Claude for Finance Workshop 2026 in Dubai

The Claude for Finance Workshop in Dubai is a hands-on half-day for finance people who want an AI assistant to take on part of their monthly workload. It runs on the morning of Thursday 19 November 2026 in a training room at The Address Beach Resort, with places capped at 30 so that every participant gets real attention from the hosts.

This is not a keynote with slides. You arrive with your own laptop, you build as the session goes, and you leave with a working setup and at least one automation you can run again the following month.

Who Runs the Claude for Finance Workshop in Dubai

The morning is organised by Inspire Selection, with Zaid Aboobaker and Louise Vine named as hosts. Zaid comes from senior finance and operations leadership, having worked as a CFO, a COO and a founder, and that background shapes the agenda. The exercises are built around tasks a finance function genuinely repeats every month, rather than around abstract demonstrations of what artificial intelligence might do one day.

The Dubai format has run before: an earlier edition of the same four-hour, classroom-style workshop was held at The Address Beach Resort in September 2026, and the November date follows the same structure of a small group working through the material together.

The teaching style is classroom based. Each participant sits at a desk and tries every step on their own machine while the hosts move around the room. With a maximum of 30 seats, there is time to ask questions, compare approaches with the person next to you and get unstuck quickly when something does not behave as expected.

The Agenda, Step by Step

The four hours follow a clear arc, from the basics of asking the assistant for something useful to handing it a task that repeats on schedule.

Prompts that produce something usable

Most frustration with AI tools comes from vague requests. The first block covers how to phrase what you need so the answer arrives in a form you can drop into a report or a model, rather than something that needs three rounds of correction.

Setting Claude up for your business

The second block is about context. You learn how to tell Claude about your company, your role and how your team works, so its answers reflect your reporting lines, your terminology and your month-end routine instead of reading as generic advice.

Connecting your tools

Next comes linking the assistant to the systems and files you rely on. The organisers are upfront about one limitation: if your IT department runs strict controls, some of these connections may not be possible on a company laptop. Checking with IT before the day is the single most useful bit of preparation you can do.

Building a monthly automation

This is where the morning turns into output. Each participant builds an automation for a recurring job, the kind of reconciliation, variance commentary or status report that comes round every month, and leaves with it ready to run again.

Claude in Excel and PowerPoint

The last stretch moves into the two programmes finance teams spend most of their day in. Anthropic offers Claude as an add-in for both Excel and PowerPoint, and since March 2026 the two add-ins share context, so analysis done in a spreadsheet can carry straight into a slide deck. Reusable Skills also let you save a process once and repeat it. The workshop works through finance examples using spreadsheets and presentations, which is where many attendees will see the quickest return.

What You Need Before the Morning

Two things are required. The first is a laptop and charger, because the entire session is practical. The second is a paid Claude plan: the organisers ask participants to subscribe to Claude Pro so they can follow every exercise, and setting it up and logging in before 19 November avoids losing the first half hour to account issues.

It also helps to arrive with one real task in mind. Pick a monthly job you would happily hand over, such as a recurring board pack, a bank reconciliation or a cost-centre summary, and use it as your project for the automation block.

The session starts at 08:30 and runs through to lunchtime. Coffee and tea are available throughout the morning. The booking page links to the refund policy, which is worth reading before you confirm your place.

Who This Workshop Suits

The audience is finance professionals: accountants, analysts, financial controllers, finance managers and business owners who look after their own books. No technical background is needed. What matters more is knowing which repetitive jobs eat into your week, because that is exactly what the agenda is built to tackle.

It also works well for small teams. Two or three colleagues from the same department can split the agenda between them, compare what each built and roll the best automations out across the team afterwards.

The Venue: The Address Beach Resort

The workshop is held in one of the training rooms at The Address Beach Resort in Dubai. The exact room details are sent after registration, so keep an eye on your confirmation email and calendar invite. A quiet hotel training room, away from the office and the inbox, makes it easier to give the morning your full attention.

If you are building a wider programme of professional learning this month, browse more workshops in Dubai and upcoming business and networking events. For everything else happening across the city, see our guide to things to do in Dubai and the full list of things to do in November.

If month-end leaves you buried in spreadsheets, this focused morning at The Address Beach Resort is a practical way to win some of that time back. With only 30 seats, reserve yours through the official booking page and come ready to build.