with Azure OpenAI, ChatGPT, and Copilot Studio
Prashant G Bhoyar
6 x Microsoft AI MVP| 3 x Microsoft Business Applications MVP| Speaker| Author| Leading AI Architect | Microsoft Certified Trainer, AI Architect at AIS
With ChatGPT, other large language models and generative AI have caught the attention of global consumers, enterprises, and c-suite. In this demo-driven session, fast-paced session, Microsoft AI and Business Applications MVP and Microsoft Certified Trainer Prashant G Bhoyar will cover how organizations can use Azure OpenAI, ChatGPT, and Copilot Studio to build custom Copilots and Agents.
We will cover: Copilot Studio's key concepts Authentication and Authorization in Copilot Studio How organizations can build custom copilots and Agents with Azure OpenAI, ChatGPT, and Copilot Studio?
Thursday 2:20 PM - 3:30 PM · Room A314
Unleashing AI Agents in Your Enterprise: An Introduction to Azure AI Agent Service
Treb Gatte
Marquee Insights, make better, faster decisions with smarter data.
The way we build and integrate AI into our business processes is evolving—fast. Microsoft’s new Azure AI Agent Service is changing the game, offering a powerful, orchestrated AI agent framework that simplifies building intelligent, multi-modal applications.
In this interactive session, you’ll get an inside look at how Azure AI Agent Service enables AI agents that plan, reason, and act autonomously—without complex coding. Whether you’re exploring AI-driven copilots, automating business workflows, or building next-gen customer experiences, this service unlocks new possibilities for AI adoption at scale.
What You’ll Learn:
- What Azure AI Agent Service is and why it matters
- How AI agents use tools, memory, and actions to automate tasks
- Real-world use cases and demos showcasing AI-driven automation
- How to get started and integrate this service into your Azure environment
This session is perfect for attendees looking to cut through the hype and get practical with AI agents. Don't miss this opportunity to stay ahead of the curve and discover how Azure AI Agent Service can accelerate AI adoption in your organization!
Thursday 4:10 PM - 5:20 PM · Room A311
Building Multimodal Apps, Autonomous Agents, Copilots using GenAI(Azure AI Foundry & Copilot Studio)
Prashant G Bhoyar
6 x Microsoft AI MVP| 3 x Microsoft Business Applications MVP| Speaker| Author| Leading AI Architect | Microsoft Certified Trainer, AI Architect at AIS
An agent is a powerful AI companion that can handle a range of interactions and tasks, from resolving issues requiring complex conversations to autonomously determining the best action to take based on its instructions and context. Agents coordinate a collection of language models, along with instructions, context, knowledge sources, topics, actions, inputs, and triggers to accomplish your desired goals.
In this session, Microsoft AI and Business Applications MVP and Microsoft Certified Trainer Prashant G Bhoyar will cover the following topics in detail:
- What are Multimodal GenAI Applications? 2)What are AI Agents?
- What are Autonomous Agents?
- What are Custom Copilots?
- Azure AI Foundy: An in-depth overview of the Azure AI Foundy.
- Microsoft Copilot Studio lets you create powerful AI-powered copilots for a range of requests—from providing simple answers to common questions to resolving issues requiring complex conversations. Engage with customers and employees in multiple languages across websites, mobile apps, Facebook, Microsoft Teams, or any channel supported by the Azure Bot Framework.
- Responsible AI: Delve into the ethics and responsible use of AI.
- Enterprise-level applications, Custom Copilots, AI Agents: Learn to develop robust, scalable multimodal applications, Custom Copilots, and AI Agents focusing on industry requirements and best practices.
Friday 9:00 AM - 10:10 AM · Room A311
AI Showdown: Microsoft Copilot Studio vs. Azure AI Studio - Which One Will Transform Your Workflow?
Samir Makwana
Founder of Cloudtrify | Cloud Solution Architect | Angel Investor
Step into the future of productivity with our engaging session, "AI Showdown: Microsoft Copilot Studio vs. Azure AI Studio—Which One Will Transform Your Workflow?" This 70-minute session is designed to provide a comprehensive understanding of these two powerful AI platforms, with real-world scenarios and demos, helping you determine which tool will best enhance your workflow and drive innovation in your organization.
Friday 10:20 AM - 11:30 AM · Room A311
Build your Data-Driven Agent using Azure AI Foundry
Manpreet Singh
Senior Architect | MVP | MCT | Author | Speaker | Blogger
Want to build intelligent agents that truly understand and act on your data? This session introduces you to Azure AI Foundry, a powerful platform designed to streamline the creation of data-driven agents. We'll move beyond theory and delve into a practical, hands-on approach, demonstrating how to leverage Foundry's capabilities to build agents that can connect to your data, reason, and automate tasks.
This session will guide you through the key steps of agent development using Azure AI Foundry, covering:
Introduction to Azure AI Foundry: A comprehensive overview of Foundry's architecture, key components, and the benefits it offers for building data-driven agents. We'll explore how Foundry simplifies the agent development lifecycle and accelerates time to market.
Connecting to Your Data: Learn how to seamlessly integrate your data sources with Azure AI Foundry. We'll discuss various data connectors, data ingestion techniques, and best practices for ensuring data quality and security.
Building Agent Logic: Explore the tools and frameworks within Foundry for defining the logic and behavior of your agents. This includes using pre-built components, customizing agent actions, and implementing decision-making processes.
Leveraging Azure AI Services: Discover how to integrate Azure AI services, such as Azure Cognitive Services for natural language processing and Azure Machine Learning for predictive analytics, into your Foundry agents to enhance their intelligence and capabilities.
Agent Deployment and Management: Learn about the deployment options available within Azure AI Foundry and how to manage your agents at scale. We'll cover monitoring, logging, and other essential aspects of agent lifecycle management.
Real-World Use Cases and Examples: Explore real-world applications of data-driven agents built with Azure AI Foundry across various industries. These examples will showcase the potential of Foundry and inspire your own agent development projects.
This session is ideal for developers, data scientists, and anyone interested in building intelligent, data-driven agents. While some familiarity with Azure and AI concepts is helpful, no prior experience with Azure AI Foundry is required. Come prepared to learn how to unlock the power of your data and create intelligent agents that can drive real business value.
Friday 1:50 PM - 3:00 PM · Room A311
Be Your Own Copilot: How to Create your Own Generative AI Assistant
Mark Rackley
Director Microsoft Practice @ Protiviti
Copilot... it's EVERYWHERE. Copilot and Agents promise to make your work life better, give you more hours in your day, and generally revolutionize the world. That being said, maybe you don't have a Copilot license? Maybe you need to go beyond ChatGPT to actually have an Agent perform tasks for you. How can the YOU harness the power of Generative AI to make YOUR job easier, to automate YOUR processes, and find real world uses for Generative AI. Go beyond the hype and join this demo-packed session as Mark Rackley walks you through real world examples of how to leverage Azure OpenAI today to create custom Copilots without needing a Copilot license or worrying about your data leaving your tenant.