Half-day course · Sydney, Melbourne and online
AI for business leaders: a practical half-day course
What today's AI can and cannot do, how to spot a real opportunity in your business, what it costs, and how to manage the risk. No code and no hype. You leave able to brief a vendor and judge their answer.
Who it's for
Anyone who decides where AI money and effort goes, or who will be asked to.
Founders and executives
Who need to separate real opportunities from vendor pitches and set a sensible AI budget.
Managers and team leads
Who want to know which parts of their team's work AI can take on, and how to introduce it without disruption.
Board members
Who need to ask the right questions about AI strategy, risk and governance.
Risk, legal and HR leaders
Who are writing the policies for how staff can and can't use AI tools.
What you'll be able to do
Practical judgement you can use the following week.
- Explain in plain language what large language models are good at, and where they fail
- Identify the two or three workflows in your business most worth automating
- Estimate the cost and return of an AI project before committing to it
- Evaluate a vendor proposal and know which questions expose a weak one
- Understand the Privacy Act and data residency issues that apply to AI in Australia
- Draft a staff policy for using AI tools safely
Agenda
Four hours, including a break. Online sessions run in two two-hour blocks on consecutive mornings.
- 0:00
What AI can and can't do today
Live demonstrations of what works, what fails, and why. How to tell a capable system from a convincing demo.
- 0:45
Finding the opportunities
A simple framework for spotting work AI can take on: high volume, a clear pattern, and a cost to getting it wrong you can manage. Exercise on your own team's work.
- 1:45
Break
Coffee, and questions you didn't want to ask in front of the group.
- 2:00
Build, buy or wait
Off-the-shelf tools against custom systems, what each really costs, and how to judge a proposal.
- 2:45
Risk, privacy and governance
Personal information, data residency, the 2024 Privacy Act amendments, and writing a staff AI policy people will follow.
- 3:30
Your 90-day plan
Each participant leaves with a short written plan for their first AI initiative.
What's included
Everything you need to carry the course back into the business.
- Slides and a plain-English glossary of AI terms
- A vendor evaluation checklist
- A staff AI acceptable-use policy template
- A 90-day AI plan template
- A certificate of completion
- A 30-minute follow-up call with an instructor within a month
Common questions
Do I need any technical background?
No. The course is designed for non-technical leaders. If you can use email and a spreadsheet, you'll be fine.
Will this be a sales pitch for your consulting?
No. Most participants never become consulting clients, and the course is built to be useful either way. We spend more time on when not to use AI than most vendors would.
Can we run it for our leadership team only?
Yes. In-house sessions can use your own business as the case study throughout. See in-house programs.
Is the content specific to Australia?
Yes. We cover the Australian Privacy Principles, data residency for Australian businesses and local examples.
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Course details →Join the next session
Public sessions run monthly in Sydney, Melbourne and online. Register your interest and we'll send the next dates.