We’ve all been there, staring at a blank PowerPoint, knowing the information is in a document somewhere, and dreading the hours it’ll take to transform it into a compelling presentation. This is where Microsoft Copilot in PowerPoint can help save you hours of time. (At the moment it’s my most heavily used feature in the M365 Copilot suite.)
What is it?
Microsoft Copilot is an AI-powered assistant embedded within the Microsoft 365 suite of applications, including familiar tools like Word, Excel, Outlook, Teams, and, importantly for this discussion, PowerPoint. It leverages the power of large language models (LLMs) combined with your organization’s data (with all the necessary security and privacy protocols you’d expect from Microsoft) to provide relevant and actionable assistance. In PowerPoint, Copilot isn’t just about suggesting a better turn of phrase; it’s about fundamentally changing how you create and refine presentations and, importantly, saving you a lot of time.
What does it mean from a business perspective?
The implications of having Copilot in PowerPoint, especially the ‘Create presentation from [file]’, are transformative for presentation preparation.
- Dramatic Time Savings: This is the core value from this feature. Feed Copilot a Word document, and watch it generate a first draft of your presentation within minutes. This includes a full set including a title slide, agenda, content slides, speaker notes and a concluding slide. The hours previously spent copying, pasting, formatting, and structuring content can now be reinvested into refining your message and delivery.
- Effortless First Drafts from Existing Content: Use the ‘Create presentation from file’ feature – if you have a detailed report, proposal, or outline in a Word document, Copilot can intelligently extract the key information and structure it into a PowerPoint presentation. It helps overcome that initial hurdle of getting started, providing a solid foundation to build upon (deals with the blank screen problem).
- Context-Relevant Graphics: Copilot also does a great job of adding context relevant graphics to your slides, saving you time hunting for graphics that match your slide content.
- Focus on High-Value Tasks: With Copilot handling the heavy lifting of initial creation and formatting, you and your team can focus on strategic aspects: refining the narrative, tailoring the content to specific audiences, and especially practicing the delivery. This shift in focus leads to more impactful presentations. (You can also use Copilot, or other LLM’s, to ask you questions based on personas to practice responses as part of the preparation process.)
- Improved Collaboration: Copilot can also help summarize lengthy presentations, making it easier for team members to get up to speed or review content quickly. This improves collaboration and understanding within teams.
What do I do with it?
Here are some concrete actions you can take:
- Ensure You Have Access: Copilot for Microsoft 365 is a subscription service. Check with your IT administrator to see if it’s available within your organization and what your licensing includes.
- Start with a Clear Source Document: For the ‘Create presentation from file’ feature, ensure your Word document (or other supported file type) is well-structured with clear headings and content. The better the input, the better the output from Copilot.
- Utilize Organizational Templates: If your company has branded PowerPoint templates, start by opening a new presentation using that template. Then, invoke Copilot to create your presentation from a file or prompt. This will help Copilot maintain your branding.
- Experiment with Prompts: Don’t just rely on file input. Try giving Copilot direct prompts like, “Create a 10-slide presentation about [your topic] including sections on X, Y, and Z.” Be specific and clear in your requests.
- Refine and Iterate: Copilot provides a fantastic first draft, not a final, polished product. Use the time saved to review, edit, add your unique insights, and ensure the narrative flows perfectly (I find Copilot does a really good job if the flow is captured well in the input document). You can also ask Copilot to insert new slides for you.
Tips
- If the shortcut prompt doesn’t appear you can simply ask Copilot to create the presentation and browse your files using the ‘/’ in a prompt, for example: “Create a presentation from /” – you will be prompted to search for the file you wish to use (you can attach files from cloud storage or upload from your device).
- Use ‘Designer’ to save time reformatting the slides – it suggests multiple alternative formats for your slides.
Microsoft Copilot in PowerPoint, particularly its ability to create presentations from files and assist with relevant graphics, is a huge leap forward in productivity. It allows you to create professional, on-brand presentations in a fraction of the time it used to take. Spending hours on the manual grind of presentation draft building is over; it’s time to embrace intelligent assistance and focus on what truly matters – delivering compelling presentations and messages.
Further Reading
Use Copilot to create and edit awesome PowerPoint presentations (Microsoft – Deb Ashby)