Create presentations with Copilot in PowerPoint

Artificial intelligence has changed the way we work. Many people think it’s about getting their emails rewritten or doing some quick translations but, in my opinion, we are seeing a real paradigm shift in the way we work.

If I used to think about how to accomplish the task today I think about how to write the best possible prompt to get the AI to accomplish it for me.

After all, we are all aware that if instructed correctly, AI will do a very good job.

Of course, you always have to review the output, but it will definitely be a very good starting point.

The AI doesn’t waste time thinking, doesn’t need inspiration, doesn’t make typos, and works in virtually every language.

So if I can produce the right prompt, I get a great result and save time too!

Clearly, the paradigm shift in the way of working is having a cross-cutting impact far beyond the business world.

However, in daily work, time is a scarce resource, and on presentations we are always behind schedule. Updated data arrive at the last minute and we often find ourselves updating live slides during meetings.

In our Lean Presentation Design courses, we teach how to manage the time and resources available to make effective presentations in the shortest possible time.

Artificial intelligence is a valuable tool that allows us to work better and significantly faster.

The problem is that we do not have the time and mental energy to devote to understanding a tool that leads us to work differently than any other tool before.

That’s why I decided to create this mini-course on how to make effective presentations with Microsoft Copilot.

A series of training pills, short videos, that will accompany you to evolve the way you work, in a practical and entertaining way.

Since we’re talking about optimizing time, I’d say let’s not dwell on it any longer, let’s get started!

Microsoft Copilot Web

Copilot is available both as a free version via web interface, accessible from Bing.com, and as a paid version, integrated on the Office package.

This difference is causing confusion, which is why I want to clarify it right away.

The web version of Copilot then allows you to use ChatGPT PRO for free and in a secure environment protected by Microsoft.

Being then, integrated into Edge, Microsoft’s browser, it has become an indispensable tool for me when I work or simply surf the web.

Basic applications for Microsoft Copilot Web

Speaking of web browsing, we cannot ignore the way artificial intelligence is changing the way we search the web.

After all, why do a manual search that leads me to compare different sites if I can do a search on Copilot and it will be the one to give me a summary of multiple sources enriched with considerations and recommendations?

Which of the three modes of Copilot web is the best? I offer a comparison with a concrete example.

Copilot can help you find and generate valuable content for your presentations. However, the use that gives me the most satisfaction is processing existing information.

Now I will show you how to turn a storyline created in chat with Copilot into a real PowerPoint presentation, slide by slide!

I often have a mentor, friend, or even a colleague send me a YouTube video that they want me to see.

I would love to elaborate but, especially when it comes to long videos, time does not always permit. I therefore find myself with a long list of videos to watch piling up among my favorites.

What if I told you that you could ask AI to analyze them, summarize them, and extract the key points for you?

To date, if you want to process any of your content with AI, it is essential to turn it into text. Whether the source content is audio, video, a presentation, or something else, if you can extrapolate a text, you can easily upload it to Copilot chat and unleash artificial intelligence.

Advanced applications for Microsoft Copilot

The word “prompting” literally means “giving instructions,” and that’s what we do when we text Copilot what we want it to do for us.

The quality of its response is closely related to the quality of the instructions we give it.

Knowing how to do prompting seems to be a mixture of art and science. Certainly, one of the most effective strategies is: “iterating.”

I really mean accepting that the first response is not necessarily the best and that we can get better and better results as we iterate and refine our prompt.

In fact, sometimes the best prompt is precisely the result of a series of iterations with Copilot, letting us know where we went wrong and allowing us to iterate the instructions by refining them from time to time.

Although this is a world in the midst of discovery, there are some advanced techniques that I often use in my work that I find very useful and would like to share with you.

Process existing files

Copilot’s Work tab is activated for you the moment you activate your subscription to the paid version offered by Microsoft.

With the Work version you can call up shared files on sharepoint in chat.

All you have to do is add a “/” and type in the name of the file you want to process (the file must be available on sharepoint clearly).

