In-person or virtual — what works better for AI training?

In-person works better for hands-on learning — we can see where people are stuck, look at actual screens, and have side conversations that don't happen on Zoom. Virtual works fine for executive briefings, smaller groups, and follow-up sessions. For initial team training, in-person is recommended if logistics allow.

AI Training in Austin, TX | M41 Strategies

Hands-On AI Training in Austin

M41 Strategies offers practical AI training for Austin businesses — from public workshops anyone can join, to custom team training tailored to your workflows, to one-on-one coaching for executives and individual practitioners. Founded by Mike Michaels, a 25-year Austin resident, software engineer with 15+ years experience, and small-business owner for about as long.

Most AI training is generic webinars or self-paced courses that don't stick. We do something different: hands-on training tailored to your team and your actual work. Real prompts, real workflows, real outputs you'll use the day after the session.

And because we're based in Austin, we can do it in person. There's no substitute for being in the room, working through real examples together, and answering questions as they come up. Virtual works too — whatever fits your team.

When the work calls for additional facilitators (large team training, multi-day sessions), we bring in trusted local collaborators. You always know who's in the room.

Who We Train

Teams. Get everyone up to speed on AI tools they can use immediately. Custom sessions tailored to your team's specific work — legal, marketing, operations, sales, support, etc. We don't run a generic curriculum; we build the training around what your team actually does day-to-day.

Individuals. One-on-one training tailored to a specific role or goal. Useful for founders, consultants, executives, and specialists who want to go deep on AI for their specific work without sitting through generic content.

Executives. Understand what AI can and can't do, so you can make informed strategy and budget decisions. We cut through the hype and the doom — what's real, what's not, and what your team should actually be doing right now.

Training Formats

Free public workshops. 90-minute live sessions on specific topics — AI for operations, AI for marketing, AI for sales, AI for website rebuilds. Recurring monthly. Anyone can attend. Demoed live in Claude. Good entry point if you're not sure where to start. See upcoming workshops.

Custom team training. Half-day or full-day sessions designed around your team's specific work. We talk to you first to understand what your team does, then build the training around real examples from your business. Deliverables include a tailored prompt library and a written playbook your team keeps.

One-on-one coaching. 60-90 minute sessions tailored to your role. Best for executives, founders, and individual practitioners who want focused training without committing the whole team.

Ongoing programs. Monthly office hours, follow-up sessions, and refresher training for teams that want AI as a continuing habit, not a one-time event. Especially useful for teams adopting AI in a regulated industry (legal, healthcare, finance) where ongoing reinforcement matters.

What You'll Learn

How to use ChatGPT, Claude, and other AI tools effectively. Not just "type something and see what happens" — the actual patterns that produce useful work. We cover the major tools and explain when to pick which.

Writing prompts that get useful results. Most AI output disappoints because the prompt was vague. We teach the specific structural patterns that turn one-line questions into reliable, high-quality output.

When to use AI — and when not to. Maybe the most important skill. Plenty of people are wasting time trying to make AI do work it's not good at. We'll show you the difference.

Building workflows and small automations. For more advanced participants: linking AI into your existing tools, automating repetitive work, building custom prompt libraries your team can reuse.

Practical applications for your specific work. Always grounded in your actual day-to-day — meeting notes, documents, customer emails, reports, contracts, marketing copy. Whatever you do, that's what we train on.

Recent Training Engagements

Fortune 500 legal team AI training. An in-house legal team at a Fortune 500 company hired M41 to train their attorneys and paralegals on practical AI workflows. The half-day session covered safe prompt patterns for legal work, document Q&A, research, and the specific use cases the team would actually encounter. Two-week turnaround from first call to delivered training.

One-on-one hands-on workshop for a local Austin small-business owner. The client had been intimidated by AI tools and hadn't done much with them. In a single working session, we walked through real tasks from her business — writing, editing, content updates, basic site changes — and built confidence she could keep using on her own. The training stuck; she's been doing this work herself ever since.

Working session with a local Austin events business. The owner wanted to use AI to rebuild his website and document his workflows. In a live working session, we ran the actual website migration together while teaching him how to use AI tools to keep doing this kind of work himself. The session ended up shaping a repeatable workshop methodology M41 now offers to other small businesses.

