On Wednesday April 28th at 2:00pm, Amazon will be holding a special AWS and Alexa Skill Workshop for students in CSS Bristol! This is a great opportunity to pick up a new skill, as well as to learn how to adapt to using potentially unfamiliar technologies in an ever-changing industry (or in other words, learn to learn).

Register using the link: https://css-bristol-alexa-skills-workshop.splashthat.com

…and you will be able to choose between these 2 labs (or complete both if you like a challenge):

• How to Build an Alexa Custom Skill
• How to Build an Alexa Smart Home Skill

Don’t worry, you won’t actually need to own an Alexa to participate.

That being said, there are a few things you can do before the event to prepare:

1. Open an AWS account.
2. Visit the Amazon Developer Portal to create an Amazon developer account.
3. Download the Alexa APP using App Store or Google Play.
   • For iPhone users, you won’t be able to find the APP if you are using Chinese App store account. Do use global accounts.
   • For Google Play users, you will need VPN to download the APP and change country setting to anything except China and disable GPS. If the country setting and GPS location is still China, you will meet timeout error whenever you open the APP.
   • If you can not download the Alexa APP due to network or account issues, you can use AWS Device Farm as an alternative plan and could still proceed with the lab.
4. Register a  GitHub  account (if you don’t have one already).