The Microsoft 365 Community Conference Experience Starts with Community
At the Microsoft 365 Community Conference, the learning does not stop when a session ends. Some of the most meaningful moments happen between the keynotes, in shared conversations, hands on exploration, and spontaneous connection with others who are solving similar challenges. This year in Orlando, we are creating more opportunities for the Microsoft 365 community to come together through interactive activations, informal meetups, creative experiences, and live product engagement inside the Microsoft Innovation Hub within the Expo Hall. Here is a look at what you can expect throughout the week. Women in Tech and Allies Lunch Discussion Grab your lunch and network with peers, discuss progress, and focus on how we can continue to make the Microsoft ecosystem the best in the world for supporting women. All individuals are welcome regardless of gender for an open and compassionate conversation on allyship and inclusiveness. The discussion will be hosted by Heather Cook, Principal Customer Experience PM and distinguished panelists including: Vasu Jakkal, Corporate Vice President, Microsoft Security Business Jaime Teevan, Chief Scientist & Technical Fellow Lan Ye, Corporate Vice President, Microsoft Teams Sumi Singh, Corporate Vice President, Microsoft Teams Karuana Gatimu, Director, Customer Advocacy - AI & Collaboration, Microsoft Kate Faaland, Program Manager of Data and AI, AvePoint Celebrity meet-n-greet Stop by the Microsoft Community News Desk on Tuesday from 2pm to 4pm right outside of the Expo Hall, for a special photo meet and greet with guest speakers and former WNBA athletes Chasity Melvin and Kia Vaughn. Snap a photo with these legendary pros at our on-site photobooth and celebrate the spirit of teamwork and leadership they bring to conversations on collaboration and the future of AI at this year’s Microsoft 365 Community Conference. More Than Code: SharePoint Movie Premiere Tuesday, April 21, 12:30 PM to 1:30 PM Be among the first to watch More Than Code, a documentary styled short film honoring the global community behind SharePoint’s 25 year journey. Featuring voices from MVPs, customers, and Microsoft leaders, this film explores how connection, creativity, and collaboration helped turn a product into a movement that powers teamwork and knowledge sharing around the world today. SharePoint 25th Birthday Celebration Panel Tuesday, April 21, 5:00 PM to 6:30 PM Join longtime community leaders and Microsoft experts as we celebrate 25 years of SharePoint. From early on premises deployments to today’s AI powered experiences, this special birthday panel reflects on the moments, milestones, and people who helped shape SharePoint into the platform it is today, and what comes next. Stick around after the discussion for birthday cake and photo moments with fellow community members. Microsoft 365 Champions Community Meetup + Session Join Karuana Gatimu for a Microsoft 365 Champions Community Meetup, where you can connect with peers and learn more about growing your AI and Microsoft skills while engaging with the product team. Then, attend the separate Champions Program session on Tuesday, April 21 from 1:45 PM to 2:30 PM to learn how to build, nurture, and measure the success of your internal Champions program to drive Copilot and broader technology adoption. Microsoft Global Community Initiative (MGCI) The Microsoft Global Community Initiative (MGCI) will be onsite all week connecting organizers, speakers, board members, and regional leaders from across our global tech communities. Meet up with Heather Cook, Principal Customer Experience PM, MGCI Board Members, and Regional Leaders on Tuesday at 4:15 PM to connect with the people powering Microsoft’s grassroots ecosystem, join the MGCI Roundtable on Wednesday at 1:30 PM to discover how MGCI and CommunityDays.org are transforming grassroots tech engagement. And don’t miss the MGCI Lightning Talk on the power of community and how local engagement can create global impact. Stop by the Microsoft Innovation Hub to learn more about how MGCI supports community‑driven learning around the world. MVP Presence at #M365Con26 Microsoft MVPs will be onsite all week bringing community insight directly into the Microsoft Innovation Hub inside the Expo Hall. Join us on Tuesday, April 21 at 5:00 PM for a special MVP Photo Opportunity with an executive sponsor in the Innovation Hub (Microsoft Booth). We will also be hosting an MVP Meetup during the event with more details to come. Stop by the booth or connect with Bryan Wofford to collect exclusive MVP swag available only onsite. Reservable Podcast Room Microsoft FTEs, MVPs, and community leaders can reserve time in the on-site Podcast Room at Microsoft 365 Community Conference to record interviews, podcast episodes, or social content. The space will be equipped with branded backdrops along with professional video and audio equipment to support high quality content creation. Complete the reservation form to request a time slot. Calendar invites will be sent once confirmed. Questions can be directed to Jonathan Jones. Community News Desk + Interviews: Stop by the Community News Desk to catch live conversations from across the ecosystem and explore opportunities for 1:1 executive and customer interviews taking place throughout the week inside the Microsoft Innovation Hub. Community Meetups and Product Roundtables Community meetups are informal, connection first gatherings where attendees can meet others who share a role, interest, or identity. These sessions are designed to bring people together in a relaxed environment to build relationships and exchange ideas. Product roundtables offer a more focused space for discussion. In these small group conversations, attendees can share real world use cases, common pain points, and direct feedback with Microsoft teams and peers. Please use this signup sheet to reserve a social meetup with your community. Lightning Talks in the Microsoft Innovation Hub Lightning Talks are quick, TED talk style sessions designed to deliver real world learnings fast. Stop by the Microsoft Innovation Hub within the Expo Hall for rapid insights from community experts and Microsoft teams, along with a few surprises throughout the week. Explore the Microsoft Surface Device Bar Visit the Microsoft Device Bar for an interactive, hands on experience with the latest Copilot+ PCs and Surface for Business devices. You can engage with real world demos, explore Windows 11 and Copilot capabilities, and connect with Microsoft experts for live demonstrations, Q&A, and practical guidance across modern work scenarios and enterprise security needs. Attendees who visit the Device Bar will also have the opportunity to enter a daily drawing to win a Surface Pro for Business by following Microsoft Surface on LinkedIn and sharing a photo from the event. Build Your Own Mini LEGO Figurine After exploring a demo scenario, stop by for a quick creative break and build a mini LEGO figurine. It is a fun, hands-on moment that adds some play and personality to your conference experience and gives you something to take home with you. Guided Demo Stations The Microsoft Innovation Hub will feature multiple demo stations offering guided, live walkthroughs led by experts who can answer questions in real time. Each station is designed for scenario based conversations and hands on exploration, giving you the chance to see how Microsoft 365 solutions come to life across different roles, industries, and business needs. Stay loose with facilitated posture improvement and seated stretching Tuesday, April 21, 5:00 PM to 6:30 PM Recharge during the conference with a low impact seated session designed to relieve muscle tension and reduce screen fatigue. Join us in the Microsoft Innovation Hub to learn simple posture checks, guided eye exercises, and gentle mobility movements that can help improve comfort and restore energy during long workdays. Join Us in Orlando! Whether you are attending your first Microsoft 365 Community Conference or returning to reconnect with peers and colleagues, these community experiences are designed to help you build relationships, learn from others, and get more out of your time onsite. We look forward to seeing you in the Microsoft Innovation Hub within the Expo Hall. Register now to be part of the Microsoft 365 Community Conference experience.Demystifying GitHub Copilot Security Controls: easing concerns for organizational adoption
At a recent developer conference, I delivered a session on Legacy Code Rescue using GitHub Copilot App Modernization. Throughout the day, conversations with developers revealed a clear divide: some have fully embraced Agentic AI in their daily coding, while others remain cautious. Often, this hesitation isn't due to reluctance but stems from organizational concerns around security and regulatory compliance. Having witnessed similar patterns during past technology shifts, I understand how these barriers can slow adoption. In this blog, I'll demystify the most common security concerns about GitHub Copilot and explain how its built-in features address them, empowering organizations to confidently modernize their development workflows. GitHub Copilot Model Training A common question I received at the conference was whether GitHub uses your code as training data for GitHub Copilot. I always direct customers to the GitHub Copilot Trust Center for clarity, but the answer is straightforward: “No. GitHub uses neither Copilot Business nor Enterprise data to train the GitHub model.” Notice this restriction also applies to third-party models as well (e.g. Anthropic, Google). GitHub Copilot Intellectual Property indemnification policy A frequent concern I hear is, since GitHub Copilot’s underlying models are trained on sources that include public code, it might simply “copy and paste” code from those sources. Let’s clarify how this actually works: Does GitHub Copilot “copy/paste”? “The AI models that create Copilot’s suggestions may be trained on public code, but do not contain any code. When they generate a suggestion, they are not “copying and pasting” from any codebase.” To provide an additional layer of protection, GitHub Copilot includes a “duplicate detection filter”. This feature helps prevent suggestions that closely match public code from being surfaced. (Note: This duplicate detection currently does not apply to the Copilot coding agent.) More importantly, customers are protected by an Intellectual Property indemnification policy. This means that if you receive an unmodified suggestion from GitHub Copilot and face a copyright claim as a result, Microsoft will defend you in court. GitHub Copilot Data Retention Another frequent question I hear concerns GitHub Copilot’s data retention policies. For organizations on GitHub Copilot Business and Enterprise plans, retention practices depend on how and where the service is accessed from: Access through IDE for Chat and Code Completions: Prompts and Suggestions: Not retained. User Engagement Data: Kept for two years. Feedback Data: Stored for as long as needed for its intended purpose. Other GitHub Copilot access and use: Prompts and Suggestions: Retained for 28 days. User Engagement Data: Kept for two years. Feedback Data: Stored for as long as needed for its intended purpose. For Copilot Coding Agent, session logs are retained for the life of the account in order to provide the service. Excluding content from GitHub Copilot To prevent GitHub Copilot from indexing sensitive files, you can configure content exclusions at the repository or organization level. In VS Code, use the .copilotignore file to exclude files client-side. Note that files listed in .gitignore are not indexed by default but may still be referenced if open or explicitly referenced (unless they’re excluded through .copilotignore or content exclusions). The life cycle of a GitHub Copilot code suggestion Here are the key protections at each stage of the life cycle of a GitHub Copilot code suggestion: In the IDE: Content exclusions prevent files, folders, or patterns from being included. GitHub proxy (pre-model safety): Prompts go through a GitHub proxy hosted in Microsoft Azure for pre-inference checks: screening for toxic or inappropriate language, relevance, and hacking attempts/jailbreak-style prompts before reaching the model. Model response: With the public code filter enabled, some suggestions are suppressed. The vulnerability protection feature blocks insecure coding patterns like hardcoded credentials or SQL injections in real time. Disable access to GitHub Copilot Free Due to the varying policies associated with GitHub Copilot Free, it is crucial for organizations to ensure it is disabled both in the IDE and on GitHub.com. Since not all IDEs currently offer a built-in option to disable Copilot Free, the most reliable method to prevent both accidental and intentional access is to implement firewall rule changes, as outlined in the official documentation. Agent Mode Allow List Accidental file system deletion by Agentic AI assistants can happen. With GitHub Copilot agent mode, the "Terminal auto approve” setting in VS Code can be used to prevent this. This setting can be managed centrally using a VS Code policy. MCP registry Organizations often want to restrict access to allow only trusted MCP servers. GitHub now offers an MCP registry feature for this purpose. This feature isn’t available in all IDEs and clients yet, but it's being developed. Compliance Certifications The GitHub Copilot Trust Center page lists GitHub Copilot's broad compliance credentials, surpassing many competitors in financial, security, privacy, cloud, and industry coverage. SOC 1 Type 2: Assurance over internal controls for financial reporting. SOC 2 Type 2: In-depth report covering Security, Availability, Processing Integrity, Confidentiality, and Privacy over time. SOC 3: General-use version of SOC 2 with broad executive-level assurance. ISO/IEC 27001:2013: Certification for a formal Information Security Management System (ISMS), based on risk management controls. CSA STAR Level 2: Includes a third-party attestation combining ISO 27001 or SOC 2 with additional cloud control matrix (CCM) requirements. TISAX: Trusted Information Security Assessment Exchange, covering automotive-sector security standards. In summary, while the adoption of AI tools like GitHub Copilot in software development can raise important questions around security, privacy, and compliance, it’s clear that existing safeguards in place help address these concerns. By understanding the safeguards, configurable controls, and robust compliance certifications offered, organizations and developers alike can feel more confident in embracing GitHub Copilot to accelerate innovation while maintaining trust and peace of mind.
