AI Training in Shaftesbury: What We Covered and What Comes Next
We ran our first AI training session for local businesses at the Wincombe Centre in Shaftesbury. Here is what we covered, what people found most useful, and how to book your own session.
This morning we ran our first AI training session for local businesses, held at the Wincombe Centre in Shaftesbury. The room was a good mix of business owners and managers, most of whom had used ChatGPT at least a little, but were curious about what else was out there and what they were missing.
What the session covered
We built the session around a simple starting point. ChatGPT opened the door, but the world of AI tools for business is much bigger than one platform.
We walked through the main AI models available today, including Claude from Anthropic, Gemini from Google, Perplexity AI, and Grok from xAI. The goal was not to overwhelm people with options, but to show that different tools have different strengths, and that choosing the right one for a task makes a real difference.
From there, we looked at what you can actually do with these tools in a real business context. One of the highlights was a live demonstration using Lovable, which lets you build working web applications and tools without writing code. That one tends to get a reaction.
We also ran a prompt competition, where attendees tried to get the best results from an AI tool using nothing but their own prompts. It was practical, a little competitive, and a good way to see how the quality of your instructions directly affects what you get back.
What people found most useful
The biggest takeaway for most people was realising that the way you ask the question matters as much as which tool you use. A well-structured prompt gets a useful answer. A vague one gets a vague answer.
Seeing Claude and Lovable in action alongside ChatGPT also helped people understand that they are not all the same. Each has a different personality, different strengths, and different use cases.
More sessions to come
We really enjoyed delivering this one and the feedback on the day was positive. We will be running more sessions in the future, both group workshops and one-to-one training.
If you are a business owner who wants to get more from AI, or if you want your team to understand how to use these tools properly, get in touch. We can run a session at your premises or here in Shaftesbury.
Email us at jim@okapiandco.co.uk or visit okapiandco.co.uk to find out more.