The Copilot Studio Podcast – Details, episodes & analysis

Vesa Juvonen, Principal Product Manager at Microsoft, discusses the relevance and evolution of SharePoint, as well as the introduction of Copilot. He highlights the importance of SharePoint as a fundamental location for files and the need for user-friendly interfaces and adaptive cards. Vesa also explains the difference between Microsoft Graph connectors and Copilot plugins, and how SPFX fits into the extensibility of Copilot.   He emphasizes the value of Copilot in meeting recaps and idea generation, and discusses the challenges of adoption and showcasing the business value of these technologies. In this conversation, we discuss the potential of Microsoft Copilot and the value of AI in increasing productivity.   We also explore the extensibility opportunities of Microsoft 365 and the benefits of Viva Connections. The conversation highlights the importance of storytelling and scenario-based communication to drive adoption and showcases the community-driven approach of Microsoft in sharing knowledge and amplifying others.   Takeaways

• SharePoint remains relevant as a fundamental location for files and offers user-friendly interfaces and adaptive cards.
• Microsoft Graph connectors feed information to Copilot, while plugins provide real-time data enrichment.
• SPFX enables easy deployment of extensibility options in Copilot.
• Meeting recaps and idea generation are valuable use cases for Copilot.
• The challenge lies in showcasing the business value and driving adoption of these technologies. Microsoft Copilot is a powerful tool that enhances productivity and provides relevant data and insights for day-to-day business operations.
• The value of AI extends beyond Copilot, and organizations should explore other opportunities to leverage AI for efficiency and productivity.
• Microsoft 365 offers a robust extensibility platform that partners and customers can bet on to enhance the platform and create customized solutions.
• Viva Connections provides a centralized and mobile-friendly employee experience platform, enabling easy access to relevant applications and tasks.
• Storytelling and scenario-based communication are crucial for driving adoption and showcasing the value of Microsoft's offerings.
• The Microsoft community plays a vital role in sharing knowledge, amplifying others, and building a strong ecosystem of ideas and inspiration.

  Time Stamps   00:00 - Introduction and Setup 09:26 - Understanding Copilot Extensibility and UX 24:21 - Challenges in Showcasing Business Value and Driving Adoption 32:24 - Exploring Extensibility Opportunities of Microsoft 365 41:55 - The Value of Viva Connections 49:30 - The Community-Driven Approach of Microsoft

Connect with Vesa:

• Connect with Vesa on LinkedIn: 
• Follow Vesa on X

Welcome to the Copilot Studio Podcast, where today's episode promises an illuminating conversation with Karuana Gatimu, a visionary leader from Microsoft focusing on collaborative apps and platforms, particularly Microsoft 365 and Copilot.

Join me Daniel Anderson (Microsoft MVP), as I delve into Karuana's insights on the significance of user enablement, the evolution of technology adoption, and the transformative impact of artificial intelligence in today's business landscape.

From her role in hosting "Mondays at Microsoft" to her proactive approach to community engagement and her strategic viewpoints on copilot governance, Karuana shares her journey and strategies to foster an inclusive and tech-empowered community.

This episode will explore how these technologies are not just reshaping businesses but also how individuals at all levels can adapt to leverage these tools for growth and productivity. Whether you're an executive, a marketer, or an IT professional, tune in to gain valuable perspectives on making the most out of technological advancements in your role.

Time Stamps:

00:00 20 years of user enablement and change.

04:02 Customer success kit emphasizes user enablement teamwork.

08:50 Understanding diverse copilot experiences for specific roles.

10:48 Understanding key Copilot functions critical for individual use.

13:07 Community of practice critical for ongoing learning.

18:49 Too many unorganized information needs improvement.

21:59 10 years teaching Microsoft 365 governance, career progression.

26:21 Advocating for employees' needs and vision.

30:20 Utilizing AI for efficient, confident decision-making.

32:03 Understanding user needs, not just technology.

35:17 Microsoft Viva Copilot Academy enhances team experience.

41:04 Challenges of identity and belonging in society.

43:47 Empowering Microsoft community to join and thrive.

45:52 Grateful for the conversation and insightful stories.

Connect with Karuana on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/karuanagatimu

Microsoft Adoption Site: https://adoption.microsoft.com

What is Microsoft missing?, well joining me on today's episode is Ragnar Heil.

