Getting started with Claude Cowork

Getting Started with Claude Cowork

📍 Online (Zoom): https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/wscQDJtdQMWEjbsD0d-_4g 

🗓 Thursday 11 June 2026

🕐 13:00

Overview

Cowork is the mode in the Claude desktop app where Claude can work directly with the files, folders, and applications on your computer, handling multi-step tasks rather than answering one question at a time in a chat window. The way I think about it, regular Claude in chat tells you how to do something, and Cowork actually does it on your files in front of you. Once you know how to point it at the right kind of work, the time savings on routine document work, file organisation, data pulls, and first-draft writing are significant, and the goal of the session is to get you running your first real tasks before you leave the room.

Who it’s for

This session is built for the people in the room who already have a Claude Pro or Max subscription, who have heard the Cowork conversation enough times to know there is something there, and who want a guided start with someone next to them before they try it on their own work. It is also for the people who opened Cowork once or twice, felt the friction of not knowing where to begin, and closed it again with a plan to come back to it later.

What we’ll cover

The session runs as a hands-on workshop, so most of the time is spent doing rather than watching. The structure I’m planning to take you through:

• Chat versus Cowork: a clear breakdown of when to reach for one over the other, with real examples from the kinds of work you actually do, so you stop second-guessing which window to open,
• Set up on your own laptop: the system check, the folder permissions, and the first-time pairing.
• Running your first real task: I’ll walk through the anatomy of a good Cowork prompt, then you’ll run one on your own folder of work.
• Projects and persistent workspaces: how to set one up so Cowork remembers context across days and weeks for recurring work, rather than starting from zero every time

Outcomes

You’ll walk out with:

• A working Cowork setup on your own laptop
• A first real task running on your own files
• A project workspace set up for one of your recurring jobs
• A clear mental model of when Cowork is more efficient than regular Claude in chat

If you’re already paying for Claude and you’re not getting much out of Cowork yet, this session is the shortest path to changing that.

Meet Your Trainer

Nikki Anderson is an AI educator, consultant, and founder who helps businesses stop dabbling with AI and start deploying it. She has spent the last three years building AI-powered workflows, tools, and training programmes that deliver real operational results.

She is the founder of The User Research Strategist, where she has educated over 15,000 professionals across more than 100 countries on how to think more strategically and work more efficiently. Her clients and students span startups, scale-ups, and global enterprises, and she brings that same breadth of experience to helping Jersey businesses get serious about AI.

Nikki has built and shipped AI products, designed custom Claude Skills bundles for entire industries, and trained teams on how to integrate AI into their day-to-day operations in ways that actually stick. She speaks internationally on AI adoption, practical automation, and what it really takes to build AI into a business, not just bolt it on.