Presented by Brian A. Randell (@brianrandell) and the Microsoft Visual Studio Team
Visual Studio 2022 and GitHub Copilot are powerful tools that can dramatically enhance your productivity as a developer, but are you leveraging them fully? Join Brian and members of Microsoft's .NET Team for an immersive, hands-on lab crafted specifically for .NET developers like you, who want to maximize efficiency and effectiveness.
In this full-day hands-on workshop, you'll dive into Visual Studio 2022's most impactful productivity features, that help streamline coding, debugging, refactoring, and collaboration. You'll also learn to integrate GitHub Copilot effectively into your workflow, harnessing its AI-driven code suggestions and chat features to accelerate your development cycle, reduce errors, and free you to focus on solving higher-level problems.
In addition, the team will show you the latest enhancements to GitHub Copilot in Visual Studio Code, github.com, and other IDEs. Whether you're new to these tools or already using them daily, you'll walk away with practical skills and best practices guaranteed to elevate your coding productivity. Join us and get ready to code smarter, faster, and more confidently.
You will learn:
- How to use GitHub Copilot in Visual Studio 2022 (for free!)
- How to use many of the hidden tools in Visual Studio 2022 to write code faster
- How to write code better and be more efficient
You must provide your own laptop computer (Windows or Mac) for this hands-on lab.
- Windows 10 or 11
- You can use an Apple Mac only with a compatible virtualization stack to run Windows 11 in a VM
- Visual Studio 2022 (latest version, any edition) - https://visualstudio.microsoft.com/downloads/
- Workloads that need to be installed:
- .NET desktop development
- ASP.NET and web development
- Workloads that need to be installed:
- Visual Studio Code - https://code.visualstudio.com/
- GitHub Account
Event URL: https://vslive.com/events/microsofthq-2025/sessions/monday/m02-hol-github-copilot.aspx
This repository is organized into several key folders, each serving a specific purpose for the hands-on lab experience:
Contains all step-by-step lab exercises and instructions. Each lab provides detailed guidance for hands-on practice with GitHub Copilot across different development scenarios.
What's Inside:
- Ten comprehensive lab exercises (30-40 minutes each)
- Progressive skill building from basics to advanced techniques
- Labs for Visual Studio 2022, VS Code, and GitHub.com
Reference implementations and working solutions for all lab exercises. Use these for comparison, troubleshooting, or catching up if you fall behind during the hands-on sessions.
What's Inside:
- Complete, working code for all ten labs
- Visual Studio solution file with organized project structure
- README for each solution with setup instructions
- Build-ready projects with all dependencies resolved
Detailed presentation materials and demo scripts for instructors. Contains timing guidance, troubleshooting tips, and key teaching points for effective training delivery.
What's Inside:
- Demo scripts with minute-by-minute timing
- Troubleshooting guides for common issues
- Audience engagement strategies and discussion prompts
- Technical setup requirements and backup plans
- Start Here: Review this README and the lab instructions
- Setup: Ensure all prerequisite software is installed (see requirements above)
- Practice: Work through labs 1-9 at your own pace
- Reference: Use completed solutions when needed
- Preparation: Review presenter notes and demo requirements
- Setup: Test all demo environments and backup plans
- Delivery: Follow provided timing and engagement strategies
- Support: Use troubleshooting guides for participant assistance
By completing this hands-on lab, you will:
✅ Master GitHub Copilot fundamentals in Visual Studio 2022 ✅ Write effective prompts that generate high-quality code ✅ Integrate AI assistance into your daily development workflow ✅ Explore advanced features across multiple development environments ✅ Apply enterprise patterns with AI-assisted development ✅ Experience cutting-edge features like Copilot Coding Agent
- Duration: Full day (6 hours)
- Format: Interactive hands-on workshop
- Structure: Demo → Practice → Discussion cycle
- Materials: All provided in this repository
- Support: Instructors available throughout session