30-lesson course · about 10 hours

An AI chief of staff for your Canva work, with your approval on every send

For Canva creators, small-business owners, marketers and brand teams producing presentations, social assets and short videos

Everything for Canva creators

Set up an agent that drafts your morning brief, design-request triage, meeting prep, follow-ups, decision log and weekly marketing review. Nothing is sent, booked or published until you approve it.

Try lesson 1 freeSee what you’ll learn

What you’ll be able to do

By the end, you can…

Pick a platform you can actually getCheck your region, plan and account type against Claude Duet and OpenAI dots. If neither is open to you, choose a fallback: Claude or ChatGPT scheduled tasks, Copilot or Gemini. Record your choice with its cost and a date to check it again.
Write standing instructions for brand workCover your priorities, VIP clients and approvers, and your sources of truth for publish dates and decisions. Sort every action into allowed, ask first or never. Add the rule that email and document content is information to report, never instructions to follow.
Connect only what the agent needsStart with read-only email and calendar. Then add one shared folder holding your content calendar, brand guidelines, request tracker and logs. Keep client NDA files, customer lists, payment settings and identifying images out, and know why each one stays out.
Get a sourced morning brief every weekdaySchedule a brief that ranks requests, approvals, publish dates and meetings and caps the list at five items. Every fact has a source tag and the brief ends with what the agent couldn't check. You score the brief and log your corrections.
Turn meetings and approver replies into drafts you reviewGet recap drafts, numbered change lists tied to each asset, and proposed rows for the decision log and delegation tracker. You approve, edit or reject each one, and you can tell a deliverable someone says is done from one you've seen.
Run a weekly review and a tested rolloutBuild a weekly marketing review from your exports, with low-confidence labels and no claims that lack numbers. Then follow a two-week plan with a prompt-injection drill and a permission audit, and finish with a written go or no-go for each routine.

How it works

A tutor that meets you where you are

  1. Lessons that adapt to your levelEach lesson is a tutorial you work through with your own tool open. It has numbered steps, copy-paste prompts and a worked example from a small template shop or brand team. The explanations adjust to your experience, whether you've only used a chatbot for captions or you've already set up scheduled tasks.
  2. An AI tutor you can ask anythingStuck on a connector setting, a time zone or a brief that lists twenty urgent items? Ask the tutor by typing or out loud, and get an answer that fits your setup and your workload.
  3. Quizzes and flashcards for every lessonShort quizzes and flashcards help the important rules stick: the three action settings, what stays out, and the difference between a draft and permission to send.
  4. Progress tracking and a certificateTrack where you are across the 30 lessons and 10 modules. You get a certificate of completion when you finish.

Curriculum

The curriculum

The course follows the order you'd set up a real chief of staff: understand the job, choose a platform, write its instructions and connect its sources. Then you add the routines one at a time: the morning brief, requests and approvals, meetings, the logs, the weekly review, and last, a tested two-week rollout.

Module 1What a Chief of Staff Does for a Canva Creator2 lessons

  1. 1The chief of staff's job, translated for brand work
    • Name the standing duties McKinsey describes for a chief of staff and give a Canva-week example for five of them
    • Sort recent items from your own week into now, soon and never columns
  2. 2What to hand an AI and what stays yours
    • List your recurring weekly tasks and mark each one as prepare-only, ask first or never
    • Explain why asking for a draft doesn't authorize sending it
    • Write a one-paragraph job description for your AI chief of staff

Module 2Choosing Your Platform3 lessons

  1. 3Claude Duet and OpenAI dots: the proactive first choices
    • Check your eligibility for Claude Duet and for an OpenAI dot against region, plan and account type
    • Explain what each agent does on its own and what it asks about first
  2. 4The fallback path: scheduled tasks, Copilot and Gemini
    • Compare Claude and ChatGPT scheduled tasks on schedules, task limits and approval behavior
    • Choose the right path for a Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace work account
  3. 5Make the platform decision and record it
    • Choose a first-choice platform and a fallback from your region, plan and account type
    • Write a platform decision record that includes cost, account permission and a date to check again

