Last December, I had a call with Monica, the executive director of a nonprofit called CC4C. She asked me a question I get a lot:
“Do the people who attend your workshops actually walk away knowing how to use AI? Or do they just feel inspired for a day?”
Fair question. Because most AI training does exactly that — leaves you inspired for a few hours, then back to square one by Monday.
Before I answered, I did something. I pulled up a Google Doc my AI agent had auto-generated before our call. It had Monica's full professional timeline, her LinkedIn data, the CC4C nonprofit's background, and a personalized image of the organization.
She didn't know I'd built it before we spoke.
Her reaction: “Wow, that's so cool.”
And then I said: “That's what you'll be able to build yourself by the end of the day.”
That's the whole philosophy behind my workshops.
The Problem With Most AI Training
Most AI education is passive. You watch a demo. You nod along. You think, “that looks useful.” You go home.
And you do nothing differently.
This isn't because the content is bad. It's because of the format. Watching is not the same as doing. You can watch a thousand hours of cooking videos and still not know how to cook.
I tried online courses for a while. Recorded videos, structured modules. The problem: people don't finish them, and even when they do, transfer is low. They can describe what they learned but can't reproduce it on their own.
The format that actually works is what I call the “let's do this together” model.
I demo it. You try it. You hit a wall. I'm right there to fix it with you, live.
What Hands-On Teaching Looks Like
I had a friend named Jacob come through a hands-on session earlier this year. Zero coding experience. Six weeks later he'd gone from zero to intermediate — setting up Docker, using Claude Code, shipping a production app for construction superintendents.
He told me directly: watching hundreds of YouTube tutorials didn't come close to one session with real feedback. His rate of learning was different. Faster. More durable.
That's not surprising. In the AI Fluency Levels framework I use in my workshops, there are three stages: AI Assisted, AI Workflows, and Building Agents. Most people try to skip straight to agents without mastering the basics. You can't really teach stage three without someone watching you do stage one wrong first.
Catching the mistake live is worth more than a hundred explainer videos.
The 14-Minute Manufacturer Story
Here's a concrete example of what this looks like in practice.
I was working with Gwyneth, a jewelry designer who wanted to transition from fine jewelry to semi-fine. She needed a manufacturer who could do it — but not in China, in a specific geographic area. She'd been searching for two weeks. Getting nowhere.
I showed her how to do it in 14 minutes using AI research workflows. The right combination of prompting, search tools, and structured output.
“Little things like that,” I told Monica, “that you can just learn and discover that would make your life day to day a lot easier.”
That story wouldn't land in a YouTube video the same way it lands when someone watches you do it in real time. In a live setting, Gwyneth gets to watch the exact prompt, see the output, ask questions, and then try it herself. The learning sticks because she did it, not just watched it.
Every Meeting Can Become a Learning Moment
One of the side effects of running a lot of workshops: I've gotten very good at capturing what happens in them.
I use a transcript-first approach. Every meeting, every coaching call, every workshop session gets captured and stored. And then something interesting happens — AI can turn those transcripts into marketing assets, case studies, teaching examples, even blog posts like this one.
This is what I call the story bank concept. Every meeting you have is a potential source of real content. A donor impact story from a nonprofit team meeting. A time-savings win from a one-on-one coaching call. A “wow, that's so cool” moment from a discovery call.
Most people let those moments evaporate. With the right setup, they become a searchable library of real proof points your AI can draw from whenever you're creating content.
Generic AI content uses fabricated stories. Your content can use real ones.
The Difference Between Inspired and Changed
I ended that call with Monica by asking what kind of training her team actually needed.
She said she didn't want them to just understand AI. She wanted them to use it.
That's the dividing line. Seminars create understanding. Workshops create skill.
Understanding fades. Skills don't.
Laurina, who attended a workshop in Virginia Beach, said it best — she was reaching for paper to take notes when she stopped and laughed: “You probably have an agent taking notes right now, don't you?”
Yes. The whole conversation was being automatically transcribed and organized. She left not just knowing that was possible, but knowing how to set up the same thing herself.
That's the format. That's the goal. Not “wow, that's cool.” But “I can do that now.”
Want to actually use AI, not just learn about it? My next full-day workshop in Austin is coming up. Nine to five, hands-on, personalized by your industry. Reply to this post or reach out directly if you're interested.
Thanh runs AI workshops for founders, investors, and business owners in Austin and remotely. 88 NPS in 2025.
