AI has officially moved from an interesting add‑on to a core part of how modern organizations communicate and connect. In Week 2 of the Viva Engage Masterclass – AI‑Powered Engagement, we explored what that shift really means for employees, leaders, and communicators—and how Viva Engage is becoming the place where human connection and AI scale together.
Week 1 covered how the system works. Week 2 focused on how to amplify your impact with it. Below is a recap of the key themes and practical takeaways you can apply.
1. Communities Are the Engine of AI‑Powered Engagement
Every organization is on a journey toward becoming what Microsoft calls a Frontier Firm—where humans and AI work side by side. Communities play a critical role in enabling that shift.
Why? Because the most valuable knowledge in organizations is often informal, unwritten, and distributed across people. Viva Engage communities:
- Enable peer‑to‑peer learning across roles, teams, and geographies
- Make it easier to connect with experts and surface trusted answers
- Provide the signal AI needs to deliver relevant, contextual insights at scale
AI doesn’t replace these conversations; it learns from them and scales their impact.
2. The Four Pillars of Connected Communications
Throughout the session, we grounded AI‑powered engagement in a simple but powerful framework: the Four Pillars of Connected Communications.
- Relevance – This matters to my role, context, or priorities
- Effort – I can tell that real thought and care went into creating this
- Signal – I understand the core message and action
- Safety – Engagement feels safe, respectful, and without professional and personal risk
AI can help improve all four, when guided with clear human intent.
3. Copilot Adoption Community
Support doc link Champions and the Copilot Adoption Community
AI‑powered engagement doesn’t scale on its own—it scales through people. That’s where Champions and a dedicated Copilot Adoption Community play a critical role.
Champions act as trusted guides inside the organization. They help:
- Model effective Copilot usage in real‑world scenarios
- Encourage experimentation and peer learning
- Answer common questions and escalate feedback
- Reinforce best practices around tone, trust, and effort
A Copilot Adoption Community in Viva Engage provides a shared space to:
- Ask questions and learn from early adopters
- Share prompts, tips, and success stories
- Surface patterns and feedback for continuous improvement
- Connect employees to Champions and experts at scale
Together, Champions and the Copilot community turn AI from a tool into a habit.
Copilot Champions
- Download the Copilot Champs
Community Framework - Community with purpose: Deploying Viva Engage at Microsoft in three chapters – Inside Track Blog
- Download the Copilot Virtual Skilling
Event Framework (Camp Copilot) - Return to Summer Camp: Making Microsoft 365 Copilot Fun with Camp Copilot
Learn about driving Copilot adoption with champion communities at our April First Friday webinar: aka.ms/FirstFridaysApril
Copilot in Viva Engage: Practical Scenarios
We explored how Microsoft 365 Copilot supports engagement throughout the day by helping you:
- Catch up faster with AI‑generated summaries of community activity
- Write better posts with contextual drafting and tone suggestions
- Spot trends and sentiment without reading every reply
- Create leadership‑ready recaps from long discussions
For employees, Copilot removes friction. For communicators and leaders, it creates space to focus on connection rather than mechanics.
4. Scaling Knowledge With the community Agent
A major highlight of Week 2 was the community agent—an AI-powered expert designed to scale answers while preserving trust.‑
Key capabilities include:
- Drafting grounded, contextual responses using community conversations and SharePoint files
- Expert and admin review with Verified answers
- Faster time‑to‑answer for common questions
- Clear transparency into sources and review workflows
When paired with Community Experts, agents become a force multiplier—not a replacement.
5. A Simple 3‑Week Path to Get Started
To make this real, we closed with a practical adoption path:
Week 1 – Get Started
Week 2 – Set Up & Experiment
- Launch a Copilot Adoption Community
- Enable the Community Agent
- Assign experts to review and verify answers
Week 3 – Expand & Optimize
- Invite more members
- Curate trusted sources
- Measure impact and refine
Small steps, taken consistently, create momentum.
What’s Next
Next up in the Masterclass series: Campaigns and Storytelling. We’ll dive into how to run campaigns, amplify leader voices, and create narratives that resonate—using both human creativity and AI support.
You can register for upcoming sessions and explore the full schedule at:
👉 https://aka.ms/VivaEngage/Masterclass
AI changes how we work, but connection is still what makes it matter.
Microsoft