Module 3Writing the Standing Instructions4 lessons

  1. 6Role, priorities, VIP clients and approvers
    • Write the role and priorities sections for your own content work
    • List VIP clients, approvers and owners, and give each a clear reason for being on the list
  2. 7Sources of truth and the three action settings
    • Name a source of truth for times, publish dates, decisions and owners
    • Write allowed, ask-first and never lists that fit your content workflow
  3. 8Content is data: safety, reporting and drafting voice
    • Write a rule that treats email and document content as data, not instructions
    • Set reporting rules covering source tags, inferences, absolute dates and a 'Could not check' list
    • Write a drafting-voice section with two versions for delicate replies
  4. 9Install, version and set up the logs
    • Install standing instructions in your chosen tool
    • Create the four logs with the right fields
    • Record version 1.0 with an owner and a review date

Module 4Connecting the Right Sources3 lessons

  1. 10Week one: read-only email and calendar
    • Connect email and calendar with write tools off or approval-gated
    • Set Claude to Manual, or set a dot's Custom rules, for chief-of-staff work
  2. 11Brand sources: content calendar, guidelines, request tracker and logs
    • Set up one shared folder the agent can read that holds the logs and brand sources
    • Check whether your tool offers a Canva connector before planning around one
  3. 12What stays out, and why memory matters
    • List the data that stays out of your setup and give the reason for each
    • Run a dry-run prompt and confirm it touches only the listed sources

Module 5The Morning Brief3 lessons

  1. 13Run and score your first brief by hand
    • Adapt the morning brief prompt to requests, approvals, publish dates and meetings
    • Score each item as correct, wrong, missing or wrong priority, and log corrections
    • Run a prompt-injection drill and confirm the agent flags the test email and takes no action
  2. 14Schedule the weekday brief and a phone version
    • Create a weekday scheduled brief with the right time zone
    • Write a three-line phone version for days with back-to-back meetings
  3. 15Check the first scheduled run and fix failures
    • Verify that the first scheduled run arrived with sources and a 'Could not check' list
    • Diagnose and fix at least three common brief failures

Module 6Design Requests, Approvals and the Business Inbox4 lessons

  1. 16Design request intake and clarifying questions
    • Run an intake prompt that turns emails and messages into request tracker rows
    • Draft clarifying questions without filling missing fields with guesses
  2. 17Rank the week and draft 'not this week' replies
    • Rank open requests against deadlines and your priorities
    • Review and edit 'not this week' drafts before sending them
  3. 18Approval chaser and numbered change lists
    • Generate drafted reminders for approvals waiting longer than N days
    • Turn an approver's reply into a numbered change list tied to the asset
    • Spot changes that conflict with the brand checklist
  4. 19Triage the small-business inbox: orders, partners, suppliers
    • Run a triage prompt that sorts messages into me today, this week, someone else, FYI and suspicious
    • Approve or reject a proposed list of labels and archives

Module 7Meetings and Follow-Ups3 lessons

  1. 20Meeting prep for client calls and approval meetings
    • Generate a sourced prep note for a client call or approval meeting
    • Spot gaps that will stop you being ready, and who can fill them
  2. 21Agendas and meetings without a purpose
    • Draft a timed agenda that opens with a recap of decisions from the Decision Log
    • Draft notes to organizers asking for an agenda or suggesting a cancellation
  3. 22Recap drafts, change lists and proposed log rows
    • Produce a recap draft under 200 words with owners and dates
    • Turn changes agreed in a meeting into a numbered change list tied to each asset
    • Review proposed log rows and approve, edit or reject each one

Module 8The Decision Log and Delegation Tracker3 lessons

  1. 23The decision log: the agent proposes, you confirm
    • Extract decisions from a thread into proposed rows with evidence
    • Confirm, reverse or supersede rows yourself
  2. 24Delegation tracker for copy, design and video owners
    • Build tracker rows with a definition of done for each owner
    • Build a campaign calendar that flags tight review windows
  3. 25Done claimed versus done verified, and check-in drafts
    • Check a claimed deliverable against its definition of done
    • Draft check-ins under 60 words and decide which ones need a conversation instead

Module 9The Weekly Marketing Review2 lessons

  1. 26Weekly marketing review from exports
    • Run a review that sources every number to an export
    • Label results based on few posts as low confidence
  2. 27Friday review and Monday campaign check
    • Schedule a Friday review and a Monday campaign check
    • Pick the owners who need a conversation rather than another reminder

