Raglan Community Workshop · 2026

Raglan AI
Level Up

Whether you run a café, teach surf lessons, make art, or just want to know what everyone's talking about — two hours will change how you use AI.

📍 Raglan · Te Tāhuna-a-Kāwhia  ·  $20 per module  ·  2–3 hours  ·  BYO laptop & headphones

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Raglan's a creative place. Café owners, surf instructors, artists, parents, farmers, retirees — people who build things and figure things out. AI is changing how all of that works, and most people are still only scratching the surface with a browser tab. These workshops are run by your neighbour, for $20, in a room with other Raglan people. No jargon. No fluff. Just the stuff that actually works.
💰
Cost
$20 / module
Cash or bank transfer
⏱️
Duration
2–3 hours
Hands-on, practical
📍
Location
Old School
Arts Centre, Raglan
💻
Bring
Your Laptop
+ charger, any OS

The café owner writing next week's specials on a sticky note, the artist drafting grant applications alone at midnight, the surf instructor who wants a website but doesn't know where to start, and everyone who's quietly thought — there must be a better way.

Café & hospitality owners
Menus, social posts, review replies, rosters, supplier emails — done in minutes instead of hours.
🎨
Artists & creatives
Grant applications, artist statements, image generation, music, video — AI is your new studio assistant.
🏄
Surf instructors & outdoor guides
Build a booking page, write a season plan, automate your enquiry replies — no coding background needed.
🏫
Teachers & educators
Lesson plans, parent emails, report comments, differentiated resources — an hour of AI saves a week of grind.
🌱
Community & not-for-profit workers
Funding applications, newsletters, social media, event logistics — AI handles the paperwork so you focus on the mahi.
🔧
Tradies & small business owners
Quotes, invoices, job ads, website copy, and a chatbot for after-hours enquiries — without hiring anyone.
01

Real work done — on day one

Every module is hands-on. You'll complete actual tasks with AI — not watch a demo. By the end of Module 2 you'll have used AI on real work from your job or practice.

02

A personal toolkit, mapped to your role

There are hundreds of AI tools. You'll leave with a shortlist of the right ones for you — matched to your actual tasks — and the prompting habits to use them well.

03

Something you built

Modules 5–8 move from browser to build. You'll finish with a real project — a website, a tool, an agent — saved on GitHub and ready to keep working on.

04

Confidence about what's next

Most AI confusion comes from not knowing what's possible. After this you'll have a clear picture of the landscape, what the tools can and can't do, and exactly where to go deeper.

you@macbook ~
# You'll be doing this after Module 2
$ claude "Write a month of Instagram captions for my Raglan surf school"
✨ Creating 30 captions with local flavour...
$ claude "Build a simple booking page for my art studio"
🚀 On it. Generating project files now...
$
✦ Free preview
MODULE 01 · ~35 min

The AI Landscape in 2026

You've heard people talking about it at the school gate, in the line-up, at Raglan Roast. Time to actually understand what's happening.

  • Tour of models: GPT, Claude, Gemini, DeepSeek, Qwen, Llama
  • What makes them different — reasoning, coding, creativity, speed
  • Free vs paid: the honest breakdown
  • The shift from chat to agents — where this is all going
After this: you'll know what to reach for and why ChatGPT in a browser is just the start.
Start Module
🔒 Subscribers
MODULE 02 · ~30 min

AI for Your Work, Right Now

No terminal. No code. Just you, a browser, and AI doing a surprising amount of your actual work — starting today.

  • Prompting that works — the gap between bad and great is enormous
  • Writing tasks: emails, social posts, proposals, grant applications
  • Planning: lesson series, café menus, business ideas, event schedules
  • Which free tool (Claude, Gemini, ChatGPT) to use for which job
After this: you'll leave with real work done — actual content shaped by you.
Start Module
🔒 Subscribers
MODULE 03 · ~45 min

AI for Creative Work

Before we touch the terminal, the fun bit. AI for artists, musicians, photographers, and makers — most of it free, right now, in a browser.

