🧜‍♀️ The AI Collective Hampton Roads

Build and ship a real AI agent in one night

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You've seen what Claude can do. You've built automations. Maybe you even set up that morning briefing from our last event. But here's the honest question: how many of those automations are you still running manually every time?
Most people try an AI workflow once, love it, and then forget to run it again by Wednesday. The problem isn't capability — it's consistency. You keep forgetting to ask.
This session fixes that. We're taking the automations you already know how to build and putting them on a schedule that runs without you. Daily. Weekly. Monthly. While you sleep, while you commute, while you argue with your alarm clock.
This is a live, demo-driven walkthrough. We're not talking theory. We're opening Claude Desktop, scheduling real tasks, and watching them work — all in Cowork mode, no coding required.

What we'll cover:

🔄 Two Levels of Automation

Level 1: Cowork Scheduled Tasks — runs on your desktop, no code, click-and-schedule simplicity. For everyone.

Level 2: Claude Code Routines — runs on Anthropic's cloud, laptop can be closed, API and GitHub triggers. For developers. (Launched April 14 — brand new.)

⚡ 10 Automations We'll Build Live:

1. The Morning Briefing — calendar + email + priorities, ready before you wake up
2. Inbox Zero at Dawn — email triage and draft replies waiting for your review
3. The Self-Cleaning Downloads Folder — file organization at midnight, every night
4. Meeting Prep That Beats You to Work — research brief 2 hours before your first meeting
5. The Friday Report That Writes Itself — weekly summary compiled automatically
6. Weekly Competitive Intelligence — competitor monitoring every Monday
7. The Subscription Watchdog — monthly scan of recurring charges you forgot about
8. Expense Reports on Autopilot — receipts processed every Friday
9. Content Calendar Batch — week's social media drafts ready Monday morning
10. The Weekend Cleanup Crew — digital housekeeping while you enjoy Saturday

🔗 Chaining: When Automations Talk to Each Other The real power: one automation triggers the next. Morning briefing flags an urgent email → draft reply auto-generates → you review on your phone over coffee → approved reply sends before you reach your desk. Three automations, zero manual triggers.

Who this is for: Anyone with a Claude Pro or Max subscription who's used Cowork at least once. If you attended our April 9 (Claude Code) or April 23 (AI Coworker) events, this is the natural next step. If you didn't, you're still welcome — the setup takes 60 seconds and we'll walk through it live.

Who this is NOT for: If you haven't installed Claude Desktop yet, start with our free setup guide (linked on the event page) before the event. We're spending our time scheduling and automating, not installing.

What you'll leave with: ✅ At least 2-3 scheduled automations running on your machine ✅ A free homework doc with all 10 prompts ready to copy ✅ The framework for building and chaining your own automations ✅ Access to the AI Automation Playbook ($29) for advanced patterns and developer-level Routines

Prerequisites: — Claude Desktop installed (claude.com/download) — Claude Pro ($20/month) or Max ($100+/month) subscription — Cowork mode accessible (click "Cowork" at the top of the app) — Gmail and Google Calendar connectors set up (for the email-based demos)

🎙️ Your Speaker Andrew Stafford Co-Lead of The AI Collective Hampton Roads. 25+ years across technology, cloud architecture, and AI — including work with Amazon, NASA, healthcare platforms, and enterprise systems. Author of AI for Business. Currently building at the intersection of AI tooling, agentic workflows, and practical business automation.

Can't sleep? Up late tinkering on a project? Or can't make the usual meetups till the kids are in bed?

Late Night Builders is a monthly hangout for builders, tinkerers, and the generally curious. Developers, designers, AI enthusiasts, entrepreneurs, hobbyists — if you make things or want to start, you'll fit in.

Bring something you're working on, pick someone's brain, or just show up for cheap wings and good conversation. No agenda, no presentations, no networking cringe.

Anyone is welcome at any experience level. Bring your laptop, bring a friend, or just bring yourself.

FAQs
Is there free parking? Yes. There is plenty of free parking available at the location.

Is this event free? Yes. Space is limited, so please RSVP and cancel if your plans change.

🤝 Organizers & partners

Notice: This meeting will be recorded. By joining and remaining in this meeting, you consent to being recorded. If you do not consent, please do not join.

This event is capped at 500 attendees. Register now to secure your spot.

Connecting Claude to Everything: The MCP Deep Dive
Claude is smart. But right now, it's smart in a room with no doors.
It can't check your Slack. It can't read your database. It can't update your Notion. It can't file your GitHub issues. It can't query your Stripe data. Every time you want Claude to work with your actual tools, you're copying and pasting between windows like it's 2019.
MCP (Model Context Protocol) is the fix. It's the universal adapter that connects Claude to Gmail, Slack, Google Drive, Notion, Asana, GitHub, Stripe, databases, and 3,000+ other services — through a single standard protocol. Think of it like USB-C for AI.
This session shows you how to connect Claude to the tools you actually use, with live demos at two levels: Cowork Connectors for everyone (click-to-connect, no code) and Claude Code MCP Servers for developers (install any server from the ecosystem, connect to databases and APIs).
What we'll cover:
🔌 What Is MCP and Why It Matters The universal adapter that lets Claude talk to any external service. One protocol, thousands of connections.
⚡ 10 Connections We'll Build Live:
For Everyone (Cowork Connectors — no code):

1. Gmail + Calendar — cross-referencing email and meetings in a single prompt
2. Slack — summarize channels, find un-responded messages, draft replies
3. Google Drive — search, read, and create files across your Drive
4. Notion — query databases, create pages, search your workspace
5. Asana — check overdue tasks, create tasks, update status

For Developers (Claude Code MCP Servers):
6. GitHub — review PRs, create issues, check CI status
7. Stripe — query customers, invoices, MRR trends
8. Databases — connect to Postgres/Supabase, run queries in English
9. Custom APIs — connect Claude to any REST API (live demo: URL shortener)
10. Stacking Connections — one prompt that touches 4+ services simultaneously

🔍 Finding and Installing MCP Servers Where to discover the 3,000+ MCP servers available, how to install them, and how to evaluate which ones are worth adding.

Who this is for: Two tracks in one event. If you've attended any of our previous events and want to connect Claude to the services you use every day — this is for you. Developers will learn how to install MCP servers and connect Claude to databases and APIs. Non-technical attendees will learn how to use Cowork Connectors to connect Claude to Gmail, Slack, Drive, Notion, and Asana with zero code.

Who this is NOT for: If you haven't installed Claude Desktop yet, start with our free setup guide first. We're spending our time connecting services, not installing.

What you'll leave with: ✅ At least 2-3 new services connected to Claude ✅ A free homework doc with all 10 connection prompts and an MCP installation guide ✅ The framework for finding and evaluating MCP servers ✅ An understanding of how to stack multiple connections in a single prompt

Prerequisites: — Claude Desktop installed (claude.com/download) — Claude Pro ($20/month) or Max ($100+/month) subscription — Cowork mode accessible — Have login credentials ready for services you want to connect (Gmail, Slack, Notion, Asana, etc.) — Developers: Claude Code CLI installed (npm install -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code)

🎙️ Your Speaker Andrew Stafford Co-Lead of The AI Collective Hampton Roads. 25+ years across technology, cloud architecture, and AI — including work with Amazon, NASA, healthcare platforms, and enterprise systems. Author of AI for Business. Currently building at the intersection of AI tooling, agentic workflows, and practical business automation.