SBDC Workshops

One class = five deliverables, built the same way every time. Session 1 (Business Development Lifecycle, 2026-09-28, Maryland SBDC) is the worked example; everything here was proven on it. "BRANDON" below means the presenter, whoever runs the class; Maryland paths, people and dates are the example setup.

Output folder per class: Claude Playground\sbdc-advising\outputs\<YYYY-MM-DD>-govcon-s<N>\. Commit the class .py, .gs copies and any .md; the generated .html/.png are gitignored there.

The series (source scripts are read-only in sbdc-advising\raw\training-materials\GOVCON WORKSHOP APRIL 2026\)

Confirm the date and Zoom link on the UMD calendar before trusting this table. Handouts for each session sit in FINAL DRAFT PRESENTATIONS AND HANDOUTS\.

Step 0: set up your organization (first run only, about 10 minutes)

Look for org.json in the user's workshop folder (the class folder or up to three folders above it; the deck engine searches the same way). Found it: skip to step 1. Not found and the user is Maryland SBDC: copy org.example.json there as org.json and go on. Otherwise ask these, one at a time, and write org.json with the same fields as org.example.json:

1. Your organization's short name (goes in the slide footer and email band) and full name. Example: "Mid-Atlantic VBOC" / "Mid-Atlantic Veterans Business Outreach Center".
2. Presenter name and the email attendees should reply to.
3. Two brand colors as hex codes: a dark primary (footer, headings) and a bright accent (bars, highlights). No codes? Ask for the website and read them from its CSS, then confirm.
4. Your logo, the white or reversed version for dark backgrounds, as a PNG. Save it next to org.json and put the filename in logo.
5. The link attendees use to sign up for one-on-one help, and how to show it on a slide (short form, no https://).
6. The sign-up question on the form (e.g. "Would you like free one-on-one counseling from Mid-Atlantic VBOC?") and the "already a client" answer.
7. Your service area: the label ("County", "State", "Region") and the list of choices.
8. Certifications to list on the intake page (8(a), VOSB / SDVOSB, WOSB, state programs...).
9. The funding acknowledgment your grant requires, word for word, and your accommodations line.

Then build one test slide set from scripts/deck/session1_example.py and show the user the title slide and one light slide before any real class. When pasting form_builder.gs and followup_email.gs in steps 3 and 4, fill each file's ORG block from org.json first; Apps Script cannot read the file. Everything else (slides, LINKS, the Maryland series below) is class content the user supplies per class.

Steps (about 2-3 hours of Claude time; Brandon's hands-on time is about 10 minutes, marked BRANDON)

