Claude Masterclass

Most people get something useful from Claude, and few get it reliably on the bigger jobs. This masterclass takes one larger task the room runs every week, such as a feasibility study, an owner's report or a group sales proposal, and breaks it into stages with Claude. Every stage runs the same way. Every stage runs the same six steps as one room: brief the prompt together, run it, check the result at the source, give feedback in broad strokes, run it again, and keep what worked. Stage by stage, the work moves through research, data, writing and slides, and the room sees most of what Claude can do: Projects and artifacts, research with sources, connectors, Claude Design, and Claude for Excel, Word and PowerPoint. Once a stage works, it is made to repeat: the research runs every week on a schedule, the review before sending becomes a Skill of your own, and the stage Skills are bundled into a plugin a whole team can install. Everyone works on a shared example or on their own cleared material, so what they build keeps working after the session.

Who it is for

People who already use Claude, but not yet reliably. Usually one team that shares a workflow; the session also runs for a mixed group, each person on their own workflow. Each participant brings a laptop with Claude and Cowork installed and their email and files connected, checked the week before, and a recent real example of the workflow, cleared under their organisation's AI policy. A prepared example pack covers anyone who cannot bring their own.

Learning objective

Take one larger task you run every week, break it into stages with Claude, and work through each stage so the task gets faster, better and repeatable, using or seeing Projects, artifacts, research, connectors, Claude for Excel, Word and PowerPoint, Claude Design, Skills, plugins and scheduled tasks along the way. Delivered on Claude; a version for another tool is built on request.

• Break one larger task into stages with Claude, including the steps that stay outside it
• Run every stage the same way as a room, briefing it together, running it, checking it, improving it and keeping it
• Research with sources, bring in data through a connector, draft with a source on every number and make a one-pager in Claude Design, with Claude for Excel, Word and PowerPoint shown along the way
• Turn the stage you repeat most into a Skill of your own once it works, and improve it with a lesson from a past job
• See how a plugin shares Skills across a team, and schedule a stage to run on its own

1. 35 min

   Map the Workflow

   The introduction maps Claude's toolkit for the day, says what the day covers and what it leaves to Claude Essentials, sets the line on what the organisation allows into Claude, and gets a Project for the task open on every laptop. Then the room talks through how the task really runs while a recorder transcribes it and the stages go up on sticky notes. The transcript and a photo of the wall go into one chat, and the room briefs Claude together to turn them into a visual stage map. Two results are checked side by side, the room gives broad feedback, and the map is re-run until everyone agrees. The confirmed map, saved as an artifact, sets the stages for the next section.

   You leave with: A confirmed stage map, saved as an artifact.

2. 165 min

   Claude at Each Stage

   The agreed stages, in order, each run the same way. The room briefs the prompt together, everyone runs it, a small part first if the stage is big, and the result is checked at the source. Broad feedback and a second run follow, and what worked is kept, so its output carries into the next stage. The last step of a stage is making it repeat, once it works. For a feasibility study the research stage is set to run every week as a scheduled task. Market data comes in through a connector or a file. The section is drafted with a source on every number, then the review before sending becomes a Skill, built with Claude interviewing each person first, run on a real example and improved with one lesson from a past job. The approved section becomes a one-pager in Claude Design. The facilitator shows the same work in Claude for Excel, Word and PowerPoint, so nobody needs the add-ins installed. To finish, the stage Skills and a connector are bundled into a plugin; for one team, the organisation's own shared system is shown that way and the room gives its verdict. The session closes on what each level takes to run, from a quick prompt to a shared system, and when to step up, with the day's toolkit ticked against the stages that used it. Stages vary with the task and the group, and can change on the day.

   You leave with: Every stage worked on Claude with the facilitator's prompt for each, a Skill of your own improved once, a scheduled task, and a verdict on a shared system.

• An agreed stage map

  The stages of the task, with what happens outside Claude and where people and projects differ, saved in Claude.

• A worked example of every stage

  Your own prompt and the facilitator's for each stage, with the outputs, kept together in one Project.

• A Skill and a scheduled task

  One repeat stage written as a Skill, run and improved once, and one stage set to run on its own.

• A stage guide to keep

  After the session, the map and the quick options for each stage, written up and packaged as a Skill the team can use whenever the workflow starts again.

• One team, the default: built around one larger task the team chooses beforehand, worked on a common real example the team has cleared.
• Generic group: everyone works on a prepared example task, so results can be compared at every stage. Anyone with cleared work of their own may use it instead. Larger groups take a second facilitator.
• Shaped by a short survey beforehand: how people use Claude today, the workflow each will bring, and confirmation that their example is cleared under their organisation's AI policy. A prepared example pack covers anyone who cannot bring their own.
• Skills the organisation has already built are shown as a plugin in the last section and put to the team for a verdict.
• Taught on Claude. Each stage is a plain web page, so a version for another tool, such as Microsoft Copilot, ChatGPT or Gemini, can be built on request.