Skill up on Copilot and Microsoft 365

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Welcome to our new blog series designed to help you skill up on Copilot and Microsoft 365 technologies. We hope you will make this your go-to source for the latest updates, resources, and opportunities in technical skill building for Copilot and Microsoft 365.



Start your Copilot journey with these essential resources:

• Copilot Lab. If you or your coworkers are just getting started with Copilot, Copilot Lab is the best place to begin the journey. It includes helpful introductory videos, guidance on the art of prompting, practical everyday uses for Copilot, and more.
• Copilot Success Kit and User Enablement Toolkit (updates coming soon). Drive Copilot adoption, and provide employees at your organization with the guidance and resources they need to become daily Copilot users. The Copilot Success Kit and User Enablement Toolkit will be updated soon with new customizable email templates, end-user trainings, license assignment guidance, and manager resources.
• Microsoft Copilot Scenario Library. Explore top use cases and day-in-the-life scenarios for using Copilot across your organization. The Copilot Scenario Library lets you view scenarios by role or by use case so you can discover quick ways to start using Copilot in your daily work.
• “What’s new in Copilot” blog series. In this monthly series, we highlight new features and enhancements in Copilot for Microsoft 365 to help administrators stay up to date on this helpful technology so users can be more productive and efficient in the apps they use every day.

Catch up on Copilot content for small and medium-sized organizations​

Copilot can help organizations of all sizes boost efficiency and streamline workflows. The following resources are especially helpful for small- and medium-sized organizations:

• Copilot Success Kit for Small and Medium Business. We're pleased to announce a new Copilot Success Kit specifically designed for customers with Microsoft 365 Business licenses. The kit provides end-to-end guidance on implementing Copilot, including technical readiness and user enablement strategies.
• Grow Your Business with Copilot for Microsoft 365. If you're looking to get inspired by how other businesses are using Copilot, check out this new monthly series. In each post, the team features a customer that’s successfully putting Copilot to work to go above and beyond in their industry. The series also covers the latest product enhancements, what they mean for organizations, and how you can best take advantage of them to meet your organization’s unique needs.

Explore the latest learning paths on Microsoft Learn​

The following learning paths on Microsoft Learn offer helpful skill-building opportunities for learners who want to make the most of Copilot for Microsoft 365:

• Extend Microsoft Copilot for Microsoft 365 with Copilot Studio. Find out how to create Copilot Studio actions that extend the knowledge and capabilities of Copilot for Microsoft 365 using external data, tailored conversations, automated flows, and custom prompts.
• Build connectors and plugins for Microsoft Copilot for Microsoft 365. Discover extensibility options available for Copilot for Microsoft 365.
• Copilot Foundations. Explore options for adopting, using, and creating copilots.
• Create copilots with Microsoft Copilot Studio. Get started creating copilots with Microsoft Copilot Studio.
• Extend and manage Microsoft Copilot Studio copilots. After you've mastered the basics of building bots in Copilot Studio, focus on bot enhancements and management.
• Develop your own custom copilots with Azure AI Studio. Learn how to build generative AI applications, like custom copilots that use language models and prompt flow to provide value to your users.
• Enhance endpoint security with Microsoft Intune and Microsoft Copilot for Security. Uncover the essentials of Intune, advanced threat detection and response with Copilot for Security, and how to optimize the integration between Intune and Copilot.

Watch technical videos on Microsoft Mechanics​

Microsoft Mechanics is an official video series from Microsoft designed for IT pros, solution architects, developers, tech enthusiasts, and others. Check out these videos to learn how to streamline the work you do every day:

• How to get ready for Copilot for Microsoft 365 faster | New Restricted SharePoint Search option. Jeremy Chapman of Microsoft demonstrates how to roll out Copilot for Microsoft 365 at scale in three quick steps, including preparing your data for search, apps, and prerequisites, so you can connect to Copilot services. He also covers the fastest method for giving your teams access to Copilot services.
• Get Copilot responses based on your own files (no copy/paste). Mary Pasch from the Copilot platform team at Microsoft explains how to author prompts that retrieve information on your behalf, add context to your prompts without copy/paste, and get personalized responses back that are tailored to the app you're using—whether it's Word, PowerPoint, or others.
• Build your own copilot! New Microsoft Copilot extensions explained. Abram Jackson, Microsoft 365 Principal Product Manager, shows you new options for building Copilot extensions, whether you want to create your own custom copilot experiences prioritizing specific knowledge, add read/write integrations to external services with plugins, extend Microsoft Graph beyond Microsoft 365 with connectors, or mix and match all three.

