I'm increasingly fascinated by how AI can make my working life as a business owner simpler and more efficient.

Recently, I decided to make my first appearance in Perth’s growing AI community. I'm glad to share that it has been nothing short of inspiring. From meeting like-minded business owners to learning practical tips on using AI in day-to-day operations, I’ve discovered first-hand that attending Perth's local events can really help empower us to improve our small businesses.

Discovering Perth’s AI Scene

I had been active on LinkedIn for a few days, when I realised that nearly my entire network was made up of people from an industry that I was 5+ years departed from. I thought I should start proactively meeting AI specialists so at 6 am on a Monday, I scrolled through EventBrite for upcoming AI events. After about five minutes, I found one that started at 5pm that same day and I was relieved that there was no threat of a $500+ ticket cost attached to it.

AIA on St Georges Terrace: The event was run by AI Advancements (AIA) and their guest speakers were Danny from Sapience Analytics, as well as Jisoo and Josh from Clear AI. At the beginning of the evening, we were updated with the latest industry news. Later we got to see live demonstrations on how to use ChatGPT effectively. I appreciated the technical insight and was especially grateful for the opportunity to connect with people who genuinely want to collaborate and share knowledge.

AIA Directors Sam and Sean were great to talk to—they let me chatter excitedly at 100 km/h about how I was going to embrace AI and take over the world. Jisoo, who is Clear AI's Co-Founder, was invigorating to speak with. She’s a dynamic young woman who is undeniably passionate about leaving no one behind in the AI revolution.

Image supplied by AIA. From left to right; Sam Cunningham (AIA), Danny Chong (Sapience Analytics), Jisoo Kim and Josh Phillips (Clear AI) and Sean Oldenburger.

Key Takeaways from Local AI Experts

Prompting Matters: We discussed the importance of writing clear, concise prompts for tools like ChatGPT Pro, making sure to break down a big task into smaller, bite-sized instructions. This seems obvious but actually seeing the technique in action really impacted me. The quality of the responses being produced right before my eyes was a level I hadn’t been able to achieve with AI when I was tinkering with it on my own (even after hours of consulting YouTube). The live demonstration on how to prompt AI to create a good quality report gave me hope to persevere in my effort to master prompting.

A word of encouragement: Learning these new tools may feel frustrating at times. It's all too easy to throw in the towel and do it the old way because you already know what you’re doing. But that’s a short-term gain for a long-term loss. I encourage you to push through the frustration.

Workflow Automation Insights: At the end of the presentation, I rushed over to Sapience Analytics Founder and Principal Consultant - Danny. During the Q&A session, I had described to Danny the significant challenge that I was facing, in producing marketing material for a retailer that is unpredictably yet consistently bombarded with emails of new product releases and sales promotions. From a marketing perspective, the main challenge is keeping up with all the different promotional dates and information that needs to be released across our platforms. I asked if it would be possible to just 'drop' the email into a magical folder that extracts and prepares everything from the email and it's attachments. I also asked if that was possible now or in the near future. You can imagine my delight when he said it was possible now! We exchanged contacts and organised a discovery meeting on the following week.

Where to From Here?

For me, I am currently in the process of creating Standard Operating Procedures for the retailer, which I will present to Danny in order to get quotes for a custom automation. For you, a great starting point would be to start attending events like the “AI Evening Meetup” at Riff and “AI on Tap” at Bright Tank Brewery. These events aren't just informative; they’re also fun. You’ll walk away with fresh ideas and, better yet, new contacts in the AI space. Most importantly, remember to ask presenters specific questions about how these tools can be exploited to increase your operational efficiency. Tell them about your challenges — envision and express your ideal outcome, then ask if and how it can be done.

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