Why I’m hosting a hands-on AI workshop for Surrey business owners
By Rebecca Newenham
On Thursday 26 November, Link Up Guildford is hosting a hands-on AI workshop for local business owners, delivered by Selda Seyfi of Quantum Lane AI. I want to explain why I’ve put it together, and why I think it’s one of the most useful mornings a business owner could spend this year.
| Places are limited to 20. Tickets are £35. Click here to learn more about the event & book your place. |
At Get Ahead, we’ve spent more than sixteen years helping business owners hand over the tasks that eat into their week. The admin, the inbox, the diary, the first draft of a document nobody quite has time to write. That’s always been the heart of what a good Virtual Expert does: giving you back time to focus on the work only you can do.
AI is now part of that same conversation. Used well, it doesn’t replace good people. It helps good people do more, more quickly, and with less of the dull bit. I’ve made a point of understanding it properly, both for my own business and for the people we support.
The gap I keep noticing
When I talk to business owners at our networking events, I hear the same thing again and again. Most people have tried ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini or Copilot once or twice. They typed in a question, got a slightly odd answer, and quietly went back to doing things the old way.
That’s understandable. Nobody has ever sat down and shown them what these tools are actually good at, or how to ask for what they need. And there’s a lot of noise out there, from breathless hype on one side to real worries about privacy and accuracy on the other.
The result is that many brilliant, busy business owners are missing out on help that is already sitting on their laptop, often for free. I’d love to change that for our local community.
Why I asked Selda to run it
Selda Seyfi has spent over twenty years in management consulting, helping global businesses with strategy, operations and new ideas. She now runs Quantum Lane AI and writes Maximize Your Minutes, a weekly AI and productivity newsletter.
What I love about Selda’s approach is that she puts the business first and the technology second. Every idea has to solve a real problem in a real business. She ran this workshop for Mole Valley Chamber of Commerce in October, and the feedback from a room of complete beginners and regular users alike was excellent.
“The room had complete beginners alongside regular users, and Selda pitched it perfectly for both. People left with practical ideas they could put to work straight away, and the buzz during the networking afterwards said it all. Highly recommended for any business that wants to use AI with confidence.”
Richard Excell, President, Mole Valley Chamber of Commerce
What happens on the morning
The session is very practical: light on theory and heavy on doing. Over the morning you’ll:
- Get a plain English look at the main AI tools and what they can and can’t do
- Learn a simple, repeatable way to write requests that get useful results
- Work on real tasks from your own business, not made-up examples
- Talk openly about data privacy, accuracy and what’s sensible to share
- Leave with two or three ideas you can put into practice within the week
Everyone goes home with a free guide, Your First 7 Days with AI, and the option of a short one-to-one chat with Selda about their own business. The workshop uses the free versions of the main tools, so there’s nothing to buy, and it is not a sales pitch.
Who is it for?
The workshop is designed for owners of established, growing businesses: consultants, coaches, agencies and service businesses, whether you work on your own or with a small team. You don’t need any technical knowledge. If you’ve never opened an AI tool, you’ll be looked after, and if you already dabble, you’ll still come away with fresh ideas.
This is the kind of thing we care about at Get Ahead. The aim is the same as it’s always been: helping your business run well with less of your time. AI and great human support work brilliantly side by side, and understanding both puts you in a much stronger position.
The details
- When: Thursday 26 November 2026, 9.30am to 12.30pm, including coffee on arrival and networking at the end
- Where: The County Club, High Street, Guildford GU1 3HJ
- Cost: £35
- Bring: a laptop or tablet if you can, and a real task or two from your business
- Places: limited to 20 so everyone gets hands-on time
I’d love to see you there. And if you’d like to talk about how a Virtual Expert could take even more off your plate, the Get Ahead team is always happy to have a chat.
