AI in Practice: From Understanding to Action

Join Sense and Motion for a two-session program that takes participants from a shared understanding of AI all the way to building a working AI agent of your own. At the end of the program, participants will: • Share a clear, common understanding of what AI is, what it is not, and where it is genuinely useful in their work. • Use AI tools responsibly, with attention to privacy, environmental impact, and Indigenous data governance (OCAP principles). • Get real, hands-on practice with the tools they will actually use. • Each build a working AI agent of their own, tied to a real task they care about. Readiness Survey About four weeks before the first session, participants complete a short survey to share how familiar they are with AI, which tools they use and how often, what benefits and concerns they hold, what challenges they have run into, and where they see opportunities in their work. This will give the presenters a clear read on where the group is starting from, so they can tailor the content, examples, and pace to the people in the room. Session 1: Foundations The first session builds a shared foundation and creates space for good dialogue. Tuesday, November 17th In person at Long Beach Lodge, Tofino 9:30am - 12:30pm AGENDA: 9:00-9:30am Arrive, set up your laptop, and settle in with light snacks and coffee/tea. 9:30am - 12:30pm Workshop • Current state of AI: what is happening right now, how these tools are evolving, and how to start engaging with them, so everyone has a common reference point regardless of starting experience. • Responsible AI: environmental considerations, privacy, copyright, data confidentiality, bias and hallucinations, and Indigenous data handling with OCAP principles. • Practical AI skills: what good prompting looks like, framed as a mindset for working with AI rather than a list of tricks. • Use case demos: a look at what is genuinely possible, and how to spot a good AI use case in your own work. Use Case Discovery Worksheet Between the two sessions, participants will complete a short discovery worksheet. It walks participants through naming a real task from their own work: the objective, who it serves, the steps they take to do it, and the context or inputs it relies on (a policy or guideline, an intake request, a transcript, and so on). Session 2: Hands-on Build virtual Tuesday, December 1st Online 10:00 am - 12:00 pm AGENDA: • Grounding in practical skills: a short recap and deepening of the skills introduced in Session 1. • Guided, hands-on building: each participant creates a simple, working AI agent tied to the use case they identified. Depending on the tools each organization uses, that might be a Copilot agent, a custom GPT, or a Claude project or skill. The approach is consistent across platforms. • Sharing and next steps: participants see what others have built and leave with a tangible tool they can use right away. About Sense & Motion Sense & Motion is a multi-disciplinary, full-service, AI Agency. They work closely with clients to develop AI strategies, identify and implement AI use cases, and train and equip teams to leverage AI effectively in their work. Their team is made up of senior agency leaders with decades of experience leading complex and robust technology engagements with hundreds of clients across the government, higher education, not-for-profit, and private enterprise sectors. They believe that AI will change everything and know that most lasting change is built on small wins compounding over time. They ground their approach in participation, service design, and comprehensive problem-solving, working alongside each of their clients to understand their people, culture, operations, audiences and unique needs. This results in integrated, transformational experiences and products. Team Tyler Frans, Founder & CEO. Tyler is CEO of Sense & Motion (sam) and a trusted voice in BC's AI ecosystem. He founded Sam with a clear vision: to help organizations across the province move from curiosity about AI to confident, practical adoption. Tyler has led AI engagements across the public sector, financial services, and non-profit and mission-driven organizations, including CQCC, Mosaic BC, Canfor, the City of Vancouver, and First West Credit Union. His work with Mosaic BC produced a responsible AI framework that has since informed AI policy development for other non-profits, including CQCC. Tyler will lead facilitation for both sessions. Adina Gray, AI Advisor & Facilitator. Adina is an international speaker and AI advisor who helps organizations make sense of how AI is reshaping work and learning, through workshops and keynotes for universities and nonprofit organizations across Canada. Her perspective is grounded in more than 20 years in post-secondary education, now channeled into helping mission-driven and community organizations move from understanding AI to applying it responsibly in service of the people and places they support. She has received the Women in AI North America Award. Adina will co-facilitate both sessions with Tyler, bringing her education background and focus on equitable AI adoption.