Demo Presenter
Field Notes from the Frontier
Demo scripts for end users
Learn by
doing the demo.
Three end-to-end demo scripts you can run yourself or use to teach a colleague how to work with Microsoft 365 Copilot, Copilot Cowork, and Copilot Chat. Each takes about 30 minutes (45 if you stop to explore). Pick a starting point below.
The scenario
You're preparing for your team's quarterly business review (QBR) next week. You need to pull together what happened last quarter, identify key wins and risks, build a slide deck, and write a short narrative summary. Choose any one of the three demos below — each tackles the same QBR scenario, but shows off a different way to use Copilot to get the job done.
You're preparing for your team's quarterly business review (QBR) next week. You need to pull together what happened last quarter, identify key wins and risks, build a slide deck, and write a short narrative summary. Choose any one of the three demos below — each tackles the same QBR scenario, but shows off a different way to use Copilot to get the job done.
Pick a demo to start
💬
~30 min
Demo 1 · Copilot Chat
Research and gather what you need for the QBR using Copilot Chat — your AI-powered starting point. Best if you're new to Copilot.
Start demo →
📊
~40 min
Demo 2 · M365 Copilot
Build the actual QBR deliverables — slides, doc, and analysis — using Copilot inside PowerPoint, Word, and Excel.
Start demo →
⚙️
~30 min
Demo 3 · Copilot Cowork
Delegate the entire QBR prep to Cowork as an agentic task and review the completed work. Best for users ready to go beyond chat.
Start demo →
Demo 1 · Copilot Chat
Research & information gathering for your QBR
Fresh this cycle. Lists in Context IQ, launched Jul 2026 — source. When the evidence behind your QBR lives in a SharePoint list, you can now search for that list by name and scope the prompt to it before you ask anything.
What you'll learn. Copilot Chat is your starting point — the conversational AI that lives at m365.cloud.microsoft and inside the Microsoft 365 Copilot app. In this demo you'll use it to research, summarize, and prepare the inputs for next week's QBR — then turn that gathered context straight into finished files — all through a simple chat interface.
Before you start. Open Copilot Chat in your browser or the Microsoft 365 Copilot mobile/desktop app. Make sure you're signed in with your work account. Have a recent project document, email thread, or meeting recap in mind — and, if your team keeps one, a SharePoint list such as a risk register or project tracker.
1
Start a new chat and set the context
3 min
Click path
Open m365.cloud.microsoft → click New chat in the top-left → make sure the toggle is on Web mode (not Work mode yet, so anyone can follow along).
Try this
I'm preparing a quarterly business review for my team next week. The QBR covers the last 90 days. Help me think through what sections a strong QBR should have — keep it to 5-7 sections, with a one-sentence purpose for each.
What to notice
Copilot Chat returns a structured outline you can use as a scaffold. Notice it asks follow-up questions or offers to go deeper on any section — that's the iterative loop you'll keep using.
2
Switch to Work mode and ground the chat in your data
5 min
Click path
Toggle the mode switch from Web to Work. Notice the chat sidebar now shows access to your files, emails, Teams chats, and meetings.
Try this
Summarize what my team accomplished last quarter. Look at meetings I attended, documents I worked on, and emails from my manager and direct reports. Group findings into wins, risks, and key decisions.
What to notice
Copilot pulls from your actual Microsoft 365 data — but only what you already have access to. Citations appear inline so you can verify every claim back to a source meeting, doc, or email, and a cited Word, Excel, PowerPoint, or PDF file opens right inside Copilot Chat, so checking a source never breaks your research flow.
3
Ground the chat in a specific file — and in a SharePoint list
5 min
Click path
In the prompt box, type / (forward slash). A picker appears — choose Files and select a recent project doc, OneNote, or PDF that's relevant to your QBR. Then open the Context IQ menu, search for a SharePoint list by name — your risk register, project tracker, or quarterly metrics list — and select it to scope the prompt to that list.
Try this
/[select your project doc] Pull out the top three risks called out in this document and explain why each one matters for the QBR. Suggest one mitigation per risk.
[scope to your risk register list] Using only this list, group the open items by owner and severity, then tell me which three belong on the QBR risk slide and why.
