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- [00:02]
A
Dive into the dynamic world of high school sports. Whether you're a seasoned athletic director, a newcomer to the field, or simply curious to learn more about this exciting profession, this podcast is your go to resource for inspiration, education and a deeper understanding of the game changing decisions that shape the world of high school athletics. Welcome back to AD360. I'm Greg Vandermay, joined as always by Scott Rosenberg. Scott, today we're going to be touching on a topic that we've covered before, you and I, and it's AI and AD's role, you know, like an athletic administration, how you can leverage AI. We had a really good conversation on this a while back, but with how quickly things are evolving in that space, I think you and I really kind of felt it was a good time to touch back on this topic, refresh a little bit. There's ever evolving new tools, new opportunities for ads to work smarter rather than harder. And I think we're looking forward to doing this one today. But before we jump in, how we doing today? Scott?
- [01:07]
B
I'm great. First of all, if we didn't do an episode or talk about this three days ago, we probably need to go back and do it again. That's how fast is evolving right now. I think I saw ChatGPT and maybe a Claude like update in the past couple days, so definitely gotta look at this again. Excited for Shaka to be on here with us. All good, man. It's. I know people are starting to like wind down a little bit or at least get towards that spring state tournament stuff and exciting times, I'm sure. And I'm ready to go.
- [01:43]
A
Awesome. You know, and you had just mentioned we've got the perfect guest to help us dig in on this today. Shaka Johnson, athletic director at Plymouth Canton Community Schools in Michigan. Big shout out. KU alum. We were chatting about that before we hopped on the call, but Shaka's been very intentional about finding real and practical ways to leverage AI to help out his department, to help out the AD workload that's ever growing every single day. So Shaka, we're excited to have you on here. Great to have you here. How are you doing today, my friend?
- [02:15]
C
Man, it's a beautiful day, beautiful day, sun shining, I'm driving, it's 76 degrees here in Michigan and I got my shades on, so it's a beautiful day and got a got a wealth of things going on this evening.
- [02:26]
B
That's swimming weather in Michigan, isn't it?
- [02:28]
C
Absolutely.
- [02:31]
A
That's a heat wave from where you all sit you know, that's awesome.
- [02:35]
C
Absolutely. Now it's a great day.
- [02:38]
A
Fantastic. Well, we appreciate you having, having the time with us today, so why don't we go ahead and dive in? You know, you got some experience in this. You know, you're obviously utilizing it at your school and helping your department with it. But what have you seen from AI? You know, where it reduces the workload in a meaningful way? Like, what are a couple points you could say? Like, hey, you should be leveraging AI because it saved me time in X, Y, and Z.
- [03:07]
C
Right. So for me, AI, it helps me feel confident in general about resolving issues. Utilizing it for scheduling, for coach evaluation, for everyday workflows, which used to give me anxiety, Literally anxiety. You know, it's bald head. I don't have any hair, but if I did, it would be.
- [03:26]
A
I like your haircut, man. I like your haircut.
- [03:28]
C
I see the commonality in the crew here, but no, it just allows me a level of confidence and a level of feeling like I can meet the expectations, but I can also exceed them with the use of artificial intelligence and how it doesn't replace athletic directors, but it allows, again, us to leverage the tools to be in a better position, spend time with, and I always say this, spend time with those who need it, which is our student athletes, our community, our families. So now I can feel like, okay, this workload is always going to be work there. Yes. You know, it's always going to be work. But the goals I have set out for that day, at least, I feel like I'm getting accomplished.
- [04:10]
A
That's awesome. I love it.
- [04:12]
B
I don't think you ever have to worry about, you know, I know there's, like, some jobs and people out there that worry about losing their jobs to AI. I feel as if the ad job is not in any danger here.
- [04:22]
C
That is one commonality I'll talk to other ads about. And I don't. We have to manage humans. So artificial intelligence, I think those jobs are in jeopardy. When you. You deal strictly with numbers, you're dealing with systems all day. I have human beings and student athletes who's actually just knocking on the door, but they're not going to get in right now that I have to deal with and manage with. So I think our jobs are safe.