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Explore additional Copilot resources for developers​

The following offerings are especially for developers and provide practical resources and opportunities to take advantage of the latest technology:

• Microsoft 365 Developer Center. We’ve updated the Microsoft 365 Developer Center with the Copilot extensions, resources, and tools announced at Microsoft Build in May 2024.
• Extend Microsoft Copilot for Microsoft 365. New guidance on Microsoft Learn highlights building your own copilots, extending Copilot for your scenario, adding knowledge and actions using Copilot Studio and in code, and much more.
• Your extensibility options for Microsoft 365 Copilot. This new documentation can help streamline your extensibility journey with Copilot.
• Microsoft Build: Microsoft 365 Developer video series. These practical videos cover Copilot experiences, including a deep dive on plugins, a developer’s guide to customizing Copilot, and building your own Copilot, among others.

Attend an upcoming technical skill-building event​

Interactive training can help you learn to put the latest technology to work right away. The following events provide opportunities to build your skills in Microsoft Loop, Copilot, and more:

• Microsoft Loop | Live, Five-Part Learning Series. In this series that runs from August 14 through September 11, 2024, get a demo of Microsoft Loop in action, learn about upcoming roadmap items, and find out about Copilot and AI innovations. Ask questions about this next-generation co-creation experience, get timesaving tips and tricks, and provide direct feedback to the Microsoft Loop product team. Find out more about Microsoft Loop | Live, Five-Part Learning Series, register for the remaining events, and watch past sessions on demand.
• Copilot for Microsoft 365 QuickStart Training. Make the most of our new interactive workshop with live support to enhance your Copilot skills. Explore real-world scenarios for various departments and industries. Use your own Copilot license to follow along with the prompt training and other demos. In this workshop, which is offered in several languages, you can expect:
• A quick understanding of how Copilot for Microsoft 365 works.
• Interactive training and prompting exercises to use Copilot and immediately generate results in Outlook, Excel, Word, and PowerPoint—using your own company data.
• Demonstrations of how other users are using Copilot across support, human resources, marketing, sales, and other disciplines.
• The opportunity to ask questions of an expert facilitator.

This session can help you increase your productivity and creativity in the long run and reduce manual, repetitive efforts, freeing up time for higher-value work. To attend this training and follow along with the content, you must have a Copilot license. Find all the details and register for Copilot for Microsoft 365 QuickStart Training.

• Microsoft Ignite. Get ready to achieve more with the power of AI and the Microsoft Cloud. Join us in Chicago, November 18–22, 2024, to discover solutions that can help you modernize and manage your own intelligent apps, safeguard your business and data, accelerate productivity, and connect with partners as you grow your community. To get notified when registration opens, sign up for the Microsoft Ignite email list.
• European SharePoint Conference 2024. Join other tech enthusiasts from around the globe at ESPC24 in Stockholm, Sweden, December 2–5, 2024. Learn expert AI strategies to boost your workflow and insights to excel in the evolving tech world. Register for ESPC24.

Catch up on recent events​

If you missed Microsoft Build 2024 or the Microsoft 365 Community Conference, you can still learn about the event, get announcement details, and watch sessions on demand:

• Microsoft Build 2024. At Microsoft Build, our annual flagship event for developers and decision makers, we introduced new ways to optimize and personalize the Copilot experience, including new agent capabilities, Team Copilot, custom copilots created from SharePoint, new Copilot extensions, and Copilot connectors in Copilot Studio. We also unlocked a new era of innovation with Windows Copilot Runtime and Copilot+ PCs.
• Microsoft 365 Community Conference 2024. This community event was dedicated to learning, professional development, and networking opportunities for forward-thinking professionals looking to build their skills in the era of AI. The conference highlighted innovations for end users, developers, and IT across Microsoft Copilot and Copilot for Microsoft 365, including uses in Microsoft Teams, SharePoint, OneDrive, Microsoft Viva, and more. Recordings are available on demand for the conference sessions, including “The Age of Copilots,” “Transforming Communications with AI,” “How Copilot for Microsoft 365 Works,” and much more.

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