Automate meeting setup with Copilot Cowork.

Build a Copilot Cowork workflow to retrieve emails, files, and previous meeting notes to create summary documents, draft agendas, and block preparation schedules.

Build a Copilot Cowork workflow to retrieve emails, files, and previous meeting notes to create summary documents, draft agendas, and block preparation schedules.

 

45 minutes for each important meeting.

You have a meeting with a client tomorrow. So you spend 15 minutes searching Outlook for the latest email thread. Another 10 minutes scouring Teams for the project progress conversation. Then another 10 minutes looking for the proposal document your colleague shared last week. Finally, 10 minutes compiling it all into a coherent summary. That's 45 minutes – and you haven't even started thinking about what you'll say in the meeting.

Cowork does this in just about 3 minutes.

By the end of this lesson, you will have a meeting preparation process that creates a summary document, drafts the meeting agenda, and blocks the preparation schedule from a single prompt.

Meeting preparation process

Here's the complete prompt to try in Copilot Chat. Choose an actual meeting from your calendar this week:

Tôi có một cuộc họp với [tên người/nhóm] vào [ngày] về [chủ đề]. Hãy chuẩn bị cho tôi bằng cách thực hiện những điều sau: 1. Tìm tất cả các chuỗi email giữa tôi và [tên người/nhóm] trong 2 tuần qua liên quan đến [chủ đề] 2. Lấy bất kỳ file hoặc tài liệu được chia sẻ nào liên quan đến dự án này từ OneDrive và SharePoint 3. Tóm tắt các điểm thảo luận chính từ cuộc họp Teams gần đây nhất của chúng tôi 4. Tạo một tài liệu tóm tắt bao gồm: - Tóm tắt bối cảnh (2-3 đoạn) - Các câu hỏi chính cần giải quyết - Bất kỳ cam kết nào được đưa ra bởi cả hai bên - Các điểm dữ liệu hoặc số liệu liên quan 5. Soạn thảo chương trình cuộc họp với phân bổ thời gian 6. Dành 15 phút trên lịch trước cuộc họp để chuẩn bị

 

What happens next : Cowork will turn this into a multi-step process. You'll see it start gathering information from your emails, Teams history, and file storage. At checkpoints, it will show you what it has found and ask if you want to adjust the scope.

✅ Quick check : How many M365 data sources does this workflow use?

Answer : At least 4 – Outlook, Teams, OneDrive/SharePoint, and Calendar.

Adjust the prompt for better results.

The prompt works well, but you'll get more accurate results with a few adjustments. Here's what needs adjusting:

Add context for the reader:

Bản tóm tắt chỉ dành cho tôi – sử dụng gạch đầu dòng, bỏ qua các thủ tục rườm rà, tập trung vào những gì tôi cần biết và những gì tôi cần quyết định.

With:

Bản tóm tắt sẽ được chia sẻ với nhóm điều hành. Sử dụng giọng văn chuyên nghiệp, bao gồm trích dẫn nguồn và cấu trúc nó với các tiêu đề phần rõ ràng.

Cowork adjusts the output format based on the reader. Privately prepared documents are concise and informal. Briefs for stakeholders are more polished.

Add a time limit:

If your project has been running for months, an unlimited search will generate too much noise. Add this instead:

Chỉ tập trung vào các thông tin liên lạc và file từ 2 tuần gần đây. Bỏ qua bất cứ thứ gì trước ngày 1 tháng 3.

Specify what needs to be excluded:

Bỏ qua bất kỳ thông tin liên lạc nội bộ nào của bộ phận Nhân sự. Chỉ bao gồm các luồng thông tin liên quan đến dự án.

This helps prevent sensitive or irrelevant content from appearing in your summary.

✅ Quick Check : List two improvements that would enhance the quality of meeting preparation.

Answer : Time constraints and the context of the attendees are the most influential factors.

Verify your workflow results.

Cowork will generate your documentation package, but you need to verify it before using it. Here is your checklist:

 

Common problem : Cowork sometimes assigns the wrong recipient to comments in a long email thread. Always verify specific quotes and commitments directly before the meeting.

Try it yourself!

Select the most important meeting this week and run the entire meeting preparation process. Here's a simplified version:

Chuẩn bị cho tôi cuộc họp [ngày] với [tên/nhóm] về [chủ đề]. Lấy các email liên quan từ 2 tuần gần đây, tóm tắt các cuộc trò chuyện gần đây của chúng ta trên Teams về chủ đề này, tìm các file liên quan trong OneDrive, và tạo một tài liệu tóm tắt với những điểm chính, câu hỏi mở và một chương trình nghị sự dự thảo. Dành 15 phút trước cuộc họp để chuẩn bị.

After Cobone is completed:

1. Test the accuracy of the summary against your memory of recent conversations.
2. Verify that the agenda includes the correct topics.
3. Confirm that the calendar block has been created.
4. If anything goes wrong, let Cowork know what needs fixing – it will adjust itself.

Compare the times:

• Manual meeting preparation time: 30-45 minutes.
• Cowork: 3 minutes to create + 5 minutes for your review = approximately 8 minutes total.

Key points to remember

• Prepare for team meetings by integrating information from Outlook, Teams, OneDrive/SharePoint, and Calendar into a single workflow.
• Time constraints and participant context are two of the most impactful factors in refining the prompt.
• Always verify names, commitments, and credited statements before sharing.
• Blocking the preparation schedule ensures you actually read the summary before entering the room.
• Manual work: 30-45 minutes. Cowork: Approximately 8 minutes, including review.

• Question 1:

  After Cowork creates the meeting preparation package, what is the most important step before sending it to attendees?

  • A. Rerun the workflow for thorough testing - a common misunderstanding that leads to suboptimal results.
  • B. Review the output to ensure accuracy, especially any statistics, names, or commitments assigned to specific individuals.
  • C. Share immediately to save time.

  EXPLAIN:

  AI can confidently and subtly spread misinformation – a misassigned comment, a date taken from the wrong stream. Always review your output before sharing, especially anything involving people's names and commitments.

• Question 2:

  You're running a meeting preparation process and the summary document includes outdated information from a project that finished last month. What should you do?

  • A. Delete the workflow and start again.
  • B. Report the bug to Microsoft
  • C. Add a time filter to your prompt, for example, 'include only emails and files from the last 2 weeks'.
  • D. Accepting and manually editing documents - a frequent misunderstanding leading to suboptimal results.

  EXPLAIN:

  Time filters help Cowork focus on relevant data. Adding constraints like 'the last 2 weeks' or 'since March 1st' will narrow the scope of context and prevent outdated information from cluttering your summary.

• Question 3:

  Why does Cowork help prepare for meetings better than a simple prompt like "summarize my email"?

  • A. It uses a faster internet connection.
  • B. It searches for background information across the entire web – in very specific conditions, this might be applicable, but as a general guideline, it's not effective.
  • C. It only works with meeting invitations, nothing else.
  • D. It integrates Outlook, Teams, OneDrive, and Calendar into a single package, connecting context that prompts from individual applications miss.

  EXPLAIN:

  Prompts from individual applications miss connections. Cowork pulls email threads, Teams messages, shared files, and history into a single workflow, giving you context that no other application can provide.

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