Copilot Essentials

Build confidence with AI across your whole team. Copilot Essentials introduces Microsoft Copilot as an everyday assistant, with practical prompting skills relevant to every role. Suitable for both free and licensed Copilot users.

Introduction to AI and Copilot

What AI is, how Microsoft Copilot fits within Microsoft 365 and how it can help your team work more efficiently without replacing human judgement. We cut through the jargon and give your staff a clear, honest picture of what AI can and cannot do.

What Microsoft Copilot Does

An overview of Copilot as an AI assistant that supports everyday tasks such as drafting content, summarising information and answering questions using natural language. Your team will see exactly what Copilot looks like in action.

Copilot Security and Trust

How Copilot operates securely within your organisation's Microsoft 365 environment and why permissions and data boundaries still apply. This matters to your team and we address it head on.

Copilot vs Search Engines

Understanding the difference between searching for information and asking Copilot questions to receive contextual, conversational responses. This distinction changes how your team thinks about finding answers.

Accessing Copilot

Where your staff can access Copilot including the desktop app, browser experience and within Microsoft 365 apps, with clarity on what unlicensed Copilot can and cannot reference.

Prompts and Prompting Basics

What prompts are, how to write simple effective prompts and how small changes in wording affect results. This is the foundational skill that makes everything else click.

Writing Better Prompts

Best practice for providing context, defining goals, setting expectations and refining prompts through iteration. Your team will practise writing prompts that get reliable, useful results.

Using Copilot with Work Information

How uploading or referencing files improves relevance while keeping data secure and permission based. Your staff will understand how to point Copilot at the right information.

Copilot Across Microsoft 365 Apps

Practical examples of how Copilot can assist in Outlook, Excel, Word, PowerPoint and Teams for common day-to-day tasks. Real scenarios, not abstract demos.

Tips, Good Practice and Features

Managing chats, editing prompts, temporary chats, bookmarking prompts and building confidence through experimentation and review. The habits that make Copilot stick.

Before the Session

We send a short survey to understand your team's current AI experience and any concerns. This shapes which areas we spend more time on so nothing feels generic.

Session Format

Interactive and hands-on. Short explanations followed by real exercises where your team uses Copilot on tasks relevant to their work. Nobody sits and watches slides for three hours.

Typical Structure (Half Day)

AI fundamentals and what Copilot actually is (30 mins)
Prompting basics with hands-on exercises (45 mins)
Break
Copilot across your M365 apps with practice (60 mins)
Security, good habits and Q&A (30 mins)

Who Can Attend

Everyone. Copilot Essentials works for staff with the free (unlicensed) Copilot or the premium (licensed) version. No technical background needed. If your team can use Outlook, they can do this course.

Delivery Options

Virtual sessions: Interactive via Teams with screen sharing and exercises
In-person workshops: Higher engagement, easier for hands-on practice
Hybrid: Facilitator in-room with virtual participants

After the Session

Participants get reference materials and a prompt starter library. We are available for follow-up questions in the weeks after training to make sure the learning sticks.

What Comes Next

Copilot Essentials is the natural starting point. Teams that want to go deeper with licensed Copilot features, organisational data and role-specific use cases move on to Copilot in Practice.

This Course Is For

All staff, whether they have free or licensed Copilot
Teams who have Copilot available but are not using it
Organisations rolling out Copilot who want a structured introduction
People who are curious about AI but unsure where to start

Common Starting Points

Tried Copilot once, got odd results and gave up
Worried about AI and what it means for their role
Heard about Copilot but never explored it properly
Concerned about privacy and what happens to their data
Not sure how AI applies to their actual day-to-day work

What Your Team Will Walk Away With

A clear understanding of what Copilot can realistically do
Confidence to use Copilot for everyday tasks
Practical prompting skills they can apply immediately
Shared language and understanding of AI across the team

The Bigger Picture

Copilot Essentials is about building a foundation. When your whole team understands what AI is, how to use it safely and how to get consistent results, you create the shared confidence needed for AI adoption to actually stick. This is where it starts.

We also deliver industry-specific versions of this course for accounting firms and law firms, with examples and exercises tailored to sector-specific workflows.