What to notice
Lists in Context IQ is the new piece: rather than hoping Copilot picks the right list, you name it up front and the answer is scoped to that list's rows. The same grounding pattern works for files, sites, people, and meetings. This is how you steer Copilot away from "generic" answers and toward your real work.
4
Generate a draft narrative summary
5 min
Try this
Using everything we've gathered so far, write a one-page executive narrative for the QBR. Tone: confident but honest about risks. Audience: my skip-level manager. Format: 4 short paragraphs — Opening, Wins, Risks, What's Next.
Then iterate
Make it more concise. Cut to 3 paragraphs and remove anything that doesn't directly relate to revenue impact.
Now rewrite it in a more conversational tone — as if I'm presenting this in person.
What to notice
You're not starting from scratch on every prompt. Copilot remembers what was said earlier in the chat. Refinement is fast — change tone, length, or audience with one short follow-up.
5
Use Copilot Chat to anticipate questions
4 min
Try this
Based on this QBR content, what are the five toughest questions a skeptical leader might ask me? For each one, draft a clear, confident answer.
What to notice
Copilot is now playing the role of a tough audience. This is a great way to stress-test any deliverable before it goes live.
6
Turn your chat into a Notebook — then let it build the deliverables
5 min
Click path
From your chat, click the Create Notebook icon (usually a notebook icon near the prompt area). Name the notebook "QBR Prep" and add the same source files you referenced — the notebook becomes a reusable workspace grounded in your research.
Try this
In the notebook, use Quick create and choose PowerPoint presentation to generate a QBR deck straight from everything you gathered. Then run Quick create again for a Word document narrative and an Excel spreadsheet of the key metrics.
Create a mind map of everything in this notebook so I can see the QBR structure visually.
What to notice
Quick create now turns a Copilot Notebook directly into a PowerPoint deck, Word doc, or Excel workbook — no copy-paste. Notebooks are available to all Copilot Chat users, not just paid M365 Copilot licence holders, so you can come back next quarter and regenerate the deliverables from the same structure.
Pro tip
The single biggest leap in Copilot Chat quality comes from grounding — naming the specific files, people, sites, meetings, and now SharePoint lists you want Copilot to work from. Generic prompts get generic answers. Grounded prompts get YOUR answer.
By the end you should be able to
- Switch confidently between Web mode and Work mode
- Use the / picker to ground Copilot in specific files, sites, or people — and Context IQ to scope a prompt to one SharePoint list
- Iterate on a draft by changing tone, length, or audience in one short follow-up
- Use Copilot as a "tough audience" to stress-test deliverables
- Save a chat as a Copilot Notebook and use Quick create to generate the deck, doc, and workbook
Demo 2 · M365 Copilot in the apps
Build your QBR deliverables in PowerPoint, Word & Excel
Fresh this cycle. Access agents with Model Context Protocol in Office apps, launched Jul 2026 — source. Agents built on MCP now answer from the Copilot pane inside Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook, so the systems your quarter actually ran on are reachable without leaving the file you're building.
What you'll learn. M365 Copilot lives inside the apps you already use every day — PowerPoint, Word, Excel, Outlook, Teams. You'll move from asking Copilot questions to having Copilot do work for you directly inside the file. This is where Agent Mode comes in.
Before you start. Have PowerPoint, Word, and Excel open (desktop or web). You'll need an M365 Copilot licence (look for the purple Copilot button in the ribbon). It also helps to have a relevant data file — a sales spreadsheet, project doc, or last quarter's deck — ready to reference. Ask your admin which MCP agents your tenant has published, so you know what's available in the Copilot pane.
1
Build the QBR deck with Agent Mode and Work IQ
6 min
Click path
Open PowerPoint → click the Copilot button → toggle on Agent Mode at the top of the Copilot pane. Have last quarter's QBR deck handy — you'll point Copilot at it to reuse its content and look.
Try this
Using my Work IQ, create a 10-slide quarterly business review deck. Reuse the content structure and styling from last quarter's QBR deck. Pull the relevant files, meetings, and emails from the last 90 days. Sections: Title, Executive Summary, Last Quarter Wins, Last Quarter Misses, Key Metrics, Top Risks, What's Working, What Needs to Change, Next Quarter Priorities, Q&A. Professional tone. Add speaker notes.
