AI in Practice
Don't Just Hear About AI - Experience It!
AI Day is an interactive, hands-on experience that brings together students, faculty, industry professionals and community members. Built for businesses, schools, healthcare, construction, hospitality, real estate, the public sector and nonprofits of Southwest Florida and beyond.
Attendees will see how Southwest Florida organizations are using AI in their own work, meet the solution providers behind the tools, join hands-on workshops, and watch student teams build AI solutions live. Throughout the day, there will be opportunities to connect, exchange ideas, and discover what AI is actually doing across industries in the region.
Monday,
November 2, 2026
9:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.
Cohen Student Union,
Florida Gulf Coast University
Attendee Registration
| general Admission | fgcu COMMUNITY |
|---|---|
|
$19/ attendee
|
FREE
|
Exhibitor & Sponsorship Packages
The AI in Practice Expo is open to any organization using AI in its own operations: businesses, public agencies and nonprofits.
Practitioner exhibitors complete a one-page Use Case Card: the problem, the AI tool or approach, the result and the lesson learned. Cards are displayed at your table and featured in the regional outcomes report published after the event. Selected use cases may be invited to present.
If your organization sells AI products or services, it exhibits as a Solution Provider. Presentation and workshop packages are open to all exhibitors.
AI Practitioners | Organizations Showing How They Use AI
| Practitioner Exhibitor | $100 |
|
| Public Sector & Non-profit Exhibitor | Free |
|
Solution Providers | Companies Selling AI Products or Services
| Standard Exhibitor | $300 |
|
|
Presenting Exhibitor (10 available) |
$1,000 |
|
|
Interactive Workshop Exhibitor (8 available) |
$2,000 |
|
Sponsorships
|
H{AI}ckathon Sponsor |
$10,000 |
|
|
Event Naming Sponsor |
$20,000 |
|
Four Spaces, Running All Day.
Nothing is sequential. Move freely between the activities that match your interests.
The AI in Practice Expo runs for the full six hours. Regional organizations show how they are using AI in their own operations, beside the solution providers who build the tools. This is the conversation floor: see the result, meet the people who delivered it, and find out whether it fits your situation.
Come with a problem from your organization and work the room. Ask what a tool costs, what it took to deploy, and who else in the region is running it. Follow a presentation straight to that exhibitor's table and keep going.
The floor also works as a hiring floor in both directions. Exhibitor tables double as recruiting tables at no extra cost, and students and job seekers are in the room all day.
At 12:30 the keynote and panel are live-streamed onto the Expo floor, so nothing closes and the conversations continue through the afternoon.
Location: Cohen Student Union · 9:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.
Thirty-minute sessions at group tables of six to eight people, with a facilitator on every prompt. Group seating, not audience rows.
Exhibitor-led sessions are hands-on: you use the product, you do not watch a demonstration of it. Community-facilitated discussions cover where the region actually stands: current practice by discipline, real versus hype, and what to stop, start and continue.
Themes include AI in higher education, HR and recruiting, business and regional economic development, AI maturity, human-centered AI, and adoption beyond computer science. Every session is captured digitally and compiled into a published post-event summary.
Location: Cohen Student Union · 9:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
Ten-minute presentations, back to back on a hard clock. Solution providers show working products, and selected organizations show AI they have already deployed: the problem, the tool, the result.
Ten minutes is enough to understand what a solution does and whether it applies to your work. Presenters are at their Expo tables for the longer conversation.
Location: Cohen Student Union · 9:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m
Student Innovation Zone. Twelve to twenty student teams present posters and live demonstrations on the Expo floor. This is where employers meet the region's AI talent pipeline before it graduates.
H{AI}ckathon. Student teams work a challenge from brief to judging, live and open to spectators. Results and the winning team are announced in the closing session.
Location: Cohen Student Union · 9:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.
Looking for more information about AI?
If you're looking to collaborate on AI research, incorporate AI into your own workflows,
learn more about the intricacies of AI, or want to showcase your AI proficiency to
employers.
Come learn how at the Dendritic Institute.
Event Partners
Have Questions?
Please contact us at: (239) 590-1362
Past Events
-
AI Day (March 2026 Edition)
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