Small Business AI Workshop Agenda for Chambers and SCORE Mentors

Who this helps: chamber directors, SCORE mentors, SBA resource partners, local consultants, and small-business owners who want a practical AI session without promising that AI can replace judgment, legal advice, customer service ownership, or finance decisions.

Disclosure: Horizon Flow publishes practical small-business AI workflow guides. This page is useful on its own and links to optional free samples and paid playbooks with UTM tags for attribution.

45-minute agenda

1. 0–5 minutes: Set the safety frame. AI is a drafting and summarizing assistant, not an owner, lawyer, accountant, HR manager, dispatcher, or policy maker.
2. 5–12 minutes: Choose one workflow. Pick one repetitive task that already has source facts: quote follow-up, review response drafts, meeting-note summaries, FAQ drafts, intake triage, or weekly business review notes.
3. 12–22 minutes: Build the prompt card. Define input facts, allowed data, forbidden claims, tone, reviewer, and stop rules.
4. 22–32 minutes: Live drafting exercise. Turn a messy example into a draft, then mark every sentence that needs a fact check or owner approval.
5. 32–40 minutes: Pilot plan. Decide what success means for the next 30 days: minutes saved, fewer missed replies, less editing, better routing, or clearer follow-up.
6. 40–45 minutes: Q&A and next step. Each attendee leaves with one workflow, one prompt card, one reviewer, and one metric.

Copy/paste workshop handout

Safe starter prompt for the exercise

You are helping draft a small-business workflow output. Use only the facts I provide. Do not invent prices, policies, guarantees, availability, legal advice, financial advice, medical advice, dispatch promises, or customer claims.

Business context: [business type]
Task: [reply to a lead / summarize notes / draft FAQ / create checklist]
Facts to use: [paste approved facts]
Tone: clear, friendly, concise
Output format: [email / SMS / bullet summary / checklist]
Human-review rule: include a short "Needs owner check" list at the end.

Facilitator talking points

• Start boring. A weekly summary, FAQ draft, quote follow-up, or meeting-note cleanup usually beats a risky chatbot launch.
• Use approved facts. AI should not make up prices, policies, service areas, testimonials, staff credentials, or turnaround promises.
• Protect private data. Remove customer names, addresses, payment details, employee records, and sensitive case details unless the business has approved tools and policies.
• Keep a reviewer. Every customer-facing draft needs an owner or trained team member before sending.
• Measure the pilot. Continue only when the workflow saves time, improves clarity, or reduces missed follow-up without increasing risk.

Suggested follow-up email after the workshop

Subject: AI workshop follow-up: choose one workflow, not ten

Thanks for joining today's small-business AI session. Your next step is not to automate everything. Choose one workflow, write one prompt card, assign one reviewer, and measure it for 30 days.

Starter resources:
- AI Tool Pilot Tracker: https://liquidhorizon88-bot.github.io/horizon-flow-ebook-hub/articles/ai-tool-pilot-tracker-small-business.html?utm_source=workshop_followup&utm_medium=free&utm_campaign=ebook_marketing&utm_content=chamber_ai_workshop
- Free sample library: https://liquidhorizon88-bot.github.io/horizon-flow-ebook-hub/free/free-ebook-sample-library.html?utm_source=workshop_followup&utm_medium=free&utm_campaign=ebook_marketing&utm_content=chamber_ai_workshop

Review rule: do not send, publish, or operationalize AI output until a person checks facts, policy, tone, and risk.

Optional deeper resources

• 30-Day AI Tool Pilot Tracker
• Free ebook sample library
• The Small Business AI Profit Kit — optional paid playbook for prompts, worksheets, and rollout planning.