What to notice
Agent Mode reuses the text content, theme, and styling from the existing deck you reference — so the new QBR inherits last quarter's look automatically — while Work IQ gathers the right files, meetings, and emails so you don't have to hunt them down. It scaffolds structure, slide content, and speaker notes, then lets you review and refine each step.
2
Use the new one-click PowerPoint skills
5 min
Click path
In the Copilot pane on the right of PowerPoint, look for the Skills chip. You'll see three built-in skills: Review this presentation, Visualize this slide, and Standardize formatting.
Try this
Click Review this presentation — Copilot scans your deck and gives slide-by-slide suggestions to improve structure, clarity, and storytelling. Apply the ones that make sense.
Now select your "Key Metrics" slide and click Visualize this slide — Copilot transforms a text-heavy slide into a clean, branded visual.
Finally, click Standardize formatting — Copilot aligns fonts, sizes, and bullet styles across every slide in one shot.
Now select your "Key Metrics" slide and click Visualize this slide — Copilot transforms a text-heavy slide into a clean, branded visual.
Finally, click Standardize formatting — Copilot aligns fonts, sizes, and bullet styles across every slide in one shot.
What to notice
These three skills do in 30 seconds what would normally take an hour of manual cleanup. You don't have to craft a long prompt — just click.
3
Switch to Excel, turn on Agent Mode, and reach outside Microsoft 365
8 min
Click path
Open Excel and load a sales, project, or operations spreadsheet (any tabular data with at least 3 columns and 20 rows). Click the Copilot button → at the top of the Copilot pane, toggle on Agent Mode. The same Copilot pane is where any MCP agents your organization has published now appear.
Try this
Analyze this workbook and tell me the top 3 trends, the 2 biggest anomalies, and which row or category is most worth investigating before next week's QBR.
Then go further
From the Copilot pane, call one of your organization's MCP agents — a ticketing, CRM, or service-desk agent — and ask it for the slice of last quarter that isn't in this workbook:
Get the open escalations for my team from the last 90 days, then add them to this workbook as a new sheet next to the metrics summary.
Now add a sheet that summarizes the findings as a simple table I can paste into PowerPoint. Add a chart that visualizes the most interesting trend.
What to notice
Agent Mode doesn't just answer — it acts. It creates new sheets, formulas, charts, and tables, showing its reasoning along the way, and you can review, accept, or reject each change. New this cycle: MCP agents are reachable from the Copilot pane in Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook, so data that lives outside Microsoft 365 reaches your QBR analysis without an export or a second app.
4
Draft the QBR narrative document in Word with Agent Mode
8 min
Click path
Open Word → click the Copilot button in the ribbon → toggle on Agent Mode.
Try this
Write a 2-page executive QBR summary for my leadership team. Reference the Excel workbook I just analyzed and the PowerPoint deck I just built. Sections: Headline narrative, Top 3 wins with proof points, Top 2 risks and mitigation, What we'd recommend for next quarter. Keep tone confident but honest.
Then iterate
Add a citation for every claim that comes from the Excel file. Use footnotes.
Now check it against our company writing style — short sentences, active voice, no jargon.
What to notice
Citations now appear automatically when Copilot pulls from web or Work IQ sources, so every fact is traceable. Agent Mode in Word can plan, execute, and refine multi-step document work — not just answer one-shot prompts.
5
Connect everything with PowerPoint Live
5 min
Click path
Back in PowerPoint → click Slide Show → choose Present in Teams (or PowerPoint Live). Imagine you're now in the QBR meeting.
What to demo
Show that attendees in a PowerPoint Live meeting can now select slide text and ask Copilot to explain it in real time — without interrupting the presenter. This makes complex slides much easier to follow live.
6
Try Copilot in Outlook for the QBR invite & follow-up
5 min
Click path
Open Outlook → start a new email → click the Copilot button → choose Draft with Copilot.
Try this
Draft an email to my team announcing the QBR for next Thursday at 2pm. Include the agenda, ask them to review the deck attached, and request they bring one win and one risk to discuss. Tone: warm and direct.