The "IQ Layer": Microsoft’s Blueprint for the Agentic Enterprise
The "IQ Layer": Microsoft’s Blueprint for the Agentic Enterprise Modern enterprises have experimented with artificial intelligence for years, yet many deployments have struggled to move beyond basic automation and conversational interfaces. The fundamental limitation has not been the reasoning power of AI models—it has been their lack of organizational context. In most organizations, AI systems historically lacked visibility into how work actually happens. They could process language and generate responses, but they could not fully understand business realities such as: Who is responsible for a project What internal metrics represent Where corporate policies are stored How teams collaborate across tools and departments Without this contextual awareness, AI often produced answers that sounded intelligent but lacked real business value. To address this challenge, Microsoft introduced a new architectural model known as the IQ Layer. This framework establishes a structured intelligence layer across the enterprise, enabling AI systems to interpret work activity, enterprise data, and organizational knowledge. The architecture is built around three integrated intelligence domains: Work IQ Fabric IQ Foundry IQ Together, these layers allow AI systems to move beyond simple responses and deliver insights that are aligned with real organizational context. The Three Foundations of Enterprise Context For AI to evolve from a helpful assistant into a trusted decision-support partner, it must understand multiple dimensions of enterprise operations. Microsoft addresses this need by organizing contextual intelligence into three distinct layers. IQ Layer Purpose Platform Foundation Work IQ Collaboration and work activity signals Microsoft 365, Microsoft Teams, Microsoft Graph Fabric IQ Structured enterprise data understanding Microsoft Fabric, Power BI, OneLake Foundry IQ Knowledge retrieval and AI reasoning Azure AI Foundry, Azure AI Search, Microsoft Purview Each layer contributes a unique type of intelligence that enables enterprise AI systems to understand the organization from different perspectives. Work IQ — Understanding How Work Gets Done The first layer, Work IQ, focuses on the signals generated by daily collaboration and communication across an organization. Built on top of Microsoft Graph, Work IQ analyses activity patterns across the Microsoft 365 ecosystem, including: Email communication Virtual meetings Shared documents Team chat conversations Calendar interactions Organizational relationships These signals help AI systems map how work actually flows across teams. Rather than requiring users to provide background context manually, AI can infer critical information automatically, such as: Project stakeholders Communication networks Decision makers Subject matter experts For example, if an employee asks: "What is the latest update on the migration project?" Work IQ can analyse multiple collaboration sources including: Project discussions in Microsoft Teams Meeting transcripts Shared project documentation Email discussions As a result, AI responses become grounded in real workplace activity instead of generic information. Fabric IQ — Understanding Enterprise Data While Work IQ focuses on collaboration signals, Fabric IQ provides insight into structured enterprise data. Operating within Microsoft Fabric, this layer transforms raw datasets into meaningful business concepts. Instead of interpreting information as isolated tables and columns, Fabric IQ enables AI systems to reason about business entities such as: Customers Products Orders Revenue metrics Inventory levels By leveraging semantic models from Power BI and unified storage through OneLake, Fabric IQ establishes a shared data language across the organization. This allows AI systems to answer strategic questions such as: "Why did revenue decline last quarter?" Instead of simply retrieving numbers, the AI can analyse multiple business drivers, including: Product performance trends Regional sales variations Customer behaviour segments Supply chain disruptions The outcome is not just data access, but decision-oriented insight. Foundry IQ — Understanding Enterprise Knowledge The third layer, Foundry IQ, addresses another major enterprise challenge: fragmented knowledge repositories. Organizations store valuable information across numerous systems, including: SharePoint repositories Policy documents Contracts Technical documentation Internal knowledge bases Corporate wikis Historically, connecting these knowledge sources to AI required complex retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) architectures. Foundry IQ simplifies this process through services within Azure AI Foundry and Azure AI Search. Capabilities include: Automated document indexing Semantic search capabilities Document grounding for AI responses Access-aware information retrieval Integration with Microsoft Purview ensures that governance policies remain intact. Sensitivity labels, compliance rules, and access permissions continue to apply when AI systems retrieve and process information. This ensures that users only receive information they are authorized to access. From Chatbots to Autonomous Enterprise Agents The full potential of the IQ architecture becomes clear when all three layers operate together. This integrated intelligence model forms the basis of what Microsoft describes as the Agentic Enterprise—an environment where AI systems function as proactive digital collaborators rather than passive assistants. Instead of simple chat interfaces, organizations will deploy AI agents capable of understanding context, reasoning about business situations, and initiating actions. Example Scenario: Supply Chain Disruption Consider a scenario where a shipment delay threatens delivery commitments. Within the IQ architecture: Fabric IQ Detects anomalies in shipment or logistics data and identifies potential risks to delivery schedules. Foundry IQ Retrieves supplier contracts and evaluates service-level agreements to determine whether penalties or mitigation clauses apply. Work IQ Identifies the logistics manager responsible for the account and prepares a contextual briefing tailored to their communication patterns. Tasks that previously required hours of investigation can now be completed by AI systems within minutes. Governance Embedded in the Architecture For enterprise leaders, security and compliance remain critical considerations in AI adoption. Microsoft designed the IQ framework with governance deeply embedded in its architecture. Key governance capabilities include: Permission-Aware Intelligence AI responses respect user permissions enforced through Microsoft Entra ID, ensuring individuals only see information they are authorized to access. Compliance Enforcement Data classification and protection policies defined in Microsoft Purview continue to apply throughout AI workflows. Observability and Monitoring Organizations can monitor AI agents and automation processes through tools such as Microsoft Copilot Studio and other emerging agent management platforms. This provides transparency and operational control over AI-driven systems. The Strategic Shift: AI as Enterprise Infrastructure Perhaps the most significant implication of the IQ architecture is the transformation of AI from a standalone tool into a foundational enterprise capability. In earlier deployments, organizations treated AI as isolated applications or experimental tools. With the IQ Layer approach, AI becomes deeply integrated across core platforms including: Microsoft 365 Microsoft Fabric Azure AI Foundry This integrated intelligence allows AI systems to behave more like experienced digital employees. They can: Understand organizational workflows Analyse complex data relationships Retrieve institutional knowledge Collaborate with human teams Enterprises that successfully implement this intelligence layers will be better positioned to make faster decisions, respond to change more effectively, and unlock new levels of operational intelligence. References: Work IQ MCP overview (preview) - Microsoft Copilot Studio | Microsoft Learn What is Fabric IQ (preview)? - Microsoft Fabric | Microsoft Learn What is Foundry IQ? - Microsoft Foundry | Microsoft Learn From Data Platform to Intelligence Platform: Introducing Microsoft Fabric IQ | Microsoft Fabric Blog | Microsoft FabricClaude + GPT | Multi-model intelligence in Copilot
Generate briefing documents, presentations, and Excel files from a single prompt with Copilot Cowork, pulling from your emails, calendar, and SharePoint through Work IQ — and fold in new tasks mid-run without stopping. Using Copilot Cowork, you can use the same platform that powers Claude Cowork. It’s designed for long-running, multi-step task automation. Use Critique in Researcher to pair a generation model with a dedicated review model, applying source reliability and evidence grounding before the report lands. Run model Council to submit one prompt to GPT and Claude simultaneously and compare their full reasoning side-by-side. These experiences with Copilot Cowork and Researcher are available now if your organization has the Frontier Program enabled. Jeremy Chapman, Microsoft 365 Director, shares how to choose, direct, and compare the right AI model for every task, all from within Microsoft 365. One prompt. Three files. Copilot Cowork generates your briefing doc, presentation, and Excel output — grounded in Work IQ data and saved directly to OneDrive. Try it now. Copilot Cowork handles new requests mid-run. Add meeting scheduling or an email update partway through and it integrates them into the active plan. Check it out. No more copy/paste into unmanaged AI sites. Work IQ automatically supplies Cowork and Researcher with your emails, calendar, Teams transcripts, and SharePoint files. Every output is grounded in your actual data. See how it works. QUICK LINKS: 00:00 — Copilot capabilities 01:06 — Copilot Cowork 02:32 — Mid-Run Task Injection 03:05 — Output 04:17 — Researcher Critique: Dual-Model Pipeline 05:58 — Work IQ Auto-Retrieval 06:58 — Model Council 08:50 — Wrap up Link References Try it at https://microsoft365.com/copilot Unfamiliar with Microsoft Mechanics? As Microsoft’s official video series for IT, you can watch and share valuable content and demos of current and upcoming tech from the people who build it at Microsoft. Subscribe to our YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/MicrosoftMechanicsSeries Talk with other IT Pros, join us on the Microsoft Tech Community: https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/microsoft-mechanics-blog/bg-p/MicrosoftMechanicsBlog Watch or listen from anywhere, subscribe to our podcast: https://microsoftmechanics.libsyn.com/podcast Keep getting this insider knowledge, join us on social: Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/MSFTMechanics Share knowledge on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/microsoft-mechanics/ Enjoy us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/msftmechanics/ Loosen up with us on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@msftmechanics Video Transcript: -Now you don’t need to switch between AI model providers for the best models for work. Copilot has options from Anthropic and OpenAI available directly from Microsoft 365. Using Copilot Cowork, you can use the same platform that powers Claude Cowork. It’s designed for long-running, multi-step task automation and it’s grounded by Work IQ, so you don’t need to move files and data outside of Microsoft 365 to other potentially unprotected services. Researcher has also been expanded with multi-model intelligence, where the new Critique capability separates the models, with one used to generate and another to refine its research outputs. And the new Council capability lets you submit a single prompt and view a side-by-side comparison across multiple model outputs. -Now, these experiences with Copilot Cowork and Researcher are available now if your organization has the Frontier program enabled, and today I’ll go hands-on with each while explaining the mechanics of how they work. Let’s start with Copilot Cowork. So in this example, I need to prepare for a customer meeting, and I want Cowork to build me a briefing document in Word, a PowerPoint presentation, and an Excel file with customer insights. I already have Copilot pinned with my agents and it’s opened. -Before I start, I’ll show you what’s set up in the knowledge sources. I can access information on the web, from people, and from Work IQ, so it doesn’t rely on connectors to access my work files, calendar, or previous meetings. Now I’ll paste in my prompt with links to reference files so it can help me then prepare for my meeting, and I want Copilot to pull in details from relevant emails and my calendar. I’ve also referenced an existing briefing document template as an example to follow, as well as an Excel overview with customer-specific metrics and visuals. And I want it to create a new briefing document as well as a client-ready PowerPoint presentation with our differentiators and recommended next steps. -So now I’m going to kick off the