  • Image generation: Canva AI, Adobe Firefly, DALL-E, Midjourney
  • Music: Suno and Udio — full songs from a text prompt
  • Video and motion: Runway, Kling — what's actually good right now
  • Grant writing, artist statements, and Google AI Studio
After this: you'll have a real creative prompt to take away and one tool to start using tomorrow.
Start Module
🔒 Subscribers
MODULE 04 · ~40 min

Your Terminal Unlocked

This is the doorway. We'll open it carefully so Module 5 stops feeling like magic and starts feeling manageable.

  • Terminal basics for absolute beginners (Mac, Windows, Linux)
  • Installing Claude Code, Gemini CLI, and other AI tools
  • Your first AI conversation from the command line
  • Why this doorway matters for everything that comes after
After this: the doorway is open, and Module 5 stops feeling mysterious.
Start Module
🔒 Subscribers
MODULE 05 · ~60 min

Build Something Real

Use the class build space to turn one clear brief into a real small project on screen. No coding background required.

  • What the build-space panes do: files, preview, AI panel, terminal
  • Google AI Studio as a free multimodal build tool
  • Paste one ready brief and watch a first draft appear
  • Steer one clean revision and rescue one wobble without panic
After this: you'll leave with one real first build and the confidence to steer the next draft.
📊 Branch modules available ↓
Start Module
🔒 Subscribers
MODULE 06 · ~35 min

Make It Real

Your first build exists. Now we make it behave like a real project: tighter prompts, stronger IDE habits, and GitHub as your safety net.

  • Choose the next change instead of restarting the project
  • Ask for smaller, smarter edits and inspect what actually changed
  • Use preview, files, terminal, and AI panel as one build loop
  • Put the project on GitHub with a first honest commit
After this: your build is safer, more deliberate, and easier to keep pushing forward.
📊 Branch modules available ↓
Start Module
🔒 Subscribers
MODULE 07 · ~45 min

Advanced Vibe Coding

You've built something. It works. Now learn the habits that separate people who vibe-code once from people who keep shipping real things.

  • Context loading — teach the AI your project before it touches anything
  • Screenshot-to-code: build from any image in 30 seconds
  • The 5-step debugging loop that works every time
  • Checkpoint commits, model shopping, and multi-file projects
After this: you have a toolkit of techniques that make vibe-coding reliable, not just lucky.
📊 Branch modules available ↓
Start Module
🔒 Subscribers
MODULE 08 · ~50 min

Make Your Own Agent

An agent isn't science fiction. It's a program that can take actions, loop through steps, and report back. In this session you build one.

  • What agents actually are — the Think → Act loop demystified
  • Build a working research agent with nothing but a prompt
  • Connecting agents to files, the web, spreadsheets, and APIs
  • Your personal agent roadmap — the one thing you'd automate first
After this: you understand agents from the inside — and you have a plan for the one that would genuinely help your life.
Start Module

Finished a module and want to dig further? These self-directed deep dives expand on specific topics — no extra cost, complete them in your own time.

⚖️ Branch Module

AI Ethics & Corporate Accountability

Who builds AI, and for what purpose? Anthropic vs OpenAI on military contracts, the labour displacement question, Bernie Sanders, and what "responsible AI" actually means in practice.

Explore this branch
📊 Branch Module

Economics & Your Stack

When do you start paying? Which tools actually work together? Pick your stack, plan your first week, and understand what you're actually buying when you upgrade your subscriptions.

Explore this branch
🎨 Branch Module

Creative Tools Deep Dive

Proper Midjourney prompting, building songs in Suno from scratch, what's actually good in video generation right now, and an honest guide to AI for grant writing and artist statements.

Explore this branch
🔬 Branch Module

Google AI Studio Deep Dive

Build with Gemini's free API, understand system instructions and temperature, use multimodal inputs, get a free API key, and turn a working prompt into deployable code in minutes.

Explore this branch
⚙️ Branch Module

Automation & Workflows

Make.com, Zapier, n8n — no-code tools that connect your apps and let AI act on real data. Learn to build automations that triage email, schedule posts, and run while you sleep.

Explore this branch
🌿 Branch Module

Git & GitHub Deep Dive

Version control from first principles. Commits, branches, pushing to GitHub, and GitHub Pages — free hosting for anything you build. Get your project live with a public URL.