1. Read the session's source script (slides + speaker notes + graphic suggestions) and the calendar event. Run py learnings.py list --grep workshop and --skill sbdc-workshops first.
2. Deck. Copy scripts/deck/session1_example.py into the class output folder as build.py. Keep the header lines and engine.render(...); replace every slide between them. Rules that make it match:
   • Speaker notes come from the script; slide text is short (1-3 lines or 4-6 bullets). Turn each "Graphic Suggestion" into a real layout from the engine's CSS vocabulary: tiers, stairs, timeline, phases, colorflow, four, gng, split, tiles, funnel, roles, stat, curve, compare, callout, cols2, card. Read session1_example.py for how each is used.
   • Structure: title (QR) -> scan slide -> agenda -> section dividers per part -> 2 or 3 checkpoint("Section A", ...) slides at natural pauses -> takeaways -> "Submit your worksheet" -> Questions (signup QR + SBA notice). Checkpoint names must match the form sections (A, B, ...), and the last content slide points to the before-you-leave section.
   • Footer text: "Session N &middot; <Title>". Title slide eyebrow: "Winning That Government Contracting Award · Session N of 4", date spelled out.
   • Contact on slides is bwmason@umd.edu (the April decks said bw@fnxpearl.com - do not carry that over).
   • Build with a placeholder form URL first (engine.setup("https://forms.gle/REPLACE-ME")), then rebuild after step 3.
3. Form. In Brandon's Chrome (claude-in-chrome, signed in as bwmason@umd.edu): open the Session 1 form editor https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1fktLVyhvAlNcZtlDmwSIRHHyYo83DyJ829kXfnFQH-A/edit -> More -> Make a copy -> Make a copy. It opens in a new tab. Close the tab holding the original so nothing edits it. In the copy: More -> Apps Script. The copy brings along Session 1's bound script (the email code with Session 1 settings); its trigger does not copy, so nothing sends yet. Replace the whole file with scripts/apps-script/form_builder.gs, edit CLASS (title, session, checkpoints that match the deck, remaining series sessions), save, run buildWorksheet. BRANDON: approve the permission prompt (Review permissions -> bwmason@umd.edu -> Allow) - never click it yourself.
   • The run publishes the form. Verify from PowerShell: Invoke-WebRequest <viewform link> returns 200 and contains "Your name" (no sign-in wall).
   • Put the live link into build.py (engine.setup(<link>)) and rebuild. Label stays "Link is in the Zoom chat".
4. Email. Delete buildWorksheet/addItem_/CLASS from the bound script (the form is built; a rerun over live responses would orphan them - the builder also refuses once responses exist). Paste scripts/apps-script/followup_email.gs, edit EMAIL (subject, heading, subline, rows = [label, exact form question title], next, file IDs), save, run installTrigger, then sendTestEmail. BRANDON approves the second permission prompt (mail, Drive, triggers).
5. Handout ID. BRANDON drags the session handout (xlsx/pdf) into Drive and pastes the link; put the ID in EMAIL.templateFileId. Before wiring any pasted ID, read its Drive title (get_file_metadata) and confirm it is the file the label names. Session 2 shipped the capture template labeled as the compliance matrix because the pasted link was the wrong file.
6. Deck PDF. Headless Edge, fresh profile, write to %TEMP% then copy (Edge will not write into the outputs folder, and a PDF open in a viewer silently does not get overwritten - use a new filename):

   $edge="C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft\Edge\Application\msedge.exe"; $tmp="$env:TEMP\deck-$(Get-Random).pdf"
   $src="file:///" + ((Resolve-Path "<deck>.html").Path -replace '\\','/' -replace ' ','%20')
   Start-Process $edge -ArgumentList @('--headless','--disable-gpu','--no-pdf-header-footer','--virtual-time-budget=4000',"--user-data-dir=$env:TEMP\edgepdf-$(Get-Random)","--print-to-pdf=$tmp",$src) -Wait -WindowStyle Hidden
   Copy-Item $tmp ".\Session-N-<Title>-slides.pdf"

   Check page count = slide count and render 2 pages with PyMuPDF (fitz) to confirm every reveal step prints. BRANDON uploads it to Drive and pastes the link -> EMAIL.deckFileId. Once a real submission exists, run sendLatestToMe so Brandon sees the exact attendee email.
7. Run sheet. Adapt assets/run-sheet-example.html (dates, Zoom link from the calendar event, run of show with checkpoint rows shaded, chat message with the live link, handout path, next session) and publish it as a private artifact. Apply every rule in "Delivery rules" below; for Session 2 onward, also read the previous session's Zoom transcript + chat and its responses sheet, and add a "Last session's leftovers" block (unanswered chat questions, promised follow-ups) as a 4-minute row right after the welcome.
8. Close out. Commit the class build.py and .gs copies (explicit paths only), prepend the HANDOFF-LOG entry via handoff_prepend.py, push.