process and Cowork will show its progress, its inputs and outputs on the upper right-hand side of the screen. Cowork will then reason through all of the inputs and tasks from my prompt, then systematically work through everything until it generates the files that I requested. And it’s not only using the files referenced, but also searching across my Work IQ information. As it works, I can even request more tasks while it’s running. -For example, I can ask it to schedule prep time with people on my team and send an email status update to the account team. Cowork just folds that into the plan and keeps going. It checks schedules, and here’s the meeting it proposes for me and Riley on my team to review, and I’ll create that right from here. Then it authors an email to Ellis from the account team that I can choose to edit manually if I want. I’ll go ahead and add a thank you in line and then hit send. This can process for several minutes, so to save a little time, I’ll move on to when everything is complete. You’ll see that on the right in the output folder, it’s created a Zava client presentation, a customer briefing doc, and also a customer overview Excel file. -Now, I’ll open up the briefing document first, and it has everything relevant to the meeting and it uses our standard briefing template. In fact, if I open up the original one, you can see just how close the formatting is. Now I’ll open the presentation it generated. It explains our work at a glance, with key metrics from Work IQ and referenced files, as well as revenue and growth highlights. Now if I move on to the generated Excel file and open that, it’s laid out our year-over-year performance and used it to create forecasts for this year. We can also see the growth trends over time, and if I click into Sales by Category, we can even see a detailed breakdown across different product lines with comparisons for the last two years. And as it worked on my behalf, everything was saved directly into OneDrive, so it’s protected and can be shared with my team like any other Microsoft 365 file. -Next, one of the most powerful experiences in Copilot, Researcher, has also added new multi-model intelligence capabilities in addition to its options for using Claude from Anthropic or GPT from OpenAI. Researcher now takes us a step further with Critique by using a combination of models to separate generation from evaluation tasks, where one model leads the generation phase, planning the task, iterating through retrieval steps, and producing an initial draft, while the second model then focuses on review and refinement, acting like an expert reviewer before the final report is presented to you. This is now the default experience, and having these models work together helps ensure higher-quality outputs. Let me show you. -From Copilot and Microsoft 365, I already have Researcher open. At the top right, I’ll expand the model picker and explain the options. Choosing Auto will automatically generate responses using Critique with the two models working together. Under that is an option for Model Council that I’ll walk through in a moment. Then there are also options to choose GPT and Claude as standalone models. So I’m going to keep Auto in this case, and then I’ll paste in my prompt to generate an executive brief about the competition in our industry and where there might be expansion opportunities. Now, this is a very research-intensive request that will need to retrieve, evaluate, and analyze many resources via Work IQ and the web. -Now I’ll submit my prompt to get it started. Researcher can take several minutes to research and reason over a topic and generate its response, so to save a little time, I’ll move to its output. On the top I can see the content was generated by GPT and refined by Claude. First, there’s an executive summary about the market-related conditions. As I scroll down, you can see it’s assessed source reliability, where it focuses on reputable, authoritative, and domain-appropriate sources. Then as I continue scrolling, it’s also assessed report completeness, where the reviewer model ensures that the final report satisfies the request, along with relevant insights. -As you can see with the rest of the citations, it’s enforced strict evidence grounding, making sure that every key claim is anchored to a reliable source. So for example, here you can see that it’s pulled in structured data from an Excel file with detailed financials and several relevant Word documents from our internal SharePoint sites. And it’s done all of this research automatically without me having to manually reference or upload files into my prompt. Both models work together in this case to improve the generated output. Next, let’s move on to Model Council in Researcher. Now, this lets you compare responses from different models side by side so that you can see where they agree, where they don’t, as well as what differentiates each model. -So I’m back in Researcher, and this time from the model picker, I’ll choose Model Council. From there, I’ll just paste in my detailed prompt, in this case to review our latest customer feedback interviews to find the top themes and give recommendations based on our current plans in motion. Again, this is going to leverage Work IQ to find and analyze recent Teams meeting transcripts, our product plans from files and SharePoint and more as research sources, and it’s a lot to process. Everything looks good here, so I’ll go ahead and send it. And in this case, Researcher asks clarifying questions to better understand my goal. -So I’ll choose a short one-to-five-page report length. Then below that I’ll type “Go ahead” and it gets to work. I only need to submit my prompt one time for both models to process it simultaneously. Again, this process can run 10 or more minutes, so I’ll skip to the output. You can see that each model has its own tile on top, and you can click into any of them to view their outputs. Below that is a summary for how each model did, comparing their responses. And I can also view a full output for each model. So I’m going to drill into the GPT output, and that shows me a split-screen view with the GPT tab open on the right, and I can scroll its results and I can look at its structured reasoning and its response and all the details. -Now moving to the Claude tab, I can also look at its detailed response and reasoning and everything that it performed to derive the output. I don’t need to run separate prompts to find the model that I prefer. Now Model Council helps do that work for me. So now Copilot and Microsoft 365 gives you direct access to leading models, including Anthropic and OpenAI, with multi-model intelligence and without having to switch between platforms. -To get started, enable the Frontier program in your Microsoft 365 environment. Then go to microsoft365.com/copilot or use the mobile app to try it out. And keep watching Microsoft Mechanics for the latest tech updates, and thanks so much for watching.Your guide to the Microsoft 365 Community Conference
Register now and save your spot for the chance to ask questions and share feedback with hundreds of Microsoft executives, engineers, and product leaders. By making your voice heard, your feedback will help shape the technologies that you and countless others use every day. Plus, you’ll hear from icons of Intelligent Work during inspiring keynotes, sessions, and AMAs, including: Jeff Teper, President, Microsoft 365 Collaborative Apps & Platforms, Microsoft Ryan Cunningham, Corporate Vice President, Power Platform Vasu Jakkal, Corporate Vice President, Microsoft Security Rohan Kumar, Corporate Vice President, Microsoft Security, Purview & Trust Dr. Jaime Teevan, Chief Scientist & Technical Fellow, Microsoft View full speaker list > What: Microsoft 365 Community Conference 2025 Register today | Note: Use the SAVE150 discount code to save $150 USD. Content snapshot: 5 Microsoft keynotes + 1 Ask Microsoft Anything (AMA) | 200+ overall sessions Microsoft-led sessions | 21 full-day workshops (pre-day and post) Microsoft is sending over 150+ product makers to present and engage. Review all sessions, workshops, and speakers. When & where: April 21-23, 2026 In-person: Loews Sapphire Falls and Loews Royal Pacific Resorts in Orlando, Florida Pre-day workshops on Sunday, April 19 and Monday, April 20. Details: Twitter & hashtag: @M365CONF | #M365Con Follow us on LinkedIn: M365Community Conference LinkedIn Company Page Cost: $1,850- full conference (Includes 3 continental breakfasts, 3 lunches, a T-shirt, and backpack (additional costs for full-day workshops). Please visit the M365 Community Conference for full pricing. Microsoft Customer Discount: Use CODE: SAVE150 for $150 USD off registration. Why attend? Stay Ahead of Innovation: Gain exclusive insights into the latest advancements in AI and Microsoft’s Product Roadmap. Empowering you to drive transformation within your organization and stay at the forefront of technology. Hands-On Learning: Participate in practical sessions and workshops that provide actionable strategies and skills to optimize workflows, enhance productivity, and achieve business success. Connect with Experts: Build invaluable connections with Microsoft product makers, MVPs, industry leaders, and a global community of like-minded professionals who share your passion for technology. Transform Your Impact: Leave with a deeper understanding of Microsoft tools, clear strategies for leveraging AI in your work, and a roadmap for achieving your goals and enhancing your team's success. Build Community: Build community by connecting with others, sharing experiences, and forming meaningful relationships. Check out Jeff Teper's awesome statement on The ultimate Microsoft 365 community event is back| Microsoft 365 Blog. FUN: Join us in our community lounge for networking, hanging out, meet and greets with Microsoft and Community All-Stars, surprise and delight treats, stickers and raffles to win grand prizes! Are you in? Register today! Don't miss your chance to join the largest M365 focused conference of the year. Ways to save: Use CODE: SAVE150 for $150 USD off registration. M365CON26 Grant Program (For Non-profits & Small Business) See if you qualify for a deep discount or free pass for Microsoft 365 Community Conference. Small Businesses & Non-profits are eligible to apply for a free pass grant (government organizations do not quality). Read on for more details about what to expect, and we hope to see you there! High-level conference schedule *subject to change – check back for updates Sunday, April 19, 2026 – Workshop Day 9:00 AM- 4:00 PM Workshops Monday, April 20, 2026 – Workshop Day 9:00 AM- 4:00 PM Workshops Tuesday, April 21, 2026 –Conference Session Day 7:00 AM- 8:15 AM Continental Breakfast 8:30 AM- 5:00 PM Keynotes and Sessions 5:00 PM- 6:30 PM Conference Opening Recep7on Wednesday, April 22, 2026 – Conference Session Day 7:00 AM- 8:00 AM Continental Breakfast 8:00 AM - 5:00 PM Keynotes and Sessions 5:00 PM - 6:15 PM Networking and T-shirt pick up in Expo Hall 8:00 PM - 10:00 PM Attendee Party Universal Islands of Adventure Thursday April 23, 2026 – Conference Session Day 7:30 AM– 8:45 AM Continental Breakfast 9:00 AM – 4:30 PM Keynotes and Sessions Friday April 24, 2026 – Workshop Day 8:00 AM - 3:00 PM Workshops Check out the keynotes and speakers Catch the speakers and sessions that matter most to you, and your customers. Keynote: Building for the Future: Microsoft 365, Agents and AI, What's New and What's Next Jeff Teper, President, Collaborative Apps and Platforms, Microsoft Tuesday, April 21, 8:30-9:30 AM Keynote: Business Apps and Agents Ryan Cunningham, Corporate Vice President, Microsoft Tuesday, April 21, 9:30-10:20 AM Keynote: Securing AI: Building Trust in the Era of AI Vasu Jakkal, Corporate Vice President, Microsoft Security Business Rohan Kumar, Corporate Vice President, Security Purview and Trust, Microsoft Wednesday, April 22, 8:00-9:15 AM Keynote: The Future of Work Fireside Keynote Jamie Teevan, Ph.D., Chief Scientist and Technical Fellow, Microsoft Thursday, April 23, 2:15-3:15 PM Keynote: From Momentum to Movement: Where Community Goes Next Karuana Gatimu, Director of Customer Advocacy, AI and Collaboration, Microsoft Heather Cook, Principal PM Manager, Global Community Evangelism and Events Customer Advocacy Group, Microsoft 365 Thursday, April 23, 3:15-4:15 PM Full session list 200+ sessions and workshops If you’re interested in learning how Microsoft is shaping the future of work—there’s a session for you. Join Microsoft experts, MVPs, and community leaders as you find out about the latest product innovations and AI-powered tools. Discover what’s new with Microsoft 365 Copilot, Teams, SharePoint, OneDrive, Copilot Studio, and much more. Check out the full catalog > Explore sessions by day: Tuesday, April 21, 2026 – Conference Session Day 10:55 AM - 11:15 AM | Building AI Agents for Communities: How Viva Engage + Copilot Supercharge Organizational Insight Speaker: Spencer Perry and Ramya Rajasekhar 11:30 AM - 12:15 PM | Featured Session: Your Guide What’s New in Teams: Collaboration, Communication, and Copilot Speaker: Chandra Chivukula and Ilya Bukshteyn 11:30 AM - 12:15 