Before you start.

About 25 minutes of setup now saves you twenty in the room. Do as much as you can. Anything you skip, we'll cover together at the door.

Using a work laptop? Do this first

Most company laptops block one or two of today's steps, and nobody can unblock them in the room. Your IT team can clear them in a few minutes. Send them this a week before the workshop:

Subject: Quick approval for an AI workshop on [date]

Hi [name],

I'm attending a hands-on workshop on Claude (made by Anthropic) at Utah Business Forward on [date]. Could you help with two things before then?

1. Install the Claude desktop app on my laptop, from claude.com/download.

2. Let me connect Claude to my work Google Calendar, Gmail, and Drive. In the Google Workspace Admin console, that means marking Claude as a trusted app under the API controls for third-party app access. It can take about 15 minutes to take effect.

If either isn't allowed, no problem. Just let me know and I'll use the browser version.

Thanks,
[Your name]

Can't get approval in time? Bring a personal laptop if you have one. If not, come anyway: the first four labs run in a web browser, and every lab has a fallback.

The checklist

  1. Get Claude Pro. Sign up at claude.com/pricing. It's $20 a month, and you can cancel anytime. The free plan can't run several of today's labs.
  2. Install the Claude desktop app from claude.com/download. It works on Mac and Windows. Open it and sign in with your Pro account. Already have it? Make sure it's updated.
  3. Turn on file creation. Open Settings, then Capabilities, and switch on Code execution and file creation. It lets Claude make real files, like spreadsheets.
  4. Pick your model. In the message box, open the model menu and choose Sonnet 5.5. Avoid anything named Fable; on the Pro plan it costs extra.
  5. Connect Google. Open Customize, then Connectors, then +. Add Google Calendar, Gmail, and Google Drive. If your work account blocks it, try a personal Google account, or send the IT email above.
  6. Download the starter kit from this link. No account needed.
    • Windows: right-click the downloaded file, choose Extract All, and extract it to your Desktop.
    • Mac: double-click it in Downloads, then drag the first-ai-hire-main folder to your Desktop.
  7. Run the self-test. In a new chat, paste: Look at my calendar for tomorrow and tell me my first meeting. If it answers, you're ready.
You're ready if the desktop app opens, your Google connectors show under Customize, the starter kit is on your Desktop, and the self-test worked.

Good to know

Do I need to know how to code?

No. Nobody writes code today. In the last lab, Claude writes it for you from a plain-English description.

Optional: Claude Code in the terminal

You don't need this; the desktop app's Code tab does the same thing. If you're curious and allowed to install software, open Terminal (Mac) and paste curl -fsSL https://claude.ai/install.sh | bash, or open PowerShell (Windows) and paste irm https://claude.ai/install.ps1 | iex. Then type claude and sign in.

Want to dictate instead of typing?

The Claude desktop app has a microphone button in the message box. On Windows you can also press Windows + H. On a Mac, turn on dictation in System Settings, then Keyboard.

What to bring

Your laptop, your charger, and one repetitive task from your job you'd love to never do by hand again. We'll turn it into a skill.