Join your peers at ICMA headquarters for intensive lab sessions, guest panels, and discussions designed to help local government leaders gain industry insights into the future with AI. Using leading platforms such as Claude, Google Gemini, and ChatGPT, you’ll work through real local government examples, including how AI can help organize council materials, draft first versions of staff reports and presentations, support data analysis, improve public-facing communications, and create more efficient workflows for local government staff. 

Developed and facilitated by The Davenport Institute for Public Engagement and Civic Leadership at Pepperdine University, this workshop will help you:

• Build confidence in how to use leading AI platforms such as Claude, Google Gemini, and ChatGPT.
• Discuss best practices for responsibly adopting emerging technologies. 
• Learn to discern when human intervention is needed in the use of AI.
• Develop a network of peers navigating the same transition.

Two Locations

March 25-26 | ICMA Headquarters: 660 North Capitol St NW, 7th Floor, Washington, DC 20001

April 28-29 | Coppell Arts Center, 505 Travis Street, Coppell, Texas 75019 - Registration Opens Soon!

Lodging 

ICMA does not have an official hotel block for these trainings. Attendees are responsible for making their own accommodation arrangements.

NOTE: Participants must have licenses and working access to Claude, Google Gemini, and ChatGPT on their laptops before coming to the workshop. Please ensure with your IT department that you have the permissions enabled to use these tools. 

COURSE OVERVIEW:

Day 1: Foundations & Demonstrations

Morning: Breakfast with keynote on the current state of AI in local government, followed by a facilitated conversation.

Lunch will be served.

Afternoon: Using their own accounts, participants and work through side-by-side demonstrations of Gemini, Claude, and ChatGPT before moving into guided hands-on practice with real municipal prompt sequences.

Late afternoon: A working discussion on AI governance, public records obligations, and responsible use.

Day 2: Applied Working Groups

Morning: Breakfast with discussion on The future of AI in public service: robotics, automation, and the emerging technologies that will shape municipal operations over the next 10 years.

Late morning to early afternoon: Participants work in parallel groups through three one-hour phases (research, strategy, and presentation build) on realistic municipal scenarios.

Each group will learn powerful prompt engineering and validation processes to support research, data analysis, and the development of PowerPoint presentations for executive review.

Lunch will be served.

Afternoon: Each group presents to the full cohort, walking through their methodology, AI outputs, and lessons learned. The day closes with a structured cohort debrief and certificate ceremony.