Tech Week Grand Rapids · Lunch & Learn
Four agents to choose from, each buildable in under fifteen minutes, with exact steps for whichever AI tool you already use. You’re building one today - your pick. Choose your tool in the bar above once, and every instruction on this page follows it. No coding, no jargon, nothing to install.
An agent is a job description you write for an AI: hired once, briefed once, then put to work. The tools call it different things - Projects in ChatGPT and Claude, Gems in Gemini, agents in Copilot - but every build on this page is the same five moves:
| Tool | It’s called | Cost to build today | Worth knowing |
|---|---|---|---|
| ChatGPT | Projects | Free (small file cap) | Skip “custom GPTs” - those now need a business workspace. Projects is the path. |
| Claude | Projects | Free (up to 5 projects) | Instructions plus knowledge files; more capacity on paid plans. |
| Copilot | Agents | Work M365 Copilot license | If your company has it, use it - your agent lands where you already work. If not, build free today; the brief transfers 1:1. |
| Gemini | Gems | Free | Build on the web at gemini.google.com - the phone app uses Gems but can’t create them. |
No account anywhere? Claude or Gemini on a personal email has you building in about two minutes, free. One safety rule for today: the sample pack below exists so you don’t upload real company documents to a personal AI account in a public workshop. Build with Harborline’s files today; talk to your IT folks before using confidential material at work.
This page is a choose-your-own-adventure: pick one agent - the one your actual week needs - and build that. Andy builds The Morning Brief live at the front of the room, so if you’d rather have a guided path, build along with him. The four are ordered easiest to most advanced, and each teaches a different superpower you’ll reuse on every agent after this one. Done early? Deputize yourself as table help, then build a second.
Agent 01
Build this if: Anyone whose day starts with fifteen open tabs and a sinking feeling.
Paste in your daily mess - calendar, task list, the emails you haven’t opened - and get back a one-page brief: what matters today, what needs a reply, and the thing you’re about to miss. This is the fastest first win in the workbook, and it needs no file uploads at all.
This is your agent’s instructions. Copy it as-is for the workshop - personalizing it is the refinement step.
You are my chief of staff. Whenever I paste in my daily dump — calendar, task list, emails, stray notes — turn it into a morning brief with exactly these sections: 1. THE DAY IN ONE LINE 2. TOP 3 PRIORITIES — with one line on why each made the cut 3. SCHEDULE — each meeting with a one-line prep note 4. NEEDS A REPLY TODAY — who, about what, suggested one-line reply 5. ONE THING I MIGHT BE MISSING Keep the whole brief under 300 words. Plain language, bottom line first. Never invent facts that are not in what I gave you. If something important is ambiguous, ask me one question at the end instead of guessing.
Free accounts can build this; file uploads per project are capped on the free plan, so pick your best files. Skip the “Explore GPTs → Create” route - building custom GPTs now requires a business or education workspace.
Free accounts include up to five Projects - plenty for today. Paid plans expand how much knowledge a project can hold.
No work license? Nothing to be gained by fighting it today - build in Claude or Gemini on a free personal account. The job description you write pastes straight into Copilot the day your organization turns it on. Exact menus vary a little by company tenant; your IT admin controls what you see.
Free accounts can build Gems - no upgrade needed for today.
Your first test is the last build step above. Here’s how to grade what comes back.
The real magic is a brief that shows up on its own. ChatGPT’s scheduled tasks can now do this on free accounts (with a small cap on active tasks); Gemini’s scheduled actions require a paid Google AI plan; Claude runs scheduled tasks through Cowork on paid plans; in Copilot, ask IT about scheduled prompts or a Copilot Studio trigger. Same recipe, plus a clock.
Agent 02
Build this if: Anyone who writes something good once and needs it in four more places.
One blog post becomes a LinkedIn post, a newsletter blurb, and two social captions - in your voice, not AI-brochure voice. The trick is the knowledge files: you’ll teach it how you sound by showing it your best writing.
This is your agent’s instructions. Copy it as-is for the workshop - personalizing it is the refinement step.
