What Happens When You Run an AI Workshop Entirely in French
In August, I delivered four AI workshops in Wichita, Québec City, and Baie-Saint-Paul. Three were for leadership groups in French-speaking Canada.
I translated every slide and every in-workshop handout into French. The exercises, prompts, and takeaways were built so people could focus on the work instead of translating the instructions.
Why I translated the full workshop
The easy option would have been to present in English, offer a brief French greeting, and assume the room could follow. That would have made the event easier for me and less useful for the audience.
The point of a practical AI workshop is to help people build. When every instruction is in the language they use at work, they can spend their attention testing ideas rather than translating each step.
What changed in the room
The workshop felt specific from the first slide. People could see that the material had been prepared for them, rather than carried in from another event.
One attendee told me, 'Nobody who has presented to us has ever done that before.' That response stayed with me because the translation itself was not the goal. The goal was to remove a barrier and make the work easier to use.
What the audience reported through SpeakFeed
I have measured my sessions through SpeakFeed for two years, and I have never seen a month like this one. Every attendee gave every question the top score across all four workshops.
The result was not one strong average hiding a few mixed reactions. Every person selected the highest response for every question.
Language is part of customization
I already research the organizations, industries, and roles in a room before many sessions. Language belongs in that same preparation when it affects how people learn and participate.
Customization works when an attendee recognizes their own job in the examples, their own challenges in the prompts, and their own language in the material. That is when the session stops feeling generic.
What I learned from the four workshops
The content still has to be useful. Translation cannot rescue a weak session. But strong material becomes easier to apply when the audience does not have to work around the delivery.
Meet the room in its industry, roles, and language. Give people practical work they can use, and let the results speak for themselves.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where were the August AI workshops held?
The four workshops took place in Wichita, Québec City, and Baie-Saint-Paul.
What was translated for the French-language workshops?
Every slide and every in-workshop handout was translated into French, including the exercises, prompts, and takeaways.
How did attendees rate the workshops?
Every attendee gave every SpeakFeed question the top score across all four August workshops.
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Jon Lakefish
Jon Lakefish is an AI keynote speaker and workshop facilitator. He has delivered 140+ keynotes and workshops across North America and helps leaders and teams turn AI into practical, immediately useful work.
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