Today's Practical AI Lesson: PowerPoint Edition — Let Me Count the Ways

I found seven (!!!) different ways to create PowerPoint presentations using Copilot. Yes seven, and yes they all created different outputs.

Two live inside PowerPoint itself. Five can be found/created inside Copilot on the Web. The outputs ranged from unusable to what I will officially rate as “not bad.” The best results inside the PowerPoint app itself came from using “New Slide with Copilot” button in the toolbar (pictured below). The worst output across all seven options came from clicking the Copilot icon on the toolbar in PowerPoint and asking for a full presentation in the chat window sidebar, weird, right?

The very best results came from a new PowerPoint agent currently in beta. If you have early access, go to the web version of Copilot, click Frontier (left side , and look for PowerPoint Presentation. You need the paid version of Copilot and may need to speak to your O365 administrator to turn this on. This Powerpoint agent asked clarifying questions, planned the structure, and only then generated slides. Same prompt. Same underlying AI. Completely different outcomes.

This is why giving teams Copilot licenses does not automatically improve processes. Interface choices matter. Planning matters. Training matters.

If you want to go deeper into how to actually use Copilot in real workflows, join me on February 27th for my all-day Copilot program with Fisher College of Business Executive Education program where we dive into this and more!!

#ArtificialIntelligence #MicrosoftCopilot #Copilot #AITraining #AIInBusiness #OSU HappyAIPath

#GenerativeAI #AIProductivity #DigitalTransformation

#ExecutiveEducation #BusinessAnalytics #FutureOfWork

How Microsoft Copilot Replaced 40 Hours of Work in Just 5 Minutes

How Microsoft Copilot Replaced 40 Hours of Work in Just 5 Minutes 

A client of mine had a real challenge. They were managing 95 corporate policies written over different years by various departments. Some policies even contradicted each other. It was a compliance risk, but no one had time to read through thousands of pages. 

They asked, can #Microsoft Copilot help? It turns out it could. We took these steps.

1. Open Microsoft Copilot Pro's Research Agent 
2. Connected it to their SharePoint folder where all the policies were stored.
3. I gave it a single prompt: 
• Search all policies and identify where any two contradict each other. Return a table with this content: 
• Column A: Policy A include the sharepoint file link + summary description 
• Column B: Policy B include the sharepoint file link + summary description 
• Column C: The issue or contradiction found 
• Column D: Provide a recommended action based on industry and policy best practices.”

In about five minutes, Copilot returned a full table. It highlighted conflicts, provided file links, and suggested next steps based on best practices. It was not perfect, but it was a powerful starting point compared to spending 40 hours on manual review.  Now the team scheduled this prompt to run monthly. Copilot scans new or updated policies and highlights issues automatically. Once they trusted the output, they shared the Agent with others across the company to keep policy management clear and fast. 

 Lesson: You do not need a huge budget to save serious time. Teach your team how to think with AI and real value will show up in everyday work. So what has your team done with AI this week?

Using the Foreward Slash Commands in Microsoft 365 Copilot

Microsoft 365 Copilot has a powerful shortcut that many people don’t know about: the slash “/” command. This feature, powered by Context IQ, makes it simple to add the right context into your prompts without searching through files or inboxes.

How it works

When you’re in Copilot Chat with a work license, just type “/” in the chat box. You’ll see smart suggestions appear, allowing you to pull in:

• People from your organization
• Files you’ve recently worked on
• Meetings from your calendar
• Emails from Outlook

Examples

• “When is my next meeting with /” → Start typing a name, and Copilot adds the person from your contacts or calendar.
• “Summarize this document /” → Browse to a file and insert it directly into the prompt.

Why it matters

This shortcut removes the friction of hunting down information. Instead of copying links or digging through emails, you can pull context into Copilot instantly. It’s a small feature with a big impact on productivity.

Tip: Make sure you’re in the Work tab of Copilot Chat, since the full set of slash commands only appears there.