You are our content repurposing assistant. Input: one piece of our content (an article, a blog post, an announcement). Output, every time, in this order: A) LINKEDIN POST — under 150 words, first line is a hook (no “I’m excited to announce”), no more than 3 hashtags, ends with a question or a nudge. B) NEWSLETTER BLURB — exactly 3 sentences, written to sit above a “read more” link. C) TWO SHORT SOCIAL CAPTIONS — one playful, one practical. Voice: match the uploaded writing samples — plainspoken, warm, lightly funny, specific over generic, honest about tradeoffs, soft close rather than hard sell. Never invent product claims, prices, statistics, or events. If the source content doesn’t support a claim, leave it out.
Free accounts can build this; file uploads per project are capped on the free plan, so pick your best files. Skip the “Explore GPTs → Create” route - building custom GPTs now requires a business or education workspace.
Free accounts include up to five Projects - plenty for today. Paid plans expand how much knowledge a project can hold.
No work license? Nothing to be gained by fighting it today - build in Claude or Gemini on a free personal account. The job description you write pastes straight into Copilot the day your organization turns it on. Exact menus vary a little by company tenant; your IT admin controls what you see.
Free accounts can build Gems - no upgrade needed for today.
Your first test is the last build step above. Here’s how to grade what comes back.
Feed it your performance data over time: “This post did well, this one flopped - update your sense of what works.” An agent that keeps score beats an agent that just formats. When you’re ready, add a second job: turning your newsletter into a blog draft - the reverse trip.
Agent 03
Build this if: Anyone who sends proposals, quotes, or client documents - and has been burned by the one that went out half-baked.
It reads your draft against a ten-point checklist and returns a verdict, a scorecard, and the top three fixes with suggested language. The sample proposal in the pack has problems planted on purpose - count how many your agent catches.
This is your agent’s instructions. Copy it as-is for the workshop - personalizing it is the refinement step.
You are our proposal reviewer of record — the last set of eyes before anything goes to a client. When I give you a draft proposal, review it against the uploaded 10-point checklist. Respond in exactly this format: 1. VERDICT — “Ready to send” or “Not ready,” one sentence of why. 2. SCORECARD — all 10 checklist items, PASS or FAIL, one line of evidence quoted or referenced from the draft for each. 3. TOP 3 FIXES — in priority order, each with suggested replacement language I can paste in. Judge the draft, not the business idea. Be blunt — drafts don’t have feelings. Do not rewrite the whole proposal unless I ask.
Free accounts can build this; file uploads per project are capped on the free plan, so pick your best files. Skip the “Explore GPTs → Create” route - building custom GPTs now requires a business or education workspace.
Free accounts include up to five Projects - plenty for today. Paid plans expand how much knowledge a project can hold.
No work license? Nothing to be gained by fighting it today - build in Claude or Gemini on a free personal account. The job description you write pastes straight into Copilot the day your organization turns it on. Exact menus vary a little by company tenant; your IT admin controls what you see.
Free accounts can build Gems - no upgrade needed for today.
Your first test is the last build step above. Here’s how to grade what comes back.
Give it a severity scale (blocker / should-fix / polish) so you know what must change before sending versus what can wait. Then try the inverse agent: one that drafts proposals section by section from your checklist - the reviewer and the drafter make a powerful pair.
Agent 04
Build this if: Anyone who answers the same policy, process, or product questions over and over.
Upload the handbook, and it answers staff questions with section citations - and when the handbook doesn’t cover something, it says so instead of making something up. That discipline is the difference between a toy and a tool you can hand to your team.
This is your agent’s instructions. Copy it as-is for the workshop - personalizing it is the refinement step.
You are the HR policy desk for our team. Answer questions using ONLY the uploaded employee handbook. Rules: - Always cite the section number(s) you relied on, like (Section 3.1). - Quote the handbook’s actual numbers and terms — never round or paraphrase figures. - If the handbook does not cover the question, say exactly: “That’s not covered in the handbook excerpt I have — please check with the operations director.” Do not guess. Do not use general HR knowledge. - No legal advice. For personal or sensitive situations, answer the policy question, then suggest talking with a manager or HR. - Keep answers to a short paragraph unless asked for detail.
Free accounts can build this; file uploads per project are capped on the free plan, so pick your best files. Skip the “Explore GPTs → Create” route - building custom GPTs now requires a business or education workspace.
Free accounts include up to five Projects - plenty for today. Paid plans expand how much knowledge a project can hold.
