AI Agent Accelerator - Christchurch Dec 2026
Description
Build AI Agents that Get Work Done
This full-day live workshop is for ambitious professionals who want to automate workflows and increase productivity using custom AI agents.
Event Summary:
During this interactive, all-day workshop, you will move from AI curiosity to capability. Designed for non-technical professionals, you will learn the entire process of planning, building, and deploying your first custom AI agent to automate real-world business tasks—no coding required.
About This Event
Are you tired of wasting time on repetitive, manual tasks that you know could be automated? This is your chance to get hands-on.
The AI Agent Accelerator is a day-long live in-person programme designed to give you the skills to build your own custom AI workforce. In four 90-minute sessions, we will learn the Agentic Loop, set up an Agent Harness, and connect it to tools and skills with step-by-step guidance.
You will leave with a working AI agent that can handle tasks like scheduling your meetings, answering customer inquiries, processing data, and automating internal workflows.
Key Details:
What: A full-day workshop
When: Friday, 18 December, from 9:00 AM - 4:30 PM.
Where: EPIC Innovation, 100 Manchester St, Christchurch
Investment: $700 NZD + GST
What You Will Learn:
A Simple Framework: Discover how to identify and scope the best automation opportunities within your business for the highest ROI using the SAGE framework
No-Code Tools: Get to know the best-in-class platforms for building powerful AI agents without writing a single line of code.
Practical Skills: Learn the core principles of agent design, from crafting the perfect prompt to training it on your company's data for safe and accurate responses.
Live Building: Follow along and build your own agent in real-time with expert guidance and Q&A support.
Programme Schedule:
Ai301 – Context Engineering
Focus Attention Intelligently
The quality of AI output depends on the quality of the information environment you design around it. Learn how to structure context — session history, long-term memory, and supporting data — so your agents perform at their best.
Ai302 – Agent Management
Operate Your AI Team
Managing AI agents is a new skill. Learn how to monitor, maintain, and improve autonomous agents in production — including memory management, task decomposition, and knowing when to intervene.
Ai303 – Vibe Coding Applications
Build Software with AI
Use AI to build working software applications without traditional coding expertise. Learn the vibe coding approach — describing what you want in natural language and iterating with AI until it works.
Ai304 – Agent Harnesses
Deploy Your Personal AI Agent
A comparison of open-source AI agent platforms, OpenClaw and Hermes, versus hosted solutions. Learn how to set up, configure, and operate a personal AI agent that runs 24/7 across your messaging platforms, automating tasks and managing workflows on your behalf.
Who Is This For?
Business Owners & Directors who want to understand AI at a practical level and drive efficiency.
Team Leads & Department Managers looking for ways to automate workflows and free up their team for more valuable work.
Operations Professionals tasked with improving business processes and cutting costs.
Anyone in a non-technical role who is curious about building custom AI solutions.
About Your Host:
Caelan Huntress helps businesses implement the technology of tomorrow through the AI Agent Agency. He hosts the Christchurch Artificial Intelligence Meetup, founded the AI Coaching Academy, and authored the book Marketing Yourself, which has helped thousands of personality-based businesses turn attention into revenue. Caelan is a public speaker, business coach, and AI educator, with 25 years of experience in storytelling, marketing automation, and digital education. A dual citizen of the US and New Zealand, Caelan shows ambitious professionals how to use AI agents to do more of the work that matters most.
FAQs
- What is the AI Agent Accelerator?
The AI Agent Accelerator is a full-day, hands-on AI training programme for professionals who want to learn how to build and manage custom AI agents.
Across four 90-minute workshops, you will learn how to identify suitable workflows, give AI agents the right context and instructions, connect tools and systems, automate tasks, and evaluate whether your agent is performing reliably.
The goal is to leave with practical experience building an AI agent that can perform useful business work.
- Do I need coding experience to build an AI agent?
No. The programme is designed for non-technical professionals, and no previous coding experience is required. (Although, technically-proficient AI agent builders will also find a lot of value in the foundational concepts taught in these workshops.)
You will learn how modern AI tools allow you to describe what you want in natural language, configure agent behaviour, and build useful automations without becoming a software developer.
