Bots (or conversation agents) are rapidly becoming an integral part of your users' digital experience – they are as vital a way for users to interact with a service or application as is a web site or a mobile experience. Developers writing bots all face the same problems: bots require basic I/O; they must have language and dialog skills; and they must connect to users – preferably in any conversation experience and language the user chooses. In this session, you will learn how to build and connect intelligent bots to interact with your users naturally wherever they are, from text/sms to Skype, Slack, Facebook, e-mail and other popular services. We will explore the Microsoft Bot Framework, which provides just what you need to build and connect intelligent bots that interact naturally wherever your users are talking. Through live demos, we'll cover the Bot Connector in the cloud, the Bot Build SDK with ASP.NET WebAPI & C# (Node.js is also supported) and we'll also explore how to handle natural language input from the user with the Language Understanding Intelligent Service (LUIS) from Microsoft Cognitive Services. Every business needs bots to provide a more personal experience to its users and customers. Come learn how you can build your own bots in just a few hours.

You will learn:

• The role of bots and conversation agents in various business scenarios
• The fundamentals of the Bot Framework, including the Bot Connector, the Bot Builder SDK and Language Understanding Intelligent Service (LUIS) from Microsoft Cognitive Services
• How to get started with building simple intelligent bots that support natural language and can interact via the web, Skype, Slack, texting and other channels