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Build on it · Class 04

AI for Everyday Productivity

Turn messy meeting notes into checked action items and a sent follow-up, and boil a long report down to a one-page brief you've spot-checked.

One 2-hour session Up to 10 people Live · online or in person
Level
Beginner → Intermediate
Length
2 hours, one session
Price
$99
Format
Live, up to 10 people, online or in person
Before class
About 15 min of prep
Tracks
Personal, Work
Ask for this class Not sure? Take the assessment

Scheduled once 10 people ask for it. The date and format are confirmed before anyone pays.

Course overview

This class takes two jobs that eat a normal work week and does them the AI-assisted way, start to finish: a meeting that needs notes, owners, and a follow-up, and a long report somebody has to read by Friday. We use a fictional company and free tools, and we look honestly at what Microsoft 365 Copilot and Gemini in Google Workspace do inside the apps, what needs a paid license, and the free way to do the same task. The habit you leave with is the one that matters: draft, check, then send.

Before you start: Class 02, or comfortable writing a detailed request to ChatGPT or Claude and following up when the answer misses.

How the two hours run

  1. 8min

    Welcome and the task that eats your week

  2. 15min

    Where AI lives at work, and your ground rules

  3. 27min

    From meeting notes to action items you can trust

  4. 8min

    Break

  5. 17min

    Your work voice and the follow-up that actually gets sent

  6. 32min

    Long document to a one-page brief, checked

  7. 13min

    Your workflow card and close

Good to know

  • You don't need a Copilot or Gemini license. Microsoft 365 Copilot inside Outlook, Word, and Excel is a paid add-on for business accounts; many work accounts include Copilot Chat, which only sees what you give it. Every exercise works with free tools and fictional files.
  • Everything in class uses a fictional property-management company. Only use real work material in a tool your employer has approved for it.
  • Free plans cap how many messages you can send and how large a file you can upload. Have a second tool signed in as a backup.

Who this is for

  • An office worker with back-to-back meetings and a follow-up email that never quite gets sent
  • A manager who writes the same summaries and status updates every week
  • Someone whose company just turned on Copilot or Gemini and who isn't sure what to do with it
  • A coordinator at a nonprofit, school, or agency with a 30-page report to read by Friday
  • Anyone who has caught an AI summary saying 'approved' when the thread said 'pending'

What you’ll learn

  • Say which AI tools your employer allows for work material, what Copilot and Gemini can see, and what never goes into an unapproved tool
  • Turn meeting notes or a transcript into decisions, action items with owners and dates, and open questions, and catch every item nobody actually owns
  • Write a short work-voice note so drafts sound like you, not like a press release
  • Draft, check, and send a meeting follow-up before you leave the room
  • Boil a long document down to a one-page brief and spot-check three claims against the source
  • Catch where a second source overstates or disagrees instead of letting the AI average them

What you’ll do in class

  • Turn a fictional 30-minute meeting transcript into decisions, action items with owners and dates, and open questions, then check every item against the transcript and find the ones with no real owner.
  • Write a work-voice note, draft the follow-up email from your checked table, check it once more, and send it to yourself before the block ends.
  • Boil a long fictional pilot report down to a one-page brief with a quote behind every claim, spot-check three numbers, and compare it with a vendor sheet that overstates.

Try it now · free

A 10-minute taste you can do right now

Paste this into ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, or Copilot. It's a fictional meeting, and the notes are deliberately messy. The real lesson is in the checks.

These are rough notes from a fictional 30-minute team meeting at Pinewood Property Services. Turn them into: (1) decisions made, (2) action items in a table with owner and due date, (3) open questions. If an action item has no clear owner or date, write 'UNCLEAR' instead of guessing. Then draft a follow-up email under 150 words.

NOTES:
Priya, Jordan, Marcus, Alicia. Q4 maintenance planning.
- Cedar Ridge work orders are taking way longer than the other buildings. Marcus thinks it's the vendors.
- Agreed to get a second HVAC quote before approving the Magnolia Court rooftop units. Jordan will ask Cooltide and one other vendor.
- Pool gate at Oak Hollow fixed. Done.
- Alicia might be able to cover the Tuesday vendor walk-through, will confirm.
- Budget numbers for Q4 due to Priya Thursday.
- Someone should update the resident newsletter about the holiday office hours.
- Next meeting in two weeks.

Before you trust the answer, check:

  • Did it mark the newsletter item and the walk-through as UNCLEAR instead of inventing an owner?
  • Did it invent a due date for the second quote or a name for the 'other vendor'?
  • Does the follow-up email match the notes exactly, with nothing added?

Before class · about 15 minutes

  • Make sure you can sign in to a free ChatGPT or Claude account on the laptop you'll bring (both is better; free Microsoft Copilot or Gemini also work as a backup).
  • If it's a work laptop, check that you can reach chatgpt.com or claude.ai on it. Some companies block them; if yours does, bring a personal laptop or plan to pair up.
  • Find out what your employer allows you to use AI for, and in which tools. If you can't find out in ten minutes, write down who you'd ask.
  • Write down the three recurring work tasks that take the most of your week (emails you send, meetings you run, documents you read or write). No confidential details.
  • Optional: if your employer provides Microsoft 365 Copilot, Copilot Chat, or Gemini in Google Workspace and allows it for training, make sure you can sign in.

What you leave with

  • A meeting card: the notes-to-action-items prompt, the UNCLEAR rule, and the follow-up prompt, run end to end once on a real transcript
  • A work-voice note you can paste into any drafting request
  • A one-page brief method with a built-in spot-check, and a checked brief you made in class
  • A one-page work AI ground-rules sheet: what your employer allows, what Copilot can see, what never goes in

Expected outcomes

  • You can turn a meeting transcript into action items and catch the ones with no owner or a 'maybe' upgraded to a 'yes'
  • You sent a checked follow-up email within ten minutes of the meeting ending
  • You can produce a one-page brief from a long document and point to where you checked it
  • You can explain to a coworker what your company's AI tools can and can't see, and what needs a paid license

Questions about this class

Is two hours enough?

Enough to run two complete workflows, meeting notes to a sent follow-up and a long document to a checked brief, and to leave with the habit that makes every other work task safer: draft, check, send. Inbox triage, email templates, spreadsheet formulas, slide outlines, and the weekly review are follow-on labs that build on what you do here.

Do I need a Microsoft 365 Copilot license?

No. Everything in class works with free ChatGPT, Claude, Copilot, or Gemini and fictional files. We show what Copilot and Gemini do inside Outlook, Teams, Word, Gmail, and Docs, note which features need a paid license, and give the free way to do the same task.

Can I bring my own work?

Bring the kinds of tasks you do, and practice on the fictional company files. Only use real work material in a tool your employer has approved for it. If you're not sure, ask before class and use the sample files in the meantime.

How is this different from Your AI Personal Assistant?

Your AI Personal Assistant (Class 03) is about your life: your week, your messages, your projects. This class is about work: meetings, documents, and the AI built into Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace.

Tools used

ChatGPT Claude Microsoft 365 Copilot and Copilot Chat (where your employer provides it) Gemini in Google Workspace (where your plan includes it) Your email client

Skills you build

Meeting managementSummarizationBusiness writingVerification habitsWorkplace AI policy

Top of the ladder

This is the LifeQuest capstone. From here, learners move into ongoing build sessions and community projects.

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