One workshop also introduces vibe coding, where AI helps you create and modify software through conversation rather than traditional programming.
- Who is this AI agent workshop for?
The AI Agent Accelerator is designed for:
Business owners and directors looking for practical AI automation opportunities
Project managers and business analysts mapping workflows and processes
Operations professionals looking to reduce repetitive manual work
Team leaders who want to delegate more effectively to AI
Consultants and knowledge workers interested in custom AI agents
Non-technical professionals who want hands-on AI training
If you already use tools such as ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, or Copilot and want to move beyond basic prompting, this programme is a natural next step.
A paid LLM is required.
- What exactly is an AI agent?
An AI agent is an AI system that can work towards a goal, make decisions, use tools, and complete multiple steps rather than simply responding to a single prompt.
For example, instead of asking AI to draft one email, an agent could review incoming information, decide what action is required, prepare a response, update another system, and ask for human approval when necessary.
During the programme, you will learn how to decide which business tasks are appropriate for this kind of AI automation.
- What kinds of tasks can AI agents automate?
AI agents can be useful for repetitive or structured knowledge-work workflows such as:
Researching and summarising new information on a schedule
Processing large volumes documents and data
Drafting or sending communications for customer or internal use
Monitoring information and preparing reports
Coordinating tasks across different software platforms
Managing knowledgebases
Triggering repeatable business workflows
Supporting administrative and operational processes
A major part of the programme is learning which tasks should be automated, which should remain human, and where human review should sit in the workflow.
- Will I actually build an AI agent during the programme?
Yes. This is a practical programme rather than a lecture. A laptop is required.
You will progressively apply what you learn to a real agent or workflow, adding context, instructions, tools, automation, and evaluation as your capability develops.
The intention is that you finish the eight weeks with something you have actually built, tested, and improved.
- How is this different from a ChatGPT or prompting course?
Prompting is one part of working with AI agents, but agent management requires a broader set of skills.
The AI Agent Accelerator covers the complete workflow:
scoping the task → providing context → configuring the agent → connecting tools → automating workflows → writing system instructions → monitoring performance → evaluating results
This makes the programme particularly useful for people who already understand the basics of generative AI and are ready to start applying AI to real business processes.
- Is this suitable for businesses wanting to automate workflows with AI?
Yes. The programme has been designed around practical AI workflow automation for business.
You will learn how to identify high-value automation opportunities, define success criteria, establish boundaries, and evaluate whether an AI agent is delivering enough value to justify further deployment.
The emphasis is on useful business outcomes rather than experimenting with technology for its own sake.
- Where is the AI Agent Accelerator held?
The programme is held in person in Christchurch, New Zealand, at:
EPIC Innovation
100 Manchester St
Christchurch, 8011
- When is the workshop? What's the agenda for the day?
The workshops begins promptly at 9am, so please arrive early to get connected to the wifi.
We will have 4 x 90-minute modules from the AI Coaching Academy Curriculum:
9:00-10:30 - Ai301 - Context Engineering
10:45-12:30 - Ai302 - Agent Management
Lunch
1:15-2:45 - Ai303 - Vibe Coding Applications
3:00-4:30 - Ai304 - Agent Harnesses
4:30-5:00 - Open Q&A
- How much does the programme cost?
The full day workshop costs:
$500 NZD + GST
This includes four live 90-minute workshops, practical exercises, live building time, and opportunities to ask questions as you develop your agent.
- What should I bring?
Bring a laptop and access to the AI tools you normally use.
A paid LLM is required. Bringing a credit or debit card to make purchases is recommended.
You should also arrive with a few repetitive tasks or workflows from your work that you would like to explore automating. These will give you useful material to work with throughout the programme.
- What will I be able to do by the end of the AI Agent Accelerator?
By the end of the programme, you should be able to:
Identify business tasks suitable for AI agents
Scope an AI agent project and define success criteria
Give an agent useful context, memory, and instructions
Build simple AI-powered applications without traditional coding
Connect AI tools into automated workflows
Write stronger system prompts
Manage and improve an AI agent over time
Test and evaluate agent performance
Decide when an agent should act autonomously and when a human should intervene
Most importantly, you will have practical experience delegating work to AI rather than simply chatting with it.
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