AI at Work: A Practical Day for Manitowoc County Businesses
Date and Time
Thursday Oct 29, 2026
9:00 AM - 3:00 PM CDT
Location
Orion Energy Systems
2210 Woodland Dr.
Manitowoc, WI
Fees/Admission
$50 for Chamber members
$150 for non-members
Lunch and coffee will be provided. If you have any allergies or food restrictions, please let us know.
Space is limited for this event. Advanced and early registration is recommended.
(If you need help registering as a Chamber Member, please email shannon@chambermanitowoccounty.org or call 920-684-5575.)
Contact Information
Shannon Pelky
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Event Sponsors
Title Sponsors
Description
Artificial intelligence has stopped being a someday thing. It's already drafting quotes, screening job applicants, answering after-hours calls, creating marketing content and changing how customers find and interact with businesses. Most owners and managers know AI is changing the way we work. Very few have the time or the desire to become AI experts.
Join us for a skills workshop covering "AI at Work" on October 29th from 9:00am-3:00pm. "AI for Work" is a practical, hands-on day designed for Manitowoc County businesses. No technical background is required. Each session focuses on real business applications, plain-English guidance and tools attendees can put to work immediately. 💻 Please bring a laptop or tablet to follow along with live AI exercises. The speaker will primarily demonstrate using ChatGPT and Claude, but the concepts will apply to any AI platform you prefer to use.
All sessions will be facilitated by Mike Cummings, MCM Digital Products.
Event Agenda:
9:00-9:30 a.m. | Registration & Doors Open
Grab a coffee, connect with other local businesses and get settled for the day.
9:30-10:45 a.m. | Session 1: Start Monday: Your First Real AI Win
No experience required.
Most people try AI once, get a disappointing answer and quietly decide it's overhyped. Usually, the problem isn't the technology, it's how they're using it. In this hands-on session, participants will see the difference between a basic AI prompt and a well-structured request, then put it into practice using a real need from their own business. Learn a simple approach you can reuse for writing, brainstorming, research, planning and everyday business tasks.
Takeaway: Leave with a practical AI workflow you can start using the following Monday.
10:45-11:00 a.m. | Break
For those ready to move beyond asking AI questions.
AI can do more than write an email or answer a question. In this session, we'll put AI to work on a real, multi-step business task the kind of work that can normally eat up an entire afternoon. Through live demonstrations and hands-on examples, participants will see how AI assistants can research, organize information, draft materials, analyze content and complete tasks with less step-by-step direction. We'll also take a practical look at what these tools cost, where they fall short and what still needs a human.
Takeaway: A better understanding of where an AI coworker could actually save time in your business.
Enjoy lunch and connect with other local businesses. Share what you've tried, compare notes and bring your AI questions to the afternoon sessions.
Moving from experimentation to intentional use.
Once employees start using AI, things can get messy quickly. Which tools should they use? What information is okay to put into AI? Who is responsible for checking the results? And how do you make sure AI is actually helping your business rather than creating more work?
This session helps owners and managers move from experimenting with AI to establishing a practical approach for using it across the organization.
Topics will include:
- Establishing simple guidelines for employee AI use
- Protecting confidential and sensitive business information
- Understanding accuracy, fact-checking and human oversight
- Using AI responsibly in hiring, customer service, marketing and other business functions
- Choosing and evaluating AI tools without accumulating a pile of unused subscriptions
- Identifying where AI should, and shouldn't, be used
- Creating a simple AI playbook employees can actually follow.
Takeaway: A starting framework for your company's own AI playbook and a clearer understanding of how to move forward without the chaos.
No slides. No lectures. Just real questions from real businesses.
Bring the AI question, challenge or idea you've been wondering about. During this interactive closing session, facilitators (and attendees!) will work through real scenarios submitted by attendees and demonstrate how AI could, or sometimes shouldn't, be used to solve them.
Questions might include:
- Can AI help me streamline this process?
- How could I use AI to save my staff time?
- Can AI analyze this spreadsheet or report?
- How do I know which AI tool is right for my business?
- What should my employees be allowed to put into AI?
- How could I use AI to improve our customer experience?
- Where should we start?
- What does a successful roadmap look like for implementing safety, security, and compliance guardrails in AI applications?
❓ Have a questions for this session? You're welcome to submit them in advance by adding it to the question field when you register. Or you can email questions to shannon@chambermanitowoccounty.org.
Takeaway: One practical AI idea you can take back to work and put into action.
Speaker:
Michael Cummings, MCM Digital Products
(Learn more)