No work license? Nothing to be gained by fighting it today - build in Claude or Gemini on a free personal account. The job description you write pastes straight into Copilot the day your organization turns it on. Exact menus vary a little by company tenant; your IT admin controls what you see.
Free accounts can build Gems - no upgrade needed for today.
Your first test is the last build step above. Here’s how to grade what comes back.
This is the pattern behind most serious business AI right now - grounded answers with citations. Scale it up with more documents, or point your IT team at the org-wide version: Copilot agents over SharePoint, or an enterprise AI workspace over your knowledge base. You now understand exactly how those work.
Harborline Outfitters is a fictional outdoor-gear retailer in Grand Rapids - sixty employees, two stores, a leaky roof in Eastown. Its files exist so everyone in the room can build safely without uploading anything real. Download the whole pack as a zip, grab individual files, or copy any file’s text straight from this page.
Files: daily dump · blog post · voice samples · proposal checklist · proposal draft (PDF) · employee handbook (PDF)
HARBORLINE OUTFITTERS — DAILY DUMP (Fictional sample for workshop practice. Paste this whole file into your agent.) Today: Thursday MY CALENDAR - 8:30 Weekly ops huddle (15 min, standing) - 10:00 Call with Petoskey Paddle Co. — they want to stock our house-brand dry bags (first conversation, their buyer is Dana Whitfield) - 12:00 Lunch — open - 1:30 Interview: assistant manager candidate for the Knapp's Corner store (second interview; first one went well but she seemed light on scheduling experience) - 4:00 Review Q4 marketing plan draft with Priya (she sent it Tuesday; I have not opened it yet) TASK LIST (in no particular order) - Approve September staff schedule (due to stores by Friday) - Decide on winter product line order quantities — deposit due Monday - Write up the return-policy change for the website - Follow up with the sign company about the Eastown storefront (third follow-up) - Expense reports from the Traverse City trip still not submitted UNREAD EMAIL WORTH KNOWING ABOUT 1) From: Dana Whitfield (Petoskey Paddle Co.) Subject: Ahead of our call "Looking forward to today. Quick heads up — we'd need wholesale pricing and a sense of your minimum order quantities on the call, our buying window for spring closes next Friday." 2) From: Marcus (Eastown store manager) Subject: Freezer section leak — er, roof leak "The drip over the boot wall came back with last night's rain. I moved the inventory. We need someone out this week or we're pulling the whole display." ONE NOTE FROM OPS Website orders were up 22% last week after the fall-hikes blog post. Fulfillment kept up but only because two people stayed late Tuesday. Worth discussing staffing before the holiday season.
HARBORLINE OUTFITTERS BLOG (fictional sample for workshop practice) Title: Five Fall Hikes Within an Hour of Grand Rapids There's a two-week window every October where West Michigan quietly becomes one of the best hiking regions in the country, and most of us spend it raking the yard. This year, don't. Here are five trails within an hour of downtown Grand Rapids that earn a spot on your calendar before the color drops. 1. Rosy Mound Natural Area (Grand Haven, 40 min) Dune stairs, big lake views, and a beach payoff at the bottom. The climb back up is honest work — 1,000-ish stairs round trip — so bring water and leave the slick-soled shoes at home. Go at golden hour and thank us later. 2. Fallasburg Park & Covered Bridge (Lowell, 30 min) Flat, friendly, and photogenic. The 1871 covered bridge over the Flat River is the anchor, and the loop through the sugar maples is about as saturated as fall color gets around here. Good stroller trail, good dog trail, good everything trail. 3. Saugatuck Dunes State Park (Saugatuck, 45 min) Two and a half miles of rolling wooded dune to a Lake Michigan beach you'll often have to yourself on a weekday. The sand sneaks into everything, which is why our staff keeps gaiters by the door in October. 4. Luton Park (Rockford, 25 min) A quiet trail network that mountain bikers know and hikers underrate. Pick the white loop for a fast hour under the oaks. Ground stays damp after rain — waterproof boots are the difference between a great morning and a squishy one. 5. Pickerel Lake Nature Preserve (Cannonsburg, 25 min) A boardwalk over still water, herons if you're lucky, and a two-mile loop that feels much farther from town than it is. Arrive early; the small lot fills by mid-morning on color weekends. One piece of honest advice before you go: layers beat one big jacket every time in a Michigan October. Start a little cold, warm up on the trail, and keep a shell in the pack for the lake wind. If your current shell has seen better days, you know where to find us — but either way, get out there. The maples won't wait.