- [04:45]
A
I would imagine you're not going to be having AI taking any of those parent meetings for you.
- [04:50]
C
No, no.
- [04:51]
B
We need to talk, gentlemen. That's a great idea. We got to figure this one out.
- [04:55]
C
I do have an avatar that delivers information, but at this point, the Avatar can't receive and respond. Love it.
- [05:03]
B
Perfect, perfect. Listen, I love all that. Give me one or two practical things that you've done. Like we talk about scheduling, we talk about help in like lots of different areas. But can you give me a practical example or two?
- [05:20]
C
Exactly. So last month I'm dealing with parent complaints. I had a situation where it was equity issues brought up in a girls basketball program. Coach was accused of these things. So I've created a system and this is the key creating systems. I've created a system, a parent complaint resolution system. So notice resolutions in there. So we want to bring a resolution to their complaint, we want to acknowledge it. But there's a lot of things that go into it. It used to bring me again, I use this word anxiety when I got complaints. Right now it's a breeze because the system that I created allows touch points from counselors to teachers, coaches, parents, and it allows us to resolve the issue and feel acknowledged and give them the feedback that they're looking for. But in a system flow, like who's doing this, what time frame, it gives you specific timeframe. You just submitted this. Now you have 24 hours to respond to my coach, the counselor. Now you the one to touch point. So now we're gonna move it into your plate to resolve and get back to the coach and to me and. But it gives it times, it gives it information and it's simple. You can also do it through your mobile app phone, which we all on our phones now. And so that's a resolution system that is working. It's only. I'm testing it here within the ecosystem of Plymouth Canton. We have three schools on one campus. So it's two other schools here. And then after that I'm going to look to maybe even as a sas, broaden out to different platforms in different schools. But no, that's one of the systems helping me. And then email triage, which is. We know those emails, man. When I woke up this morning I had a hundred of them, but they were already just delegated into a system to where higher DM and low. And then it creates. I use Claude. Claude created a system where it actually went into and gave me the details and told me what I and it recommended what I needed to do to help resolve the situation. So those are two systems right at the top. Even before we get into logistics and scheduling that I use every single day.
- [07:21]
B
I love that Claude is probably my second best friend these days. I would say that for sure. Yeah. Building these systems seems to me to make so Much sense. Right. You can use it for practical one off situations as well. But if you can build a system that becomes tried and true for you, I think that just becomes such a big time saver. Talk to me about like for the average person out there who hasn't maybe used Claude a lot or any of these AI systems, how did you start there? Like how did you, was it a lot of trial and error? Does Claude just tell you what you want to hear? Do they push back a little bit on you? Like how does that work?
- [08:14]
C
Well, my origin story starts from I was at our MIAA conference, our Michigan conference, in a class for certification and I get a parent complaint that came through from our baseball kid, got cut and again with some racial things accused and I needed to respond, however I needed to be present in this class, raising my hand, interacting with the presenter and I'm on my laptop because we use it. So I was kind of cheating. I was looking at the email while I was looking at the information. So I was able to use ChatGPT to draft a response and break it first of all, analyze it, break it down and then draft response. That, that green light went off in my head like oh my God, this is powerful. This used to take me days, you know, and anxiety level. It did it within 30 seconds. So that's what the green light went off with me. But I would say for people that are just starting off or just getting inclination, this is something that's going to be required, have AI knowledge in any, any type of field you have, you can see it filtrating all different type of levels. So I think it's very important people at least get the foundational information and then they can determine what path they want to take, how deep we want to go. But you at least need to know the foundational information. I think each and every person, even from our middle schoolers up and then you have to know how to use it in a safe way because it can be used for bad and evil. But you know, teaching them, educating them and letting them know the power and how you can leverage I think is the key.
- [09:51]
B
I think the idea of like having students learn how to use these systems with integrity becomes really important. You mentioned that. I even want to just say like, let's break it down one more even like simplify this even more. You got this complaint while you're sitting in a conference. You copied and pasted the email that you got right into chat and basically said, hey, I need to draft a response email to this parent. Can you please Help me do that. I want to include these four, like, overarching principles in the response that you, that you helped me draft.