If you want to apply this technique to prepare your next presentation, I recommend downloading the Lean Presentation Strategy Canvas to guide AI to a well-structured result.

Copilot in PowerPoint

All the techniques you have seen so far are replicable with other advanced artificial intelligence models as well (see ChatGPT from openAI or Claude from Anthropic).

Copilot, in the paid version, is integrated into the Office environment; therefore, you can interact with it directly through applications such as PowerPoint, Excel, Word, Outlook, Teams, etc.

Copilot’s operation and available prompt libraries will be specific to the program it is in.

The “app-based” version has the distinction of offering you dedicated functions for each application but loses a lot of flexibility compared to the web version, so it is essential to learn how best to communicate with it.

To get the best possible result with Copilot in PowerPoint, take advantage of the ready-to-use prompt libraries.

Prompts are organized into four main types:

• Create
• Edit
• Ask
• Understand

In the next few videos we go into each category.

Let’s start right away with the most exciting ones, the “Create” prompts.

CREATE

Now that you have seen how Copilot can help you create slides and enrich your PowerPoint, we are ready to learn the editing part, let’s look at the “Edit” prompts.

In fact, Copilot is a phenomenal tool when it needs to act on existing content.

EDIT

The “Ask” part is to trigger Copilot’s coaching modes that can help you make better decisions or better presentations.

Let’s explore the ask part together, asking Copilot to identify for us the next steps of a presentation so we don’t have to read the whole thing while still identifying the most important part so we can actually follow up.

ASK

The final part is devoted to all those prompts that help us fully understand the presentation but without having to read the whole thing.

UNDERSTAND

Having prompts organized by libraries is very useful if you want to start using Copilot right away, reducing your margin for error. Think about it, selecting a pre-existing prompt highlights Copilot’s potential, gives you some prompts to use, and prevents you from prompting errors related to a Copilot that doesn’t quite understand everything we type into it.

Microsoft doesn’t want to stop at these 4 main categories, and so it has created a real Web library of prompts that you can browse, explore, and take advantage of to know what and how to ask Copilot.

PROMPT LIBRARIES

Conclusions

With this mini-course, I wanted to summarize all the key concepts that will enable you to understand and use AI in a practical and productive way while investing as little time as possible in training.

There are different versions of Copilot and all of them can be useful depending on the specific use case.

The Web version is more flexible than the app-based version, and the latter operates directly within the apps, most convenient!

I am sure Copilot has already implemented improvements by the time you are enjoying this course, I am convinced that you now have all the tools to interpret the change and keep up with the times.

Here is a quick overview of all the application cases we explored:

Key takeaways

💡Tip #1: Use Copilot’s advanced search function to save time and get high-quality summaries from a variety of online sources.

💡 Tip #2: Leverage Copilot to turn conversations and text outlines into complete presentations, significantly improving your content creation efficiency.

💡 Tip #3: Learn to iterate with prompts to refine and improve Copilot’s responses, tailoring output to your specific needs.

💡 Tip #4: Integrate Copilot into your daily Office applications to take full advantage of its AI capabilities in your work routines, particularly in PowerPoint and SharePoint.

💡 Tip #5: Navigate and leverage Copilot’s library of prompts to discover new ways to interact with AI, avoiding common errors and improving the quality of interactions.

FAQ(s)

What is Microsoft Copilot and how can it help with PowerPoint presentations?

Copilot is an advanced AI assistant that can help in creating, editing, and managing PowerPoint presentations by providing artificial intelligence-based search, analysis, and content generation capabilities.

How can I use Copilot to improve my web searches?

Copilot can be used to conduct synthesized searches enriched with considerations and recommendations, bridging multiple sources and providing a comprehensive summary of relevant information.

Can Copilot be integrated with other Office applications?

Yes, Copilot is integrated into the Office package and can be used directly in applications such as Word, Excel, Outlook, and Teams, as well as PowerPoint, offering a wide range of application-specific functionality.