Microsoft Copilot has a text field where you can type or speak a prompt to the AI, and what you type in directly affects the quality of the response that you get back. So how do you make sure that what you enter is good? In this video, in partnership with Microsoft, we’ll explore how you can master Microsoft Copilot prompting to get the highest possible quality response back. Let’s dive in. First off, what even is a prompt? A prompt is a set of instructions or questions you use to tell Copilot what you want. It’s basically the start of a conversation. If you go to a cookie store and tell them that you’re hungry, they won’t be able to help you much, except to maybe ask you, what’s that cookie you might want? It’s the same with a prompt. If you don’t give it enough information or details, its help will be limited. Here, for example, I’m on copilot.microsoft.com. Simply navigate here to start using Copilot. You can click on the link right up here. I want to pull together marketing copy for the Kevin Cookie Company. Let’s experiment with a few different prompts to see what type of results we get back. Let’s start by entering in the goal. My manager has asked me to pull together marketing copy or messaging, promoting one of our new cookies here at the Kevin Cookie Company. Down below in the text field, I’ll type in my prompt. I want marketing copy. Seems reasonable enough. Over on the right-hand side, let’s submit that to the Copilot. And look at that, there’s no marketing copy. But then again, I can’t blame Copilot. Here it says, sure, I can help you with that. Could you please provide more details about what you need, and here it has some follow-up questions. It’s an okay prompt, but we really need to give it more information. Copilot is begging us for more detail and context so it can help us with this request. So why don’t we add a little bit more detail? Right down at the bottom, I have my original prompt. I want marketing copy, but that wasn’t enough detail for the Copilot, so let’s add some context. Here at the very end, I’ll type in some additional text. I want marketing copy for the Kevin Cookie Company. Please highlight our new cookie, the Double Chocolate Chip Cookie. It’s for an email campaign to customers who have shopped with us before and we’d like them to try this new cookie. I think that’s enough detail for Copilot to go on. So over on the right-hand side, let’s send that in. Now look up above. This response is already so much better. Here it knows that we’re sending out an email so it generates a subject. Here it formats the email and it knows that we’re selling the new Double Chocolate Chip Cookie, so it includes that in the message. Here it talks about reasons people will love these cookies. Now it calls out a 10% discount, but we don’t discount here at the Kevin Cookie Company. Our cookies are that good. So, I’d probably go in and make some modifications, but overall, this is a really good starting point. Now, honestly, this is really good and we could be done at this point, but if we want to make it even better, we can include some of our expectations. So, what do I mean by that? Well, we know that our messages perform better when they have some humor and they’re also written at a fifth grade reading level. It’s true. We sell more cookies when we use simple language. So why don’t we include some of these expectations as part of our prompt? And let’s see what we get back. Down in the text field, I have the prompts that gave me this output and overall, it did a really solid job, but I do want to continue refining it. So here at the very end, let me add some additional detail. Here, I’ll add some additional text. Use simple language that a fifth grader could read and include some humor. And also, I feel like this is a little bit long, so let’s see if we can keep it to less than 200 words. Over here, let’s send that to the AI. If we look up above, this message now is getting so much better. As I improve my prompt, the output is also improving. Right here, we can see that it incorporated some humor. If you love chocolate, and who doesn’t? That’s a nice touch. If we go down a little bit, it looks like the text has been simplified. So really anyone should be able to read this. And we also see that the overall message is shorter. The one thing I don’t like though, it says why you’ll love it, and then it lists out three different differentiators for these cookies. Now at the Kevin Cookie Company, we have our own differentiators that we’ve already brainstormed as a team, and I want the AI to incorporate these into the message. And that brings us to the last component that you can incorporate into your prompt. Right down below, I’ll type in some text to incorporate differentiators from the attached document. So, I could specify a source document. Over here, I’ll drag and drop my file into the prompt, and that’ll now include it as part of my prompt. Let’s now try sending this to the Copilot. And look at that, if we scroll up a little bit, it’s taken all those differentiators from my document, and it’s now incorporated them into this marketing message. That is perfect. As a recap, to write the best quality prompts in Copilot, make sure that you use the following structure with four parts. Start with the goal, then add some context, set your expectations, and then include any source material that you want the Copilot to reference as part of its response. Now, you can enter a great prompt upfront, with just one go, or you could go back and forth with the Copilot a few times until you get what you want. There’s really no right or wrong. Your first prompt is really just the start of a conversation. As you get better at writing prompts, you’ll likely find that it helps save time, and it’s also easier to just get more information upfront. At least that’s what I find. Sometimes it’s hard to know what Copilot can do for you, and you may need some inspiration for prompts. In all the Microsoft 365 apps, like Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Microsoft Teams, right up here, if you click on the Copilot logo, that’ll open up a pane, and here, you have that text field where you can prompt the AI. But right up above, you’ll see all sorts of different sample starter prompts that will give you some inspiration. For example, you can use Copilot to help you create a presentation from a file. Maybe you have a Word document. Over here, you could help it understand a presentation. So maybe you just wanted to summarize a long slide deck. You could do that too. Now, these are just a few examples. If you go all the way to the bottom, you’ll see this icon that says View Prompts. When you click on this, it has a few different categories. Here, for example, I’ll click on Create. Again, you can create an entire presentation, or you could just create some slides. That’s just a few examples. Here, you can have it help you understand the slide presentation. So again, you could summarize, but you could also ask specific questions, like are there any dates or deadlines? Show me all the action items, or maybe just the key slides from this deck. You have those options. And here, you see all sorts of different sample categories of prompts. And down at the bottom, if you need even more inspiration, here, we could click into View More Prompts. This opens up the Copilot lab. And here, we see a very comprehensive list of all sorts of different prompts that you could use in the various Microsoft 365 applications. And here, you can even filter down to view specific types of prompts. And if you need even more, down at the bottom, click on See All Prompts. That should give you inspiration for your own prompts, and it also lets you know what all is possible. Here is another example. I’m in Microsoft Excel. And over on the right-hand side, in the Copilot pane, here, we see a different set of prompts that help show you how you can use Copilot with Excel. Down below, I’ll click on View Prompts. Click on Create. And here, you’ll see different ways that you could use Copilot. For example, you could generate formula column suggestions. You could add a column. You could extract data from a column. Here, I am in Outlook, and you’ll see a completely different set of starter prompts. For example, you could have it draft an email. You could have it set your out of office. If we go down to the bottom, I’ll click on this icon. And we can see all sorts of different sample prompts that show you how you can use Copilot in Outlook. Now, all the different Microsoft 365 apps have Copilot, and Copilot is fine-tuned to work within the context of that application. As you start using Copilot more and more, you likely won’t need to rely on these sample prompts. Instead, you’ll already know the power of Copilot and what type of prompts you can just type in in this text field down below. My recommendation, just start experimenting with prompts to see what type of results you can get back. The more you prompt, the more you’ll see how you can incorporate Copilot into your day-to-day workflows. If you’re excited about exploring even more about Copilot, I highly recommend checking out the Copilot lab made by Microsoft. You can click on the card right up above and that’ll take you there. You’ll find guides to writing powerful prompts. It’s a fantastic resource and well worth reviewing. And for those of you looking to really master Copilot, be sure to visit the Microsoft Copilot for Microsoft 365 training. You can click on the card right up above. These are training courses catered specifically to different roles and functions like HR, finance, executives, operations, sales, IT, and also marketing. There, you can find webinars and training events that will help you make the most out of Copilot in your everyday work. Best of all, they’re completely free and they go on all the time. So, you’ll likely find one that suits your level, need, and also schedule. To watch more videos like this one, please consider subscribing and I’ll see you in the next video.