- [10:34]
C
Well, when it analyzed it, it told me, because initially this is like, I dabbled it in a little bit, but I didn't really understand it. But it told me I said analyze. That was one prompt I used. Analyze this email. First tell me how it. So it told me, and then it gave me the elements that you just talked about, about, you know, what I should. How I should look at it, the tone and all those things. That's before I really knew what I was working with. Now I have a lot more control and command. But yes, it told me what I should do, how I should react.
- [11:05]
B
Love that. And for those people who listening, who don't know or understand AI as well as others, like, it will start to learn your personality. So as you do this more and more, they're going to understand the type of ways that Shako wants to respond to parents. This is kind of his personality. He wants to throw a joke into emails. He wants to be serious 247 with his email. Right? Like, it will actually start to learn your personality, which is just like, crazy, but it's a truth.
- [11:37]
C
I agree.
- [11:40]
A
I also think that, like, as you go through, like, the email example is great because, like, what Shaka just did, I've done dozens of times. You know, it's not necessarily a parent email on my end, but it's like you get these long, lengthy emails and you're like, whoa, this probably could have been a phone call. And I always do, like, give me a bullet point concise somewhere and it gives me the topics, right? And then in responses, like, as Scott said, like, it's learning your personality. I'll always put a prompt in there. Write it like you're writing like me, you know, because, like, I've given it examples of, like, here's how I write. And it begins to learn that style. And I mean that in itself. I know it seems very simple to the layperson, but the amount of emails you got, a hundred to start the day, you got to get through that. How can you speed that process up while still being accurate, still making sure you're articulating the points that you need to, and then it becomes you're overseeing and going, okay, I want to make sure this is accurate before I send it off. This looks good. All right. I didn't have to spend five minutes typing this up and thinking my thoughts through. I gave it some bullet points and it helped frame it for me. And I think it's a, it's a game changer in all honesty.
- [12:52]
C
Absolutely. And some of the athletic directors I've talked to about, they have some objections. Right. And so I say, okay, what's your first objection? I don't have time to learn it. You don't have time not to learn it.
- [13:03]
B
Right.
- [13:04]
C
Because you need to 15 to 30 minutes at least at some point. They just to dabble in and learn about it. I dove in last summer. So summer, as you guys know as athletic director, July time is when we get a little bit of time off even though I still have to work some days. And I had a schedule for myself. I Woke up at 6, I worked out by 7:30 I was doing a deep dive and I would at least go into three. So I had a full day of work. I took a little lunch in between. But I just deep dove into it and, and I learned a lot about it. And you know, you have to do a lot of almost like playing around with it, see what it. I would just throw things out there, see what would stick. Can you do this? Can you do this? How can you do this? And then some things will come back and say I can or I need more from you. I learned the basis of it. And once you learn the basis of it, I believe then you can start to choose the path and avenue you want to pursue and be as creative or non creative as you want. I use it for content creation, for social media, I use it for scheduling. I use for just morning. We had a Facebook post about our girls flag football game on Sunday. I took that from, it was a post from a teacher, an email and I created and put it out and now it's already had over 100, you know, likes and this is within like 30 minutes. So you know, I'm getting pretty good at creating things. I use, you know, a lot of different platforms now, but I use them as far as a workflow or one leads to another. I might use chat for the information ticket and notebook LLM, get a Google Slide, you know, so I'm able to manipulate those platforms together to get the work for float workflow that I want.
- [14:38]
A
I love it. You know, like as you went through that, that learning process, you know, you went into it open minded, not knowing, you know, basically trying to learn as much as you could but at the same time you probably went into it with a little bit of trepidation as most people do, you know, because it's like it's something new, it's foreign. You don't know how to approach it and how to utilize it best. So kind of keeping with that theme, like thinking back to when you first started doing your deep dive into AI and to where you are now. What are some of the misconceptions that ads may have or what are some of the mistakes that you maybe made with it that like hey I wouldn't have done this if I had known this then, you know, I think that there's probably a lot of misconceptions and there's probably some pitfalls that people could avoid from learning from people like you that have taken the time to really invest and understand and figure out how to leverage AI to their benefit.
