What’s Actually Happening Under the Hood – and How
Business and Nonprofit Leaders Can Use AI to Get More Done
July 15, 2026 | 1:00 pm
AI is being promoted to businesses and nonprofits as a powerful way to increase efficiency, reduce administrative burden, and drive greater impact. From communications and operations to program delivery and customer service, the promise is clear: AI will help organizations do more with limited resources. Yet many leaders encounter a frustrating reality — AI tools that sound impressive but produce unreliable or confusing results, making it difficult to know how to use them effectively.
This workshop helps business and nonprofit leaders bridge the gap between AI’s promise and its practical reality. The session explains, in accessible terms, why AI behaves the way it does, why it can appear confident while still being wrong, and how marketing narratives often overstate what these tools can safely and reliably do today.
Most importantly, the workshop focuses on how leaders can use AI intentionally to help their organizations get work done. Participants will explore where AI can meaningfully improve efficiency and impact, where caution is required, and how leadership clarity, expectations, and guardrails enable teams to leverage AI without creating new risk or distraction. The session equips leaders to move forward with confidence — using AI as a tool that supports their goals rather than a source of confusion or wasted effort.
By the end of this workshop, participants will be able to:
Brian Place is the founder and CEO (and Chief Cat Herder) of Interplay, a managed IT services firm he launched in 2001 after deciding there had to be a better way to support growing organizations. He works closely with clients to design secure, reliable, low-drama IT environments that let teams focus on their work instead of their stuff.
Brian is known for translating complex technology into practical strategy, building high performing teams, and ensuring clients get the highest quality IT services — hands-on, responsive, never outsourced or offshored. Outside of work, he enjoys lifting heavy things, experimenting with cocktails, cooking, and travel—generally applying the same curiosity and optimization mindset he brings to technology.
