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Constructing Prompts
As with any new technology, how you interface with it will influence what you get out of it. While an AI companion is designed to be conversational you can design and frame your questions to draw out better responses. How you craft your conversation with an AI companion to draw out responses is referred to as prompting.
Great starter prompts for Copilot will typically include 4 elements.
- Your goal (i.e., what you want Copilot to accomplish)
- Your context (i.e., extra details that will help Copilot understand your question)
- Your expectations (i.e., how you'd like Copilot to respond)
- Your sources (i.e., additional files/content that Copilot can refer to when parsing your request)
For example:
"I want a list of 3-5 bullet points to prepare me for an upcoming meeting with /JaneDoe, focusing on their current state and what they're looking to achieve. Respond with a tone that is friendly but authoritative and focus on email and Teams chats with /JaneDoe over the last two weeks".
Prompts are meant to be iterative
It's also important to remember that prompts are iterative. If you don't get the results you expected on your first prompt, try rephrasing, adding more detail, or building on the results in your next one. While asking similar questions to a human over and over may be frustrating, an AI companion doesn't mind it.
For example:
Prompt #1: "Draft a post about my /SummerEvents.doc."
Prompt #2: "Draft a social media post about my /SummerEvents.doc. The social media post should be under 280 characters long. The audience is for students at Simon Fraser University and should highlight important upcoming dates for events in the document. The tone should be positive, concise, and friendly."
Microsoft 365 Copilot responds better with positive instructions
Microsoft 365 Copilot is task oriented. When providing it with instructions it's better to tell it what "to do", rather than telling it what "not to do". For example, construct your prompts with a list of items that Microsoft 365 Copilot should complete as it generates a response for you, rather than a list of items it shouldn't.
Structure matters
The order of information in your prompts will matter. Details you include at the end of your prompt will weigh more than those in beginning, so try rearranging the order of details to get the response you need.
For example:
Prompt #1 [instruction -> context] : "Draft an email in a festive tone thanking staff for all the great work they did this year and remind them not to work while we are closed. Our department of XYZ will be closed this year from December 24, 2024 to January 1, 2025. December 25, 2024 is also a general holiday at the university."
Prompt #2 [context -> instruction]: "Our department of XYZ will be closed this year from December 24, 2024 to January 1, 2025. December 25, 2024 is also a general holiday at the university. Draft an email in a festive tone thanking staff for all the great work they did this year and remind them not to work while we are closed."
More Resources
For more information on getting great responses out of Microsoft 365, also explore: Get better results with Copilot prompting - Microsoft Support