Thought Leadership as Discovery: AI-Augmented Industry Workshops
Challenge
Tax professionals attending industry conferences needed practical guidance on where AI could add value in their workflows — but traditional presentation formats didn't surface real practitioner pain points or produce actionable next steps. The goal was a format that would generate genuine insight for attendees while simultaneously capturing qualified problem statements mapped to specific service capabilities — turning a thought leadership event into a structured discovery engine.
Solution
Designed a 3.5-hour Value Lab workshop combining AI education with structured small-group problem discovery, powered by an AI synthesis pipeline that transforms recorded conversations into multiple deliverable types within 48 hours. The workshop runs in five blocks: an AI 101 presentation establishing a shared six-stage tax data pipeline framework (Intake → Transform → Classify → Calculate → Analyze → Insights); a structured problem worksheet using a madlib format; recorded small-group discussions with a five-step facilitation pattern per problem (Count, Locate, Explore, Quantify, Open Up); group synthesis; and a close with deliverable expectations. Post-session, a 6-node Vellum synthesis workflow processes recordings into five parallel deliverable streams: session readout, problem-solutions deck, problem definition pack, L1–L3 roadmap email, and sales guide.
Results
First session: 14 attendees, 18 mapped problems — pain concentrated in the Transform and Classify stages, with root causes traced to upstream data quality gaps. Second session: 32 attendees across 2 breakout groups, 54 problems surfaced — cross-cutting data and process problems represented 41% of all issues, confirmed independently by both groups without coordination. Session readouts delivered within 1–2 business days; full synthesis packages within 3–5. Format replicated across three cities with iteration improvements each time. Dual output validated: attendees receive a personalized AI roadmap; the firm captures qualified problem statements mapped to specific service capabilities.