Most AI events are for people who already get it. OpenClaw Miami was for everyone else — and the room was packed.
On Tuesday, February 24th, we took over The LAB Miami in Wynwood for the first-ever OpenClaw workshop. The waitlist outgrew the guest list. The crowd wasn't just developers — it was founders, operators, creatives, and people who'd never touched a terminal before but wanted to understand what AI agents could actually do for them.
The Format: No Slides, No Fluff
Co-hosted by Purple Horizons and Ja'dan Johnson of Miami Hack Week, the event had one rule: everyone leaves with a working agent.
Not a demo. Not a concept. A real, running AI agent on their own hardware — configured, connected, and ready to use.
Attendees brought their own Mac Minis (or laptops) and walked through the full OpenClaw setup: installation, configuration, connecting channels like Telegram and Discord, and customizing their agent's personality and skills.
Custom Check-In, Because Why Not
We built a custom check-in system for the event. It pulled the RSVP list from Luma, encrypted it, and let attendees look themselves up by email at the door. Our greeter saw a simple traffic light:
- 🟢 Green — registered, come on in
- 🟡 Yellow — waitlisted, we'll squeeze you in
- 🔴 Red — walk-in, not on any list
Fast, clean, no clipboard fumbling. When you're hosting a packed event in Wynwood on a Tuesday night, you don't want a bottleneck at the door.
The Room
Great energy. Four live demos, all solid. The crowd skewed curious — a quick survey showed only about 40% had actually installed OpenClaw before the event. Most questions were general: how do I install it, how do I get started, what can it actually do?
That's exactly what we wanted. This wasn't a conference for people who already know the stack. It was a workshop for people ready to learn it.
Why Hands-On Matters
The AI space is drowning in pitch decks and product demos. We wanted the opposite — an event where people actually do the thing. There's a difference between watching someone build an agent and building one yourself. The second version sticks.
The Stack
For the curious, here's what attendees worked with:
- OpenClaw — open-source agent framework (CLI + gateway)
- Mac Mini / laptop — local-first, your hardware, your data
- Telegram / Discord — instant messaging channels for their agents
- Claude / GPT models — bring your own API key
- Skills — modular capabilities (web search, file management, browser automation, and more)
The whole point: you own it. No vendor lock-in, no monthly SaaS fee for the runtime, no data leaving your machine unless you want it to.
The Reach
Maria from Refresh Miami covered the event and her post hit 175,000 views. The demand signal is real — people want to build with AI agents, and they want events that respect their time by actually teaching them something.
Event videos are up at openclawmiami.com/videos.
What's Next
The first OpenClaw Miami proved the demand: people want to build, not just watch. The next one is in the works — stay tuned.
If you missed this one, the framework is open source. Start here: github.com/openclaw/openclaw
And if you want help building AI agents for your business — that's what Purple Horizons does.
Purple Horizons is a Miami-based AI consultancy that builds intelligent systems for businesses ready to move beyond chatbots. Get in touch →
