We know that you've read our previous blog post on Microsoft Copilot, but it's useful to refresh your memories by giving a short summary!
In the previous section...
We have determined 3 basic stages to get the efficiency we want from Microsoft Copilot: Telling it what we need, adding the right prompting contents, and continuing the conversation.
What we needed to know in the first stage was to communicate correctly, that is, to say clearly what you need. In this way, we can have an idea about projects, edit texts, convert documents, create content, or use it for different tasks that will be useful to us. For example: "Show me who worked on this project," "Write a summary of this presentation," "Create a proposal for my client," or "Turn the document into a 10-page presentation."
In the second stage, we learned how to add the command contents correctly. By knowing what we need and using the right prompting elements, we achieve the result we want. These elements are Purpose, Context, Resource and Expectations. Respectively, what kind of response we want; why we need this information; what resources should be used; how best to meet the expectation. You can review our example via this link.
In the third and final stage, we continued to talk. For Copilot, it's essential to keep the conversation going, nurture the conversation with different data and question patterns, and never give up. For example, we can provide more specific details when generating content ideas, we can specify exactly what we want when requesting a meeting summary, we can ask more in-depth questions and get answers when requesting a file summary, or we can specify a technical problem and narrow the problem further in the face of a response to achieve the desired result.
In general, let's summarize our first blog post in this way. Today's article won't take up too much of your time because we're going to share some succinct tips for you. Then let's get started right away!
Special Tips for Your Microsoft Copilot Muscles
As we approach the summer, we would like to share more enjoyable tips, but I think everyone should continue to swim in the lane they know best!
Now that we know the initial stages for Microsoft Copilot, let's come to the tips that we find useful to keep in mind. First of all, there is one thing we need to know: Copilot is your assistant.
Let's even reiterate: Microsoft Copilot is your AI-powered assistant.
The most important thing to remember when entering prompts is that it doesn't know your business, but once it learns your business, it can be your best man. Position yourself as a manager and Copilot as a junior assistant by your side. The efficiency you will get from it depends on how high quality your request is, but we have no problem with this because we now know how to prompt.
1- Know Copilot’s limitations.
The sky may be the limit for artificial intelligence, but let's detail our limits anyway. It's good to know that Copilot correspondence is limited to your current conversation. For this reason, you need to provide a lot of detail for the result you want to achieve. On the other hand, remember that the information it will present to you will also remain within some frameworks. Thus, allowing you to get the most out of the service.
Copilot has extremely meticulous and precise limits in terms of safety; refuses to use any harmful content. This includes any information and content that involves physical, emotional, or financial harm. In the same way, although it cannot provide all copyrighted publications, it can respond to commands such as abstracts.
As we have indicated, the sessions are instantaneous, the personal data of the users cannot be stored and restored. As soon as you log out of the conversation, all content is deleted, and a clean slate is started the next time. In short, every chat session is unique, and there is no memory of previous chats.
2- Be professional.
Kindness opens all the doors; it is said and who knew that this promise would also apply to artificial intelligence? Using polite language will improve Copilot's reaction to you. Using basic etiquette allows for a more collaborative output.
While using polite language is not a technological imperative, it does help set a positive tone in your interactions and create a respectful communication environment. The tone used can have an impact on the quality of interaction.
3- Communicate clearly.
As long as you don't say every one instead of everyone, akward instead of awkward, or enterpreneur instead of entrepreneur, your communication with Copilot will be very efficient. When commanding, you should pay attention to punctuation, grammar, and capital letters.
Digital assistants like Copilot need punctuation to correctly process commands and achieve a result. In this way, the meaning of the sentences becomes clear, and misunderstandings are avoided. In addition, the use of correct punctuation improves the user experience, allowing us to get faster and more accurate results.
For example, 'what will the weather be like tomorrow' and 'What will the weather be like tomorrow, can you give us some information?' Let's examine the sentences. Although what is requested in the first sentence seems to be specific, it can be misunderstood by artificial intelligence. The end of the command is ambiguous because there is no punctuation. On the other hand, the second sentence fully complies with the punctuation marks, the desired information is clear and can be understood by artificial intelligence.
4- Use quotation marks.
We talked about the importance of punctuation, but we have another tip about it. Using quotation marks helps Copilot know what to write, change, or edit for you.
Quotation marks serve to highlight a specific term or phrase within a command. Perceiving these expressions as a separate whole allows us to obtain more accurate results. Thanks to the markings, the other part of the command is kept separate, and a special command part is clearly defined.
For example, the sentence Find Balzac's “Lily of the Valley" book and Find Balzac's Lily of the Valley have different qualities. In the second command, the name of the book is highlighted, and a search is requested according to this specific phrase. Thus, search results can be more precise and relevant.
5- Start fresh.
They say that sometimes we need to start from scratch. When changing tasks, it is useful to avoid squeezing other topics in between. For each new topic, you must enter a command in the form of "new topic" or refresh the command page.
Restart the command when a command is entered incorrectly or does not produce the expected results, when commands are complex or multi-stepped, if they are not detected correctly, or when the quality of the interaction is poor. For example, if you enter the command "I want to listen to a song", it will be very broad and vague. The command you enter as "I want to listen to Where Do I Begin song" will be clearer and you will be provided with the results for your purpose.
Final Word
Our new digital assistant Copilot is much newer among us, we may not all have enough experience in establishing the most accurate communication with it, but we now know what needs to be done in the light of up-to-date information.
After learning the 3 basic stages for the Art of Prompting, you can fulfill this art properly with the tips above. In short, let us remind you again that there is a limit to your correspondence, that you should be polite, that you should consider the spelling and punctuation rules, use quotation marks, and that you can start from scratch if necessary.
Here we complete the second lesson of the Art of Prompting. In our upcoming third and last-for-now Art of Prompting blog post, we will tell you what to do and what not to do with comparative examples. If you liked our article, you can leave a comment and share your thoughts with us!
Mert Tüfekçioğlu
Marketing Excecutive