- [15:40]
C
First part is probably using it like Google, right? Just throwing. Throwing a question in here, burning your tokens. So I've learned guys know about that. I've learned how to conserve and learn how to use other using Google as that because Google has AI mode now as well. But using Google and then you know, just making sure the security part is because it's mental because you want to feel secure. You hear all these stories about leaking about. So going through and understanding that part. I think I will actually ask for a definition of things. Explain it to me first before I do it. Now I have a total understanding. Now I feel safe and then using it, you know, over and over I feel more safe as I think the security part is first. That's like a hurdle to get over. A lot of Hitler Id say that you know it's going to leak my information or I don't feel safe about it. Well, the more you use it's just like a relationship, right. When you get a relationship, the more you feel comfortable with something or somebody, the more you trust them. And I think that's the relationship I've built with AI and the tools I use moving forward.
- [16:42]
B
Sounds like it is. It is. It sounds like those are some of the guardrails you've put in place. Right. Like learning the safety side of things. What about for accuracy in terms of making sure and double checking and proofing kind of stuff that's created because as much as we all like to believe that it's 100% right all the time, there's definitely times when either mistakes are made or just there's not as much accuracy in what the message you wanted to convey.
- [17:19]
C
Hallucinations, right.
- [17:20]
B
So they're real, right?
- [17:22]
C
Yeah, they real and some I think claw is probably the best on not hallucinating. Hallucinating just in my experience the information comes back and it but it's still been off. So it's really double check. Human in the loop. You guys have heard that term. I took a Google Essentials course and learned a lot of different vocabulary that now inputs, outputs, you know those, those workflow streamline, but they're real. But I think the human in the loop is a big part. So just taking a quick view of there are some things you can automate. However, I found that I. I'll tell you this story. So I had ChatGPT. I is a part on Google where you can as an extension, you actually put it right into your email. And the first time I used it, there's a little lever that says respond or create a draft. I didn't hit the create a draft, hit respond. So as I woke up in the morning, I already responded to like 10 emails without me seeing it. And some of the it was good information. But my administrative sister said I didn't think that was you because it was a math question. She said, you're not as great as math. And the email was like perfect. And then one of my coaches emailed me and he said, you said I could do it. You've always told me, no, I couldn't do it. And he was like, wow. He said, yes. So you have to be careful about that part of it. Staying in the loop and making sure the information is accurate because it can be off at times. And I have sent things out there just last week where it missed one of our games and I didn't go over it. So the coach caught us and panicked like my, like, hey, as an owner, were we getting transportation? And then we went back and saw it. Yes, it's there. I said, I'm using a new format. I just missed it. So I think you have to be diligent about taking a little bit time to take a quick look over before especially in our position now, if it's just a friend or something, you can make a mistake, it's not a big deal. But when you're going out to, you know me, sometimes I'm sending out to 6,000 people. So if I make a inaccurate mistake, then that's going to come back on me and I can cost my job. So I am more adamant about looking over information. But sometimes I will miss it and it's asking, I'll ask it itself. Claude, take a bit look over to make sure this information is accurate as possible before it's going out. So I've learned again how to utilize and have a safe. A safety protocol in there.
- [19:36]
B
I love that. And it's so important. And I mean, I think I. When I talk to my own kids, it's like, hey, let it take you 80% of the way there. That last 20% kind of has to be you either looking at it and changing things, but making sure it sounds like you as well as you're. As you're operating inside it. One, one tip that I would throw out there to people listening is I will oftentimes go back and forth between two of these systems, like a chat and a Claude, and I'll have them check each other. I'd be like, hey, Claude, Chat told me that this is what I should do. What do you think about that? And pretty often I'll get like, chat did a great job. But I'd push back on this one thing or these two things. So I'll literally sort of play them off each other. And that works pretty well for me personally.
- [20:30]
C
Yeah, I've done that.
