Day 1:
March 7th 2026 | Evening Kick Off Event
Location: Columbia University | Columbia Business School | 665 130th street - Cooperman Commons Date & Time: Saturday, March 7 | 7:00 PM – 9:00 PM
🎤 Keynote & Labs Evening Session
Get ready to build! This evening session is designed to provide the technical foundation and inspiration needed for a successful hackathon. Attendees will receive direct guidance on Google Cloud tools and Gemini APIs.
Agenda:
7:00 PM – 7:15 PM: 👋 Check-in & Refreshments
Networking music, high energy.
7:15 PM – 7:45 PM: 🎤 Keynote: The Multimodal Frontier
Intro to Gemini Live API & Agent Development Kit.
The "Anti-Project" Brief: Explicitly show the slide of what NOT to build (No basic RAG, No Medical/Mental Health bots).
Introduction of Judges and Mentors.
7:45 PM – 8:00 PM: 🛠️ Environment Setup & API Access
Distribution of Google Cloud Credits.
Verification of API access (ensure every laptop is ready for Sunday morning).
8:00 PM – 8:45 PM: 💻 Introduction to Gemini Live Agents and Anti-gravity
Technical deep-dive: "From 0 to Hello World" with Live API.
Technical deep-dive: How to master Antigravity for your coding projects
8:45 PM – 9:15 PM: 🤝 Speed Networking & Team Formation
The Rule: Teams of 3–5 preferred.
Activity: "Pitch your skill" (e.g., "I'm a backend dev looking for a creative storyteller").
Solo hackers are grouped or encouraged to join existing ideas to maximize credit usage and project quality.
Workshop Guidelines:
https://codelabs.developers.google.com/way-back-home-level-0/instructions#0
https://codelabs.developers.google.com/way-back-home-level-1/instructions#0
https://codelabs.developers.google.com/way-back-home-level-3/instructions#0
https://codelabs.developers.google.com/way-back-home-level-4/instructions#0
Step out of the traditional "text box" paradigm and build AI that truly connects. This hackathon challenges you to create immersive, multimodal AI agents using Google Cloud and Gemini.
Participants will leverage the speed of the Gemini Live API and the power of Google’s GenAI SDK/ Agent Development Kit to build solutions in one of two categories:
- The Live Agent: Build real-time, voice-and-vision enabled agents that can converse naturally and handle interruptions (e.g., real-time translators, vision-enabled tutors).
- The Creative Storyteller: Build agents that generate rich, interleaved outputs—seamlessly mixing text, audio, and visuals into a cohesive narrative flow.
The Mission: Don’t just build a chatbot. Build an experience that sees, hears, speaks, and creates.
Prizes:
$30,000 in Google Cloud Credits
Up to 4 tickets to Google I/O - 2026 - the ultimate annual showcase of AI breakthroughs and invite-only event on May 19-20 at the Shoreline Amphitheater in Mountain View, CA.
$500 Personal shopping experience at the Google's St. John's Terminal store - not open to the public
More to come!
Speakers:Christina Lin, Developer Relations Engineering Manager - Americas , Google ($652.30B Valuation): Christina Lin is a Developer Relations Engineering Manager at Google, leading advocacy and community programs across the Americas. With over two decades of experience spanning Google, Redpanda Data, and Red Hat, Christina has built a career at the intersection of developer relations, open source, and enterprise architecture. Recognized for driving technical education, community engagement, and scalable architecture best practices, Christina continues to champion developer success and innovation worldwide.
Qingyue(Annie) Wang, Software Engineer | Internal Career Coach, Google ($652.30B Valuation): Hey, I'm Qingyue(Annie) Wang, a software engineer with over five years of industry experience, including roles at Amazon and Google. As an internal career coach for the past year, I've trained new hires, fostering leadership and career progression. Soon, I'll be ICF certified coach with over 50 coaching hours.
My passion lies in the human side of tech, offering mentorship and support to fellow developers. Beyond coding, I'm into unleashing creativity through photoshoots and music. Excited to connect, learn, and grow together at DevFest – where tech meets empowerment!
NYC Build With AI Hackathon | Google Cloud Labs x Columbia Business School - Day 1
Speakers
Christina L.
