Richmond AWS User Group

As a solutions architect at AWS, Trevor Spires dangles his feet off the cutting edge of the Generative AI application space. By a rare turn of events, Trevor is going to spill the tea on what's going on behind the scenes at AWS. Specifically, what tools is he using to deliver value in the field as a forward-deployed Solutions Architect, what trends he's seeing in the AI maker-space, and whatever else he feels called to share! Join us at Ippon Technology HQ in Richmond for beer and BBQ sponsored by Flying Pig Labs, VA (or virtually via Zoom - this is a Hybrid event).

Founders, this one's for you.

The venture landscape is shifting. Investors aren’t waiting for perfect decks or polished roadmaps. They're looking for fast execution, clear signals, and a trail of working prototypes. The new game is speed to market, not monolithic ideation.

Idea to App is a hands-on workshop where you’ll use the latest AI-powered dev tools to take an idea and turn it into something real. No installs, no gatekeeping. Just open your browser and build.

We’ll provide a ready-to-run GitHub starter repo and walk you through using AI tools (like Cursor) to whiteboard, code, iterate, and ship faster than ever.

What you’ll do:

• Clone a starter repo directly in your browser
• Use AI copilots to write and debug code
• Work in teams to brainstorm and prototype
• Learn how modern tools unlock speed and confidence

Who should come:

• Non-technical founders who want to build
• Technical founders curious about AI workflows
• Anyone in the Ideate, Launch, or Grow stage
• People who want to stop talking and start shipping

Model Context Protocol (MCP) is a new approach to AI system design — and very few developers have seen it in action.

In this one-hour session, we’ll walk you through a working MCP prototype using Claude 3, AWS, and the Strands SDK. You’ll follow along as we explain how it works and show you exactly how to deploy it.

You’ll get a starter GitHub repo, AWS credits, and a full end-to-end view of this emerging pattern.

Build fast. Deploy smarter. In this hands-on workshop, we’ll show you how to go from idea to full-stack app on AWS using AI tools like Lovable—without burning credits. We’ll use one-shot custom prompts, CDK for infra, and GitHub Actions for deploys.

We’ll live-code the new Richmond AWS User Group site and open-source the stack. Bonus: Flying Pig Labs is bringing our own source code, plus some ZZQ BBQ.