What to notice
Copilot in Outlook can also summarize long email threads, suggest replies, and (with multi-tenant accounts) clearly show which account it's acting on in the side pane. Outlook is on the list of apps that can reach MCP agents too, so the same outside systems you queried from Excel are available while you write.
The big shift
Notice how the same Copilot identity follows you across PowerPoint, Excel, Word, and Outlook — and Agent Mode means Copilot isn't just answering questions, it's making changes in your file. With MCP agents now in that same pane, the boundary of "your data" stretches past Microsoft 365 as well. You always stay in control: review, accept, or reject every step.
By the end you should be able to
- Build a QBR deck with Agent Mode that gathers your Work IQ files, meetings, and emails
- Use one-click PowerPoint skills: Review, Visualize, Standardize
- Turn on Agent Mode in Excel to analyze data and create sheets & charts
- Call an MCP agent from the Copilot pane to pull in data that lives outside Microsoft 365
- Turn on Agent Mode in Word to draft multi-page documents with citations
- Run a PowerPoint Live meeting where attendees can ask Copilot about slides
- Draft an email in Outlook with Copilot's help
Demo 3 · Copilot Cowork
Delegate the whole QBR as an agentic task
Fresh this cycle. Event-driven tasks, launched Jul 2026 — source. Cowork can now start work when something happens — a matching email arrives, or you're @mentioned in Teams — instead of only when you ask, which is how this quarter's QBR prep becomes next quarter's standing arrangement.
What you'll learn. Cowork is Copilot's most powerful mode — instead of working with you turn-by-turn, it goes off and completes long-running, multi-step work on its own, then returns finished deliverables. You'll delegate your entire QBR prep as a single task, watch it work, then hand it a trigger so it starts itself next time.
Before you start. You'll need an M365 Copilot licence and your tenant needs Cowork usage-based billing turned on (via Copilot Credits in the M365 admin center). Access Cowork at m365.cloud.microsoft — there's a toggle in Copilot Chat to switch into Cowork mode. Make sure you have at least 30-45 minutes uninterrupted, because Cowork can run for several minutes per task.
1
Launch Cowork and explore the workspace
3 min
Click path
Open m365.cloud.microsoft → in the M365 Copilot app, find the Cowork toggle (or tab) in the navigation → click it.
What to notice
The interface is similar to Chat but bigger and more deliberate — designed for tasks that take minutes, not seconds. Notice the model picker at the top: you can pick a Claude model — Opus 4.8 for the toughest analysis or the faster Sonnet 5 for everyday tasks — so you can match the model to the size of the job.
2
Delegate the entire QBR prep as one task
3 min to write, 10-15 min for Cowork to run
Try this
I have a quarterly business review next Thursday at 2pm. Please prepare everything I need:
1. Read through my Teams meetings, OneDrive files, and emails from the last 90 days to figure out what my team accomplished.
2. Build a 10-slide PowerPoint deck following this structure: Title, Executive Summary, Wins, Misses, Key Metrics, Risks, What's Working, What Needs to Change, Next Quarter Priorities, Q&A.
3. Write a 2-page executive narrative document in Word summarizing the same content.
4. Generate a simple Excel workbook with the key metrics in a table plus one chart.
5. Draft an email invite to my team for the QBR meeting.
Save all four deliverables in a OneDrive folder called "QBR Prep". When you're done, summarize what you found and any open questions for me.
What to notice
Cowork will plan the work, then execute step by step. You can watch its progress in real time — research, drafting, creating files, applying formatting. This is what makes it different from regular Copilot: it produces completed work, not just suggestions.
3
Watch Cowork work and use the pause
5 min
What to notice
Cowork shows its work as it goes: "Reading meeting transcripts…", "Analyzing OneDrive folder…", "Drafting slide 3…". You'll see it open files, call into Work IQ, and even use the browser autonomously if needed (via Edge).
Try this
While Cowork is running, choose Pause (soft) — it finishes the step it's on, then stops so you can review. Inject a new instruction: "Also include a section on team sentiment based on recent retrospective feedback." Click Resume. Cowork incorporates the change without restarting.
