Beyond the Stage: Why Our “AI in Action” Workshop Wasn’t Just Another Tech Event

Most companies run workshops. It’s almost a default in tech circles. Bring in a few industry folks, grab a room, hand out feedback forms, take the group photo, and that’s it. Post it. Done.

But that’s not what we’re doing.

At STEM Link, we just hosted our “AI in Action: Workshop for Everyday Developers” as a pre-wokshop to Sri Lanka’s first research-driven AI hackathon, VibeFlow.AI. At first glance, it looked like any other event: students, speakers, slides, snacks. But that’s only the surface.

The real story? It started even before the session officially began.

Before the First Slide, A Room Already Buzzing

Before a single slide went up, we kicked things off with a super interactive session: no presentations, no panels. Just humans talking tech. Learners swapped stories. Speakers walked the room. Questions flowed. That hour set the tone for everything that followed.

We weren’t here to “start a session.” We were here to start relationships.

So What Was the Workshop Really About?

It wasn’t about showcasing AI as a buzzword. It was about demystifying how real companies are building with AI, and what skills developers actually need to thrive in this new era.

Our speakers brought exactly that.

• Sameera Abeysinghe, CTO at OREL IT, shared how AI tools are being applied within enterprise environments from automation to intelligent systems that support decision-making. He broke it down in a way that made it real for students. Then he stayed hours, talking to students one-on-one. His day was packed. But he gave his time and that mattered.

• Pubudu Wanigasekara, Founder of EN2H, spoke about the rise of vibe coding & prompt engineering, a culture where developers collaborate with AI tools like pair programming partners. He unpacked what AI-first engineering looks like inside modern product teams, and how developers can thrive by embracing these tools. After the session, he spent hours in deep, thoughtful conversations with learners.

That’s what made this special. The talks were great. But the time after? That’s where the magic happened.

This Is the Culture We’re Building

At STEM Link, we’re obsessed with one thing: bridging the gap between learning and industry. And it’s not always about lectures or certificates. It’s about access. To people. To insight. To the confidence that comes from having real conversations with those ahead of you.

This workshop was a small glimpse of that.

When students walked out of that room, they didn’t just leave with notes. They left knowing who they could follow up with, who might mentor them, and who just might take a chance on them in the future.

That’s the stuff that changes careers.

And by the end of it all, they walked away with more clarity, more connections, and the kind of experience and insight that would set them up perfectly for the final hackathon day.