- [20:31]
A
I really like the point you're making too, where it's like, you've got to have the human in the loop, you know, like quality assurance. You can't just assume that it's going to be accurate and send it out, because AI is as good as the information that we're inputting into it, as well as the prompts that you're asking it what to do. You know, you can't, you can't put something in there where there's assumptions in place that it's going to know how to fill these gaps or it has your vision. So I, I love that term, human in the loop, because that's absolutely imperative. I mean, it takes a couple of seconds. You're not spending all the time now drafting these emails or putting together schedules, et cetera, that were painstaking and time consuming. Now you're getting the final product, like, very promptly. Use that time that you've gained back to go back and double check real quick, like spot check it, ensure that it's accurate. Especially because, like Shaka just said, he's like, I got 6,000 people I'm sending this out to, you know, I. I can't have a mistake. So I think that that's a very good point, you know, in terms of just ensuring that you have the accuracy before you're sending it, if you will.
- [21:37]
C
Absolutely. And some of the tools that I've utilized, like my avatar, I could get away without it, but I feel like that it's allowed me to be innovative and allow me to catch a part of the mental part of some of our, like my coach I sent it to him before evaluation meeting, right? So I sent an avatar, say here. I crunched the data first I took a survey, I had them doing growth and development survey. I crunched the data, I created a script for my avatar. So it was probably about 60 seconds. You don't want it to be too long. And it just kind of went over things. Hey, that was a great pizza party you had with the young ladies or. And it mentioned things. And he came back to me, he said, that thingy you sent me. Yeah, that thingy. He said, how'd you do that? I said, that's my avatar, coach. And I said, I just want to acknowledge that you were doing a great job. But I wanted to kind of preset our meeting. So when we met you kind of had inclination of what we're going to discuss as far as not coming in cold. You had an and it captured you and you're like, wow, what is this? So I use different elements. I've improved systems. My week at a glance now with Claude has allowed me to have ACML where it's beautiful. It still has a great information but it's very eye catching. And so the coaches, you know, when I see it now, they want to look at it because now something new before they would just go through the emails and not even look at it when they open them up. So I'm learning different systems on how to upgrade what I do without losing who I am.
- [23:04]
A
I love that. And you know what, that's actually when your coach is sitting there, that thingy, how'd you do that? You know, I think that's a perfect segue into my, into my next question. You know, you see the advantages that AI is presenting to you in your day to day. What's your thought about how you're going to introduce AI to your staff? You know, your athletic department staff, your coaches. Is that something that you're looking to encourage just like right at the jump department wide everybody dive in or are you going to have more of kind of a gradual rollout process? Maybe you're taking a select few, training them up, you know, and basically kind of doing some beta tests before you go full on with everybody. What's your thought process there?
- [23:49]
C
100, Greg. You got it, my man. 100. Because there's still some people who won't not on the train yet. And we have some people who won't say they won't ever use it. It's like religion. I'm not forcing anything on you. I'm showing you what it is you can take advantage of. You want. I'm not forcing on you because it is a hot topic here where people feel like it's cheating or it's unethical. You do need to teach how to use it. And Scott, you had mentioned that, so I piggyback on that. However, it's going to be a gradual rollout. Even my. And I won't name names. Even some of my staff that I work with on a consistent basis don't really like it or don't approve of it. So again, I'll put it out there. Hey, I have workshops, which I do with other athletic directors, my staff. If you're open to it, if you're willing, if you want to learn more about it, then here's. You can take advantage of it. That's kind of how I'm working.
- [24:41]
A
I think that's a good approach. I like that approach because, like, you're containing it, right? Like, you have. You still have the reins of it, saying, like, all right, I'm gonna have you get into, like, I can introduce you to this. I can show you how to use this. Here are the parameters that I'm putting in place of how I want you to use it. You know, and at the same token, it's a very valid point where you're like, there are going to be some people that are adverse to it, that don't want to engage with it
- [25:08]
C
in
- [25:08]
A
this day and age. I mean, this is far more advanced than like that.com boom era. But there are people that were anti computer and anti email. Well, 25 plus years later, I'm pretty sure they learned how to email because everything's getting corresponded through that. And I think it's going to be the same thing with AI. But I do like the approach where it's like, it's a gradual rollout. You're making sure there's an education element and you're. You're meeting people where they're at. You're not saying you have to be a cloud or a chat GTP expert, etc. On day one. You know, like, where are you at right now? Let me help you get to the next level up. Because there's so many different ways you can leverage these programs. I mean, like another one that I found that was super helpful is, I believe it's called Gamma AI and it's like a slide deck generator where you can put prompts in there. Instead of spending all this time creating a slide deck for a coaches meeting, you give it the prompts that you want to Go in there and boom, that's done. You start kind of showing people the tools in which they can cut some of the minutia out of their day to day. And I think you're going to evangelize a lot of folks. The naysayers may start coming into the camp of like, can I get into one of those workshops?
