Mini-Hackathon: Alexa Skill Building 101

For those of you who didn't attend or didn't complete the big event:

Hackster & Amazon Present: Alexa Skill Building 101,

You now have a second chance!

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Thanks to Amazon and Hackster.io I'm offering an Alexa Skills Mini-Hackathon training session for a small number of attendees (25 to start). The good news is we will have snacks provided by Notch8 and Hackster.io. The better news is that my contacts at Hackster.io and Amazon have generously offered to extend the original offer of a free Amazon Echo or Tap for everyone completing and submitting three Alexa Skills. These skills are written in JavaScript but don't worry, I will be demonstrating some basic examples that will be easily modified to create you own Alexa Skill submissions. All you have to do, as a minimum, is alter the content of the skill templates - super easy. I also have a free Alexa Echo to give away for the best approved submission which means the creative winner will get two of these devices.

Alexa is the speech and personal assistant technology behind Amazon Echo. Today you can use Alexa to listen to music, play games, check traffic and weather, control your household devices such as Philips Hue and Belkin WeMo, and lots more. Alexa offers a full-featured set of APIs and SDKs that you can use to teach her new skills and add her into devices and applications of your own.

I will be teaching Alexa Skill Building 101 starting at noon. In this talk, intended for software and hardware developers, new coders, IoT enthusiasts, and students interested in voice control, home automation, and personal assistant technology, we will walk through the development of a few Alexa skills and incorporate them into this consumer-facing device.

The talk will be followed by an afternoon of hacking. Finish off the day submitting your three skills and being eligible for a free Amazon Alexa device (to be mailed to you by Amazon.

Hackster.io is the fastest growing online community for creating hardware. From beginner to advanced, Hackster empowers people everywhere to learn, build and sell their creations without the traditional overhead of manufacturing, retail and venture capital. Founded by hardware and software entrepreneurs, Hackster’s mission is to help makers succeed in their own right.

Remember, this is for attendees who HAVE NOT already submitted Alexa skills and received an Alexa Device. This event is free but signups are limited.

• Stephen Borsay

https://www.meetup.com/Digital-Design-Workshop