HARBORLINE OUTFITTERS — BRAND VOICE SAMPLES (Fictional samples for workshop practice. Upload alongside the blog post so your agent can learn the voice.) --- SAMPLE 1: Email newsletter intro, September --- Subject: The lake said so Morning. Water temp at Grand Haven dropped six degrees this week, which is the lake's way of saying the good season is starting, not ending. Wetsuit paddlers know. Bonfire people know. The rest of West Michigan finds out in about three weeks when the maples go off. This week we restocked the wool everything — socks, beanies, base layers — and brought in a small run of dry bags from our own bench. More on those below. See you out there, The Harborline crew --- SAMPLE 2: Product description, house-brand dry bag --- Twenty-Liter Dry Bag — Harborline Bench Series We got tired of dry bags that were either gas-station flimsy or expedition overkill, so we made the one in the middle. Twenty liters, welded seams, a roll-top that seals with three folds instead of six, and a shoulder strap that doesn't saw at your neck on the portage. Tested by our staff on the Grand, the Rogue, and one regrettable November surf session at Pere Marquette. It kept the sleeping bag dry. It'll keep yours. VOICE NOTES (what to tell your agent to notice): - Plainspoken and warm, lightly funny, never salesy-shouty - Specific local references (rivers, towns, water temps) over generic outdoorsy talk - Short sentences. Honest about tradeoffs. Ends with a nudge, not a hard sell.
HARBORLINE OUTFITTERS — PROPOSAL REVIEW CHECKLIST
(Fictional sample for workshop practice. This is the "standard" your reviewer
agent checks proposals against. Paste it into the agent's instructions or
upload it as a knowledge file.)
Every outbound proposal must have ALL ten before it leaves the building:
1. Client's actual problem restated in the first two paragraphs, in their
words — not a paragraph about us.
2. Specific scope: exactly what's included, with quantities where they exist.
3. Explicit out-of-scope list (what we are NOT doing), to prevent scope creep.
4. Timeline with dated milestones, not "approximately X weeks."
5. Pricing broken into line items that match the scope items.
6. Payment terms: deposit, schedule, and what happens on late payment.
7. One relevant proof point: a named past client, result, or reference.
8. Named point of contact on our side with direct email and phone.
9. Expiration date on the pricing (30 days standard).
10. Next step spelled out in the final paragraph: what the client does to
accept, and what happens in the first week after they do.
House style: under 4 pages, plain language, no adjectives doing the work
numbers should do.
(Fictional sample for workshop practice — this draft has problems on purpose. Give it to your Proposal Reviewer agent and see how many it catches.) GROUP GEAR OUTFITTING PROPOSAL Prepared by Harborline Outfitters, Inc. — Grand Rapids, MI Prepared for: Grand River Adventure Camps ABOUT HARBORLINE Harborline Outfitters has been West Michigan's trusted source for quality outdoor gear since 2011. From our two retail locations and growing online store, we serve hikers, paddlers, and campers across the region with best-in-class equipment and legendary customer service. Our staff are outdoorspeople first and retailers second, and our house-brand Bench Series has won a loyal following. We are passionate about getting people outside. WHAT WE PROPOSE Grand River Adventure Camps is growing, and your rental fleet needs to grow with it. Harborline proposes to become your outfitting partner, supplying a full range of gear and ongoing support for your summer camp programs. This would include tents, sleeping systems, paddling equipment, and various other items as needed, along with staff training and seasonal maintenance support. We anticipate the initial outfitting would be completed in approximately six to eight weeks from agreement, in time for early summer programming. INVESTMENT Based on the camper counts you shared, we estimate the initial outfitting investment at $48,500, inclusive of equipment, delivery, and training. We're confident this represents strong value for a fleet of this size. WHY US We believe Harborline is the right partner for this work, and we're excited about the possibility of supporting your mission of getting kids on the water. We hope to hear from you soon. Feel free to reach out with any questions at info@harborlineoutfitters.example. — The Harborline Team
HARBORLINE OUTFITTERS, INC. — EMPLOYEE HANDBOOK (EXCERPT)
(Fictional sample for workshop practice. Upload this as your agent's knowledge
file. Note for the curious: some policies are deliberately NOT in this excerpt.)