PM | Breaking In, Leveling Up: Navigating Tech Careers with Community Speaker: Heather Cook and Nisaini Rexach (CELA) 11:30 AM - 12:15 PM | OneDrive: Your Hub for Productivity and Collaboration Excellence Speaker: Carter Green and Arvind Mishra 11:30 AM - 12:15 PM | From Chaos to AI-Ready in 30 Days: Meet the SharePoint Admin Agent Speaker: Dieter Jansen and Dave Minasyan 11:30 AM - 12:15 PM | Leveraging SQL database in Fabric to implement RAG patterns using Vector search Speaker: Sukhwant Kaur 11:30 AM - 12:15 PM | How Microsoft Actually Builds Copilot Agents Speaker: Kristina Marko and Clint Williams 11:30 AM - 12:15 PM | Copilot Studio Governance for Public Sector Speaker: William McLendon and Richie Wallace 11:30 AM - 12:15 PM | AI-Powered Collaboration: Unlocking Your Employee Knowledge Base in Engage Speaker: Allison Michels and Ramya Rajasekhar 11:30 AM - 12:15 PM | From Data to Decisions: How Copilot in VS Code Empowers Research and Enterprise Teams Speaker: Semir Sarajlic and Olesya Sarajlic, PhD 1:40 PM - 2:00 PM | Deep dive into Agent insights and content governance across SharePoint and Microsoft 365 Speaker: Nikita Bandyopadhyay 1:45 PM - 2:30 PM | Agent Lifecycle Management and Governance leveraging FastTrack Speaker: Pratik Bhusal and Azharullah Meer 1:45 PM - 2:30 PM | Evolving channels to be the hub for collaboration in M365 Speakers: Roshin Lal Ramesan and Derek Snook 1:45 PM - 2:30 PM | Employee Voice Reinvented: Gathering Insights with Next-Gen Feedback Agents Speaker: Caribay Garcia and Alisa Liddle 1:45 PM - 2:30 PM | Fireside Chat: Being an Effective Leader with AI Speaker: Karuana Gatimu 1:45 PM - 2:30 PM | Inside Microsoft: Reclaiming Engineering Time with AI in Azure DevOps Speaker: Apoorv Gupta and Gopal Panigrahy 1:45 PM - 2:30 PM | Featured Session: OneDrive in Action: Transforming Industries, Empowering Success Speaker: Vishal Lodha, Arwa Tyebkhan, and Jason Moore 1:45 PM - 2:30 PM | Demystifying Copilot and AI experiences on Windows Speaker: Anupam Pattnaik 1:45 PM - 2:30 PM | Work IQ fundamentals Speaker: Ben Summers 1:45 PM - 2:30 PM | Copilot "Employee Agents" Speaker: Kyle Von Haden 2:30 PM - 2:50 PM | FastTrack your M365 Deployment Speaker: Pratik Bhusal and Jeffrey Manning 2:45 PM - 3:30 PM | Protect and govern agents with Microsoft Purview Speaker: Nishan DeSilva and Shilpa Ranganathan 2:45 PM - 3:30 PM | Mission Readiness - Cybersecurity and Copilot in the Public Sector Speaker: Karuana Gatimu 2:45 PM - 3:30 PM | A New Way of Building! Child Agents, Instructions, and Descriptions Speaker: Dewain Robinson and Grant Gieszler 2:45 PM - 3:30 PM | Start your adoption journey with adoption.microsoft.com Speaker: Jessie Hwang 2:45 PM - 3:30 PM | Copilot readiness & resiliency with M365 Backup & Archive Speaker: Sree Lakshmi and Eshita Priyadarshini 2:45 PM - 3:30 PM | Protection in Teams as Modern Threats Evolve Speaker: Srisudha Mahadevan and Harshal Gautam 2:45 PM - 3:30 PM | Meet AI in SharePoint Speaker: Cory Newton-Smith and Julie Seto 2:45 PM - 3:30 PM | Featured Session: Engage everywhere: communities, events, and storylines in Teams, powered by AI Speaker: Jeanette Vikbacka Castaing, Jason Mayans, Steve Nguyen, and Murali Sitaram 3:30 PM - 3:50 PM | From Slack to Teams: What’s New and How We Make the Move Easy Speaker: Roshin Lal Ramesan and Arun Das 3:55 PM - 4:15 PM | How Microsoft Digital adopted Baseline Security Mode to improve Microsoft's security posture Speaker: Adriana Wood 4:15 PM - 5:00 PM | Featured Session: Agent 365: The control plane for all Agents Speaker: Nikita Bandyopadhyay and Sesha Mani 4:15 PM - 5:00 PM | Customer/Partner spotlight: Microsoft 365 Backup Speaker: Saumitra Bhide and Brad Gussin 4:15 PM - 5:00 PM | Demystifying Multiagent (Child / Connected) and Component Collection Speaker: Bobby Chang and Dewain Robinson 4:15 PM - 5:00 PM | Turning AI Potential into High-Impact AI Business Cases and ROI Speaker: April Delsing and Olga Gordon 4:15 PM - 5:00 PM | Leading Workforce Transformation: The Art and Science of Skilling Your People Speaker: Karuana Gatimu 4:15 PM - 5:00 PM | Seamless External Collaboration for all customer engagements Speaker: Nitesh Golchha 4:15 PM - 5:00 PM | Leading Workforce Transformation: The Art and Science of Skilling Your People Speaker: Jessie Hwang 4:15 PM - 5:00 PM | Community in the Age of AI—Humans at the Center of Copilot Adoption Speaker: Sarah Lundy, Allison Michels, and Alex Snyder 4:15 PM - 5:00 PM | What's new with Copilot and Office: Word, Excel, Power Point Agent Mode and Agents Speakers: Trevor O'Brien and Dan Parish 4:15 PM - 5:00 PM | Understanding Work IQ API Speaker: Paolo Pialorsi Wednesday, April 22, 2026 – Conference Session Day 8:30 AM - 9:30 AM | Building for the future: Microsoft 365, Agents and AI, what's new and what's next Speaker: Jeff Teper 9:30 AM - 10:30 AM | Business Apps & Agents Keynote Speaker: Ryan Cunningham 10:15 AM - 11:00 AM | Empowering Community Builders: Join MGCI & CommunityDays.org Speaker: Heather Cook, Bryan Hart and Emily Hove 10:15 AM - 11:00 AM | The Communicator’s Guide to Viva Engage: Making Comms Relevant in Your AI Transformation Speaker: Najla Dadmand, Sarah Lundy, and Dan Mulcahey 10:15 AM - 11:00 AM | Top Wins - Copilot and Agents for Non Profit Speaker: Karuana Gatimu 10:15 AM - 11:00 AM | Empowering Community Builders: Join MGCI & CommunityDays.org Speaker: Heather Cook, Bryan Hart and Emily Hove 10:15 AM - 11:00 AM | The Communicator’s Guide to Viva Engage: Making Comms Relevant in Your AI Transformation Speaker: Najla Dadmand, Sarah Lundy, and Dan Mulcahey 10:15 AM - 11:00 AM | From Chaos to Clarity: Hyper automation That Actually Works Speaker: Danielle Moon 10:15 AM - 11:00 AM | The Communicator’s Guide to Viva Engage: Making Comms Relevant in Your AI Transformation Speaker: Najla Dadmand, Sarah Lundy, and Dan Mulcahey 10:15 AM - 11:00 AM | Supercharge Your Agents with Computer Use in Copilot Studio Speaker: Sravani Seethi and Phi-Lay Nguyen 10:55 AM - 11:15 AM | Building AI Agents for Communities: How Viva Engage + Copilot Supercharge Organizational Insight Speaker: Spencer Perry and Ramya Rajasekhar 11:30 AM - 12:15 PM | Featured Session: Your Guide What’s New in Teams: Collaboration, Communication, and Copilot Speaker: Chandra Chivukula and Ilya Bukshteyn 11:30 AM - 12:15 PM | Breaking In, Leveling Up: Navigating Tech Careers with Community Speaker: Heather Cook and Nisaini Rexach (CELA) 11:30 AM - 12:15 PM | OneDrive: Your Hub for Productivity and Collaboration Excellence Speaker: Carter Green and Arvind Mishra 11:30 AM - 12:15 PM | From Chaos to AI-Ready in 30 Days: Meet the SharePoint Admin Agent Speaker: Dieter Jansen and Dave Minasyan 11:30 AM - 12:15 PM | Leveraging SQL database in Fabric to implement RAG patterns using Vector search Speaker: Sukhwant Kaur 11:30 AM - 12:15 PM | How Microsoft Actually Builds Copilot Agents Speaker: Kristina Marko and Clint Williams 11:30 AM - 12:15 PM | Copilot Studio Governance for Public Sector Speaker: William McLendon and Richie Wallace 11:30 AM - 12:15 PM | AI-Powered Collaboration: Unlocking Your Employee Knowledge Base in Engage Speaker: Ramya Rajasekhar and Allison Michels 11:30 AM - 12:15 PM | From Chaos to AI-Ready in 30 Days: Meet the SharePoint Admin Agent Speaker: Dieter Jansen and Dave Minasyan 11:30 AM - 12:15 PM | AI-Powered Collaboration: Unlocking Your Employee Knowledge Base in Engage Speaker: Ramya Rajasekhar and Allison Michels 11:30 AM - 12:15 PM | From Data to Decisions: How Copilot in VS Code Empowers Research and Enterprise Teams Speaker: Semir Sarajlic and Olesya Sarajlic, PhD 11:30 AM - 12:15 PM | How Microsoft Actually Builds Copilot Agents Speaker: Kristina Marko and Clint Williams 1:30 PM - 2:15 PM | An AI Powered Communication and Operational Efficiency Blueprint for Frontline Teams Speaker: Vishal Anil and Amarjit Prasad 1:30 PM - 2:15 PM | Connected Collaboration: The Future of Sharing in M365 Speaker: Miceile Barrett and Phaneendra Sai Sristi 1:30 PM - 2:15 PM | Use data, insights, and employee listening to build your comms strategy Speaker: Amy Morris, Paula Wellings, and John Cirone 1:30 PM - 2:15 PM | The Power Apps Builder’s Guide for Choosing the Right Path Speaker: April Dunnam 1:30 PM - 2:15 PM | What's new in the Microsoft 365 Copilot app: Your starting place for AI at work Speaker: Andrea Lum and Constance Gervais 1:30 PM - 2:15 PM | The Future of SharePoint Extensibility: What's New, What's Next Speaker: Alex Terentiev and Vesa Juvonen 1:30 PM - 2:15 PM | Using SharePoint AI to solve Business Processes Speaker: Kristen Kamath, Nate Tennant, and Alexander Spitsyn 1:30 PM - 2:15 PM | The Future of SharePoint: AI ready to discover, publish and build. Speaker: Kripal Kavi and Sarah Mathurin 1:30 PM - 2:15 PM | Secure and Govern Microsoft 365 Copilot - What Every IT Pro Needs to Know Speaker: Sophie Ke 1:30 PM - 2:15 PM | What's new in the Microsoft 365 Copilot app: Your starting place for AI at work Speaker: Andrea Lum and Constance Gervais 1:30 PM - 2:15 PM | An AI Powered Communication and Operational Efficiency Blueprint for Frontline Teams Speaker: Vishal Anil and Amarjit Prasad 1:30 PM - 2:15 PM | The Future of SharePoint Extensibility: What's New, What's Next Speaker: Alex Terentiev and Vesa Juvonen 1:35 PM - 1:55 PM | Modernizing Federal Security for the AI Era: Deploying Copilot in GCC High and DoW Speaker: William McLendon and Richie Wallace 1:40 PM - 2:00 PM | Deep dive into Agent insights and content governance across SharePoint and Microsoft 365 Speaker: Nikita Bandyopadhyay 1:45 PM - 2:30 PM | Agent Lifecycle Management and Governance leveraging FastTrack Speaker: Pratik Bhusal and Azharullah Meer 1:45 PM - 2:30 PM | Evolving channels to be the hub for collaboration in M365 Speaker: Chandra Chivukula, Roshin Lal Ramesan, and Chandrika Duggirala 1:45 PM - 2:30 PM | Employee Voice Reinvented: Gathering Insights with Next-Gen Feedback Agents Speaker: Caribay Garcia and Alisa Liddle 1:45 PM - 2:30 PM | Fireside Chat: Being an Effective Leader with AI Speaker: Karuana Gatimu 1:45 PM - 2:30 PM | Inside Microsoft: Reclaiming Engineering Time with AI in Azure DevOps Speaker: Apoorv Gupta and Gopal Panigrahy 1:45 PM - 2:30 PM | Featured Session: OneDrive in Action: Transforming Industries, Empowering Success Speaker: Vishal Lodha, Jason Moore, and Arwa Tyebkhan 1:45 PM - 2:30 PM | Work IQ fundamentals Speaker: Ben Summers 1:45 PM - 2:30 PM | Copilot "Employee Agents" Speaker: Kyle Von Haden 2:30 PM - 2:50 PM | FastTrack your M365 Deployment Speaker: Pratik Bhusal and Jeffrey Manning 2:45 PM - 3:30 PM | Protect and govern agents with Microsoft Purview Speaker: Nishan DeSilva, Shilpa Ranganathan 2:45 PM - 3:30 PM | Mission Readiness - Cybersecurity and Copilot in the Public Sector Speaker: Karuana Gatimu 2:45 PM - 3:30 PM | A New Way of Building! Child Agents, Instructions, and Descriptions Speaker: Dewain Robinson and Grant Gieszler 2:45 PM - 3:30 PM | Start your adoption journey with adoption.microsoft.com Speaker: Jessie Hwang 2:45 PM - 3:30 PM | Copilot readiness & resiliency with M365 Backup & Archive Speaker: Sree Lakshmi and Eshita Priyadarshini 2:45 PM - 3:30 PM | Protection in Teams as Modern Threats Evolve Speaker: Srisudha Mahadevan and Harshal Hautam 2:45 PM - 3:30 PM | Featured Session: Engage everywhere: communities, events, and storylines in Teams, powered by AI Speaker: Jeanette Vikbacka Castaing, Jason Mayans, Steve Nguyen, and Murali Sitaram 2:45 PM - 3:30 PM | Meet AI in SharePoint Speaker: Cory Newton-Smith and Julie Seto 3:30 PM - 3:50 PM | From Slack to Teams: What’s New and How We Make the Move Easy Speaker: R Roshin Lal Ramesan and Arun Das 3:55 PM - 4:15 PM | How Microsoft Digital adopted Baseline Security Mode to improve Microsoft's security posture Speaker: Adriana Wood 4:15 PM - 5:00 PM | Featured Session: Agent 365: The control plane for all Agents Speaker: Nikita Bandyopadhyay and Sesha Mani 4:15 PM - 5:00 PM | Demystifying Multiagent (Child / Connected) and Component Collection Speaker: Bobby Chang and Dewain Robinson 4:15 PM - 5:00 PM | Turning AI Potential into High-Impact AI Business Cases and ROI Speaker: April Delsing and Olga Gordon 4:15 PM - 5:00 PM | Leading Workforce Transformation: The Art and Science of Skilling Your People Speaker: Karuana Gatimu 4:15 PM - 5:00 PM | Seamless External Collaboration for all customer engagements Speaker: Nitesh Golchha 4:15 PM - 5:00 PM | Customer/Partner spotlight: Microsoft 365 Backup Speaker: Brad Gussin and Saumitra Bhide 4:15 PM - 5:00 PM | Leading Workforce Transformation: The Art and Science of Skilling Your People Speaker: Jessie Hwang 4:15 PM - 5:00 PM | Community in the Age of AI—Humans at the Center of Copilot Adoption Speaker: Sarah Lundy, Allison Michels, and Alex Snyder 4:15 PM - 5:00 PM | What's new with Copilot and Office: Word, Excel, Power Point Agent Mode and Agents Speaker: Trevor O'Brien and Dan Parish 4:15 PM - 5:00 PM | Understanding Work IQ API Speaker: Paolo Pialorsi Thursday April 23, 2026 – Conference Session Day 9:00 AM - 9:45 AM | Microsoft Lists Speaker: Mitalee Mulpuru and Arjun Tomar 10:55 AM - 11:15 AM | Building AI Agents for Communities: How Viva Engage + Copilot Supercharge Organizational Insight