Verification (do all of it; it is what "same criteria" means)

• Every slide screenshotted once at 1280x720 in the Browser pane: no overlap, no text past the frame. Drive slides with javascript_tool (dispatchEvent(new KeyboardEvent('keydown',{key:'ArrowRight'}))); real key presses in the pane break on the data: URL.
• Reveal: step counts per slide look sane (roughly 3-11), back arrow lands on the fully built slide, dark/scan slides show everything at once (QR never hidden).
• Form opens publicly; question titles match EMAIL.rows exactly.
• Test email received, and each attachment's filename matches its attachedLabel (read the [TEST] thread with get_thread; a count of 2 is not enough).
• PDF complete.

Apps Script editor mechanics (learned the hard way)

• Set code with monaco.editor.getModels()[0].setValue(code) via javascript_tool on the editor tab. Pass code through String.raw with a template literal; the code must contain no backticks or ${.
• Save with the "Save project to Drive" button (find it by name). Ctrl+S often does not register. An account popup ("You're currently signed in as...") can swallow the click; press its OK first.
• The function dropdown ignores clicks on options. It defaults to the first function in the file, so put the function you need to run first - or temporarily append yourFn(); // TEMP inside the selected function, run, then remove it and save again.
• Reading another project's source (e.g. the VOSBTC Code.gs) through javascript_tool is blocked by the safety classifier. Do not try to route around it; these templates replace it.
• The Make a copy dialog ignores a typed name and Drive renames through the browser tools fail. Rename the copy with the Google Drive connector instead (update_file with a new title, e.g. "How to Read a Federal RFP — Class Worksheet"; worked 2026-09-30). The respondent-facing title still comes from CLASS.title.
• Do not push binaries into Drive by base64 through tool calls (transcription errors); Brandon drags files in and pastes links.

Delivery rules (from the Session 1 and 2 audits, 2026-09-28 / 09-30)

Session 1 ran 15 minutes over. Both checkpoints were skipped, the chat link landed 19 minutes in, and only 1 of 3 worksheets came back complete. Bake these into every deck and run sheet:

• Link in chat at minute 0. The run sheet's 20-minutes-before list ends with "At 10:00, paste the chat message yourself, before you say hello."
• "Don't hit Submit until the last slide" goes in the chat message, the slide 1 speaker note, and every checkpoint note. The follow-up email fires on submit, so an early submit mails the attendee a near-empty worksheet.
• Checkpoints are the last thing cut. The run sheet's "behind?" note names the content slides to drop, and says to pause the full 2-3 minutes at each checkpoint.
• Hard stop 5 minutes before the end. The run sheet carries "At :20 go straight to takeaways and Submit."
• Leftovers row: Session 2 onward opens with 4 minutes on the previous session's unanswered chat questions (see step 7).
• Term check: it is a compliance matrix, not a "capability matrix."
• Fact-check the speaker notes for thresholds and program rules before the build, and put the checked number in the note. Session 1 misstated on air: the EDWOSB net-worth cap ($850K; $6.5M is the assets cap), who certifies Maryland MBEs (since Oct 1, 2025: the Office of Minority Business Enterprise inside the Department of Social and Economic Mobility, DoSEM; not MDOT), the Maryland MBE goal (29%), and the OSDBU name.
• One question per form field. "Which hat are you skipping, and who could cover it" got answered as "Sub" and "Contractor" (Session 2). Split two-part prompts into two fields.
• Checkpoints need a script, not a mention. Session 2 named checkpoint B and kept talking. The run sheet says the literal line ("Take three minutes, I'll wait") and to watch the Responses tab until names move.
• Call Submit at :20, then take questions. Session 2 called it at :27 and Q&A vanished. Collect the forms while people ask.
• Leftovers stay at 4 minutes; personal stories go elsewhere. Say weekdays on air, never "tomorrow," in a Mon/Wed/Fri series.
• After class: run the audit. Inputs are the Zoom .transcript.vtt + chat .txt from Downloads, the responses (a copied form has no linked sheet; the sent follow-up emails in Gmail carry each attendee's answers), and the deck. Check what the follow-up emails actually attached. Output is outputs/<class>/audit-session-N.md: plan vs actual, form signals, open loops owed, facts to fix, and changes for the next session.