The AI Collective • Hampton Roads

From single prompts to coordinated AI teams

AI agents are moving beyond simple chatbots. In this talk, you will see how multi-agent systems work together to reason, plan, and execute complex tasks. Using CrewAI as the framework, we will explore practical patterns that scale from experiments to real production use cases across engineering, operations, and knowledge work.

This session blends concepts with live examples so attendees leave with both understanding and inspiration.

🔍 What you’ll learn

• What multi-agent systems are and why they matter now
• Core agent roles such as planners, executors, reviewers, and coordinators
• How CrewAI structures collaboration between agents
• Practical demos that show agents working together on real problems
• How the same agent setup can be adapted for resumes, sales workflows, ops automation, and internal tooling
• Where multi-agent systems break down and how to design around common pitfalls

## Decide, Commit, Execute: Using AI to Plan Your Year

How founders use AI to create clarity, focus, and execution momentum for the year ahead.

Most aspiring founders don’t struggle with motivation or ideas.
They struggle with clarity, prioritization, and execution.

AI has made this problem both better and worse. Used well, it can compress thinking and sharpen decisions. Used poorly, it multiplies distraction and half-finished plans.

This live session introduces a founder-grade annual planning framework—and shows you how to use AI as a thinking partner to articulate your ideas, pressure-test your assumptions, and turn intention into action.

This is not a generic goal-setting workshop.

It’s a practical operating process you can repeat every year—and revisit quarterly.

Join Andrew Stafford for a guided walkthrough designed for early-stage founders, aspiring founders, and builders who want to stop spinning and start executing.

# ​🔍 What You’ll Learn

Why most annual plans fail before February
The hidden reasons founders lose momentum—and how to avoid planning theater.

The Founder Operating Plan
A clear, repeatable framework to move from ideas → decisions → execution.

How to use AI as a founder’s thinking partner
Use AI to articulate vague ideas, clarify priorities, and stress-test decisions—without outsourcing responsibility.

Constraints before goals
How identifying your real constraint (time, capital, energy, skill, market) makes strategy simpler and execution faster.

The Focus Filter
How to choose one primary focus for the year—and intentionally downgrade everything else.

Turning vision into 12-week action
How to translate long-term goals into near-term execution plans with built-in review and adjustment loops.

You’ll leave knowing exactly how to finish your annual plan, how often to revisit it, and how to use AI responsibly as part of the process.

# ​🎙️ Your Speakers

## ​Andrew Stafford

​Co-Lead of The AI Collective Hampton Roads chapter.
​25 years across two startups, Amazon, NASA, and major enterprise consulting.

# ​Who should attend?

• Aspiring founders with a strong idea but no clear execution framework
• Early-stage founders feeling busy but unfocused
• Builders and operators exploring how to use AI beyond surface-level tasks
• Anyone who wants a repeatable yearly planning process, not another productivity hack

# ​Why this matters

We are entering a phase where ideas are cheap and tools are abundant.
Your advantage is no longer effort alone—it’s:

• Clarity
• Focus
• Decision quality
• Follow-through

🤝 A social networking night for AI, automation, and curious minds

AI After Dark is a relaxed, social-first networking event designed to bring together people across Hampton Roads who are curious about artificial intelligence, machine learning, automation, vibecoding, and the future of technology.

This is not a lecture. This is not a pitch night.

It is a space to connect, explore ideas, and meet others who are building, learning, experimenting, or simply trying to understand where all of this is headed.

Whether you are brand new to AI or have been working in the field for years, you belong here.

​✨ What to expect

• Casual, open networking with a diverse mix of builders, creatives, technologists, founders, students, and professionals
• Organic conversations around AI, ML, automation, no-code, low-code, and emerging tools
• Light, informal discussion prompts to help break the ice
• No presentations, no panels, no pressure
• A welcoming environment for all experience levels and backgrounds

Come as you are. Grab a drink or coffee. Talk shop. Talk life. Make real connections.

👥 Who should attend
AI After Hours is for:

• People curious about AI and how it impacts work, creativity, and society
• Engineers, designers, product managers, analysts, and researchers
• No-code and automation builders
• Students and career switchers exploring the field
• Founders, consultants, and operators
• Seasoned professionals who want to meet others locally
• Anyone who wants to be part of Hampton Roads’ growing AI community

If you like thoughtful conversations and meeting people who care about where technology is going, you will fit right in.

🏪 Supporting local businesses
Each AI After Hours event is hosted at a local Hampton Roads business such as a brewery, coffee shop, or community space.

By attending, you are not only investing in your own network, you are also helping support the local venues that make our region vibrant. We intentionally rotate locations to spotlight different neighborhoods and businesses across the 757.

💡 Why AI After Hours exists
AI is moving fast. Community and connection help us move wisely.

AI After Hours exists to create a low-pressure, human-centered space where people can build relationships, share ideas, and learn from one another outside of formal talks or workshops. It is about strengthening the local ecosystem and making sure no one has to navigate this rapidly changing landscape alone.

ℹ️ Other bits of info & FAQs