Mastering AI Agents: Building Production-Ready Applications
Learn how to build high-performance agents with best practices from industry experts
Building production-ready AI agents with Open Source Software (OSS)
Join this advanced hands-on workshop to use open source frameworks including Strands and state-of-the-art large language models in Amazon Bedrock and Amazon SageMaker AI. The workshop is in-person, hands-on, and dives deep on advanced topics for developing agentic applications.
My Perspective
We attended this event and I was proud to see that what they were demonstrating, my clients and I had already implemented long before many of these big companies. Our early adoption of AI agent technology has positioned us ahead of the curve in the industry.
While I didn't learn much new technical content from the sessions themselves, the real value came from the connections I made. The event provided an excellent opportunity to understand how other companies are implementing AI in their operations and the challenges they're facing.
I connected with several enterprise leaders who were just beginning their AI agent journey, which validated our approach and opened doors for potential collaborations. It was fascinating to see the gap between those just starting with AI agents and what we've already accomplished with our clients.
Learning Objectives
- Building agents using foundation models from Amazon Bedrock and Amazon SageMaker AI
- Building agents using open source frameworks (Strands, Crew AI, LangGraph, MCP Server)
- Observe and trace agentic AI applications
- Calculate total costs and business value
Date & Time
Friday, June 20, 2025
8:30 AM - 5:30 PM CDT
Who Should Attend
Developers, Software Engineers, Development Managers, Data Scientists, AI/ML Engineers, AI/ML Architects, Engineering Managers and Directors, and CTOs who are building GenAI applications and already have basic understanding of agent concepts.
Agenda
| Time | Session |
|---|---|
| 8:30 - 9:00 AM | Breakfast |
| 9:00 - 9:30 AM | Introduction to agentic AI and Strands Agents |
| 9:30 – 9:45 AM | Workshop environment setup |
| 9:45 – 10:30 AM | Building agents from scratch |
| 10:30 – 10:45 AM | Break |
| 10:45 – 11:30 AM | Open source frameworks deep dive on Crew AI and Strands |
| 11:30 AM – 12:15 PM | Text to SQL agents |
| 12:15 – 1:00 PM | Lunch |
| 1:00 – 2:00 PM | Security analysis using Model Context Protocol (MCP) in OpenSearch |
| 2:00 – 2:45 PM | Evaluating agents and how to get to production |
| 2:45 – 3:00 PM | Break |
| 3:00 – 3:30 PM | Learn how AWS Advanced Tier Services Partner, FloTorch helps their customers move OSS AI agents to production |
| 3:30 – 4:15 PM | Observability and tracing using Langfuse |
| 4:15 – 4:45 PM | Total cost of ownership and business value |
| 4:45 – 5:30 PM | Use cases and discussion |
Key Takeaways & Industry Insights
Enterprise Adoption Trends
Most enterprises are still in the early stages of AI agent adoption, focusing on simple task automation rather than complex reasoning chains. Many are struggling with integration challenges and lack of internal expertise. This confirms our approach of starting with focused use cases and gradually expanding capabilities.
Networking Value
Connected with CTOs and AI leaders from healthcare, finance, and retail sectors. Many were impressed by our implementation stories and requested follow-up consultations. The connections made at this event have already led to two potential client engagements for AI agent implementation projects.
Market Positioning
The workshop confirmed that our approach to AI agent implementation is ahead of the market. While many companies are still experimenting with basic LLM applications, we've already deployed multi-agent systems that handle complex workflows and decision-making processes for our clients.
Common Challenges
Many attendees expressed concerns about hallucinations, data security, and cost management with AI agents. Our experience addressing these issues through robust evaluation frameworks, secure data handling practices, and efficient prompt engineering puts us in a strong position to help others overcome these challenges.
Final Assessment
While the technical content of the workshop was familiar territory for us, the event provided valuable market intelligence and networking opportunities. It validated our approach and highlighted the significant gap between early adopters and those just beginning their AI agent journey. This positions us perfectly as experienced guides who can help organizations navigate the complexities of implementing production-ready AI agents.
Want to Learn More About AI Agents?
While this event has passed, I'd be happy to discuss how we've implemented production-ready AI agents for businesses like yours. Let's connect to explore how AI agents can transform your operations.