Speakers: Spencer Perry and Ramya Rajasekhar 11:30 AM - 12:15 PM | Featured Session: Your Guide What’s New in Teams: Collaboration, Communication, and Copilot Speakers: Ilya Bukshteyn and Chandra Chivukula 11:30 AM - 12:15 PM | Breaking In, Leveling Up: Navigating Tech Careers with Community Speaker: Heather Cook 11:30 AM - 12:15 PM | OneDrive: Your Hub for Productivity and Collaboration Excellence Speaker: Carter Green and Arvind Mishra 11:30 AM - 12:15 PM | From Chaos to AI-Ready in 30 Days: Meet the SharePoint Admin Agent Speaker: Dieter Jansen and Dave Minasyan 11:30 AM - 12:15 PM | Leveraging SQL database in Fabric to implement RAG patterns using Vector search Speaker: Sukhwant Kaur 11:30 AM - 12:15 PM | How Microsoft Actually Builds Copilot Agents Speaker: Kristina Marko and Clint Williams 11:30 AM - 12:15 PM | AI-Powered Collaboration: Unlocking Your Employee Knowledge Base in Engage Speaker: Ramya Rajasekhar and Allison Michels 11:30 AM - 12:15 PM | From Chaos to AI-Ready in 30 Days: Meet the SharePoint Admin Agent Speaker: Dieter Jansen and Dave Minasyan 11:30 AM - 12:15 PM | From Data to Decisions: How Copilot in VS Code Empowers Research and Enterprise Teams Speaker: Semir Sarajlic and Olesya Sarajlic, PhD 11:30 AM - 12:15 PM | Copilot Studio Governance for Public Sector Speaker: William McLendon and Richie Wallace 1:40 PM - 2:00 PM | Deep dive into Agent insights and content governance across SharePoint and Microsoft 365 Speaker: Nikita Bandyopadhyay 1:45 PM - 2:30 PM | Agent Lifecycle Management and Governance leveraging FastTrack Speaker: Pratik Bhusal and Azharullah Meer 1:45 PM - 2:30 PM | Evolving channels to be the hub for collaboration in M365 Speakers: Roshin Lal Ramesan and Derek Snook 1:45 PM - 2:30 PM | Employee Voice Reinvented: Gathering Insights with Next-Gen Feedback Agents Speaker: Caribay Garcia and Alisa Liddle 1:45 PM - 2:30 PM | Fireside Chat: Being an Effective Leader with AI Speaker: Karuana Gatimu 1:45 PM - 2:30 PM | Inside Microsoft: Reclaiming Engineering Time with AI in Azure DevOps Speaker: Apoorv Gupta and Gopal Panigrahy 1:45 PM - 2:30 PM | Featured Session: OneDrive in Action: Transforming Industries, Empowering Success Speaker: Vishal Lodha, Jason Moore, and Arwa Tyebkhan 1:45 PM - 2:30 PM | Work IQ fundamentals Speaker: Ben Summers 1:45 PM - 2:30 PM | Copilot "Employee Agents" Speaker: Kyle Von Haden 2:30 PM - 2:50 PM | FastTrack your M365 Deployment Speaker: Pratik Bhusal and Jeffrey Manning 2:45 PM - 3:30 PM | Protect and govern agents with Microsoft Purview Speaker: Nishan DeSilva and Shilpa Ranganathan 2:45 PM - 3:30 PM | Mission Readiness - Cybersecurity and Copilot in the Public Sector Speaker: Karuana Gatimu 2:45 PM - 3:30 PM | A New Way of Building! Child Agents, Instructions, and Descriptions Speaker: Dewain Robinson and Grant Gieszler 2:45 PM - 3:30 PM | Start your adoption journey with adoption.microsoft.com Speaker: Jessie Hwang 2:45 PM - 3:30 PM | Copilot readiness & resiliency with M365 Backup & Archive Speaker: Sree Lakshmi and Eshita Priyadarshini 2:45 PM - 3:30 PM | Protection in Teams as Modern Threats Evolve Speaker: Srisudha Mahadevan and Harshal Gautam 2:45 PM - 3:30 PM | Meet AI in SharePoint Speaker: Cory Newton-Smith and Julie Seto 2:45 PM - 3:30 PM | Featured Session: Engage everywhere: communities, events, and storylines in Teams, powered by AI Speaker: Jeanette Vikbacka Castaing, Jason Mayans, Steve Nguyen, and Murali Sitaram 3:30 PM - 4:15 PM | Keynote: From Momentum to Movement: Where Community Goes Next Speakers: Heather Cook and Karuana Gatimu Friday, April 24, 2026 – Workshop Day 9:00 AM - 9:45 AM | Deepening customer connections for your SMB through Teams Speakers: Angela Chin and Prem Mathiyalagan 9:00 AM - 9:45 AM | Cultivating Trust and Leadership Excellence: Strategies for Respect and Empathy in the Workplace Speaker: Heather Cook 9:00 AM - 9:45 AM | Planner, Copilot and Agents: AI Assisted Projects with Work IQ Speakers: Howard Crow and Robyn Guarriello 9:00 AM - 9:45 AM | Microsoft 365 Mergers & Acquisitions Speaker: Vaibhav Gaddam and Subham Dang 9:00 AM - 9:45 AM | Top Wins - Copilot and Agents for Retail Speaker: Karuana Gatimu 9:00 AM - 9:45 AM | Agents are joining the team - build collaborative agents for Microsoft Teams Speaker: Carter Gilliam and Saira Shariff 9:00 AM - 9:45 AM | Prompt to Profit: How Finance Teams Win with M365 Copilot & AI Agents Speaker: Melanie Mayo 9:00 AM - 9:45 AM | Top Wins - Copilot and Agents for Retail Speaker: Danielle Moon and Karuana Gatimu 9:00 AM - 9:45 AM | Microsoft Purview: AI‑-Powered Data Security for Microsoft 365 Speaker: Aashish Ramdas Level up your AI skills and shape the future of your business with Featured Sessions Develop the skills needed to thrive as a Frontier Firm through sessions led by innovators, builders, designers, Microsoft product teams, and MVPs shaping collaboration. Featured Session: Engage everywhere: communities, events, and storylines in Teams, powered by AI with Murali Sitaram, Steve Nguyen, Jason Mayans, and Jeanette Vikbacka Castaing Featured Session: Your Guide What’s New in Teams: Collaboration, Communication, and Copilot with Ilya Bukshteyn and Chandra Chivukula Planner, Copilot and Agents: AI Assisted Projects with WorkIQ with Howard Crow and Robyn Guarriello Lightning Talks: Lightning Talks are fast‑paced, 15‑minute sessions happening live at the Microsoft Booth that are designed to deliver practical insights, real‑world tips, and quick wins you can take back to your team right away. Stop by throughout the day to learn something new, get inspired, and catch a few surprises along the way. You can check the event agenda for session details. Onsite experiences Demo Stations: Visit the demo stations in the Microsoft Booth for guided, live walkthroughs led by Microsoft experts who can answer your questions in real time. Each station is designed to support scenario‑based conversations and hands‑on exploration, so you can dive deeper into the tools and solutions that matter most to your organization. The Microsoft Booth will be open anytime the expo hall is open. Mini LEGO figurines: Build a mini-LEGO figurine as a takeaway after walking through a demo scenario. It is a quick hands-on moment that adds some play and personality to your conference experience and lets you take some fun swag home. Celebrate 25 years of SharePoint Tuesday, April 21, 12:30PM – 1:30PM Celebrate the SharePoint community with the premiere of a new documentary short film at the conference, complete with a true movie‑premiere experience. Designed to honor the impact of SharePoint and Microsoft 365, this special event brings the community together to capture and celebrate the moment in person. Tuesday, April 21, 5PM – 6:30PM Microsoft Booth Join a live panel celebrating 25 years of SharePoint and what is next for the platform and community. Expect reflections, stories, and forward-looking conversations tied to the broader SharePoint at 25 celebration. Surface + Global Skilling Bar: Get hands on with Surface devices while exploring skilling resources designed to help you level up. This activation is being built to connect Surface experiences with AI skilling guidance, including the AI Skills Navigator. Attendees can experience this hands-on learning in the Microsoft booth during expo hall hours. Surface giveaways from raffle: Enter the raffle for a chance to win Surface giveaways and other prizes during the event. Winners are selected as part of the community giveaway experience, so check posted instructions onsite and make sure you enter. Each raffle will take place at the close of expo hall hours at the Microsoft Booth Bring your spirit wear game! We’re bringing the fun to the show floor with themed Costume Spirit Days all week long! Come by the booth in your best look, show off your costume, and score an extra raffle ticket for our daily prize drawing. Product Roundtable Discussions Microsoft wants to hear from you! The Microsoft User Experience Research team is hosting a series of interactive sessions focused on AI-powered experiences across Microsoft Teams, OneDrive, SharePoint, Planner, and Viva Engage. We invite you to join us to share your perspectives, explore emerging ideas, and influence what’s next. Customer feedback is at the heart of our innovation process. Your participation helps ensure that the experiences we are building are useful, intuitive, and grounded in real organizational needs. “At Microsoft, learning from our customers is a privilege and a vital part of our customer-driven innovation process. By sharing your perspectives, you enable us to create solutions that truly meet your needs and enhance your overall experience with Microsoft products.” – Marcella Silva, Partner Director of User Experience Research What you can expect: Interactive Sessions: Participate in hands-on activities and guided discussions with the Microsoft User Experience Research and Product teams. Expert Insights: Learn directly from the teams shaping the experiences you use every day. Exclusive Previews: Get early visibility into current explorations and future directions. Meaningful Connections: Engage with peers and Microsoft teams in a collaborative environment. Community meetups Community meetups are informal, connection‑first gatherings where attendees can meet others who share a role, interest, or identity. Whether you're looking to exchange ideas, grow your network, or find your people within the Microsoft 365 community, these sessions create space for meaningful conversations and authentic connection beyond the conference sessions. How to sign up: Please use this signup sheet to reserve a social meetup with your community. Women in Tech and Allies Lunch Discussion Grab your lunch and network with peers, discuss progress, and focus on how we can continue to make the Microsoft ecosystem the best in the world for supporting women. All individuals are welcome regardless of gender for an open and compassionate conversation on allyship and inclusiveness. The discussion will be hosted by Heather Cook, Principal Customer Experience PM and distinguished panelists including: Vasu Jakkal, Corporate Vice President, Microsoft Security Business Jaime Teevan, Chief Scientist & Technical Fellow Lan Ye, Corporate Vice President, Microsoft Teams Sumi Singh, Corporate Vice President, Microsoft Teams Karuana Gatimu, Director, Customer Advocacy - AI & Collaboration, Microsoft Kate Faaland, Program Manager of Data and AI, AvePoint Reservable podcast room Microsoft FTEs, MVPs, and community leaders can reserve time in the on-site Podcast Room at Microsoft 365 Community Conference to record interviews, podcast episodes, or social content. The space will be equipped with branded backdrops along with professional video and audio equipment to support high quality content creation. Complete the reservation form to request a time slot. Calendar invites will be sent once confirmed. Questions can be directed to Jonathan Jones. Celebrity Meet-n-greet Stop by the Microsoft Community News Desk on Tuesday from 2pm-4pm for a special photo meet and greet. Meet surprise celebrity guests and snap a photo with them at our on site photobooth Get the MVP experience—and don’t forget the photo op! Microsoft MVPs will be on hand throughout the event to share their real-world experience and practitioner insight directly to you. During sessions, our MVPs will share thoughts and brainstorm solutions to challenges as they share practical, scenario‑driven guidance drawn from hands‑on work with Microsoft 365. And of course, the program isn’t over without the annual MVP photo! This will take place at the Innovation Hub (Microsoft Booth) on Tuesday, April 21, at 5:00 PM. Register Today! You’ll find all this and more at Microsoft 365 Community Conference, April 21–23 in Orlando. Register today and don't miss your chance for the largest M365 focused conference of the year. and don't miss your chance for the largest M365 focused conference of the year. Ways to save: Use CODE: SAVE150 for $150 USD off registration. M365CON26 Grant Program (For Non-profits & Small Business) See if you qualify for a deep discount or free pass for Microsoft 365 Community Conference. Small Businesses & Non-profits are eligible to apply for a free pass grant at www.change3e.com/grants (government organizations do not quality). Learn more Visit M365Conf.com and follow the action on: X/Twitter: @M365Conf / #M365Con, @Microsoft365, @MSFTCopilot, @SharePoint, @OneDrive, @MicrosoftTeams, @MSPowerPlat, @Microsoft365Dev, and @MSFTAdoption. And on our Microsoft Community LinkedIn and Learning YouTube channel. Want more information? Check out our library of blogs on topics, speakers, community activities and more: The ultimate Microsoft 365 community event returns with Jeff Teper 5 reasons to attend this year’s event What’s new in Microsoft Teams What to expect from the Copilot & AI sessions MVP experiences Get your company engagement up with Viva Engage Women in Tech at M365 Community Conference Level up your data security Keynotes highlight We hope you will join us in Orlando for an unforgettable week of innovation, inspiration, and community! Get ready to dive into the action with passionate MVPs, Microsoft product leaders, and an incredible lineup of tools like Microsoft 365 Copilot, Teams, SharePoint, OneDrive, Copilot Studio, Power Platform, Planner, and so much more. Let us make memories and shape the future together!Your Frontier Transformation Starts at the Door with SharePoint at M365 Community Conference 2026