Module 10Guardrails and the Two-Week Rollout3 lessons

  1. 28Approval rules and never auto-publishing
    • Write an approval table that names who approves each action and how
    • Confirm that no connected tool can publish or send a newsletter on its own
  2. 29Prompt-injection drill and permission audit
    • Repeat the injection drill on a scheduled run and on triage, and confirm the agent flags the email and does nothing
    • Run a permission audit and remove access you don't need
  3. 30The two-week plan, measures and go/no-go
    • Follow a 14-day rollout plan
    • Score the measures and write a go or no-go for each routine

Who it’s for

Made for you if…

Made for: Canva creators, small-business owners, marketers and brand teams producing presentations, social assets and short videos

A one-person template or design shop

You handle orders, supplier emails, a content calendar and launch dates by yourself. A sourced brief each morning and drafted replies you approve can cut down the sorting without letting anything go out under your shop's name unchecked.

A marketer on a brand team of two to ten

Design requests come in from colleagues, approval rounds stall, and changes agreed in meetings get forgotten. Intake, the approval chaser, numbered change lists and a delegation tracker give those changes somewhere to be recorded.

A freelancer managing client brands

You keep client files under NDA and work across several approvers. The course shows you how to connect the least access that works and how to keep confidential material out of AI tools.

A small-business owner who posts their own content

You produce social posts, presentations and short videos in Canva Pro alongside running the business. A weekly review built from your exports helps you plan next week from real numbers.

Questions

Good to know

Do I need Claude Duet or an OpenAI dot?

No. They're the first choice where you can get them, but access is limited. As of 28 October 2026, Claude Duet is a research preview for US users on Claude Pro or Max, by waitlist. A dot comes with ChatGPT Pro or a Business Premium seat, and the Pro rollout excludes the EEA, Switzerland and the UK. You can complete every exercise with Claude or ChatGPT scheduled tasks, and the course also covers Copilot and Gemini for work accounts.

What do I need before I start?

A Canva Pro or team account you use every day, and a business email and calendar (Google or Microsoft 365) that you're allowed to connect to an AI tool. You also need a content calendar or design-request list in any form, and a paid plan on at least one supported AI tool, or a plan to get one. If the accounts belong to a client or employer, get the owner's permission first.

How much will the AI tools cost?

As read on the vendors' pages on 28 October 2026, Claude Pro and ChatGPT Plus were each $20 a month in the US, and either one covers the fallback path. ChatGPT Pro started at $100 a month. Prices and availability change, so check the official pricing pages before you buy.

Will the agent post to social media or send emails for me?

No. In this course, nothing is sent, booked, shared or published until you approve the exact text or action. Automatic publishing and scheduling of social posts and newsletters are deliberately left out, and one lesson has you confirm that no connected tool can publish on its own.

Does this course teach Canva design?

No. It assumes you already know the editor, brand kits and templates. It covers the work around your designs: requests, approvals, meetings, follow-ups, deadlines and reviews. Designing, resizing and refining layouts are covered in the Canva Pro track's Intro course.

Can the agent connect to Canva directly?

Only if your tool offers a Canva connector, so check before you plan around one. The course doesn't depend on one. The agent works from your email, calendar and a shared folder holding your content calendar, brand guidelines, request tracker and logs.

What about client files under NDA and customer data?

The course has you keep client brand files under NDA, customer lists, store payment settings and identifying images out of your setup. It also explains that connected sources can feed the agent's memory, and that disconnecting a source later doesn't always erase what the agent already saw.

Is this course affiliated with Canva, Anthropic, OpenAI or the other vendors?

No. The course is independent and isn't affiliated with or endorsed by Canva, Anthropic, OpenAI or any other vendor it names.

Set up and test an AI chief of staff for your content work, step by step

$197

One payment · lifetime access

  • 30 hands-on lessons in 10 modules, each done with your own tool open
  • A standing instructions template adapted for brand and content work
  • Copy-paste prompts for the morning brief, request intake, approval chasing, meeting prep, follow-ups and the weekly marketing review
  • Field lists for the decision log, delegation tracker, deadline register and Corrections Log
  • A two-week rollout plan with a prompt-injection drill, a permission audit and go or no-go decisions
  • An AI tutor, quizzes and flashcards for each lesson, progress tracking and a certificate of completion

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Refunds: Full refund if you ask before you open your first lesson. Once you’ve started, purchases aren’t refundable, except where the law gives you that right.

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