🧜♀️ AICHR | Build and Demo Evenings
🚀 Build & Demo Nights — Where Hampton Roads Ships Real AI
Something’s building here. Every Month, the AI Collective turns into a working garage: laptops open, ideas flying, and real projects taking shape in the room. This isn’t a lecture or a watch-along. It’s a build night.
Here’s how it works:
Come with an idea, a half-finished project, or just curiosity. Spend the night building — solo or on a team. Then we demo. Show what you made, get real feedback, and see what everyone else is shipping. Working demos beat perfect slides, every time.
Andrew and a crew of experienced devs will be in the room the whole night — to pair up, debug with you, talk architecture, or help you scope something you can actually finish by the end of the session. Stuck? We’ll get you unstuck. Just want to talk through an idea? That’s what we’re here for.
👇 But here’s the bigger picture
These nights aren’t the finish line — they’re the on-ramp.
🔧 Build & Demo Nights → sharpen your skills, form teams, and get a project off the ground.
⚡ Hackathons → take those teams and projects into focused sprint competitions and ship something real in 24–48 hours.
🏆 Regional & National Stages → the strongest projects go on to compete at events like the Startup World Cup (global pitch competition, $1M grand prize) and SCSP’s AI hackathons ($50K+ prize pools, frontier-AI & national-competitiveness focus) — and whatever comes next.
Local reps → competitive teams → a shot at the biggest stages in tech. The people who show up to build on a random weeknight are the same people who’ll be repping Hampton Roads at a national final. That path starts here.
Who should come
Developers who want to build more, and build faster
Founders & entrepreneurs with an idea to prototype
Designers, PMs, and “non-technical” folks who want to team up with builders
Anyone AI-curious who learns best by doing
You don’t need to be an expert. You don’t need a team. You don’t even need an idea — plenty of projects need hands, and plenty of builders are looking for teammates.
Bring: a laptop, a charger, and something you want to make real.
Come build. Demo something. Then let’s take it to the world stage. 🌎
ℹ️ Other bits of info & FAQs
This is a free community event
Drinks or food are available for purchase depending on the venue
Photos or videos may be taken for community and marketing purposes
Come solo or bring a friend
Is there free parking in the area? Yes. They’ve got lots of spots available in their parking lot.
Is this free? Yes, but space is limited. Make sure to RSVP.
🤝 Organizers & partners
Organizers
The AI Collective Hampton Roads
Platinum partners
TechArk
Regent University
ECPI University
Hampton Roads Chamber Foundation
Bronze partners
Assembly
757 Collab
🌍 Our parent org
The AI Collective is a global non-profit community uniting 1 million+ pioneers – founders, researchers, operators, and investors – exploring the frontier of AI in major tech hubs worldwide. Through events, workshops, and community-led research, we empower the AI ecosystem to collaboratively steer AI’s future toward trust, openness, and human flourishing.
All attendees and organizers at events affiliated with The AI Collective agree to our privacy policy and are subject to our code of conduct. Additionally, by registering for this event, you agree to The AI Collective Hampton Roads chapter photo & video policy.