We just wrapped up an exciting week at the 2017 Consumer Electronics Show (CES). You may have read some of the buzz around voice and Alexa at CES this year. Companies and developers expanded Alexa skills and integrations with dozens of announcements and demonstrations at CES. Developers like you are helping to build the future of a voice-driven world . Thanks to your work, Alexa now has over 7,000 skills and a growing number of integrations on third-party devices. [Read More]

We participate in a number of events across the globe throughout the year – and we’d love to see you at the next one.

To stay tuned to the latest events near you, check out our new events page. There you’ll be able to find information about hackathons where you can get hand-on education and build Alexa skills, conferences and presentations where you can join the conversation and meet Alexa team members, as well as community-run meetups where you can connect with fellow developers.

Bookmark the events page today, register for one near you, and we’ll see you there.

In the coming weeks, we’ll be participating in a variety of events and we’d love to meet you. Get hands-on learning and learn to build an Alexa skill at a hackathon, attend a presentation at smart home events, join in the conversation at select conferences, or connect with fellow developers at a local meetup.

Hackathons

Led by Alexa Solutions Architects and Developer Evangelists, hackathons are a great way to get the hands-on experience of building and testing an Alexa skill. 

Galvanize Skill Building Workshop | August 25, 6:30-8:30 p.m. PT
Seattle, WA

The Galvanize workshop is intended for software and hardware developers interested in voice control, home automation, and personal assistant technology. We will walk through the development of a new Alexa skill and incorporate it into a consumer-facing device.

/hack San Francisco | August 27, 10:00 a.m. PT – August 28, 5:30 p.m. PT
San Francisco, California

/hack (slash hack) is the premiere hackathon by hackers, for hackers. Three hundred hackers will compete in the 24-hour hackathon held in San Francisco. Hackers at all levels – working professional, college student, or even high school student – can learn from students, CTOs, architects, and more.

Amazon Alexa Virtual Hackathon Decision Tree | August 31, 11:00 a.m. PT – 12:00 p.m. PT
Virtual Webinar

In this hour-long webinar we will build an Alexa skill using the Decision Tree skill template. The template makes it easy for developers and non-developers to create skills that ask you a series of questions and then give you an answer. This is a great starter for simple adventure games and magazine style quizzes like ‘what kind of job is good for me?’ We will use AWS Lambda and the Alexa Skills Kit, and provide built-in business logic, use cases, error handling, and help functions for your new skill. Simply come up with the idea before we begin and we will help you build it.

TechCrunch Disrupt San Francisco Hackathon | September 10, 12:30 p.m. PT – September 11, 2:00 p.m. PT
San Francisco, California

Preceding the Disrupt Conference is Hackathon weekend, where developers and engineers descend from all over the world to take part in a 24-hour hacking endurance test. Teams join forces to build a new product and present it on the Disrupt stage to a panel of expert judges and an audience of tens of thousands.

Code District LA Bootcamp | September 13, 6:00 p.m. PT
Torrance, California

This free workshop is intended for anyone interested in learning how to program voice-controlled devices. Join Solutions Architect Liz Myers to learn about Alexa skills development.