Free public workshops — recurring monthly. M41 runs free 90-minute public workshops monthly on specific topics (operations, marketing, sales, website rebuilds). Each session is demoed live in Claude, designed for small business owners who've dabbled with ChatGPT but haven't put AI to work yet. Good way to see our training style before committing to anything paid.

In-Person or Virtual

Virtual training works — we run plenty of it. But in-person is better for hands-on learning. We can look over shoulders, see where people are getting stuck, and help work through real tasks from the job. Body language and side conversations matter for retention.

We're available for on-site training at your Austin office, or we can meet at a convenient location. Out-of-town team training is doable too — reach out and we'll talk through logistics.

Why Work With a Local Austin AI Trainer?

In-person sessions at your office — no travel costs for you
Direct work with the founder and trusted local facilitators
Understanding of the Austin business landscape
Ongoing relationship, not a one-and-done engagement
Accountability — our reputation is local and we plan to keep it

Ready to Train Your Team?

Book a free 30-minute call to discuss your training needs. We'll talk through your team, your work, and what would actually be useful.

Book a Call or Email Me

Frequently Asked Questions

How much does AI training cost in Austin?

Free public workshops are exactly that — free. Just register and show up.

Custom team training and one-on-one coaching are paid engagements. Pricing depends on team size, format (half-day vs full-day), location (on-site vs virtual), and whether you want ongoing follow-up. Most engagements land in the $1,500–$6,000 range for a custom training event, with ongoing programs running as a monthly retainer.

The first conversation is free — we'll talk through what you need and quote it before any commitment.

What does AI training actually cover?

The fundamentals: how to use ChatGPT, Claude, and other AI tools effectively; writing prompts that produce useful results; knowing when to use AI and when not to; common pitfalls and how to avoid them.

For advanced sessions: building reusable prompt libraries, simple automations, AI-assisted research workflows, document Q&A, and team adoption patterns.

And always grounded in your specific work — meeting notes, customer emails, contracts, reports, marketing copy. Whatever your team does, that's what we train on.

How long does AI training take?

Public workshops are 90 minutes. Custom team training is typically a half-day (3–4 hours) or full-day (6–8 hours), depending on team size and depth. One-on-one coaching is 60–90 minutes per session.

For teams that want lasting adoption, we recommend a one-time training plus a monthly follow-up program — people don't change habits in a single sitting, no matter how good the session is.

Do you train executives or hands-on workers?

Both, but the sessions look very different. Executive sessions focus on what AI can and can't do, where to invest, how to evaluate vendor claims, and what to expect from your team. Hands-on training focuses on actually using the tools to get work done.

For best results: train the executives first so they have realistic expectations, then train the team on the practical work. Doing it the other way around often leads to executive disappointment when the team uses AI for things the executives didn't anticipate.

Will my team actually use what they learn?

That's the real question. Adoption is the hardest part of AI training, not the technical learning. A few things that move the needle:

Training has to be grounded in real work from your team, not generic examples. People remember what they used in the session, not what was demoed for someone else's job. We always build training around your actual workflows.

Follow-up matters more than the initial session. Monthly office hours, refresher training, or async support channels are usually worth more than a longer initial workshop. People need a place to ask "I tried this thing and got stuck, what do I do?"

We help you build internal champions — people on your team who get good fast and can support others. Without internal champions, training-day enthusiasm fades inside a month.

Do we need to install anything before training?

Usually not much. For most sessions, a free ChatGPT or Claude account is enough to follow along. If we're going to cover specific tools or workflows that need accounts, we'll send setup instructions ahead of time so the session isn't lost to login screens.

For more advanced workshops (e.g., the website-rebuild workshop), there's a small install ahead of time — we send the link and instructions before the session.

In-person or virtual — what works better?

Honestly, in-person works better for hands-on learning. We can see where people are getting stuck, look at their actual screens, and have side conversations that don't happen on Zoom. Body language matters for retention.

Virtual works fine for executive briefings, smaller groups, and follow-up sessions. For initial team training, we recommend in-person if logistics allow.

We do both. You decide what fits.

AI Training in Austin