- [26:20]
C
Yeah. I use, I've been using Gamma since last summer. I use Otter AI for my note taker. I have every day toolbox when I presented up in Traverse City to the, in the conference where I told some ads and now they're using it. But every single day I use those components to help me and you know, become, like I said, more efficient using it to leverage it and feel more confident about what I'm doing. So I can go back even right now, you know, I'll be able to go back and say, pick out and analyze what we just talked about, use it moving forward to help me grow and develop. I'm all about growth and development in all walks of life, not just athletic director, but you know, as a father, as a partner, all those things. So I'm always looking for ways to leverage it in ways to, you know, like I drove it, I had a 45 minute drive in. So as I'm driving in, I had some notes about this and I had Claude on the play session where it'll play back your notes. Just talking through me, talking to me. So when I got here, I feel like the Matrix, like I learned. So seriously, remember when Neo had that? When it plugged into the back of his neck? Yeah. Now knows how to be a karate expert. It's like from point A to point B. I can start learning this skill when I get in here. I can start talking and talking. I'm like, wow, how'd you learn that? Yeah, I just listened 45 minutes of it on the way in. But without AI, I never would have had that ability to research and development within like 10 to 15 seconds. Give me a full script and it can then read that information. And now I, I'm taking it immensely. Now I'm that much more developed than the next person who hasn't doesn't have that tool. And that's what I try to tell people. Not only can it do things in that light, but it can also make you as a human more intelligent on that subject, if you're open to it. Yeah.
- [28:04]
A
And absolutely. I love the fact that you're, you're leveraging it because like that 45 minute time frame, historically, you know, you could Be listening to, you know, podcasts, you know, books on tape, if you will, whatever. But you're now using that time to advance yourself rather than just it's a 45 minute window of your day where I can't get stuff done or accomplish things, whether it be from a personal or professional standpoint. And it's, it's a great point there where you can take that to maximize efficiency. Utilize all the minutes you're given in the day to allow you to have some more minutes in the evenings and on the weekends to where you're not spending time on that stuff. Absolutely love it.
- [28:43]
C
There you go.
- [28:45]
B
I would say you mentioned religion, so I'll say preach, right? Like, yeah, you got to evangelize this kind of stuff with your people. And even that example Greg used about slide deck for your coaches meeting, right? That translates just as well to an individual coach for their parent meeting. When they see you using it, when they understand that you were able to create it that way, hopefully the light bulb goes off in their head. And like, you know, Shaka used this for this meeting. But I gotta go meet with a bunch of parents in our preseason meeting. I'd rather be looking at film right now than creating a slide deck. So it just, it can help out in so many ways. Love it. Looking forward and it's probably hard with AI a little bit cause it changes so much. But where do you see this head in terms of impact on high school athletics in the next few years or maybe the next few weeks? And how should ads maybe be preparing for the next level of AI?
- [29:45]
C
A genesic AI. I know you guys know that word which I'm using right now with Claude, use computer. I let it go through my computer and it can, it automates my system. But I think agentic AI is the next level and how it will affect the high school level. I think it can affect it on with game film, with tape, things of that nature. You can go through and pull out information. I already have huddle things that can do it. But now you can, you can automate it where you don't have to be sitting there to do it. You can schedule it and it'll do it or cut, whatever you need. And then also with, you know, on our level with student development. So now I can create because when I'm bogged down, I'm only one person. So I've been trying to do a lot of student development with my athletes, creating workshops, bringing in speakers. But sometimes I get so busy that I forget, you know, the brain can remember but then, and our brain deletes it after a couple of days and now it, it's gone. So now with AI, what I'm doing is I'm getting like the system in place, creating and then I'm automating tasks to go out and reach out to the speaker, reserve the room, do all these things even beyond what my administrative assistant can do. And now I have more ability and now I'm putting the student athletes, also giving them some onus and putting them in charge of it. But I'm able to communicate more efficiently, effectively and feel more confident and that the systems might come up with and the protocols that it'll be implemented as opposed to just kind of dying off because that's what's happened over the years. But now with AI has helped me again to be able to enforce those things that I come up with not only in a sense of like note taking, but implementing. And I think that's where it's going to make a big impact in the next couple years in our landscape.
