What You Covered Today
A practical, wide-ranging session on generative AI and how it applies directly to office management roles. The session moved from foundations through to live demos - covering what AI actually is, the big questions around it, how to prompt effectively, and two powerful features you can use straight away.
🧠 The Foundations
What generative AI actually is: pattern recognition and prediction, trained on vast amounts of data. Not Terminator - super-advanced predictive text that's very good at reshaping ideas it's already seen.
🔥 Hot AI Topics
Hallucinations, privacy settings, environmental impact and smaller models, security risks with AI agents, and the big question: will AI take my job?
🎯 Prompting Well
The Role / Task / Context / Output framework. Briefing AI like a new team member: one topic per chat, give it context, tell it the format you want.
⚡ Two Standout Features
AI formulas inside spreadsheets (=COPILOT() and =AI()), and scheduled tasks - set AI to deliver a morning briefing automatically every day.
Key Takeaways
Curiosity beats technical knowledge every time
You don't need to be techy. The people who get the most from AI are the ones who ask questions, experiment, and keep pushing. Everything else follows.
AI can't read your mind - brief it like a new team member
You wouldn't tell a new hire "do the marketing" and walk away. Give AI a role, a task, context, and a format. Vague in, vague out.
One chat, one topic
Start a fresh conversation for each new task. Don't mix subjects - the context degrades, and you'll notice the quality drop the longer and more mixed the chat gets.
Hallucinations are real - and reducible
AI will confidently give you wrong information. There are two powerful ways to reduce this:
Give it specific sources. Upload a document, paste in a report, or point it at a website. Hallucinations drop dramatically when AI has real source material to work from rather than guessing from memory.
Use Agent Mode (ChatGPT). Agent Mode runs a live web search through real websites before answering - so instead of relying on what it was trained on months ago, it's reading current, real information. Much more reliable for anything recent or factual.
Privacy settings matter - paid or free
Both free and paid plans have training turned on by default - this includes ChatGPT Plus and Claude Pro. You need to go into Settings and switch it off manually. The only plans where training is off by default are ChatGPT Team/Enterprise and Claude Team/Enterprise.
When using Microsoft Copilot within your M365 subscription, or Google Gemini within Google Workspace, your data is significantly more protected - it stays within your organisation's tenancy and is not used to train the model.
Focus on the problem, not the tool
Tools change constantly. The problems - drafting, summarising, organising, communicating - stay the same. Learn to describe what you need clearly and the tool almost doesn't matter.
Start small, iterate fast
Pick one task you do every week. Try it with AI this week. It won't be perfect first time - refine the prompt, try again. You'll be surprised how quickly it clicks.
How to Prompt Well
The quality of what you get back is almost entirely determined by the quality of what you put in. Use this four-part recipe every time.
| Element | What it means | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Role | Tell AI who it is | "You are an experienced office manager working at a 65-person law firm..." |
| Task | Tell AI what to do | "Create a weekly health and safety checklist that any member of staff could complete..." |
| Context | Give it the detail | "The office is across 3 floors in central London. Checks should cover fire exits, first aid kits, trip hazards..." |
| Output | Tell it how to format | "Format as a table with four columns: check item, location, status, and notes." |
Example Prompt - Try It Now
Starter Prompt for Your Role
AI Use Cases for Office Managers
Here are the most practical ways to put AI to work in your role, with suggested prompts for each task.
| Task | What to ask AI |
|---|---|
| Draft a policy | You are an experienced office manager. Draft a [policy name] policy for a [size] company. Include sections for [key areas]. Use plain English. |
| Onboarding pack | Create a first-week onboarding checklist for a new [role] joining a [size] team. Include IT setup, key contacts, and culture points. |
| Summarise a document | Summarise the key points of this document in 5 bullet points. Highlight any actions or decisions required. |
| Meeting notes | Here is a transcript of our meeting. Please produce structured meeting notes with actions, owners, and deadlines clearly listed. |
| Analyse a spreadsheet | I have attached a spreadsheet. Please identify the top 3 risks and produce a one-page project status summary. |
| Compare supplier quotes | Here are two supplier quotes. Compare them on price, delivery, and service terms. Recommend which is better value. |
| Sentiment analysis | =AI("Classify as Positive, Negative, or Neutral", B2) in Google Sheets, or =COPILOT("Classify sentiment", B2) in Excel |
| Daily news briefing | Every morning at 9am, research the most recent [sector] news and let me know the results. |
AI in Your Spreadsheet
One of the most underused features: calling AI directly from inside a spreadsheet cell. Available in Microsoft Excel (via Copilot) and Google Sheets (via Gemini).
