The Complete AI Workshop

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PART 0 · YOUR FIRST STEPS

Your first conversation with Claude

What you'll be able to do
Write your first message, read the reply, and keep going with a follow-up question.
A person sitting with a computer exchanges speech bubbles with a calm figure facing them.
It's not a search engine: it's an exchange, and it carries on.

In 2 minutes

Talking to Claude means writing as you would to a person. You type your request in the message box, you send it, you read the reply.

The difference from a search engine comes down to one thing: you can follow up. Clarify, correct, ask for something shorter, simpler, in a different tone. And Claude keeps the thread of what came before. It's a conversation, not a series of unrelated queries.

Let's do it together

Open your home screen, and really do this as you read.

  1. Click in the message box.
  2. Write a simple request. You can copy this one:
Explain to me in three simple sentences why the sky is blue.
The message box with the request typed in, ready to send.
Write your request here, then send.
Claude's three-sentence reply, underneath the question.
Claude replies in a few seconds.
  1. Send it, then read the reply. It arrives in a few seconds, and you watch it being written before your eyes.
  2. Follow up with another question. Without repeating the subject:
Can you say that again even more simply, as if you were talking to an 8-year-old?
The follow-up question and the new, even simpler answer: Claude kept the thread.
You can follow up. Claude keeps the thread of the conversation.
  1. Notice what just happened. You didn't say "the blue sky" again, and yet Claude understood. It takes the whole ongoing exchange into account. That's the thread you'll learn to use throughout the handbook.
Three pots in a row, each more finished than the last, with a circular arrow around them.
The first reply is a draft. Trying again is what makes the result good.
Your turn

Go back to the area you know well, the one you noted in chapter 0.2. Ask Claude a real question about it, then ask it to say the same thing another way. Two things to watch: does it take your request into account? And, since you know the subject inside out, is it getting things right?

Pitfalls to avoid
  • Writing a single word and expecting a miracle. "Marketing" means nothing on its own. The clearer your request, the better the reply, and that's the whole point of the next chapter.
  • Giving up at the first imperfect reply. The first reply is a draft. You correct and go again: that's the normal way of working, not a failure.
Key takeaways
  • You talk to Claude as you would to a person, in normal sentences.
  • You can follow up and refine without rewriting everything.
  • Claude keeps the thread of the current conversation.
← Open your first accountThe 3 golden rules for talking to an AI →

The rest of the handbook covers Claude, Higgsfield, Claude Design and Claude Code, with 11 recipes and a 30-day programme.

See the full handbook Open in the reader