The Microsoft 365 Community Conference is back in Orlando, April 21–23, 2026, and it’s once again the place to learn, connect, and go deep on what’s next for Microsoft 365. Earlier this month, we celebrated SharePoint’s 25th birthday, a milestone made possible by an incredible global community and a platform that continues to evolve for the era of AI and intelligent work. The Microsoft 365 Community Conference is an opportunity to build on that momentum, learn what’s new in SharePoint, go deeper on the latest innovations, and connect with the community helping shape its future. For anyone building, managing, or scaling content and experiences across Microsoft 365, SharePoint is at the center of the conversation this year. From preparing your content for Copilot to strengthening governance and building intelligent, extensible solutions, the conference brings together the community and the product makers shaping the future of work. The evolution of SharePoint As organizations around the world begin to streamline productivity, formerly simple, one-use apps are growing right alongside them, including your intranet. While intranets have existed for years as a digital front door for employees; they’re becoming part of the AI revolutions as well. In fact, with the debut of agentic AI that can reason, orchestrate, and act alongside your employees, your intranet has become a staging ground for these hybrid teams to take collaboration and productivity to the next level. Suddenly, a simple digital front door is no longer enough to stay competitive. That’s why for this year’s Microsoft 365 Community Conference, we’re focusing on the evolution of Microsoft SharePoint, along with the real-world impact communities developed with SharePoint have on modern workspaces. Join us on April 21 through 23 in Orlando, Florida, and be a part of sessions, workshops, and connection opportunities led by Microsoft product makers and community MVPs, all working together to help you evolve your intranet. Register now to take charge of your productivity. Read on for more information about select sessions, and head to the Microsoft 365 Community Conference website for a full session catalog. Create agents that truly boost productivity Everyone wants an AI assistant, but many agents fail due to messy content, weak information architecture, and no clear actions to take. How can someone cut through the hype and learn how to design agents that truly help people get work done? Get an in-depth walk through organizing and tagging content in SharePoint for high‑quality retrieval, shaping simple task flows that reflect real work, and designing agents with SharePoint, Microsoft 365 Copilot, and Copilot Studio. Expect live demos for common scenarios ranging from project management to customer service, as well as the AI guardrails every organization need and the rollout patterns that stick. Prepare your content for the AI era Strong Copilot and agent experiences depend on well-structured, well managed content. We’ll explore how organizations can plan, create, organize, and govern SharePoint content for the AI era using its latest AI capabilities. These sessions explain how AI in SharePoint makes it easier to go from idea to working content by describing what you need in natural language. SharePoint handles the structure, metadata, and building, reducing manual effort and improving the quality, accuracy, and grounding of Copilot and agent responses. Designed for anyone responsible for information architecture, content strategy, Copilot readiness, or building an AI powered work roadmap. Get started here: Meet AI in SharePoint with Cory Newton‑Smith and Julie Seto. Take charge of collaborative chaos with Lists and Loop How can you tame the constant flow of data and conversation? That’s where we come in. Join us as we show how to utilize Microsoft Loop and Microsoft Lists to track progress, manage details, and keep teams on the same page. With real-world scenarios, interactive demos, and practical strategies, we’ll guide the audience through solutions and demonstrate proven ways to turn scattered information into structured, actionable outcomes. Check out Lists, Loop, and Sanity: Your Survival Guide to Collaborative Chaos with Mark Kashman Design accessible and inclusive digital workplaces Accessibility isn’t just a compliance checkbox. It’s a strategic advantage for creating a truly inclusive digital workplace. That’s why we’re offering a hands-on session designed to teach attendees how to build experiences in SharePoint that work for everyone. We’ll dive into practical techniques for creating content, workflows, and intranets that support diverse needs using built-in accessibility features, from screen reader compatibility to reducing cognitive load. Our audience will leave with actionable tips, real-world examples, and a clear roadmap for meeting industry standards while fostering a culture of inclusion. If you’re looking to build a digital workplace that’s accessible, future-ready, and AI-enhanced, this session is your starting point. Get started here: Accessibility Matters: Designing Inclusive Digital Workplaces with Richard Plantt. Check out all our SharePoint, Intranets, and Information management: Microsoft 365 Community Conference Microsoft-led sessions: Bringing Together the Best of Connections and SharePoint with DC Padur, Tejas Mehta Copilot Readiness & Resiliency with Microsoft 365 Backup & Archive with Sree Lakshmi, Eshita Priyadarshini Customer/Partner Spotlight: Microsoft 365 Backup with Saumitra Bhide, Brad Gussin Deep dive into Agent insights and content governance across SharePoint and Microsoft 365 with Nikita Bandyopadhyay Featured Session: Agent 365: The Control Plane for all Agents with Nikita Bandyopadhyay, Sesha Mani Meet AI in SharePoint with Cory Newton-Smith, Julie Seto Unlock the Full Power of Microsoft 365 Copilot and Agents with Work IQ with Ben Summers, Caroline Stanford From AI to Agentic: Accenture's Copilot Agent Journey with Michelle Gilbert, Joshua Adney, Nathalie Visser, Satish Kumar How Microsoft Manages Global Employee and Executive Communications with Amy Morris, John Cirone Microsoft 365 Mergers & Acquisitions with Vaibhav Gaddam and Patrick Rodgers Microsoft Baseline Security Mode: Simplify, Secure, Succeed with Sesha Mani, Adriana Wood Microsoft Lists with Arjun Tomar, Mitalee Mulpuru SharePoint Knowledge Retrieval and actions for Your Apps with Copilot Studio + Microsoft Foundry with Patrick Rodgers, Yogesh Ratnaparkhi SharePoint: AI-Forward Content Creation & Curation for Modern Intranet with Katelyn Seemakurti, Sara Cummings Start Your Adoption Journey with adoption.microsoft.com with Jessie Hwang Supercharge Copilot with Every Enterprise Document with Steve Pucelik, Shreyas Saravanan The Future of SharePoint Extensibility: What's New, What's Next with Vesa Juvonen, Alex Terentiev The Future of SharePoint: AI Ready to Discover, Publish and Build with Kripal Kavi, Faniel Altmark The New SharePoint Embedded for Admins with Shreyas Saravanan Transforming Comms with AI at Microsoft with Amy Morris, John Cirone Understanding Copilot Agents: What to Use When with Paolo Pialorsi, Vesa Juvonen Using SharePoint AI to Solve Business Processes with Nate Tennant, Kristen Kamath, Alexander Spitsyn What's New in Security & Compliance for SharePoint, OneDrive, and Teams with Sanjoyan Mustafi, Vithalprasad Gaitonde Community-led sessions: Advanced List Formatting with Chris Kent Battle of the Forms: Microsoft Forms vs. Power Apps vs. SharePoint Forms with Laura Rogers Building AI-Powered SharePoint Experiences with SPFx, Azure, and Your Own MCP Server with David Opdendries Collaboration 2026 – The Next Generation of Teams Experiences with Nicole Enders Deep Dive into Microsoft Purview to Manage Your Content Compliance with Chirag Patel Deeper look In Agents Insights in SharePoint/Microsoft 365 with Nikita Bandyopadhyay From Admin to Architect: Taking Control with SharePoint Advanced Management with Drew Madelung Future-Proof Your Intranet: Best Practices and New Capabilities in Microsoft 365 with Susan Hanley Get Started with Adaptive Cards for Microsoft Teams Using Microsoft Lists and Power Automate with Norm Young Guardrails that Enable: Copilot Readiness with Purview, SAM, & Document Processing for Microsoft 365 with Daniel Glenn Intranets on the Frontier: Preparing Your Intranet for Your Agentic Workforce with Jim Brown Lists, Loop, and Sanity: Your Survival Guide to Collaborative Chaos with Mark Kashman Manage Your Microsoft 365 Tenant and Assets with Azure Runbooks and PnP PowerShell with Rodrigo Pinto Mastering A Tenant-to-Tenant Migration in 2026: Advanced Strategies & Best Practices with Peter Schmidt Mastering Knowledge Management with Microsoft 365: How to Find the Right Information at the Right Time with Nicole Enders Mastering Purview Data Security Solution Design: Lessons From Years of Deployments with Tatu Seppala Message Matchmaking: Choosing the Best Microsoft 365 Tool for Every Communication with Tiffany Songvilay Microsoft Lists: Practical Superpowers for Real-world Work with Matt Wade, Pete Simpkins OneDrive, SharePoint, Viva Engage, and Teams… Oh My! Understanding the Many Collaboration Solutions with David Drever Practical AI: Creating Agents for SharePoint That People Will Use with Daniel Glenn SharePoint Advanced Management 2026 Deep Dive with Vlad Catrinescu SharePoint on Trial: Two Intranet Experts Debate Internal Communications Features with Susan Hanley, Mark Kashman Smarter Content, Better Insights - Using AI in SharePoint to Transform Your SharePoint Content with Drew Madelung Spark Joy in Microsoft 365: Marie Kondo Your Data with Marijn Somers Strengthen Cyber Resilience for Entra ID and Microsoft 365 with Vanessa Toves The Art of SharePoint: Stunning Pages Made Simple with Joao Ferreira The Branded Workplace: Elevating Employee Experience with Microsoft 365 with Chris McNulty Transforming Content into AI-Ready Knowledge with Copilot and SharePoint with Christian Buckley Win the Storage Wars: Intelligently Manage Your Consumption in SharePoint Online with Marc D Anderson, Derek Cash-Peterson This is just a small taste of the sessions, speakers, and workshops we have planned for Microsoft 365 Community Conference. Learn more on the website and register now to ensure you’ll be a part of this exciting event.GitHub Copilot SDK and Hybrid AI in Practice: Automating README to PPT Transformation
Introduction In today's rapidly evolving AI landscape, developers often face a critical choice: should we use powerful cloud-based Large Language Models (LLMs) that require internet connectivity, or lightweight Small Language Models (SLMs) that run locally but have limited capabilities? The answer isn't either-or—it's hybrid models—combining the strengths of both to create AI solutions that are secure, efficient, and powerful. This article explores hybrid model architectures through the lens of GenGitHubRepoPPT, demonstrating how to elegantly combine Microsoft Foundry Local, GitHub Copilot SDK, and other technologies to automatically generate professional PowerPoint presentations from GitHub README files. 