- [31:29]
B
I couldn't agree more. For those listening agentic AI and here's what is so cool about it. Like, I think if I wasn't as familiar with AI, I'd be worried. Shaka, you just told me a whole bunch of stuff right now. Like you're telling me I can get this agent stuff in my email and help me with like look at my computer and help me do this. Here's the thing, I would say to people, use the AI to actually give you the instructions on how to do that. So like, you know, the first step is it's overwhelming. But if you just said to Claude or to chat, help me bring agentic AI into my world today. Give me a step by step guide on how to do this. You'll actually get that right in front of you and it will help you implement something that doesn't have to or it sounds overwhelming, but it doesn't have to be. I think that would be my tip from what you said because again, all your examples are perfect. It's just a matter of like how do I get started.
- [32:37]
C
And like you said Scott, almost every day there are upgrades and changes. Claude has changed his interface at least three or four times. You have live artifacts, now you have design they just put rolled out. So I try to stay up on every day. YouTube is like my best friend. So I'll have it playing in the background big screen TV while I'm working out or I'll just be playing it. And I learned these different ways you can Utilize it. And then I'll go on my computer, I'll go step to step. I'm creating YouTube videos. So it's just open up a whole new avenue. And it's like stimulating. It's like I'm excited now. Like I used to be excited about going playing basketball, which I don't do much anymore because my knee. But I'm excited for about when I can get back to my computer to now try some things or bring up some things. And that's. That's woke up another part. You know, we don't use certain parts of our brain. It's woken up another part in this brain that has me excited about it every day. Me and my, my partner, we talk about it all the time. And I got. Have her into it and now we're. We're having. We have AI parties. We have AI parties, man. I'm laughing. We're sitting in the bed with our computers up. We're talking to each other. We both have Max and we're talking to each other. You try this, you try that. What did you get? And it's exciting.
- [33:52]
B
You imagine. Could you imagine the Jayhawk locker room talking about this stuff back in the day? Hey, in, in. In this many years from now, I'll be talking to my partner about. This is. This is our party. Yeah, right.
- [34:06]
C
Friday nights. I love it. Clock. We're sitting in the bed with the computers out.
- [34:11]
B
That's right.
- [34:11]
A
You know what I like about that though is like, is the level of excitement that you're showing with it because I mean the ad job is one that is extremely difficult. We see nationally there's the high turnover rate because people get burned out from it. But it's like you could. I'm not saying you personally shocked, but there's probably some ads out there that are just kind of checking a box, getting through. I just got to get through this day or week or whatever. But if they start engaging with some of this, it can breathe new life into what they're doing. You know, like, it can, it can really excite them again about the job itself. It can give them the insights of like, like Scott just mentioned, how do I implement this? Right. You know, I know he was referencing like agentic AI, but like even like as you're giving it prompts to try and you know, dissect problems, etc. How do I implement? It's a sounding board. You know, you can use that to bounce ideas off of. And it really is super cool to see how excited you. You are about it. And how passionately you're utilizing it. With that said, you damn an ad that's never done it. Have no idea what would be kind of like the, the first couple of like, hey, you're just getting started out. Here's what I would do just to build a little bit of confidence and being able to do it. So like a brand new ad, or anybody for that matter, within your department, coaches, etc. You know, what are, what are some advice pieces you would say to somebody that's just getting started with it, right.
