Facilitator notes ​
These notes are for whoever is running the room. The goal: keep the day moving, keep energy up, and make sure nobody gets stuck for a whole hour.
The rhythm to protect ​
Each part: ~10 min knowledge-share → ~40 min hands-on → ~10 min checkpoint & reset. Protect the checkpoint at the end, that's the safety net. Announce the baseline switch before anyone falls behind.
Timing guide ​
The times below are a planning aid only, they are approximate and assume a ~10:00 start. Follow the sequence of parts, not the clock; if a part runs long or short, keep the order and let the wall-clock drift.
| Approx. time | Part | Segment | Watch for |
|---|---|---|---|
| ~10:00 | 1 | Framing & first agent | Setup stragglers; get everyone to one working agent. |
| ~10:50 | 2 | Context engineering | Treating context as "more is better"; push to what the model should and shouldn't see. |
| ~11:35 | 3 | Memory | Confusing retrieval with memory; reinforce the retrieval-vs-memory distinction. |
| ~12:20 | 4 | Writing useful specs & personas | Vague requirements; push to what/why/for-whom/how-long. |
| ~13:20 | 5 | MCP fundamentals | Everything-is-a-tool tendency; steer read context to resources, workflows to prompts. |
| ~14:00 | Lunch | Encourage baseline catch-up over lunch for anyone behind. | |
| ~14:45 | 6 | Build the MCP server | Incomplete tool contracts; attendees skipping the failed-call test. |
| ~15:45 | 7 | Agent Framework & first MCP-connected agent | Ungrounded answers; agents claiming they acted instead of proposing. |
| ~16:45 | 8 | Native tools & A2A handoff | Make sure the failure handoff is run, not just the happy path; have attendees name one native-vs-MCP reason. |
| ~17:45 | 9 | Human-in-the-loop & condition checker | Make sure the escalation path is run, not just the happy path; leave 10+ min for the day recap. |
| ~18:45 | Close | Point to References for continued learning. |
Energy checks ​
- Right after lunch is the low-energy slot, open with a quick demo or a question to the room before the hands-on.
- Use pair-ups when energy dips: have a working attendee help a stuck neighbor.
- Call out wins out loud ("three people just got A2A working") to keep momentum.
Room checks ​
Before each hands-on block, do a quick show-of-hands:
- "Who's at the checkpoint?", gauge how many can move on.
- "Who wants to switch to the baseline?", normalize switching early, not at minute 59.
- "Who's on the observe path?", make sure they have the diagrams and checkpoints to follow.
Helping stragglers without stalling the room ​
- Triage by bucket. Most issues map to Troubleshooting, send them there first before deep debugging.
- Time-box help to ~3 minutes. If it's not fixed, switch them to the baseline and move on; revisit at the break.
- Protect the majority. Don't hold the whole room for one machine, offer observe mode and circle back.
- Environment failures aren't their fault. If a baseline won't run, it's almost always environment-related; move them to observe and rejoin at the next checkpoint.
Scope reminders ​
Keep the room on the default stack (GitHub, Azure, Microsoft Foundry, Python). When someone asks about a different framework, point them to the adapt path in Defaults & paths and keep the room moving.