Explore this branch
🤖 Branch Module

Claude Code

Terminal-based AI that understands your whole project. The most powerful way to build.

Explore
🎙️ Branch Module

Real-Time Voice Agents

Build AI that listens and speaks back in under a second using the Gemini Multimodal Live API.

Explore
🛡️ Branch Module

Security & Adversarial AI

How AI gets manipulated — and how to protect yourself. Based on Nicholas Carlini's research.

Explore
🔗 Branch Module

MCP & RAG

Give your AI a brain. Model Context Protocol connects AI to live data — files, databases, APIs. RAG grounds responses in documents you own.

Explore
🔥 Branch Module

Prompt Engineering Deep Dive

System prompts, few-shot examples, chain-of-thought, adversarial critique loops — the techniques that turn average AI outputs into something you'd actually use. Build your own prompt library.

Explore this branch

Built for specific roles. Each module gives you job-ready prompts and workflows tailored to your sector — complete them in your own time, no extra cost.

Bring this to your team or venue

Running a half-day AI workshop for your staff, members, or community group is straightforward. Minimum 6 people. Bring your own space or use Old School Arts Centre, Raglan.

Half-day
$150 + $20 / person
2–3 hours · 2–3 modules · 6–20 people
Full-day
$250 + $30 / person
5–6 hours · 4–5 modules · Max 20
Ongoing series
POA
Weekly or fortnightly · Tailored to your org

Works well for: arts organisations, small business networks, school staff PD, councils, community trusts. Every participant leaves having built something real. BYO laptops and headphones — several modules include audio/visual content.

Book now → Enquire first → See full outcomes & pricing breakdown →

Or find the facilitator guide at tekete.co.nz/ai-workshop/facilitator-guide.html if you want to run it yourself.

Save a spot

No payment now — just let me know you're keen. I'll email you session dates, the venue, and a payment link once it's confirmed.

✓  You're on the list! I'll be in touch once dates are confirmed.
Tobias McRae

Tobias McRae

Secondary teacher · Developer · AI practitioner · Raglan local

Graduate Diploma in Teaching (Secondary) student at UoA, full-stack developer, and builder of Te Kete Ako — a free educational platform with 12,900+ resources for Aotearoa. Uses AI tooling every day to build real things, and wants to share that knowledge with the community he lives in.

Claim your 60-day access code

Workshop participants get 60 days of full Kaiako Pro access on Te Kete Ako — 12,929 NZC-aligned resources and Te Wānanga AI lesson drafting.

Do I need to know how to code?
Not at all. We start from scratch — opening a terminal, installing tools, first conversation. If you can use a web browser, you can do this. The whole point is that AI makes the technical stuff accessible to everyone.
What kind of laptop do I need?
Any modern laptop — Mac, Windows 10/11, or Linux. Chromebooks can work with some workarounds we'll cover. Just bring what you have.
Do I need to do all eight modules?
No — modules are booked flexibly. They build on each other so starting from Module 1 is ideal, but we can tailor a programme to your needs. The resources page has catch-up material for each module.
Will I need to pay for AI subscriptions?
Not necessarily. We teach free-tier tools first — Gemini, DeepSeek, OpenRouter free models. Many people will never need to pay. We cover paid options so you can make an informed choice, not because you have to.
I already use ChatGPT — is this still worth it?
Absolutely. Modules 1–2 might be a quick refresh, but Modules 3–6 will genuinely expand what you thought was possible. Most ChatGPT users haven't touched a terminal or an agentic IDE — that's where the real power is.
What's "vibe coding"?
Describing what you want in plain English and letting AI write the code for you. You don't need to understand programming — you just need to know what you want to build. It's how real software is being made in 2026, and it's more accessible than you think.
Are there any optional deep-dive modules?
Yes — branch modules are available for people who want to go further on specific topics. 16 specialist deep-dives are included with your workshop, all self-directed: Ethics, Economics & Stack, Creative Tools, Google AI Studio, Automation, Git & GitHub, Claude Code, Voice Agents, Security, MCP & RAG, Prompt Engineering, AI for Admin, HR & Comms, Customer Service, Finance & Reporting, and AI for Education. A specialist Health Practitioners track is also available as a sector add-on. Complete them in your own time.