What is different about government
Government teams carry obligations most workplaces don't. Residents, ratepayers, applicants and clients whose information has to be handled carefully. Privacy and records rules that apply to everything you write. Councillors and ministers who need advice they can rely on. And a public that expects to be dealt with fairly. AI has to fit inside all of that, not around it.
Many councils and departments have already made the big decision: Copilot rolled out, an enterprise version of ChatGPT or Claude approved, a policy written. What often hasn't followed is people learning to use those tools well. Staff open them, ask a question, get an average answer and go back to doing it by hand. That's the gap the workshop closes.
What I do, and what I don't
I work with the tools and settings you already have. I don't come in to change your platforms, review your integrations, recommend vendors or rewrite your AI policy. Your IT and governance teams have made those calls, and the day respects them. If a feature is switched off in your environment, I'll tell you what it does and move on.
What I bring is the working knowledge: how the tools behave, how to get a good result from them, where they go wrong, and how to check their work before it goes anywhere near a resident, a councillor or a minister.
Where it helps
The demonstrations are built around the work your people actually do. Working through consultation submissions and stakeholder feedback to find the themes, the outliers and what people actually asked for. Drafting correspondence, briefing notes, council reports and ministerial responses faster, in plain English and in your organisation's voice. Turning policy and technical material into communications residents can follow. Summarising long reports, legislation and meeting papers so managers can decide sooner. Preparing grant applications and procurement documents and checking them against the criteria.
The point isn't to hand decisions to a tool. It's to get through the reading, sorting and first drafts more quickly, so people have more time for the judgement that is theirs to make.
Privacy, data and stakeholder care
This gets more time on a government day than anywhere else. What should and shouldn't go into a prompt, how to de-identify material before you use it, what the enterprise versions do differently from the consumer apps, and why the free app on someone's phone is a different matter from the approved tool on their desktop.
Then the parts that matter when the public is on the other end: checking facts and sources before anything goes out, keeping a person accountable for every decision, writing for people with different needs and different levels of English, and knowing when a task is too sensitive for AI at all.
How the day runs
Before the day, you send a handful of public or de-identified documents of the kind your team works with: a consultation summary, a council report, a template letter, a policy. I build the demonstrations around them. On the day I work live in ChatGPT and Claude, and what you learn carries to Copilot, which is what many government teams have been given.
Frontline staff, team leaders and managers can sit in the same room. A full day gets further into your own documents and the advanced features; a half day covers the essentials. Afterwards everyone gets the full presentation and a set of interactive notes built to keep working through with ChatGPT or Claude.
Formats
- • Half day in Melbourne and inner regional Victoria, full day anywhere in Australia
- • At your office or training room, or by livestream
- • Frontline staff and managers together or separately
Your facilitator
I founded net101 and was named Vistage Speaker of the Year in 2024. I've run about 255 AI workshops and talks since late 2022, for corporate, government and not-for-profit organisations across Australia, and I prepare each one around the client's own work.
Planning a workshop for your team?
Ten quick questions show how I'd shape the day for your team, and answer the questions people usually ask before booking. It takes about three minutes.
Plan your workshopQuestions people ask
Our staff only have Copilot. Is it still relevant?
Yes. Copilot runs on the same underlying models. The demonstrations are in ChatGPT and Claude, but the methods and the judgement carry over to what you've been given.
We can't put resident or client information into AI tools. How does the workshop handle that?
The demonstrations use public, sample or de-identified documents you choose, so nothing confidential needs to leave your systems. Data handling is a section of the day in its own right.
Will you change how our tools are set up?
No. I work within the tools, settings and policy you already have. I train and educate; I don't advise on platforms, integrations or procurement. The day is about helping your people use what they've been given, well.
Can you run something for councillors or the executive team?
Yes. Elected members and executives usually want a different session: what the tools do, where the risks sit and what to ask of the organisation. See boards and executives.
Can you run it across several teams or sites?
Yes. A series works well for larger councils and departments, with each session built around that team's own documents. Tell me how many teams and where, and I'll quote for the series.
How do quotes and payment work?
Quotes are valid for 30 days. I invoice on 30-day terms, or you can pay by Visa, Mastercard or AMEX. If you need a supplier form or a quote in a particular format, send it with your enquiry.
Get a quote
Tell me about the team, the tools you've been given and how many people would be in the room.
Or call 0412 724 412, or email tim@net101.com.au.
What participants thought
Really well organised, from the booking through to the notes afterwards. There was a lot to take in, so having something to refer back to has been useful.
I use AI every day and considered myself fairly advanced, so I wasn’t sure how much new ground this would cover. Quite a lot, as it turned out. Tim demonstrated things I hadn’t even thought to try, and I left with plenty to work on.
Loved being able to ask what were probably very basic questions without feeling silly. Tim was patient and explained everything clearly.
Also
AI training for association members, AI briefing for boards and executives, AI training for professional services firms, AI training for not-for-profits and community organisations, AI training for arts and cultural organisations. Or in-house training for any team, and keynotes and executive briefings. If grant applications are a big part of your work, see AI for tenders, grants and proposals.