Turn trade show emails into a deadline checklist

About this exercise

You're the sales manager getting your team's booth ready for a regional trade show. You want exactly 6 numbered lines sorted by deadline, each as date - task - owner, under 80 words, plain text. Use the show's corrected shipping deadline and the new owner where someone swapped, and leave out the giveaway idea the team rejected. Write a prompt that gets you exactly that.

Common mistakes when you ask AI for this

• Missing the correction. The vendor kit says Jan 9, and the fix is in a later email. Try: Add: "Use the corrected Jan 6 shipping date."
• Missing the swap. Andre is assigned shipping in your notes. Try: Add: "Kim took over shipping from Andre."
• Not sorting by deadline. The AI keeps the vendor kit's order. Try: Add: "Sort by deadline, earliest first."
• Including rejected ideas. The AI adds the giveaways as tasks. Try: Add: "Skip the rejected ideas. Plain text, 6 numbered lines."
• Trusting the AI to count words. AI is bad at counting. Ask for "under 80 words" and it often lands well over. Try: Cap each part instead: "each line under 9 words."

What a strong prompt includes

• Says how many lines
• Sorts by deadline
• Uses the correction
• Handles the swap
• Sets a word limit

Practice this now ↑

Related exercises

• Accept a job offer and confirm the exact terms (Writing AI · Job seekers)
• Announce a new weekend rotation in three clear rules (Productivity AI · Managers and team leads)
• Answer a 'where is my order' email with the real new date (Writing AI · Customer support teams)
• Answer a big discount ask with two priced options (Writing AI · Sales and customer success)
• Answer a buyer's HOA questions from the bylaws (Research AI · Real estate agents)