Google Sheets
Use the =AI() function. Type your prompt, then reference the cell you want to process.
Microsoft Excel
Use the =COPILOT() function in Excel for Microsoft 365 to run the same kind of AI-powered analysis.
What you can do
| Task | Formula example |
|---|---|
| Classify sentiment | =AI("Classify as Positive, Negative, or Neutral", B2) |
| Auto-reply to feedback | =AI("Write a short, professional reply to this feedback", B2) |
| Categorise data | =AI("Categorise this as HR, Finance, Ops, or Facilities", B2) |
| Extract key information | =AI("Extract the due date from this email summary", B2) |
Scheduled Tasks
Set AI to run a task automatically at a chosen time - so you arrive at your desk with research already done, or a briefing already waiting.
| Tool | How to schedule | Example use |
|---|---|---|
| ChatGPT | Type your instruction with a time ("every day at 9am…"). Turn on notifications to receive results automatically. | Daily industry news briefing delivered each morning |
| Gemini | Tell it what you want and when. Results appear when you open Gemini at the set time. | Weekly summary of supplier news or sector updates |
| Copilot | Ask for what you want, click the three dots, choose 'Schedule this prompt', set frequency. Can email results. | Monday morning agenda summary emailed before 9am |
| Claude desktop | Go to Settings → Scheduled Tasks. Set your prompt and timing. | Daily briefing on any topic you choose |
AI Safety Checklist
AI is genuinely powerful - and still evolving. Here's what to keep in mind to use it safely and responsibly in your role.
| ✅ Do | ❌ Avoid |
|---|---|
| Turn off training data usage in settings on free tools (ChatGPT, Gemini) | Pasting sensitive staff data, payroll info, or client details into a free AI chat |
| Use Copilot (M365) or Gemini in Google Workspace for work tasks - your data stays in your tenancy | Assuming enterprise tools are completely infallible - always verify important outputs |
| Give AI your own documents to work from - hallucinations drop significantly when it has source material | Relying on AI for precise numbers, legal facts, or compliance-critical information without checking |
| Treat AI output like a capable first draft - review before it leaves your desk | Using free AI browser agents to log into work systems or access sensitive accounts |
Try This Today
Five things you can do in the next 30 minutes to put today into practice. Tick them off as you go.
The AI Guys Membership
Everything from today's session is just the start. The AI Guys membership gives you ongoing access to practical AI training, tools, templates, and a community of people using AI to work smarter.
What's inside
📚 Training library
Video walkthroughs, how-to guides, and step-by-step tutorials covering the tools and use cases most relevant to your role.
📋 Templates & prompts
Ready-to-use prompt templates for common business tasks, plus the AI spreadsheet formulas from today's session.
🔄 Regular updates
AI moves fast. The membership is updated regularly as new tools and features emerge - so you always know what's worth your attention.
💬 Community & support
Ask questions, share what's working, and learn from others doing the same thing in their organisations.
Tools & Resources
| Tool | Best for | Link |
|---|---|---|
| Claude | Long documents, nuanced writing, file analysis | claude.ai |
| ChatGPT | General tasks, scheduling, quick drafts | chatgpt.com |
| Microsoft Copilot | Office 365 integration, Outlook, Teams, Excel | copilot.microsoft.com |
| Google Gemini | Google Workspace, Sheets AI formula, scheduling | gemini.google.com |
| Perplexity | Research and web search with cited sources | perplexity.ai |
| Jan.ai | Private local AI - runs on your machine, nothing shared externally | jan.ai |
| The AI Guys - Membership | Prompting cheat sheet, videos, walkthroughs, and additional resources | theaiguys.co.uk |
→ link.aiguys.ltd/officemanagementgroup