Claude for Beginners - Meet Anthropic's AI

Overview:

This session is for people who are comfortable with Microsoft Copilot or ChatGPT and want a proper introduction to Claude. We start with the company: who Anthropic is, why they exist, and how their approach to building AI shapes what Claude is good and bad at. We then meet the model family - Haiku, Sonnet, Opus, and where each one fits - and we open Claude live to actually use it. We cover the basics: writing your first prompts, uploading documents, working with the long context window that lets Claude hold an entire book in mind at once, using Projects to keep work organised, and the memory system that quietly carries context across conversations. We then run an honest side-by-side: the same prompt in Claude, ChatGPT, and Microsoft Copilot, and we look at where each one wins and loses. We talk about the integration story you might not know - that Claude models now power parts of Microsoft Copilot itself, and what that means for your decision-making. We close with a clear-eyed view of when to use Claude, when to stay with Copilot or ChatGPT, and how to think about working with more than one AI in the same week without losing your mind. You leave with a working understanding of Claude and an informed view of the wider AI landscape.

Why you should Attend:

Most people in a Microsoft shop have used Copilot. Many have used ChatGPT. Almost nobody has spent serious time with Claude, and that is increasingly a problem. Claude is not a niche tool. It is the AI that powers a meaningful slice of Microsoft Copilot itself, the AI that finance teams quietly switched to for analysis work, and the AI that professional services firms now build entire workflows around. It also writes differently, thinks differently, and handles long documents differently to anything else on the market — and if you have not tried it, you are making decisions about the AI landscape with one eye closed. This session opens the eye. We start at the beginning, no prior Claude experience required. We show you what makes Claude actually different rather than what the marketing says. We walk through it live. And we put it side by side with the AI you already use, so the comparison is honest rather than theoretical. You leave knowing what Claude is, when to reach for it, and when to stay where you are.

Areas Covered in the Session:

• Who Anthropic is, and why their approach to AI matters
• The Claude model family: Haiku, Sonnet, Opus, and when to use which
• Where to use Claude: web, desktop, mobile, and inside Microsoft 365
• Writing your first prompts and getting strong output from the start
• Working with long documents using Claude's large context window
• Projects, memory, and keeping ongoing work organised
• Honest side-by-side: Claude vs ChatGPT vs Microsoft Copilot
• Where each AI wins, and where each one loses
• Why Claude now powers parts of Microsoft Copilot, and what that means
• When to reach for Claude, and when to stay where you are

Who Will Benefit:

• Microsoft 365 Users - ready to look outside the Copilot bubble
• ChatGPT Users - curious about what they have been missing
• Knowledge Workers - who want a clear-eyed view of the AI landscape
• Managers & Decision Makers - evaluating AI tools for their teams
• AI-Curious Professionals - across any role and industry