Demo tip
This is a good moment to grab a coffee. Cowork tasks of this size take ~10–15 minutes. While it runs, talk through what you'd normally do during that time — and notice you're getting it back.
4
Review what Cowork delivered
7 min
Click path
When Cowork signals done, scroll up in the conversation to see its summary. Click each generated file link (the deck, the doc, the workbook, the email draft) to open them in the relevant app.
What to look for
• The deck has structure, branded visuals, speaker notes, and a coherent narrative.
• The narrative doc is cited — every claim links back to a source.
• The Excel workbook has real numbers, formulas, and a chart.
• The email draft is ready to send with the deck attached.
• Cowork's summary at the end notes any gaps it couldn't fill — those are the only things you need to address.
• The narrative doc is cited — every claim links back to a source.
• The Excel workbook has real numbers, formulas, and a chart.
• The email draft is ready to send with the deck attached.
• Cowork's summary at the end notes any gaps it couldn't fill — those are the only things you need to address.
Then iterate
The deck looks great, but the "Misses" slide is too soft. Rewrite it to be more honest about what didn't land, and add a brief mitigation plan for each miss. Then re-export the deck to the same OneDrive folder.
Cowork remembers the files, structure, and decisions from the run, so refinements land fast — no need to re-explain the QBR.
5
Set the QBR to start itself with an event-driven task
5 min
Click path
Stay in the same conversation. Describe the trigger and the work in one message — Cowork answers with a Set up trigger? card rather than starting immediately.
Try this
Whenever my manager emails me about the quarterly business review, summarize what they're asking for, check it against the deck in my "QBR Prep" folder, and draft a reply for my review.
What to notice
The card lays out When (you receive an email, a Teams channel message arrives, or a Teams chat message arrives — and for Teams triggers you can narrow it to messages that mention you), Run in (a fresh conversation or this one), and What it does, plus the permissions the task needs to act for you. Review them, then select Set up to arm it. The task lands next to your scheduled prompts on the Scheduled page, showing whether it's Active, Draft, or Paused and when it last fired.
Demo tip
Say the safety part out loud — event-driven tasks default to draft-and-approve. When a task would send an email, post a message, or change a shared system, Cowork prepares the action and waits for you. Every task runs with your permissions, sees only what you can see, and delivers results only to you unless you approve otherwise.
6
Create a reusable skill so next quarter is one click
4 min
Click path
Open OneDrive → navigate to /Documents/Cowork/skills/ → create a new file called qbr-prep.md.
Paste this template
---
name: qbr-prep
description: Prepare a quarterly business review with deck, narrative doc, Excel workbook, and team email draft. Use whenever the user mentions QBR, quarterly review, or quarterly business review.
---
Steps:
1. Read meetings, files, and emails from the last 90 days.
2. Identify wins, misses, key metrics, and risks.
3. Build a 10-slide PowerPoint deck using the QBR template.
4. Write a 2-page narrative document.
5. Generate an Excel workbook with metrics and one chart.
6. Draft a team email invite.
7. Save all four files in a OneDrive folder named "QBR Prep [Quarter] [Year]".
8. Summarize findings and flag open questions.
What to notice
Cowork automatically discovers SKILL.md files in this folder at the start of every conversation — or you can build the same skill with the guided builder on the Customize page (Skills tab → Add → Create new). Next quarter, just say "run qbr-prep" and Cowork will execute the whole flow. Because Cowork discovers your skills at the start of every session, the trigger you armed in step 5 has the same skill available when it fires. You can create up to 50 custom skills per user.
The big shift
Chat is conversational. Apps integrate Copilot into your workflow. Cowork is delegation — you describe an outcome and walk away. Add a custom SKILL.md and an event-driven trigger, and work that took half a day stops needing a 30-second instruction at all: it starts when the email lands.
By the end you should be able to
- Switch from Copilot Chat into Cowork at m365.cloud.microsoft
- Delegate a multi-step task with a single, detailed prompt
- Pause Cowork mid-task to inject new instructions, then resume
- Review completed deliverables and ask for refinements
- Arm an event-driven task so Cowork starts when an email or Teams mention arrives
- Create a custom SKILL.md so a repeating workflow becomes one-click
- Understand when to use Chat vs apps vs Cowork