A full-day workshop that starts with a $15 circuit board and ends with every participant generating and analyzing their own AI-powered dataset.
We start where everyone actually is — and build from there.
The instructor holds up a bare Raspberry Pi Zero. Passes one around. Everyone touches it. No case, no mystery — just a circuit board the size of a stick of gum.
A computer is not magic. It's a machine that follows instructions. The instructions are the only interesting part.
Everyone writes on a paper card: "One thing I wish a computer could do for my job." Cards go on the wall. We come back to them at the end of the day.
The instructor opens a spreadsheet on the Pi. Ten rows — names, ages, zip codes. Everyone has seen a spreadsheet before.
Data is not scary. You already make data every day — every time you fill out a form, swipe a card, or check in somewhere. AI just reads it faster than you can.
As a group, design a dataset on the whiteboard. "Let's track visitors to [local attraction]. What would we write down about each one?" The room calls out columns: origin, date, spending, group size. They just designed a schema without hearing the word.
The instructor types one English sentence into SDG AI Studio: "Generate 1,000 visitor records for [local attraction]." The screen fills with data in under a second.
You just told a computer what to do, in plain English, and it did it. That's AI. It's not thinking. It's following very sophisticated instructions — instructions that you gave it.
Each table picks a dataset idea from the whiteboard brainstorm. The instructor generates each one live. Every group sees their idea become 10,000 rows of data on screen. Applause encouraged.
Every participant gets their hands on the keyboard.
Every participant (or pair) sits at a computer. For many, this is the first time they've intentionally told a computer to do something beyond tapping an app.
You didn't need to code. You didn't need permission. You asked a question and got an answer. That's what AI looks like when it works for you.
Every person generates at least one dataset of their own choosing. Walk the room helping. Celebrate each success out loud.
Now that everyone has their own dataset, the instructor shows what you can do with it — using nothing fancier than a spreadsheet.
The data you generated isn't just a demo. It's a working dataset you can analyze, chart, and learn from — the same way professionals do, with the same tools.
Each person finds one interesting thing in their dataset and shares it with their table. "Most of my patients are over 65." "The highest-spending visitors come from out of state." They're doing data analysis — they just don't know the formal name yet.
Step back from the keyboards. This is the "why it matters" conversation.
AI is not for "tech people." It's for people who have questions about their work, their community, and their world — and want faster answers.
Every choice in this workshop exists to remove intimidation and replace it with confidence.
Every time someone thinks "this must require an expensive computer," hold up the Pi. "This runs on that." It shatters the cost barrier in people's minds.
We don't say "schema" until they've designed one on a whiteboard and called it "the list of columns." The word comes after the experience, never before.
Nobody leaves as a spectator. Every participant generates at least one dataset and finds at least one insight in it. The output is proof they did it.
When someone generates their first dataset, say it: "You just did something most people think requires a CS degree." Because it's true — and confidence compounds.
Coal country generates mine land data. Hampton Roads generates naval maintenance data. The Eastern Shore generates fishing catch data. This isn't abstract — it's their world in rows and columns.
Everyone is already a computer user — they just don't think of it that way. We acknowledge that expertise, then extend it.