Developing and Deploying Intelligent Chat Bots - Sydney Australia

# About the Course After completing this 2-day course, an attendee will have a comprehensive overview of Microsoft's powerful machine learning APIs and comprehensive knowledge around chat bot development capabilities. Specifically, an attendee will gain - a comprehensive overview of the types of ML algorithms available under the Cognitive Services APIs - a practical understanding into the development tools essential to building a chat bot - in depth knowledge into the programmatic structure of a chat bot - in depth knowledge into the way the Microsoft Bot Framework handles messages, state and registration - insight into creating an enjoyable chat bot experience including best practices # Prerequisites There are a few things you will need in order to properly follow the course materials: * Please bring a laptop with internet connectivity. * Node.js with npm installed locally - get the latest at: https://nodejs.org/en/download/ * Visual Studio Code [recommended] or equivalent code editing and debugging environment with IntelliSense. https://code.visualstudio.com/download * Bot Framework Emulator (Windows and Unix-compatible) installed locally - information and links at https://docs.botframework.com/en-us/tools/bot-framework-emulator * GitHub Account - a code repository and collaboration tool we'll use https://github.com/join * Git Bash - included in git download https://git-scm.com/downloads * Azure account [recommended] - use the one you have, sign up for a free trial at https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/free/, or, if you have an MSDN account for development link up your existing Azure benefit We will assume you have already have the following background: * Basic knowledge around using and navigating in a unix-style command line or terminal (for using Git Bash) (good basic guide at http://linuxcommand.org/lc3_learning_the_shell.php) * Familiarity with Git and GitHub as a tools for software development, versioning and collaboration. (great book on Git at https://git-scm.com/book/en/v2) * Have learned about debugging bots with VSCode in https://docs.botframework.com/en-us/node/builder/guides/debug-locally-with-vscode/ docs. * If you are new to Node, here's a good video tutorial series at https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL6gx4Cwl9DGBMdkKFn3HasZnnAqVjzHn_ # Agenda Each day is broken up into 1-4 hour Modules, where you will learn and perform labs on your own. Some material that is out of scope for hands-on labs will instead be demonstrated by instructor-led labs. The modules, broken up into a general agenda are as follows. The specific modules may bleed across sessions depending on the engagement of the audience. Day 1 Morning - Cognitive Services Overview with Demos Afternoon - Cognitive Services Topic Deep Dive Day 2 Early Morning - Bot Framework Overview and User Experience Best Practices Late Morning - Developer's Introduction and Deploying an Intelligent Bot Afternoon - Deep Dive into the Microsoft Bot Framework # Technologies Covered * Bot Framework * Cognitive Services * Microsoft Cognitive Services * Microsoft Bot Framework