Workshops — Skill guide

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What you get

Hand it the old deck or script for a class and you get five things back: a single-file HTML deck that reveals one idea per click (press P for your notes and a timer), a Google Form worksheet the room opens from QR codes on the slides, a follow-up email that sends itself when someone hits Submit, carrying their own answers plus the handout and slides, a PDF of the deck, and a run sheet for the day.

Built and proven on Maryland SBDC's four-part Winning That Government Contracting Award series. The lessons from each session's audit are baked in: the link goes in chat at minute 0, checkpoints get a scripted pause, Submit is called at :20, and every attachment is checked by filename before the class.

Plugin with setup. The first run is a ten-minute setup conversation that saves your organization's name, colors, logo and sign-up link to org.json, a file that is yours. After that, every class comes out in your brand.

What it never does

Never approves a Google permission prompt for you. You click Allow yourself, twice: once for the form, once for the email.
Never rebuilds a worksheet that already has responses. The builder refuses, so live answers are never orphaned.
Never uploads your files to Drive through the chat. You drag the handout and deck PDF in and paste the links.
Never sends a test email to anyone but you. The [TEST] and [PREVIEW] emails go to your own inbox.

Step 1

What to have ready

The old deck or script for the class, with speaker notes if you have them.
The handout for the session (xlsx or pdf), ready to drag into Drive.
The class date and Zoom link, on your calendar.
Claude in Chrome, signed in to the Google account that owns your forms.
First run only: your logo (the white version for dark backgrounds, as a PNG), your two brand colors, your sign-up link, and your grant's funding acknowledgment, word for word.

Step 2

What it connects to

Two rows here write. The rest only read.

Source	What it reads	What it does with it
Google Forms + Apps Script	The copied worksheet form	Builds the worksheet questions, then installs the script that emails each attendee on Submit. Writes and sends, after you approve the permission prompts
Google Drive	The title of every file link you paste	Confirms each handout is the file its label names before it is attached, and renames the form copy
Gmail	The [TEST] email it sent you	Checks each attachment's filename against its label

Step 3

Setting it up

Getting it on your side

The skill is plain instructions, so it runs wherever you already work. Pick your row:

Get the files: everything is in the public GitHub repository — the skills themselves, and the ready-to-install plugin file on the latest release. MIT licensed; no GitHub account needed to download.
Claude desktop app: download sbdc-toolkit.plugin from the latest release, drag it into a chat, click Accept.
ChatGPT: this skill is a plain Markdown file, not Claude-specific. Open skills/sbdc-workshops/SKILL.md, copy the whole file, and paste it into a ChatGPT Project’s instructions or a custom GPT. Same instructions, same outputs.
Claude Code: /plugin marketplace add bwfnx/sbdc-toolkit then /plugin install sbdc-toolkit@maryland-sbdc

Your first conversation

Open a new chat and say:

SBDC Workshops, set up workshops for my center.

It will ask for:

Your organization's short and full name.
Presenter name and the email attendees reply to.
Two brand colors (a dark primary and a bright accent). No hex codes? It reads them from your website.
Your logo, the white or reversed PNG.
Your sign-up link, the sign-up question for the form, and your "already a client" answer.
Your service area (county, state or region list) and the certifications to list.
Your funding acknowledgment and accommodations line.

It saves the answers to org.json in your workshop folder and shows you a test title slide and one content slide before any real class. Maryland SBDC staff: it uses the Maryland settings as-is, so there is nothing to answer.

Step 4

How to use it

Say

SBDC Workshops, do the next session.Rebuild the class for Wednesday.Here's the old deck for my class. Rebuild it.

What comes back

The deck: one HTML file in your colors, a title slide with the worksheet QR, 2 or 3 worksheet checkpoints, takeaways, a Submit slide, and a Questions slide with your sign-up QR and funding notice.
The worksheet: a live Google Form with a page-1 intake, one section per checkpoint, and a before-you-leave page.
The follow-up email: sent automatically on Submit, with the attendee's answers, the day's links, your sign-up button, and the handout and slides attached.
A PDF of the deck and a run sheet: checklists for the night before and 20 minutes before, the run of show, and the chat message with the live link.

Then

Approve the two Google permission prompts when it asks.
Drag the handout and the deck PDF into Drive and paste the links.
Open the [TEST] email in your inbox and check both attachments.
After class, ask for the audit. It reads the Zoom transcript and chat and lists what to fix for the next session.

Tips from the field

Plan on about 10 minutes of your own time per class. The rest is the assistant's.
Paste the chat message yourself at the start, before you say hello. It holds the worksheet link.
Tell the room "don't hit Submit until the last slide." Submitting early mails them a near-empty worksheet.

Questions people ask

FAQ

We're not an SBDC. Does it still work?: Yes. The first run asks for your organization's name, colors, logo and sign-up link, so a VBOC, a Women's Business Center or any small business center gets decks and emails in its own brand.
Does it need Claude, or will ChatGPT work?: The deck builds anywhere Python runs. Building the form and email needs a browser the assistant can drive (Claude in Chrome), so Claude is the smoother fit.
Can I change the worksheet questions?: Yes. The checkpoint questions come from your class. The page-1 intake is written for government contracting, so change it for other topics. One question per field: two-part prompts get half-answered.
It did something odd. Who do I ask?: Brandon Mason. Say which skill and what you said to start it; a screenshot of the reply helps.