6Here's the full ad with the punchier leadership-led opening integrated, and bullet points worked in for quick skimming. Online Webinar: AI Isn't a Technology Problem - It's a People, Strategy and Systems Problem A free 45-minute online session on where AI fits, the risks worth managing, and how to roll it out across your team so it actually sticks. Are you leading your company through the AI change - or watching it happen around you? Right now, in your business: • Your staff are already using AI - some openly, some quietly, off the books • Your customers are forming opinions about whether you're keeping pace • Your competitors are either compounding their lead or stalling like you are And the one person who sets the tone for how seriously a technical business takes AI is the owner. So the real question isn't "should we use AI?" It's whether you're leading from the front - setting the example, managing the genuine risks, and giving your team a clear way to adopt it - or hoping it sorts itself out. It rarely does. Because AI isn't a technology problem. It's a people, strategy and systems problem - and those are leadership problems. This free 45-minute live webinar with Q&A is built for owners of technical and industrial companies who want to lead the change properly rather than be led by it - from your own desk, alongside other owners and directors facing the same questions. Reserve your free place here: https://eu.bigin.online/org20105089743/forms/ai-webinar-registration-may-2026 Why most owners of technical companies are stuck Two forces are holding leaders back, and they reinforce each other. The first is risk. These aren't paranoid concerns - they're legitimate operational risks that deserve managing properly, not waving away: • Data leakage and security exposure • Hallucinations and accuracy • IP and regulatory questions • The very real fear of getting it wrong in public The second is meaningful overwhelm. Not the lazy kind - the kind that hits when a serious owner looks at the landscape honestly: • Dozens of tools launched every month, and conflicting advice on all of them • Half the team already using AI off the books, the other half resistant • No clear sense of where to start, and no time to figure it out • The nagging awareness that competitors are quietly compounding their lead That combination - real risk plus real overwhelm - is why most technical SMEs are still dabbling rather than operating. And it's why this lands on the owner's desk: nobody else in the business can resolve both at once. In fact, 61% of SME leaders told us skills and change management were their biggest AI barrier - not budget, not access, not the tech itself. That came from our own survey of SME engineering businesses in late 2025 (https://www.salesandmarketingengineers.co.uk/blog). They had the tools. They didn't have the leadership process to make them stick. The biggest risk isn't using AI badly. It's not using it at all while your competitors keep moving. Who this is for This webinar is built for the people who carry the weight of the AI decision personally: • Owners and founders of technical and industrial SMEs • Managing directors carrying the AI decision personally • Directors and team leads responsible for rolling it out Across engineering, manufacturing, construction and IT - and wherever the pressure points are: operations, production, project delivery, admin, customer service, finance, sales or marketing. If you've dabbled with ChatGPT, asked someone on the team to "have a look at AI", or sat through a webinar that left you with more questions than answers - this session is designed to cut through. What we'll cover in 45 minutes A short scene-setter on where AI actually is right now, then the practical decisions that decide whether it sticks: • Where AI genuinely helps inside a technical SME, and where it falls flat • How to think about risk properly - what's real, what's overstated, and the guardrails that matter • Why meaningful overwhelm holds serious owners back, and how to cut through it with structure rather than more tools • Custom GPTs, Projects and Gems - what they are and when they're worth building • How to move from one-off prompts to a repeatable brief-to-output process • How to roll AI out across a team so it sticks - pilots, ownership, SOPs, and the small set of habits that decide whether adoption holds or fades Followed by live Q&A - bring your questions. Why we built this Working hands-on with engineering, manufacturing, construction and IT SMEs keeps surfacing the same pattern: plenty of curiosity about AI, plenty of individual experimentation, very little structure. People are using AI like a playbook they dip into occasionally rather than a system they build into how the business runs. You've already lived this before. Think about the last system you rolled out - a CRM, ISO 9001, a lean programme. The software was bought. The training was run. The launch email went out. Six months later, half the team used it properly. The other half worked around it. AI is the same pattern - only faster, more visible, and with more at stake. We at SME take a systems-minded approach to growth and innovation - and this session applies that same thinking to AI adoption. No fluff, no tool demos, no vague promises. Just a way to move from interest to implementation, and from implementation to something that holds. What you'll walk away with • A clear picture of where AI adds value in a technical SME, and where it doesn't yet • A framework that fits your existing workflows • Prompting techniques you can test the next morning • A realistic foundation for confident, team-wide adoption What past attendees have said "Such an eye-opening talk - real tangible takeaways to implement." "Made such a complicated subject feel manageable." "Practical points I could implement straight away." Can't make the date? Or want to know where you stand first? Take the AI Position Audit - a free 20-minute call with Stefan to map where your business sits on people, strategy and systems, and the two or three things that would move the needle most over the next 90 days. ** No long sales pitch - promise !** Date, time and format • Wednesday 3rd June 2026, 3:00pm - 4:00pm BST • Online via Google Meet • 45 minutes of content plus live Q&A • Free to attend Can't make this time? Register and tick "can't make this date" on the form - we'll keep you posted on future sessions. About the host Hosted by Stefan Buss BSc(Ind Eng), founder of Sales and Marketing Engineers - a consultancy built for industrial and technical SMEs, helping owners engineer growth through simple, systemised approaches to business, AI, and customer acquisition.