W3: Building Practical AI Agents
Stop building chatbots. Start building agents.
An agent is not a smarter chatbot — it's a system that can plan, use tools, remember context, and complete multi-step tasks without hand-holding. The gap between understanding what agents are and being able to build one that actually works is where most teams get stuck.
This intensive one-day workshop closes that gap. You'll build a working agent before lunch.
What we'll cover:
→ What agents actually are — the reasoning loop, tools, memory, and orchestration explained clearly
→ The three core patterns: ReAct, tool calling, and planning — with live demos of each
→ Building your first agent from scratch: a working research assistant, end-to-end
→ Hands-on project: you build one, with support in the room
→ Debugging agents — the failure modes that trip up every first build → Memory and multi-tool integration: short-term, long-term, APIs, search, code execution
→ Frameworks: LangGraph and CrewAI — when to use each, when to use neither
→ Safety, cost controls, and when NOT to use agents at all
You'll leave with:
At least one working agent you can extend and deploy. A project brief and starter repo. A clear decision framework for agent architecture.
Who this is for:
Developers, technical PMs, and engineers who want to go beyond chatbots. Comfortable with basic Python — or willing to follow along in a Colab notebook. LLM API experience helpful but not required.
📅 Wednesday 24 June 2026
🕘 9:00am – 5:30pm (longer day — there's a lot to build)
📍 Stone & Chalk Tech Central, Haymarket
This is the 1-day intensive format. The full 2-day version — with deeper memory, multi-tool workflows, and a more extended project — is available for in-house corporate delivery.
🎟 Early bird pricing closes 3 June — price increases after.
💬 DataEngBytes member? Use code DEB10 at checkout for 10% off.
Bring a laptop. Colab notebooks provided. Lunch and materials included.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 🗓 PART OF AI MASTERY WEEK — 22–26 JUNE
Mon 22 → W1: Prompt Engineering Mastery
Tue 23 → W2: Mastering AI/LLM Evaluations
Wed 24 → W3: Building Practical AI Agents ← you're here
Thu–Fri → W4: Enterprise AI Architecture
🎁 Book all four and save 15%: AI Mastery Week Bundle
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Hosted by Peter Hanssens, founder of Cloud Shuttle and DataEngBytes — ANZ's largest data engineering community conference.