For the past since 22 years, Ragnar has specialized in Office Productivity, Search, Document & Content Management Software.

He has been involved in FAST Search / SharePoint / Office 365 / Yammer Projects in different roles (Developer, Infrastructure Architect, Project Manager, Tech Support, Consultant, Trainer, Team Lead, QA Manager, Regional Director, Partner Sales Lead, Alliance and Channel Manager)

Since Nov 2017 he has also been supporting Enterprises to move, manage and protect content within enterprise collaboration platforms in the cloud and on-premises and is the founding member of "Working out loud" community in Germany.

It's fair to say that he has some knowledge to share. And this episode was epic.

Some of the key highlights included:

• Ragnar's elivator pitch for Microsoft Teams
• Experiences learnt from real hybrid work (aka working whiel travelling around Germany:))
• Common pitfalls and success stories from tenant to tenant migrations
• Learning in the flow of work
• What is Microsoft missing ?

Connect with Ragnar:

https://linktr.ee/ragnarh

Joining me on this episode is none other than Cameron Dwyer. Now Cam is better known in the Office Development circles where he is a Microsoft MVP in 2017.

Cameron is alos Chief Technology Officer at OnePlace Solution overseeing an award winning Microsoft 365 product portfolio.

He has more than 20 years’ experience as a developer solving complex challenges and running SaaS offerings at global scale. Combining strong business understanding and acumen with deep product knowledge and thought leadership around Microsoft 365.

Now what is great about this episode is that there is no developer speak at all. Cameron  recently had the desire/need to setup regular Brown Bag style sessions as a vehicle to share knowledge within his development team. It was driven by two signals that he was hearing over and over again during their team sprints:

• I need knowledge
• I need to impart knowledge

This lead to Cameron creating a solution to solve the problem with Microsoft Teams, Microsoft Lists and SharePoint with out a line of code being written.

It was a great example of what can be acheived with out of the box functionality and also by starting with the problem first.

You can follow Cameron via Twitter and his blog where he shares a great about of experience through his content:

• Blog: https://camerondwyer.com
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/CameronDwyer

 

Joining me on this episode is Paul Keijzers. Paul is the co-owner of KbWorks which is a company based near Amsterdam Netherlands and also a Microsoft MVP.

His main focus is Microsoft Teams and SharePoint and loves to collaborate on these topics and make weekly videos for endusers.

In this episode we had a great discussion about SharePoint, Microsoft Teams, Teams only devices, Viva.

Oh and a little / big announcement from Paul for 2022.

Here are some of the highlights:

• Microsoft Teams only devices (think Chromebook)
• Where do you start your day? Outlook, Teams or the Intranet ?
• Old school user adoption examples for the Intranet
• Microsoft Teams - What are companies struggling with ?
• Microsoft Teams archiving - make sure you have a plan
• Pauls' take on Microosft Viva and Microsoft Loop
• What is the key selling point of Microsoft Viva ?

Connect with Paul:

• KB Works: https://kbworks.nl
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paulkeijzers
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/kbworks

 

In this episode, I chat with Microsoft MVP Matt Wade. An engineer-turned-IT nerd and Microsoft MVP.

His career began in the nuclear power design field and ended up in SharePoint adoption, pretty much by mistake. He’s best known for his SharePoint and Microsoft 365 infographics—especially the Periodic Table of Office 365—and advocating Microsoft Teams as the foundation of our modern workplace. He lives in Upstate New York.

There is so much value in this episode as we dicuss a wide range of topics, a few of the highlights were:

• Microsoft Teams best practises and etiquet
• Running better meetings in Microsoft Teams (sometimes this is not a technology thing)
• Microsoft Loop and how this could be potentially the next big thing
• Who benefits from Microsoft Loop
• Just because you can do something in Microsoft Teams should you really?
• Pain points that people have with collaboration today
• The biggest challenges organistions face when implementing Microsoft Teams
• Microsoft Viva...just re branded to capture a different audience.

I highly recommend connecting with Matt as he continues to produce some really good and engaging content. You can find links to all his socials here https://linktr.ee/thatmattwade

Joining me on this episode is Norm Young. Norm has spent 20 plus years as a data professional who has recently made the shift to the collaboration space using Microsoft 365 and the Power Platform.