- [35:44]
C
So I think is looking at your pain points and analyzing it and then coming up with a way that it can help to, you know, like, bring that anxiety down. And for me, it was an aha moment. You know, you got to have the aha moment. Once you have that aha moment, I believe the rest of it is just a process after that. So my communication with ads who don't have bought into it yet is we get to talking, right? Yeah. Didn't you have that issue to come up? Yeah, didn't you? So you start to bring it up in their mind and then you say, you know what? This is how it helped me. This is how it did, really. So I think conversation relationships, you build. You know, we're humans at that, at the basic level. Right. We're not a machine. So the human part of us I connect with. I think I'm good at that. And then once I get that guard lower or I get us on a common ground, then I can start to move and start to give you information about it at a slow and feeds you as needed. It's like feeding the baby, right? You can't, you can't give them too much because they're gonna spit it up. But you got to feed them just a little bit, see how, see how they talk, See how they swallow it. Okay, you took that down. Now let me keep moving. And then you get to a certain level and say, that's it. I'm going to cut it off right now. Let me, let me get it back from you. So I think if you are able to first of all diagnose what they're dealing with and some of the issues. And that's human nature. You know, that's how Facebook was started. That's how a lot of things are started, where people had issues and they don't really want to create something to help them with it. And then as they moved along and saw the benefits of it, now they're wide open. So I think that's how we approach it just.
- [37:20]
A
I love that, I love that approach. You know, I love the analogy too. Like feeding the baby. I always use one. Eating an elephant, you know, you gotta do it a bite at a time right below alignment, going back to food.
- [37:31]
C
Right. But I would love you, Graham, you. You would open up that too hole for me to run right through.
- [37:39]
A
But I love it though because you, you give it to them in consumable amounts. Right. Like you don't overwhelm them because there is a lot when you first get on there, if you drop something in there and you're.
- [37:50]
C
You get.
- [37:50]
A
You can quickly get overwhelmed with information. But once you start getting an understanding of how to leverage it and kind of pinpoint what you're trying to get out of it, it is extremely helpful from your day to day tasks and expediting it. So I love seeing it how you're being able to implement it just on your campuses as well too. That's fantastic.
- [38:10]
C
Yes, sir.
- [38:11]
B
Let's. Let's bring it home here. Right. I would say I jotted down some notes to me right now. I would say to athletic directors. If you're not considering using AI for things like safety plans, press releases, banquet speeches, game day procedures, graphics, article creation, conference scheduling, if you're one of those ads that's got to create a conference schedule or a tournament schedule, if you're not already thinking about or using AI for those things, you really need to get on that because it's going to help you and save you tons of time and keep you fresh in the job. And then next level is kind of the agentic stuff that Shaka started talking about and processes and building these kinds of things out moving forward. But man, Shaka, it's been great having you on this episode. Really informative, really practical ways that you can help out your colleagues who can then help out their coaches, just save some time, be better at their jobs and, and maybe maybe find a little bit of home work life balance which we know we could all use in this position.
- [39:25]
C
Absolutely. Yep. And if I could close with a couple words, it would be just making sure, number one, you're using it safely. I always point that out. Number two, you are utilizing it to not only deal with your day to day, but extend who you are and able to grow yourself and grow your. Your abilities as a person. And number three, just making sure that it is a part of your everyday for me, your everyday life, not just your job. But I took a trip to Panama for spring break. Man, it planned my whole trip. It was crazy. My whole trip. It gave me different places, different way. You know, we took excursions. So I'm using it in that fashion as well. So I think every fabric as needed you can utilize it.
- [40:12]
A
I love it. You know I think this has been a super helpful conversation for folks across the entire department in athletics. It's, it's a great tool to, to leverage to utilize. It's fantastic seeing how you're able to really ingrain it into processes that you're doing both professionally and personally. So truly appreciate you taking the time with us today Shaka. It's been a pleasure catching up with you and folks, we appreciate you tuning in today. As always, if you liked what you heard, please make sure you give us a follow on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get podcast episodes from so you don't miss any new episodes or contents. From A.D. 360. I'm Greg Vandermayd.
- [40:55]
B
Scott Rosenberg. Thank you Shaka.
- [40:57]
C
Peace.
- [40:59]
A
Until next time.