Microsoft Build is always packed with big announcements, but my favorite part is bringing those ideas back home and figuring out what actually helps teams ship better software. On June 20th, we did exactly that at Microsoft Build \\localhost:columbus.
Hosted at the Improving Columbus office, the event drew nearly 20 attendees and had the engery I enjoy about smaller, local tech events - practical, curious, supportive, and the opportunity to “geek out” and meet new folks. The event was sponsored by Microsoft Azure Tech Groups, and I appreciated their support in helping make it happen.
I loved the mix of attendees! Some were in career transition and building new skills. Others have been doing this for years and wanted to learn newer AI-assisted techniques alongside the rest of us. A few were working in startup environments seeking to understand how to work with potential customers, while learning more about and sharing their agent development stories. Different paths, same goal: learn, share, and get better.
Why a local event
The goal of our local event was simply to bring a local flavor to the big Microsoft Build themes from early June and make them practical for our community. For me, this means distilling the hype from Build and figuring out how to make it real:
- How do I apply this in my day job?
- What works in a real workflow?
- Where are the risks and tradeoffs?
Grateful for great partners
I had the pleasure of organizing this with three outstanding local tech leaders: Drake Lundstrom, Matt Eland, and Alan Barber (both Drake and Matt as Microsoft MVPs). This was a great collaboration between the Azure Columbus and Central Ohio .NET Developers groups.
All three delivered sessions and helped with coordination and promotion. Community events are always a team sport, and I am grateful for their partnership.
My session: From CLI to PR
I presented “From CLI to PR: Automating the path to merged code”. If you want the original Build session, you can watch it here: From CLI to PR: Automating the path to merged code
For Columbus, I added a few things of my own, including a custom demo that walked through:
- Adding a new page to my demo website
- Using GitHub Copilot’s plan mode to break work down
- Using Autopilot mode to accelerate execution
- Trying the new sandbox capability in GitHub Copilot
- Going from idea to pull request creation
The Q&A was one of my favorite parts. I got thoughtful questions about how these patterns fit real engineering workflows, not just demo scenarios.
Hands-on lab time
One of my favorite parts of the day was the hands-on lab at the end. We intentionally placed it there so attendees could apply what they learned from the earlier sessions while it was still fresh.
For many attendees, this was new territory, so it gave them room to experiment in a supportive setting. I was available to help, and several others jumped in as well, which made the lab feel collaborative and practical.
Three takeaways from the day
- AI-assisted engineering still needs strong human review.
- Agentic software engineering patterns are becoming practical for real teams.
- Local events create better Q&A, better networking, and better learning.
Build gives us the announcements, impactful product updates, and a look at what’s ahead. Local events help us sort through the hype and turn them into day-to-day practice.
Final thoughts
I had a great time meeting new people, sharing ideas, and talking about Azure, GitHub Copilot, and where agentic software engineering is headed.
Huge thanks again to Drake, Matt, and Alan for being great partners, and thanks to everyone who attended, asked thoughtful questions, and contributed to the conversation.