Norm is also a Microsoft MVP for Office Apps and Services. Blogger, speaker, community contributor, and Microsoft 365 evangelist.

Some highlights that will bring you some value from this episode are:

• We discuss the advatanges and value of moving from excel to Microsoft Lists
• The introduction of offline availability of Microsoft Lists via Project Nucleus
• Customization options with Microsoft Lists that help drive business value and adoption
• Real world use cases

Connect with Norm:

Blog: https://normyoung.ca
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/norm-young
Twitter: https://twitter.com/stormin_30

If you are interested in learning more about customizing Microsoft Lists: 

https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/microsoft-sharepoint-blog/customizing-lists-best-practices-guest-blog-and-video/ba-p/2858509

In this episode I am joined by Darrell Webster and we talk all about Microsoft Loop. This big new app announcement from Microsoft. Specifically we talk about 

• What is Microisoft Loop - Our crack at an elevator pitch
• The concept of the portability of the components
• Microsoft Loop Features
  • what is available today
  • what’s coming
• What gaps does Microsoft Loop fill
• Who we think will get the most out of it.
• Is this an MS Teams vs Loop situation?
• Or is it an AND situation ?

A little bit about Darrell: Darrell is a productivity and collaboration specialist focused on user adoption and change management. He relishes the opportunity to help individuals, teams and organisations to unlock the value in Microsoft 365. He is active in the Microsoft Technical Community and firmly believes that 'the community is the expert.'

Darrell helps to co-ordinate an online publication, Live show and podcast syndicate called 'REgarding 365' where thought leaders share their stories, opinions and guidance regarding Microsoft 365. His community efforts have been recognised with the Microsoft MVP award since 2013.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/darrellwebster
Website: https://modernworkplacechange.com
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/modernworkplacechange

Komal Thakkar is an Executive Management Consultant and Managing Director of Productivity First. Komal is a Certified GTD Coach and former Chair of the APSIG committee for PSA (The Pharmaceutical Society of Australia).

Getting things done with Konal Thakker - Episode 3 of 3

Reflect and Engage- Keeping things all fresh and functional The idea with this whole method of workflow management is not to let your brain become lax, but rather to enable it to be free to experience more elegant, productive, and creative activity.

In episode 1 we took a look at GTD at a high level, then dove into the first step of Capturing.

The second episode we took a look at Clarifying and Organising everything that we captured and now we come to the final 2 stages of GTD and getting us to "stress free productivity" the Reflect and Engage steps.

Some topics that we convered here were:

• What do we look at and when ?
• What is the order, is there a best practise ?
• Updating your system - can you tell use how important this is and why ?
• The weekly review - what is it all about and what activities are we doing ?
• What is the right time and place for a weekly review ?
• We then also outline these three priority frameworks for deciding actions
• What is the Four-Criteria Model for choosing actions in the moment?
• The threefold model for evaluating daily work
• The six level model for reviewing your own work.

Connect with Komal:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/getting-things-done-coach

GTD-Q: https://www.productivityfirst.com.au/take-the-gtd-test/

Website: https://www.productivityfirst.com.au

Corey Boutwell is a WBFF Professional Fitness Athlete. He has a business degree majoring in management and project management.

He runs the Corey Boutwell podcast and for the past two years he has been achieving incredible results. Essentially he helps entrepreneurs and business owners who feel destined for success but are currently unfulfilled and doubting themselves, take responsibility for their emotions and raise their standard for not only themselves but their business, unlocking the best version of themselves.

In this episode we talk about the non technology side of improving your productivity. Sleep, diet and exercise. Corey has worked with many high performing busiess peope and entrepreneurs.

We had a great discussion and covered many topics

• Common traits in successful business people
• How focusing on sleep, diet and excercise can drasically help your productivity
• Reducing stress through a daily dose of stillness
• How sleep, diet and exercise go together to become a power trio
• Corey shares some great tips on how to get started with improving your poductivity through sleep, diet and exercise.
• When is the best time to eat for you ?
• How to wake up feeling refreshed

Really hope you enjoy this episode, it was a great discussion and Corey shared some great information and tips to give you some value.