1. Hybrid Model Scenarios and Value 1.1 What Are Hybrid Models? Hybrid AI Models strategically combine locally-running Small Language Models (SLMs) with cloud-based Large Language Models (LLMs) within the same application, selecting the most appropriate model for each task based on its unique characteristics. Core Principles: Local Processing for Sensitive Data: Privacy-critical content analysis happens on-device Cloud for Value Creation: Complex reasoning and creative generation leverage cloud power Balancing Cost and Performance: High-frequency, simple tasks run locally to minimize API costs 1.2 Typical Hybrid Model Use Cases Use Case Local SLM Role Cloud LLM Role Value Proposition Intelligent Document Processing Text extraction, structural analysis Content refinement, format conversion Privacy protection + Professional output Code Development Assistant Syntax checking, code completion Complex refactoring, architecture advice Fast response + Deep insights Customer Service Systems Intent recognition, FAQ handling Complex issue resolution Reduced latency + Enhanced quality Content Creation Platforms Keyword extraction, outline generation Article writing, multilingual translation Cost control + Creative assurance 1.3 Why Choose Hybrid Models? Three Core Advantages: Privacy and Security Sensitive data never leaves local devices Compliant with GDPR, HIPAA, and other regulations Ideal for internal corporate documents and personal information Cost Optimization Reduces cloud API call frequency Local models have zero usage fees Predictable operational costs Performance and Reliability Local processing eliminates network latency Partial functionality in offline environments Cloud models ensure high-quality output 2. Core Technology Analysis 2.1 Large Language Models (LLMs): Cloud Intelligence Representatives What are LLMs? Large Language Models are deep learning-based natural language processing models, typically with billions to trillions of parameters. Through training on massive text datasets, they've acquired powerful language understanding and generation capabilities. Representative Models: Claude Sonnet 4.5: Anthropic's flagship model, excelling at long-context processing and complex reasoning GPT-5.2 Series: OpenAI's general-purpose language models Gemini: Google's multimodal large models LLM Advantages: ✅ Exceptional text generation quality ✅ Powerful contextual understanding ✅ Support for complex reasoning tasks ✅ Continuous model updates and optimization Typical Applications: Professional document writing (technical reports, business plans) Code generation and refactoring Multilingual translation Creative content creation 2.2 Small Language Models (SLMs) and Microsoft Foundry Local 2.2.1 SLM Characteristics Small Language Models typically have 1B-7B parameters, designed specifically for resource-constrained environments. Mainstream SLM Model Families: Microsoft Phi Family (Phi Family): Inference-optimized efficient models Alibaba Qwen Family (Qwen Family): Excellent Chinese language capabilities Mistral Series: Outstanding performance with small parameter counts SLM Advantages: ⚡ Low-latency response (millisecond-level) 💰 Zero API costs 🔒 Fully local, data stays on-device 📱 Suitable for edge device deployment 2.2.2 Microsoft Foundry Local: The Foundation of Local AI Foundry Local is Microsoft's local AI runtime tool, enabling developers to easily run SLMs on Windows or macOS devices. Core Features: OpenAI-Compatible API # Using Foundry Local is like using OpenAI API from openai import OpenAI from foundry_local import FoundryLocalManager manager = FoundryLocalManager("qwen2.5-7b-instruct") client = OpenAI( base_url=manager.endpoint, api_key=manager.api_key ) Hardware Acceleration Support CPU: General computing support GPU: NVIDIA, AMD, Intel graphics acceleration NPU: Qualcomm, Intel AI-specific chips Apple Silicon: Neural Engine optimization Based on ONNX Runtime Cross-platform compatibility Highly optimized inference performance Supports model quantization (INT4, INT8) Convenient Model Management # View available models foundry model list # Run a model foundry model run qwen2.5-7b-instruct-generic-cpu:4 # Check running status foundry service ps Foundry Local Application Value: 🎓 Educational Scenarios: Students can learn AI development without cloud subscriptions 🏢 Enterprise Environments: Process sensitive data while maintaining compliance 🧪 R&D Testing: Rapid prototyping without API cost concerns ✈️ Offline Environments: Works on planes, subways, and other no-network scenarios 2.3 GitHub Copilot SDK: The Express Lane from Agent to Business Value 2.3.1 What is GitHub Copilot SDK? GitHub Copilot SDK, released as a technical preview on January 22, 2026, is a game-changer for AI Agent development. Unlike other AI SDKs, Copilot SDK doesn't just provide API calling interfaces—it delivers a complete, production-grade Agent execution engine. Why is it revolutionary? Traditional AI application development requires you to build: ❌ Context management systems (multi-turn conversation state) ❌ Tool orchestration logic (deciding when to call which tool) ❌ Model routing mechanisms (switching between different LLMs) ❌ MCP server integration ❌ Permission and security boundaries ❌ Error handling and retry mechanisms Copilot SDK provides all of this out-of-the-box, letting you focus on business logic rather than underlying infrastructure. 2.3.2 Core Advantages: The Ultra-Short Path from Concept to Code Production-Grade Agent Engine: Battle-Tested Reliability Copilot SDK uses the same Agent core as GitHub Copilot CLI, which means: ✅ Validated in millions of real-world developer scenarios ✅ Capable of handling complex multi-step task orchestration ✅ Automatic task planning and execution ✅ Built-in error recovery mechanisms Real-World Example: In the GenGitHubRepoPPT project, we don't need to hand-write the "how to convert outline to PPT" logic—we simply tell Copilot SDK the goal, and it automatically: Analyzes outline structure Plans slide layouts Calls file creation tools Applies formatting logic Handles multilingual adaptation # Traditional approach: requires hundreds of lines of code for logic def create_ppt_traditional(outline): slides = parse_outline(outline) for slide in slides: layout = determine_layout(slide) content = format_content(slide) apply_styling(content, layout) # ... more manual logic return ppt_file # Copilot SDK approach: focus on business intent session = await client.create_session({ "model": "claude-sonnet-4.5", "streaming": True, "skill_directories": [skills_dir] }) session.send_and_wait({"prompt": prompt}, timeout=600) Custom Skills: Reusable Encapsulation of Business Knowledge This is one of Copilot SDK's most powerful features. In traditional AI development, you need to provide complete prompts and context with every call. Skills allow you to: Define once, reuse forever: # .copilot_skills/ppt/SKILL.md # PowerPoint Generation Expert Skill ## Expertise You are an expert in business presentation design, skilled at transforming technical content into easy-to-understand visual presentations. ## Workflow 1. **Structure Analysis** - Identify outline hierarchy (titles, subtitles, bullet points) - Determine topic and content density for each slide 2. **Layout Selection** - Title slide: Use large title + subtitle layout - Content slides: Choose single/dual column based on bullet count - Technical details: Use code block or table layouts 3. **Visual Optimization** - Apply professional color scheme (corporate blue + accent colors) - Ensure each slide has a visual focal point - Keep bullets to 5-7 items per page 4. **Multilingual Adaptation** - Choose appropriate fonts based on language (Chinese: Microsoft YaHei, English: Calibri) - Adapt text direction and layout conventions ## Output Requirements Generate .pptx files meeting these standards: - 16:9 widescreen ratio - Consistent visual style - Editable content (not images) - File size < 5MB Business Code Generation Capability This is the core value of this project. Unlike generic LLM APIs, Copilot SDK with Skills can generate truly executable business code. Comparison Example: Aspect Generic LLM API Copilot SDK + Skills Task Description Requires detailed prompt engineering Concise business intent suffices Output Quality May need multiple adjustments Professional-grade on first try Code Execution Usually example code Directly generates runnable programs Error Handling Manual implementation required Agent automatically handles and retries Multi-step Tasks Manual orchestration needed Automatic planning and execution Comparison of manual coding workload: Task Manual Coding Copilot SDK Processing logic code ~500 lines ~10 lines configuration Layout templates ~200 lines Declared in Skill Style definitions ~150 lines Declared in Skill Error handling ~100 lines Automatically handled Total ~950 lines ~10 lines + Skill file Tool Calling & MCP Integration: Connecting to the Real World Copilot SDK doesn't just generate code—it can directly execute operations: 🗃️ File System Operations: Create, read, modify files 🌐 Network Requests: Call external APIs 📊 Data Processing: Use pandas, numpy, and other libraries 🔧 Custom Tools: Integrate your business logic 3. GenGitHubRepoPPT Case Study 3.1 Project Overview GenGitHubRepoPPT is an innovative hybrid AI solution that combines local AI models with cloud-based AI agents to automatically generate professional PowerPoint presentations from GitHub repository README files in under 5 minutes. Technical Architecture: 3.2 Why Adopt a Hybrid Model? Stage 1: Local SLM Processes Sensitive Data Task: Analyze GitHub README, extract key information, generate structured outline Reasons for choosing Qwen-2.5-7B + Foundry Local: Privacy Protection README may contain internal project information Local processing ensures data doesn't leave the device Complies with data compliance requirements Cost Effectiveness Each analysis processes thousands of tokens Cloud API costs are significant in high-frequency scenarios Local models have zero additional fees Performance Qwen-2.5-7B excels at text analysis tasks Outstanding Chinese support Acceptable CPU inference latency (typically 2-3 seconds) Stage 2: Cloud LLM + Copilot SDK Creates Business Value Task: Create well-formatted PowerPoint files based on outline Reasons for choosing Claude Sonnet 4.5 + Copilot SDK: Automated Business Code Generation Traditional approach pain points: Need to hand-write 500+ lines of code for PPT layout logic Require deep knowledge of python-pptx library APIs Style and formatting code is error-prone Multilingual support requires additional conditional logic Copilot SDK solution: Declare business rules and best practices through Skills Agent automatically generates and executes required code Zero-code implementation of complex layout logic Development time reduced from 2-3 days to 2-3 hours Ultra-Short Path from Intent to Execution Comparison: Different ways to implement "Generate professional PPT" 3. Production-Grade Reliability and Quality Assurance Battle-tested Agent engine: Uses the same core as GitHub Copilot CLI Validated in millions of real-world scenarios Automatically handles edge cases and errors Consistent output quality: Professional standards ensured through Skills Automatic validation of generated files Built-in retry and error recovery mechanisms 4. Rapid Iteration and Optimization Capability Scenario: Client requests PPT style adjustment The GitHub Repo https://github.com/kinfey/GenGitHubRepoPPT 4. Summary 4.1 Core Value of Hybrid Models + Copilot SDK The GenGitHubRepoPPT project demonstrates how combining hybrid models with Copilot SDK creates a new paradigm for AI application development. Privacy and Cost Balance The hybrid approach allows sensitive README analysis to happen locally using Qwen-2.5-7B, ensuring data never leaves the device while incurring zero API costs. Meanwhile, the value-creating work—generating professional PowerPoint presentations—leverages Claude Sonnet 4.5 through Copilot SDK, delivering quality that justifies the per-use cost. From Code to Intent Traditional AI development required writing hundreds of lines of code to handle PPT generation logic, layout selection, style application, and error handling. With Copilot SDK and Skills, developers describe what they want in natural language, and the Agent automatically generates and executes the necessary code. What once took 3-5 days now takes 3-4 hours, with 95% less code to maintain. Automated Business Code Generation Copilot SDK doesn't just provide code examples—it generates complete, executable business logic. When you request a multilingual PPT, the Agent understands the requirement, selects appropriate fonts, generates the implementation code, executes it with error handling, validates the output, and returns a ready-to-use file. Developers focus on business intent rather than implementation details. 4.2 Technology Trends The Shift to Intent-Driven Development We're witnessing a fundamental change in how developers work. Rather than mastering every programming language detail and framework API, developers are increasingly defining what they want through declarative Skills. Copilot SDK represents this future: you describe capabilities in natural language, and AI Agents handle the code generation and execution automatically. Edge AI and Cloud AI Integration The evolution from pure cloud LLMs (powerful but privacy-concerning) to pure local SLMs (private but limited) has led to today's hybrid architectures. GenGitHubRepoPPT exemplifies this trend: local models handle data analysis and structuring, while cloud models tackle complex reasoning and professional output generation. This combination delivers fast, secure, and professional results. Democratization of Agent Development Copilot SDK dramatically lowers the barrier to building AI applications. Senior engineers see 10-20x productivity gains. Mid-level engineers can now build sophisticated agents that were previously beyond their reach. Even junior engineers and business experts can participate by writing Skills that capture domain knowledge without deep technical expertise. The future isn't about whether we can build AI applications—it's about how quickly we can turn ideas into reality. References Projects and Code GenGitHubRepoPPT GitHub Repository - Case study project Microsoft Foundry Local - Local AI runtime GitHub Copilot SDK - Agent development SDK Copilot SDK Getting Started Tutorial - Official quick start Deep Dive: Copilot SDK Build an Agent into Any App with GitHub Copilot SDK - Official announcement GitHub Copilot SDK Cookbook - Practical examples Copilot CLI Official Documentation - CLI tool documentation Learning Resources Edge AI for Beginners - Edge AI introductory course Azure AI Foundry Documentation - Azure AI documentation GitHub Copilot Extensions Guide - Extension development guideUnleashing the power of agents in Microsoft Planner
