Prep

You are the conductor,
not the expert.

Ask "what have you tried?"
more than "here's what I'd do."

Pack Tonight

Backpack

Energy Map
Warmplayful
Opengrounded
Pairsobserve
Voteenergy
Hot T.deep
Closegrateful

Warmup→Opening: drop voice · Pairs→Vote: energy UP · Hot→Close: slow down

14:45 · Arrive

Setup

Timeline · 75 min
15:00 S1 → Start, intro (2m)
15:02 S2 → Warm-up (5m)
15:07 S2 → Opening + Contract (8m)
15:15 S3 → Pairs (20m)
15:35 S4 → Voting (5m)
15:40 S4 → Hot Topics (25m)
16:05 S5 → Closing (5m)
16:10 S6 → Buffer (5m)

Done by 16:15

Rescue Phrases
Frozen
"What's worked for you?"
Lost thread
"Let me check the time."
Don't know
"Deep one. Anyone dealt with this?"
Reset
"Quick show of hands..."
Power Phrases
Energy up
"Let's see what we've got!"
Space
"Take 10 seconds to think."
Redirect
"Great point — someone who hasn't spoken?"
Deepen
"What have you tried?"
Park
"Love that — save it for the buffer."
15:00 · Screen 1

Title

Greet. Small talk. Let people settle.

"Welcome to Past the Prompt. I'm Jed."
→ Screen 2
15:02 · S2 · Warm-Up · 5m
"Turn to your neighbor. Two questions:"

2 min chat. Then:

"Honeymoon phase?" → "Breakup?"
"Most of us: 'it's complicated.' That's why we're here."
15:07 · Opening · Keep S2
"I'm Jed. 15 yrs engineering leadership. My lens: process — organize work so AI helps, not chaos."

Pause. Let it land.

"0 to 1 is magic. 1 to 10 is where you stall. Not coding. Management."
"Today: find where you're stuck, unstick you."
15:10 · Contract

Thumbs up if you're in:

  1. Chatham House — share what, not who
  2. Listen before solving
  3. Honest over polite
  4. "I don't know" is valid
  5. Respect the timer
→ Screen 3
15:15 · S3 · Pairs · 20m
"Pair up. 4 min talk, 2 min feedback, 2 min discuss."

Odd = trio. Nobody alone.

4m BELL → "Feedback"
2m BELL → "Discuss"
2m BELL → "Switch! Person B"
rpt 4 + 2 + 2 again
4m "Write topic on sticky"

Walk slowly. Hands behind back. Listen only.

15:35 · S4 · Voting · 5m
"3 dots each. Vote. Stack all 3 on one if you want."

Natural stretch break.

Count → Rank top 3 → Read aloud

15:40 · Hot Topics · 25m

Per Topic (~8m):

1m Pair re-states sticky
1m "Anyone else?" → hands
4m Your PROCESS take
5m "What's worked for you?"
"Great energy — buffer time. Next."
16:05 · S5 · Closing · 5m
"One thing you'll try differently this week."

5 sec silence. Don't rush.

"Thanks to 4Seas. You did the work, not me."
"Group photo — come up front."
→ Screen 5 → Screen 6
16:10 · S6 · Buffer · 5m

Stay. Don't pack up.

Follow-up
"DM me on LinkedIn."
Consulting
"Coffee this week."

No sell IS the sell.

Cheat Sheet
"Codebase too big for AI"Smaller files. CLAUDE.md = AI's map. Like onboarding a new hire.
"Can't change anything"3 smoke tests. AI writes them. Change without fear.
"Don't know structure"Folders = responsibilities. One sentence per folder.
"Debugging forever"Copy WHOLE error. Full stack trace. Expected vs actual.
"Can't go production"Three things: env vars, error handling, deploy config.
"Circles with AI"3 bullets BEFORE you prompt. Plan = executor not random.
"Multiple files break"Plan on paper. Execute in order. Test after EACH step.
"Don't know what I don't know"That's why you're here. 1x→10x = knowing which questions to ask.
Mindset · Read at 14:30
Nobody shows?5 is great. 3 is masterclass. 1 is a valuable coffee.
You freeze?Read the screen. One instruction per screen.
Low energy?Ask one person: "What are you building?"
Dominator?"Great point — someone else?"
Out of words?"What's worked for you?" + count to 5.
Goes badly?It won't. Structure does the work. You run the timer.
After

Three Signals

1
The timer. Strict = respect.
2
The silence. Count to 5.
3
No pitch. That IS the sell.

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