Developer Relations Engineering Manager - Americas
$652.3B Valuation
Google
Qingyue(Annie) W.
Software Engineer | Internal Career Coach
$652.3B Valuation
Google
Sat, Mar 07, 07:00 PM - 09:00 PM (EST)
To be shared on approval (New York)
50 attendees
Day 1:
March 7th 2026 | Evening Kick Off Event
Location: Columbia University | Columbia Business School | 665 130th street - Cooperman Commons Date & Time: Saturday, March 7 | 7:00 PM – 9:00 PM
🎤 Keynote & Labs Evening Session
Get ready to build! This evening session is designed to provide the technical foundation and inspiration needed for a successful hackathon. Attendees will receive direct guidance on Google Cloud tools and Gemini APIs.
Agenda:
7:00 PM – 7:15 PM: 👋 Check-in & Refreshments
Networking music, high energy.
7:15 PM – 7:45 PM: 🎤 Keynote: The Multimodal Frontier
Intro to Gemini Live API & Agent Development Kit.
The "Anti-Project" Brief: Explicitly show the slide of what NOT to build (No basic RAG, No Medical/Mental Health bots).
Introduction of Judges and Mentors.
7:45 PM – 8:00 PM: 🛠️ Environment Setup & API Access
Distribution of Google Cloud Credits.
Verification of API access (ensure every laptop is ready for Sunday morning).
8:00 PM – 8:45 PM: 💻 Introduction to Gemini Live Agents and Anti-gravity
Technical deep-dive: "From 0 to Hello World" with Live API.
Technical deep-dive: How to master Antigravity for your coding projects
8:45 PM – 9:15 PM: 🤝 Speed Networking & Team Formation
The Rule: Teams of 3–5 preferred.
Activity: "Pitch your skill" (e.g., "I'm a backend dev looking for a creative storyteller").
Solo hackers are grouped or encouraged to join existing ideas to maximize credit usage and project quality.
Workshop Guidelines:
https://codelabs.developers.google.com/way-back-home-level-0/instructions#0
https://codelabs.developers.google.com/way-back-home-level-1/instructions#0
https://codelabs.developers.google.com/way-back-home-level-3/instructions#0
https://codelabs.developers.google.com/way-back-home-level-4/instructions#0
Step out of the traditional "text box" paradigm and build AI that truly connects. This hackathon challenges you to create immersive, multimodal AI agents using Google Cloud and Gemini.
Participants will leverage the speed of the Gemini Live API and the power of Google’s GenAI SDK/ Agent Development Kit to build solutions in one of two categories:
The Mission: Don’t just build a chatbot. Build an experience that sees, hears, speaks, and creates.
Prizes:
$30,000 in Google Cloud Credits
Up to 4 tickets to Google I/O - 2026 - the ultimate annual showcase of AI breakthroughs and invite-only event on May 19-20 at the Shoreline Amphitheater in Mountain View, CA.
$500 Personal shopping experience at the Google's St. John's Terminal store - not open to the public
More to come!
RSVP for Day 2: March 8th 2026 | All Day AI Hackathon | 9:30 AM - 5PM ET Geffen Hall 620
Christina Lin, Developer Relations Engineering Manager - Americas , Google ($652.30B Valuation): Christina Lin is a Developer Relations Engineering Manager at Google, leading advocacy and community programs across the Americas. With over two decades of experience spanning Google, Redpanda Data, and Red Hat, Christina has built a career at the intersection of developer relations, open source, and enterprise architecture. Recognized for driving technical education, community engagement, and scalable architecture best practices, Christina continues to champion developer success and innovation worldwide.
Qingyue(Annie) Wang, Software Engineer | Internal Career Coach, Google ($652.30B Valuation): Hey, I'm Qingyue(Annie) Wang, a software engineer with over five years of industry experience, including roles at Amazon and Google. As an internal career coach for the past year, I've trained new hires, fostering leadership and career progression. Soon, I'll be ICF certified coach with over 50 coaching hours.
My passion lies in the human side of tech, offering mentorship and support to fellow developers. Beyond coding, I'm into unleashing creativity through photoshoots and music. Excited to connect, learn, and grow together at DevFest – where tech meets empowerment!
Host