In today's fast-paced world, AI has become an essential tool for enhancing productivity and efficiency. We are committed to empowering our users with innovative solutions that simplify their work processes, and we’re thrilled to introduce the latest updates to Microsoft Planner, designed to leverage the power of Copilot and agents to streamline project management and task organization. With the recent announcement of Project Manager agent, rolling out in public preview in the Planner app in Microsoft Teams, and the rollout of the new Planner for the web, we are bringing you a comprehensive suite of tools to help you and your team achieve more with less effort. We invite you to explore these exciting new features and discover how they can transform the way you work. Introducing Project Manager agent Project Manager agent is a new AI-powered agent designed to enhance your planning experience by acting as a virtual project manager within your plans. Project Manager agent is built to streamline your planning process, empowering you to focus on the strategic aspects of your work while it handles some of the tasks on your behalf. It is the latest development in enhancing and transforming team collaboration with AI in Planner. Earlier this year, we introduced Copilot in Planner (preview) as a personal companion experience designed to work alongside your planner workflow. With Project Manager agent, we’re now bringing AI capabilities directly into your plans, allowing you to interact with the agent as an integral part of your plan. Project Manager agent takes your goals and automatically breaks them down into actionable tasks. But it doesn’t stop there, it can also execute these tasks on your behalf. By managing the plan and executing tasks, the agent enables you to focus on impactful decisions while it contributes directly to the success of your project. When you start a plan with Project Manager agent, it guides you to define a goal you want to achieve (for example, conducting research on a specific topic). The agent will then generate all the necessary tasks for the research topic. Assign these tasks to the agent, and it will execute on them, providing detailed output that is automatically captured in a Loop page embedded within each task. All members of the plan can collaborate directly within the Loop page, exchanging comments and feedback with the Project Manager agent. Upon selecting Regenerate, the agent incorporates the feedback and generates a refined response, improving the task outcomes. At any point, if Project Manager agent does not have adequate information to generate necessary output, it will even ask clarifying questions that will allow it to provide better responses. You will notice that Project Manager agent is capable of contributing at every step of your plan, delivering value throughout the process. This comes with a new Project Manager View in Planner—your hub for setting goals, generating tasks, and showcasing the execution status. This intuitive interface lets you set your project goals and generate tasks, assign tasks to team members or the agent for execution and track progress and statuses in real time. Additionally, in the board view, you can also group tasks by Project Manager, which shows all the Project manager tasks and status in the appropriate buckets. At its core, the Project Manager agent runs on the Multi-Agent Runtime Service (MARS), a platform built on Microsoft Autogen. MARS leverages specialized agents with unique expertise, enabling the Project Manager agent to perform effectively across diverse scenarios. See the blog post to learn more about how Project Manager agent and MARS function. To help you get started, we’ve provided predefined, customizable templates on various topics, allowing you to quickly kickstart a Project Manager plan and easily tailor it to meet your specific goals. Once you’ve selected a template, you can modify the plan to align with your specific needs and goals, ensuring it meets your unique requirements while leveraging the agent’s capabilities for streamlined execution. From idea, to plan, to done, the Project Manager agent is your trusted partner, ensuring every aspect of your plan is managed seamlessly. We’re also introducing the Microsoft Whiteboard canvas in Planner! This new feature allows you and your team to brainstorm directly within the context of your plan. Upon creating a new plan with the Project Manager agent, you will now see a Whiteboard tab in the plan. Whiteboard offers a dynamic and collaborative canvas within Planner, allowing users to easily convert ideas into tasks and streamline workflow from ideation to action. In the canvas, you and your team can engage in real-time collaboration using inking, sticky notes, and templates. With the Planner integration, you can quickly convert your notes to tasks in one click, directly adding them to your plan. We’re excited to bring these powerful tools to your planning experience, and we can’t wait to see the impact of the Project Manager agent in your daily workflows! The new Project Manager agent will be rolling out to public preview in the Planner app in Teams in the coming weeks. To explore these capabilities, customers are required to have a Microsoft 365 Copilot license and also need to ensure their current Microsoft 365 licensing allows them access to Microsoft Loop. As this is a preview release, please note that the features may evolve based on user feedback and ongoing improvements. Initially, Project Manager agent will support English language as the interaction medium, and other languages in the future. We’d love for you to try it out and share your thoughts to help shape its future development! Please select the thumbs up or thumbs down button in the Project Manager view or in the Task details to share what you think about the experience. In addition, we are announcing two more capabilities that will be coming soon to Microsoft Planner: 1. Copilot in My Tasks view: This feature brings AI-powered organization and prioritization to your tasks, helping users effectively manage their backlog and enabling them to stay on top of what matters most. 2. Automated status report emails: Provides the capability to automatically generate a status email from your plans, streamlining the process of sharing weekly updates so you can spend less time on emails and more time moving projects forward. We expect these features to be available for our customers to try early 2025. Join us at Microsoft Ignite to learn more about Project Manager agent in our breakout session, "Boost productivity with Copilot in Microsoft 365 apps." Try Planner for the web today! The new Planner for the web is now available! This marks another major milestone in the Planner journey that we announced last November at Ignite. In April, we launched the new Planner app in Microsoft Teams, and now we've completed the rollout with Planner for the web. Planner for the web now brings together the simplicity of Microsoft To Do, the collaboration of Planner, the power of Project for the web, and the intelligence of Microsoft 365 Copilot into a simple, familiar experience. Discover a new way to manage tasks for individual plans, team initiatives, and larger scale project management aligned to goals and key strategic objectives. We’re excited for you to try it out and share your thoughts. Thanks to your ongoing feedback, we’re continuing to roll out bug fixes and new enhancements regularly to both Planner in Teams and Planner for the Web. We have more exciting updates coming soon including the availability of Planner for the web in GCC, a new board view in the My Tasks view, an updated experience for the Planner app in Teams channels, and more. Check in regularly on the roadmap to learn about what’s coming. Explore the new Portfolios feature The frequently requested Portfolios feature is also rolling out in the Planner app in Teams and will start rolling out in the new Planner for the web app in the coming weeks! This powerful addition is designed to help you effortlessly manage and track progress across multiple plans. With Portfolios, you can now get a consolidated view of all your premium plans and tasks, ensuring nothing slips through the cracks. Whether you're coordinating between teams or looking for a top-down perspective, Portfolios in Planner makes it all possible in one location, streamlining workflows and enhancing collaboration. Join our session at Microsoft Ignite We are eager to share more details about these exciting updates during our session at Microsoft Ignite! Join us as we dive deeper into the new features and capabilities of Planner, and learn how they can elevate your teamwork. Don't miss this opportunity to connect with our team and get a firsthand look at what's new. Share your feedback Your feedback helps inform our feature updates and we look forward to hearing from you as you try out the new Planner! Provide feedback by using the Feedback button in the top right corner of the Planner app. We also encourage you to share any features you want to see in the app by adding it to our Planner Feedback Portal. Learn more Check out the recently refreshed Planner adoption page. Sign up to receive future communication about Planner. Check out the Microsoft 365 roadmap for feature descriptions and estimated release dates for Planner. Watch Planner demos for inspiration on how to get the most out of the new Planner app in Microsoft Teams. Watch the recording from September's What’s New and What’s Coming Next + AMA about the new Planner. Visit the Planner help page to learn more about the capabilities in the new Planner.Turn Enterprise Knowledge into Answers with Copilot Studio and Azure AI Search
From the Field: Why This Integration Works As an experienced AI Cloud Solution Architect working in Greater China Region (GCR), I’ve seen one emerging pattern that delivers quick wins for some of my customers: combining Microsoft Copilot Studio with an existing Azure AI Search index. Teams choose this approach because it delivers two outcomes immediately: business users get grounded, reliable answers, and enterprises avoid re-building pipelines or re-platforming knowledge stores. This guide shows exactly how to connect Copilot Studio to an Azure AI Search index that is already live, so your copilot can answer confidently using your enterprise documents. What We Assume Is Already Ready To stay focused on the integration step, we assume: You have an Azure AI Search service deployed You have an index containing vectorized content (manuals, PDFs, policies, FAQs) Your platform/data team already handled ingestion, embeddings, and indexing In short, your Azure AI Search endpoint and admin key are ready, and the index already contains chunked content with embeddings. Step 1 - Collect Your Azure AI Search Connection Details From the Azure AI Search resource: Endpoint URL Azure AI Search → Overview → Url: https://<your-search-service>.search.windows.net Admin Key Azure AI Search → Keys Use either the primary or secondary key. Governance tip: For production, rotate keys regularly and use managed identities when possible. Step 2 - Add Azure AI Search as Knowledge Inside Copilot Studio Open your Copilot Studio agent Go to the Knowledge tab Select Add knowledge, choose Azure AI Search Provide: Endpoint URL Admin key Create or select the connection Choose your existing index from the dropdown Select Add to agent Step 3 - Test a Grounded Response Open the Test copilot pane and ask a question your indexed content can answer, such as: “What are the different licensing options available for Power Platform?” Verify that: The Activity Map shows Azure AI Search being invoked The answer reflects the correct document in your index Citations or references appear where applicable Conclusion Business value: You can activate grounded, explainable answers in Copilot Studio immediately by reusing your existing Azure AI Search index - no re-platforming, no new pipelines. Team model: Data/Platform teams own ingestion, enrichment, and vectorization. Business teams build and refine the copilot experience in Copilot Studio. Scale and governance: All components stay inside Azure, with enterprise-grade security, RBAC, and operational monitoring, while enabling low‑code agility for makers. For the full end-to-end lab (storage setup, embeddings, index creation), see: 🔗 https://github.com/Azure/Copilot-Studio-and-Azure (Lab 1.4). Acknowledgements This tutorial builds on foundational work by my EMEA colleague Pablo Carceller, whose GitHub repo on Copilot Studio and Azure has helped teams worldwide accelerate real customer implementations. 👉 GitHub - Copilot Studio and Azure: https://github.com/Azure/Copilot-Studio-and-Azure I would also like to thank the broader Cloud Accelerate Factory GCR team for their contributions, insights, and active collaboration in validating this pattern across customer engagements. Special appreciation to our AI Architects Dr. Longyu Qi, Jian (Jason) Shao, Lei (Leo) Ma, and Ethan Tseng, as well as our PM partners Yunxi (Rayne) Jin and Emma Wang, whose feedback and field experiences helped shape and refine this guide. Image credits: demo visuals adapted from materials by Pablo Carceller (GitHub Lab 1.4).
