Run an Adult AI Workshop Without Requiring Personal Accounts

Define the participation promise

An adult AI workshop can teach how to specify a task, inspect an answer, and revise an instruction without asking every participant to create an AI account. Design those learning decisions into the activity before choosing how a demonstration will run.

This is an original workshop-planning method. The exercise, timings, and dialogues below are hypothetical, not a description of an existing AI Empower course. The specific promise is that participants can complete the core learning activity without personal AI accounts. Verify separately how they will access the venue, meeting, and learning materials.

CDC's training standards recommend methods the intended audience can use and activities that include learners. For this proposed format, participants work on instructions and review decisions while an authorised facilitator operates any live tool. Tool operation remains a separate skill to practise later if it is part of the learning goal.

The pack everyone receives

Prepare a compact exercise pack with six parts:

1. The learning goal and what participants will produce.

2. A short fictional source note with clear labels.

3. A blank instruction-and-review worksheet.

4. An illustrative output for the offline route.

5. A second task variation for revision practice.

6. A facilitator note showing required facts and unresolved questions.

W3C's accessible-events guidance recommends asking about access requirements and providing accessible materials in advance. It also warns that screen sharing alone often does not give participants usable access. Supply the pack directly in the formats people need, with a tested access route that does not introduce an unexpected sign-in.

Printed pages may suit some participants; others need an accessible digital copy and their usual assistive technology. A paper fallback alone does not establish accessibility. Check the actual materials, room or remote setup, communication support, and time for participation with the group.

Set up both output routes

1. Verify the authorised demonstration

   Choose a tool and account the organisation has approved for this demonstration. Before the workshop, check the relevant terms, display permissions, available features, and data settings for that actual arrangement. Do not assume an educator label, free tier, or public website makes a tool suitable.

2. Keep the facilitator in control

   The facilitator keeps control of their own authorised session. Do not distribute login details, rotate participants through a shared password, or ask someone to sign up hurriedly when a demonstration fails. Use only the prepared fictional material in live inputs.

Prepare the offline route at the same time

Have an offline version ready from the start. It should contain the same source, instructions, and decisions as the live exercise. Label saved outputs accurately: a captured demonstration output should identify its context, while wording written by the facilitator should say “illustrative output written for this exercise.” Do not present the latter as a tested model response.

One fictional activity with two routes

Use this entirely invented source note: “A community reading evening is for adults. The activity includes a short reading followed by discussion. The facilitator supplies the reading extracts. The note does not specify the date, time, or venue.” No real event is being advertised.

1. Shared instruction task

   Ask each participant to write an instruction for a short notice using only that note. They choose an audience, a format, a length, and how missing details should be handled. The draft stays inside the exercise and must not be published.

2. Choose the prepared output route

   • In the live route, a group selects one instruction for the facilitator to enter exactly as agreed. Read it back first so the group can correct it.

   • In the offline route, use this labelled illustrative output: “Adults are invited to a reading evening with a short reading and group discussion. Reading extracts will be supplied. Date, time, and venue are not provided in the supplied information.”

3. Shared review and revision

   Everyone compares the output with the same source and decides what to revise. For a second round, the hypothetical task changes to a three-bullet notice. Learners rewrite the instruction and describe what they expect to stay unchanged. The offline group can write the revised draft themselves; they still make and explain the revision decision.

The same worksheet for both routes

Give every participant these fields, on paper or in their accessible copy:

Before seeing an output

• Audience and task: who the draft is for and what it should help them understand.

• Allowed source: the fictional note or passage to use.

• Instruction: task, format, boundaries, and treatment of missing details.

• Prediction: what a suitable answer should contain before seeing one.

After using the chosen route

• Output route: live demonstration, captured demonstration, or illustrative text.

• Review decision: what to keep, correct, or leave unresolved, with the source reason.

• Revised instruction: the next change and what must remain the same.

• Unpractised step: any tool operation or feature not demonstrated.

A hypothetical prediction for the reading-evening case is: “Include adult audience, reading, discussion, and supplied extracts; do not invent a date or location.” It is an expected exercise condition, not evidence that a learner or tool met it.

Participation and the no-account rehearsal

1. Give everyone a decision

   A facilitator-operated screen can become a performance if only the quickest speaker gets to contribute. Give participants quiet drafting time, then invite a spoken or written proposal. In pairs, alternate who proposes the instruction and who checks whether the demonstration preserves it.

2. Keep the task equivalent

   Use the same source, core task, and review questions across routes. Allow suitable communication modes and time. Equivalent participation means learners make the relevant decisions; it does not mean that reading a saved answer proves they can navigate a particular tool.

If the live demonstration fails

If the live tool fails, name what happened and move to the prepared output. Keep the activity's decision point intact. Do not use the remaining time to pressure participants into accounts or substitute private material for the fictional pack.

Before delivery, ask a colleague to complete the entire exercise using only the no-account route. Fix every step that depends on an unseen screen, unshared file, or login. Bring the pack and any remaining access questions to an AI workshop discussion.

Sources checked 4 October 2026

• W3C WAI: Making Events Accessible
• CDC: Quality Training Standards