The most useful preparation is practical. Bring the right people, give them working access and ask them to arrive with a problem from their own work.
Agree why the team is coming.
Use the leadership alignment conversation to name the business priorities and the friction you want to address. A shared purpose gives participants something to work toward throughout the day.
Ask about the work, not just the tools.
A participant survey should surface current habits, confidence and recurring tasks. Someone who uses AI every day may still need help connecting that activity with a team process.
- What are you using AI for today?
- Which task takes more time than it should?
- Where do you need better information or fewer handoffs?
- What would make the day useful to you?
Bring IT into the preparation.
Confirm the approved accounts, tools and data boundaries before the workshop. If a connection to company information is part of the plan, IT should review the access and approve it through your normal process. Do not discover an account or permissions problem at the first exercise.
Bring examples people recognize.
Choose material participants are authorized to use. A recurring report, a process outline or a non-sensitive sample gives the exercise a clear purpose. Keep sensitive material out until its use has been approved.
Protect time to participate.
Bring laptops, confirm logins and keep the team available for the working sessions. People build confidence by trying the tools, checking the output and discussing what happened.
Plan the follow-through.
Schedule a follow-up before everyone goes back to the calendar. Ask what they used, what helped and where they got stuck. Turn promising ideas into a shortlist with owners and next steps.