Sample lesson page. A local draft for look and feel; login, tracking and hosting come later.
You & AI
Foundations · Analytic partner
All topics

~30 minutes, with an 11 minute video

Structure information you already have

The scenario: Your organization is running a leadership convening and the person in charge has gone out on an unexpected leave. The task of managing the event, scheduled six months from now, has been turned over to you. You open up the folder and discover five contracts. You need to quickly figure out where things stand, what needs to be done, and any key risks.

11 min video10 min following along with the sample files10 min trying it on your own documents

What you need to find out

Where do things stand?
What needs to get done, and by when?
What are the key risks?
Want to follow along? Download the five contracts below first.
The one thing to rememberA spreadsheet isn't just for numbers. With Claude in Excel you can structure any kind of information, including a mixed pile like a folder of contracts, into something you can sort, check and keep up to date.

Try it yourself

These are the five sample contracts from the video for you to use.

PDFVenue rentalLakeview Conference Center PDFCateringSage Culinary Group PDFAV productionSignal AV PDFSpeaker agreementDr. Amara Osei PDFEvent photographyLightmark Studios
Download all five (.zip)

Then paste this prompt into Claude in Excel

Our organization is hosting a leadership convening six months from now. The person who was running it has gone out on unexpected leave, and I've taken it over. Attached are the five vendor contracts I found in their folder. Help me make sense of them: where do things stand, what needs to get done and by when, and what are the key risks? Ask me any questions you have before you start.

Extend it further

Turn it into…

  • Draft an email to each vendor asking for their W-9.
  • Turn everything that needs doing into a task list I can upload to Asana.
  • Make a Gantt chart of every deadline, counting down to the event.
  • Write a one-page status update for my director.

Ask what if…

  • We need to cut the budget by 20%. What are our best options, and what would each cost us?
  • Attendance is going to double. Which contracts have to change, and how?
  • Which contracts matter most if something goes wrong, and why?

Where else this works

Same move, different pile of documents.

Grantee reportsTwelve grantees sent year-end reports, each in its own format. Line them up in one table you can actually compare.
Site visit notesYour team visited eight schools and everyone took notes differently. Turn them into one view of what you saw, where, and what needs follow-up.
Portfolio updatesTen organizations in your portfolio each sent a quarterly letter. Pull the numbers and the warning signs into one sheet.

Your assignment

  1. Gather three to five documents of your own that hold the same kind of information: contracts, grant agreements, grantee reports, vendor quotes, or notes from a round of site visits.
  2. Adapt the prompt above in Claude in Excel: swap in your own situation and your own documents, and keep the three questions and the last line.
  3. Ask Claude the same three things about your documents: where things stand, what needs to be done, and the key risks.
  4. Then turn it into one thing and ask one "what if", like the examples above, but for your own situation.
  5. Write down one thing you want to remember, act on, or test.

Writing down what you tried helps it stick, and your answers help improve the course. I read every response, though I'm not able to reply to them individually. Please leave out anything confidential from your work.

Something not working?

Tell me and I'll fix it. This goes straight to me, with this lesson attached.