AI Workshop with ETERNITY - AI NOW: Foundations, Models & What's New

October 29, 2026 8:30 AM - 12:00 PM (EDT)

Description

AI Workshop with ETERNITY - AI NOW: Foundations, Models & What's New The Greater Mystic Chamber of Commerce and the Greater Norwich Area Chamber of Commerce are hosting a full-day AI Workshop event on October 29 at the Mystic Hilton, designed to help professionals better understand and apply artificial intelligence in their work. The program features introductory sessions on AI foundations, security, best practices, and the latest developments in the field, along with the opportunity to explore AI specifically for nonprofits, businesses, and tourism and hospitality organizations. 

Attendees will also have the opportunity to participate in one-on-one AI strategy sessions with presenters Mike, Holly, and Sophie from Eternity. The event is supported by regional partners and aims to show participants how AI can save time, improve efficiency, and solve real workplace challenges. Registration includes refreshments, with discounted pricing available for Chamber members.

Mystic Chamber AI Workshop — Session Overview

A practical, hands-on day of AI led by the Eternity team. The content leads with real business use cases and includes examples for nonprofits and tourism operators, so every attendee leaves with something they can use right away. The day is built around one simple promise: learn how to make AI know you, sound like you, and actually work for you, while using far fewer resources to do it.

Bring a laptop and a real task you want help with. You will build as you learn.

Opening — AI Now: What's New and What Changed (30 min)

A fast, practical open that gets you from "I've heard about AI" to "I can use this today," anchored on what has actually changed recently. By the end of this 30 minutes, your picture of AI is current, not based on what you heard a year ago.

What we cover:

• The current model landscape (ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and Microsoft Copilot): what each is best at and where each still struggles. If you live in Microsoft 365, Copilot is the one already sitting inside your Outlook, Word, Excel, and Teams.
• What moved fastest lately: AI search and visibility (GEO), assistants that take action, and connected tools, all in plain terms.
• Prompting 101: a short four-step framework with a live demo.
• A quick safety and privacy checklist: what is safe to put into these tools and what is not.
• Three takeaways and a prompt pack to carry into the main session.

Main Working Session (about 2.5 hours)

One room, hands-on throughout. The focus is business-first, with short nonprofit and tourism examples woven in so everyone gets takeaways regardless of their field. You will leave having set up at least one AI assistant that knows your world, writes in your voice, and is connected to at least one tool you already use.

Part 1 — Make AI Know You

• Most people start from a blank box every time, which is why their results feel generic. This part is about giving AI your context once so it stops guessing. Set it up to know your business so you never have to re-explain yourself again.
• How Projects and custom assistants work, and how a saved background (your services, your customers, your brand) changes every answer after it.
• Business example: load your services, your ideal customer, and a brand copy doc into one Project, then watch the quality jump.
• Nonprofit example: load mission, programs, and donor personas so outputs speak to the right audience.
• Tourism example: load your property, packages, and local area details so the assistant answers like a local concierge. Hands-on: stand up a Project or custom assistant with a short background about your own organization.

Part 2 — Make AI Sound Like You

• A tool that knows your facts still needs to match your voice, or you spend all your time rewriting. Teach it your tone once and it drafts in your words, not robot words.
• Custom instructions and brand voice, and how to pull a voice from writing you already have.
• Business example: turn one source (a voice memo or a meeting transcript) into on-brand social posts and an email, in your tone.
• Nonprofit example: shift the same message between a warm donor tone and a plain program-update tone.
• Tourism example: on-brand destination copy for ads, promos, and local SEO.
• Hands-on: build a short voice instruction and generate one piece of content in your own voice.

Part 3 — Make AI Work For You

• The biggest shift lately is that AI can connect to the tools you already use and take real steps, not just chat. Wire it into your email, notes, and documents so it does the work instead of describing it.
• Connecting AI to tools you already know (email, calendar, notes, documents, CRM) so it can act, plus simple automations and SOPs.
• Business example, drawn from what people actually struggle with: drafting email replies, capturing and summarizing meeting notes, building marketing content, documenting a process as an SOP, and sizing up the competitor landscape.
• Tools shown: note capture with Otter, quick SOPs with Scribe, a competitor-analysis prompt, and a simple PPC ad generator. For Microsoft 365 shops, we show how Copilot does much of this right inside Outlook, Word, and Teams.
• Nonprofit example: grant starters and automated donor follow-ups.
• Tourism example: an itinerary generator and a concierge assistant that answers FAQs and nudges bookings.
• Hands-on: connect one tool or build one small assistant for a real task on your plate.

Part 4 — Shrink Your Footprint: Do More With Less AI

Running AI well is not about running the biggest model on everything. The same habits that cut the compute these systems burn also cut your cost and speed you up. Smaller, tighter AI usage lowers your bill and your environmental footprint at the same time.

• Right-size the model: match the tool to the task instead of defaulting to the heaviest option for simple jobs.
• Keep prompts and context tight: a clear, shorter prompt uses less and usually answers better.
• Reuse a set-up Project instead of re-explaining your background every session.
• Batch related questions into one working session rather than many scattered one-offs.
• Turn off features you are not using, and reuse good outputs instead of regenerating from scratch.
• Why it matters: these choices reduce the resource load of every request, which lowers both cost and environmental impact without lowering the quality of your work.

Open Q&A Panel (30 min)

An open-mic to close the group portion. Bring a real problem and leave with a concrete next step. This is also where you can line up deeper, one-on-one help in the afternoon huddles.

1:1 AI Huddles (afternoon)

Dedicated one-on-one time to work through your own AI questions, opportunities, and roadblocks. Part strategy session, part working session, part troubleshooting. Bring a laptop and a real use case.

Options:

• 30 minutes for $200, up to 2 people.
• 60 minutes for $500, up to 4 people.
• 120 minutes for $1,000, up to 10 people.

Pick the focus that fits you best:

AI strategy and tools: where to start, which tool to use when, adoption and policy planning.

Prompting, content, and marketing: better prompts, faster content, brand voice, repurposing.

Use cases, risk, and responsible rollout: what is safe to share, usage policies, accessibility, and footprint.

Something else.

You will leave with next-step recommendations, suggested tools or prompts, and a clearer plan for applying AI in your own work.