AWS is Headed to New Orleans. Join us at Collision 2018.

Next week, AWS is headed to NOLA! Digital currencies, unicorn building, artificial intelligence, and self-driving cars are just a few of the hot topics that will be covered at Collision 2018 and we are excited to be a part of the action.

Not only will we be eating beignets and exploring the streets of Night Summit, but AWS will also be hosting Mentor Hours, where we will be connecting hundreds of startups to top speakers, lead investors, and members of the media, along with providing them with one-on-one time to ask questions. We’ll also have an “Ask a Startup Expert” bar—featuring our Startup Solutions Architects and Business Development team. Interested in diving deep into technology? We will also have three jam-packed days of programming at the AWS Developer Theater, where AWS Technical Evangelists will be delivering talks on topics ranging from “Getting started with AWS for Developers” to “Building an AI Powered Twitter Bot.”

On the Collision stages, we’re thrilled to see Alex Smola, who leads Machine Learning for AWS, discussing what voice means for the enterprise and how it will impact the workplace on the SaaS Monster stage. On the PITCH stage, we will have Bob Van Nortwick, Head of AWS Business Development, and Michelle Kung, Content, AWS Startups, as judges for the PITCH competition where startups will have three minutes to pitch their company, followed by a 3-minute Q&A for a chance to share their product and compete for the crown on Center Stage at the end of the week. Last but not least, we will also see Kevin Lin, Co-founder of Twitch, on Center Stage discussing eSports and its impact on traditional sports.

For a full schedule of where you can catch AWS speakers and mentors, please consult the following schedule:

Tuesday, May 1

10:15am-11:15am – Bob Van Nortwick, Director of Business Development, will be a panelist on the group PITCH stage, which brings together the world’s leading early-stage startups for a live, on-stage pitching battle.

12:10pm-12:25pm – Alex Smola, Global Director of Machine Learning at AWS, will give a talk on Putting Voice to Work on the SaaS Monster stage.

12:15pm-1:15pm – Michelle Kung, Content, AWS Startups, will be a panelist on the on the group PITCH stage, that brings together the world’s leading early-stage startups for a live, on-stage pitching battle.

Wednesday, May 2

12:15pm-12:35pm –Kevin Lin, SVP, Culture, Strategy + Innovation at Twitch will participate in a fireside chat on whether or not “eSports will be bigger than traditional sports”.

AWS Developer Workshop Schedule | Tuesday, May 1st
10:00am-10.50am – Ian Massingham: Getting started with AWS for Developers
11:30am-12:20pm – Tara Walker: How to: Build a CI/CD pipeline with AWS CodeStar
1:00pm-1.50pm – Abby Fuller: Getting started with containers on AWS
2:30pm-3:20pm – Adrian Hall: Intro to AWS for mobile developers
4:00pm-4:50pm – Danilo Poccia: Introduction to Serverless Application Architecture

AWS Developer Workshop Schedule | Wednesday, May 2nd
10:00am-10.50am – Ian Massingham: Intro to AI & Machine Learning at Amazon
11:30am-12:20pm – Randall Hunt: Getting started with Amazon AI services for developers
1:00pm-1.50pm – Julien Simon: Deep Learning for Developers
2:30pm-3:20pm – Julien Simon: Deep Dive: Amazon SageMaker
4:00pm-4:50pm – Ian Massingham: Deep Dive: Amazon Lex

AWS Developer Workshop Schedule | Thursday, May 3rd
10:00am-10:50am – Randall Hunt: Building an AI Powered Twitter Bot @whereml
11:30am-12:20pm – Tara Walker: Serverless for Mobile Developers
1:00pm-1.50pm – Abby Fuller: Deep Dive on ECS & Fargate
2:30pm-3:20pm – Adrian Hall: Deep Dive: GraphQL and AWS AppSync
4:00pm-4:50pm – Danilo Poccia: Serverless Architectural Patterns

To stay up to date with all of the happenings at Collision, be sure to follow @AWSstartups on Twitter!