SECTION 1 — WELCOME
Harborline Outfitters operates two retail stores (Eastown and Knapp's Corner),
a warehouse/fulfillment operation, and a small office team in Grand Rapids,
Michigan. This handbook covers policies for all full-time and part-time
employees. Where a policy differs by role, the section says so. Questions go
to your manager first, then to the operations director.
SECTION 2 — WORK HOURS AND REMOTE WORK
2.1 Standard full-time schedule is 40 hours per week. Store schedules are
posted at least ten days before the start of the month.
2.2 Office and administrative employees may work remotely up to two (2) days
per week with manager approval. Remote days must be scheduled in advance;
ad-hoc remote days require same-morning manager sign-off.
2.3 Core collaboration hours for office staff are 10:00 AM to 3:00 PM Eastern.
Employees working remotely must be reachable during core hours.
2.4 Retail and warehouse roles are on-site by nature and are not eligible for
remote work.
SECTION 3 — PAID TIME OFF (PTO)
3.1 Full-time employees accrue PTO by length of service:
- Years 1-2: 12 days per year
- Years 3-5: 17 days per year
- Year 6 and beyond: 22 days per year
3.2 Part-time employees accrue PTO on a prorated basis by average weekly hours.
3.3 PTO requests of 3 or more consecutive days require two weeks' notice.
Single days require 48 hours' notice except in emergencies.
3.4 Up to 5 unused PTO days roll over to the following year. Rollover days
must be used by March 31.
3.5 June through August, no more than two store employees per location may be
on PTO simultaneously ("peak season rule").
SECTION 4 — PAID HOLIDAYS
4.1 Harborline observes nine (9) paid holidays: New Year's Day, Memorial Day,
Juneteenth, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day, the Friday
after Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, and Christmas Day.
4.2 Stores close at 2:00 PM on New Year's Eve. Employees scheduled that day
are paid for their full scheduled shift.
SECTION 5 — EXPENSES AND REIMBURSEMENT
5.1 Business expenses must be submitted within 30 days of being incurred,
through the expense app, with itemized receipts for any expense over $25.
5.2 Meal limit during business travel is $75 per person per day. Alcohol is
not reimbursable.
5.3 Mileage for business use of a personal vehicle is reimbursed at the
current IRS standard rate.
5.4 Expenses over $500 require operations director approval BEFORE the
purchase, not after.
SECTION 6 — DRESS CODE
6.1 Store staff wear Harborline-branded tops (provided) with clean, practical
clothing suitable for demonstrating gear.
6.2 Office dress is casual. When client-facing or representing Harborline at
events, business casual applies.
6.3 Closed-toe shoes are required at all times in the warehouse.
SECTION 7 — EMPLOYEE DISCOUNT
7.1 Employees receive 40% off retail on Harborline house-brand (Bench Series)
products and 25% off other brands, for personal use only.
7.2 Discount purchases for resale are prohibited and are grounds for
termination.
7.3 Immediate family members receive 15% off with the employee present.
--- END OF EXCERPT ---
This excerpt intentionally does not cover every policy. Topics not covered
here (for example: parental leave, bereavement, 401(k) details) live in the
full handbook maintained by the operations director.
| Symptom | Fix |
|---|---|
| Can’t sign in or create an account | Buddy up with a neighbor and build on their screen - the rebuild at home takes ten minutes with this page. |
| Staring at a blank instructions box | That’s what the Copy button is for. Paste ours, build the habit, personalize later. |
| Output is generic mush | It doesn’t know your audience or your bar. Add who it’s for, the format you want, and one example of good. |
| It ignores your rules | Too many rules. Keep the ten that matter; move background into a knowledge file. Strong verbs, short lines. |
| It makes things up | Add: “Never invent numbers, names, or commitments - say what’s missing and ask.” Then give it the source document. |
| Great yesterday, mediocre today | Normal. Re-run it, tighten the instruction it missed, move on. You’re managing, not programming. |
Agents die of neglect, not failure. The ones that stick get used on real work in week one.
For the technically inclined: the next rung up is agents that do work in code and files on their own - OpenAI’s Codex and Anthropic’s Claude Code live there. Different workshop, same recipe underneath. If that’s your world, come talk to me.