Exercise 1, Task 1: Use Copilot in Word to develop a strategic communication brief
Boulder Innovations is developing a new internal communications platform called AuroraHub. It’s designed to help large organizations streamline messaging, boost employee morale, measure engagement in real time, and enhance internal communication strategies across the company.
As a senior member of Boulder’s Communications team, you’re tasked with creating a strategic communication brief for the company’s executive leadership team. This brief, which is part of a broader employee engagement initiative, should:
- Introduce the AuroraHub platform
- Outline its key features and benefits
- Highlight its alignment with Boulder’s strategic goals
- Demonstrate its potential business value and impact
You plan to use Microsoft 365 Copilot in Word to generate an initial draft of the brief, refine the messaging for clarity and tone, and polish the final version to ensure it’s professional, compelling, and aligned with leadership expectations.
Using Copilot in Word
Copilot in Word can behave in two different ways, depending on whether Edit with Copilot is enabled. Understanding this distinction is important, because it affects whether Copilot can automatically apply changes to your document or just provide suggestions for you to use.
When Edit with Copilot is enabled, Copilot acts as an in-document author and editor. You can ask Copilot to create a document from scratch, rewrite sections, add summaries, or refine language—and it can apply those changes directly to the document, typically with your confirmation. In this experience, Copilot behaves like a collaborative writing partner that can both generate and revise content without requiring manual copy and paste. This is commonly the experience when prompting Copilot from within a Word document, such as using the drafting prompt above a blank document or the prompt field in the Copilot pane.
When Edit with Copilot is disabled, Copilot behaves more like Copilot Chat. It can still research topics, summarize information, and draft text, but it doesn’t automatically modify the document. Instead, responses appear in the Copilot pane, and you decide what—if anything—gets added to the document. This approach is useful when you want Copilot to act as a research assistant or idea generator while maintaining full control over what content is inserted.
This task uses the Edit with Copilot functionality.
Perform the following steps to complete this task:
Select the following link to download the AuroraHub Product Overview.docx file. Once the download is complete, save the file to your OneDrive.
In your Microsoft Edge browser, sign in to the Microsoft 365 home page (https://www.microsoft365.com), select Apps in the navigation pane, and then select Word.
In Word for the web, create a blank document.
On the Home tab ribbon, select Copilot. In the pane, verify the Edit with Copilot icon appears in the prompt field next to the plus (+) sign. If you don’t see it, select the plus sign and then select Edit with Copilot in the drop-down menu. The icon should now appear in the prompt field.
In the prompt field that appears in the Copilot pane, attach the AuroraHub Product Overview.docx file that you downloaded.
Then enter the following prompt to create a communication brief:
Note
For this first prompt, we’ve provided the text so you can see what an effective prompt looks like when it incorporates the four key elements discussed in the Introduction unit. You must write all remaining prompts in this exercise, but in doing so, you can use this prompt as a model to emulate.
I’m the Communications Manager for Boulder Innovations. The company is preparing to launch AuroraHub, a new internal communications platform designed to streamline messaging, increase employee engagement, and provide real-time insights into communication effectiveness across a large, distributed workforce. Using the attached AuroraHub Product Overview document as your primary source, draft a strategic communication brief for Boulder’s executive leadership team. The brief should:
- Introduce the AuroraHub platform and its purpose
- Clearly explain its key features and benefits
- Show how AuroraHub aligns to Boulder Innovations’ strategic goals and values
- Describe the expected business impact, including engagement, transparency, and communication effectiveness
Write in a concise, professional tone appropriate for executive stakeholders. Organize the brief with clear headings and short sections, focusing on clarity, relevance, and strategic value rather than technical detail.
Review the report that Copilot generated. Note the level of detail in each area of interest. After reviewing this draft, you decide that it's a good starting point, although there are a few areas that you want to modify. The first thing you want to do is change the formatting of the benefits for each feature. Here’s a couple of options depending on how your first draft appears.
If the benefits for each feature are displayed in a bulleted list, you want to see how they appear in a table format. In this case, ask Copilot to display the key features and benefits in a table rather than a bulleted list.
If the benefits for each feature are displayed in a table format, you want to see how they appear in a bulleted list. In this case, ask Copilot to display the key features and benefits in a bulleted list rather than a table.
Review the results. After much thought, you decide that you prefer the bulleted list version, but you want Copilot to display the key features and benefits in an accordion style (made up of expandable/collapsible sections). Ask Copilot to change the formatting of the key features and benefits so that they appear in an accordion style that consists of expandable/collapsible sections. Within each feature, it should display the benefits in a bulleted list.
Review the results. Hover over each Feature and Benefits heading to see the down arrow (Collapse Heading) icon. Select this down arrow for a feature to verify that it collapses that feature. Select the up arrow (Expand Heading) icon to verify that it expands the feature. This version is the one that you want to move forward with.
Now that you have a base version that you’re happy with, you decide that it needs one last piece of information. You realized that there’s nothing in the brief related to change management and adoption strategy. These topics are natural and highly relevant for Communications professionals, especially in the context of launching a new internal platform like AuroraHub.
To correct this omission, ask Copilot to add a new section titled “Change Management & Adoption Strategy.” It should describe how the Communications team plans to support the rollout of the AuroraHub platform across the organization. Include plans for internal messaging, leadership alignment, onboarding campaigns, and strategies to drive employee adoption and engagement during the transition.Review the new section. While the section looks good, you’re concerned about the tone of the brief, so ask Copilot to change the tone of the brief to a professional tone that’s appropriate for C-suite readers.
While you’re pleased with the results, you’re concerned that it might be too long for executive stakeholders. You decide to have Copilot shorten the brief. Ask Copilot to shorten the brief by 20% while keeping the key messages so that it’s a more appropriate length for executive stakeholders.
Review the results. While you’re satisfied with the communication brief, you begin to wonder if it’s missing critical information that Boulder’s executive stakeholders might be looking for. You decide to have Copilot review the document and offer any suggestions. Ask Copilot to review this strategic communication brief and identify any key information that might be missing or underdeveloped, particularly from the perspective of executive stakeholders.
Review the list of suggested additions proposed by Copilot. Ask Copilot to add the missing sections to the report in executive-ready language.
Review the new content that was inserted. Make note of the file name as you plan to use this strategic communication brief in Task 4 when you ask Copilot in PowerPoint to create an executive-level presentation. You can close this tab in your Microsoft Edge browser.