Small-business owners and managers in Kildare have an upcoming opportunity to try an AI tool in a structured workshop. Local Enterprise Office Kildare lists a Claude introductory session at MERITS in Naas on Wednesday 21 October, from 5.30pm to 8pm. Booking is essential, and the organiser lists the event as free. [1]

The session sits within Kildare’s tech-cluster programme, which brings businesses, founders and educators together. The programme also lists a more advanced Claude session for 26 November. The two dates serve different purposes: the October listing is aimed at people getting started. [2]

Confirm the place and prepare the device

Check availability through the official booking page rather than assuming a listing guarantees a place. The organiser asks attendees to bring a charged laptop and set up a Claude account beforehand; it says the free plan is sufficient for this session. Arrival from 5.30pm is for registration and networking. [1]

Once booked, put the venue and start time beside the confirmation in your calendar. Make sure you can sign in to the account on the laptop you intend to bring. This avoids spending the practical session recovering access or looking for an unfamiliar password.

Bring an example without customer information

The organiser describes exercises involving emails, marketing drafts, document summaries and routine administration. Those are proposed uses for the workshop, not independent evidence that the software will improve a particular business. [1]

A useful practice example could be a fictional opening-hours enquiry, a short public product description or an invented meeting agenda. Keep real customer records, staff details and confidential commercial documents out of a casual demonstration. You can learn how a task works without making the input sensitive.

For a draft email, write down the facts it must retain: date, price if relevant, promised next step and contact method. Compare the output with that list. For a summary, check whether an important qualification disappeared. An answer that sounds fluent can still need correction.

Leave with a repeatable task

Choose one exercise to repeat after the session. Save the harmless input, the instructions you used and the corrections you made. Ask which parts still require a person’s decision before anything reaches a customer.

LEO Kildare also advises attendees to speak to its team beforehand if they do not want to be recognisable in event photography or video. [1]

The official programme was checked on 11 October 2026. This is a preparation guide for an upcoming event, not a review of the workshop or an endorsement of the software.