Choose the right Champion-led activation

Align the activation with your goals

Champion-led activations work best when they’re tied to a specific audience, a real workflow, and a clear behavior you want people to practice. Whether you’re hosting a workshop, running a challenge, or offering peer support, the goal is to help employees discover practical ways to use Copilot in their everyday work.

Use this guide to identify the outcome you want to achieve, understand what your audience needs, and choose an activation that fits your goals and available resources.

Start with the outcome, not the activity

Before choosing an activation, think about what you want your audience to accomplish. Focus on what they’ll do differently with Copilot in their everyday work, rather than the event or activity you’ll use to get them there.

Start with	Ask	Example
Audience	Who are you trying to reach?	Sales managers
Recurring work	What work should improve?	Weekly account updates
Behavior	What should people try, repeat, or scale?	Use Copilot to draft and refine account updates
How you’ll know it’s working	How will you measure progress?	More completed updates, improved consistency, fewer blockers

Once you’ve defined your desired outcome, the next step is to understand what your audience needs.

Key considerations for choosing an activation

Keep four things in mind as you explore your options: the audience, the work you want to improve, how people are currently using Copilot, and the time and support you can commit.

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Choose your activation path

Choose the situation that best describes what’s getting in the way of your desired outcome. More than one may apply, but start with the one that’s currently limiting progress the most. Each path includes a few activation options, what it takes to run them, and ways to measure progress.

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Use Cowork to choose and plan your activation

Once you've narrowed your options, use Copilot or Cowork to help you choose an activation and turn it into a simple plan.

Example prompt

Help me choose a Champion-led Microsoft Copilot activation. First, assess my current situation: [Describe your audience, recurring workflow, intended behavior, current adoption maturity, available support, desired timing, and any other relevant context.] Ask me any clarifying questions you need to fill in missing details before making a recommendation. Then recommend one primary activation and, if useful, one alternative. Explain why each fits, when it wouldn’t fit, what I need to prepare, and how I’ll know whether it’s working. Then create a simple activation plan that includes the audience, workflow, owner, partners, timing, facilitation approach, follow-up, progress signals, and recommended next step.

Discover more resources for Champions

Find practical guidance, tools, and prompts to help you drive Copilot adoption and engage your team.

Explore resources

Option	What you need	Support and timing	How you’ll know it’s working
Guided first-use session	Confirmed Copilot access, specific audience, role-relevant task, facilitator	Low-medium: one session with light preparation	First task completed, signs of increased confidence, questions raised
Prompt-a-thon	Role-relevant prompts, facilitator, support path, participation plan	Medium: planning, facilitation, curated prompts and examples	Useful prompts created, tasks completed, questions raised, next tasks identified
Launch challenge	Clear task, communications plan, simple way to participate	Low-medium: light campaign and follow-up	Participation, tasks completed, examples of Copilot use, follow-up interest

Option	What you need	Support and timing	How you’ll know it’s working
30-day workflow sprint	Defined audience, one recurring workflow, owner, prompts or examples, support path	Medium-high: multiweek commitment, nudges, support, and review	Repeated use, completed outputs, blockers identified, examples of Copilot use, sustained behavior
Recurring practice challenge	One task, cadence, communications, lightweight tracking	Medium: recurring prompts and follow-up	Participation over time, repeated attempts, questions raised
Manager-supported team habit	Manager sponsor, team workflow, an existing meeting or work rhythm to build on	Medium: manager alignment and team reinforcement	Team participation, workflow completion, manager feedback

Option	What you need	Support and timing	How you’ll know it’s working
Workflow clinic	Defined workflow, real examples, facilitator, criteria for quality outputs	Medium: example preparation and facilitated practice	Improved outputs, reusable prompts, common quality issues uncovered
Scenario-based working session	Defined scenario, sample inputs, facilitator, time to practice	Medium: scenario preparation and hands-on support	Completed practice outputs, feedback, remaining gaps identified
Targeted team workshop	Team sponsor, shared workflow, agenda, examples	Medium-high: coordination and facilitation	Team alignment, completed workflow examples, support needs identified

Option	What you need	Support and timing	How you’ll know it’s working
Office hours	Facilitator, escalation path, recurring time or clear schedule	Medium: recurring support and issue routing	Questions raised, blockers identified, issues resolved, common escalation themes
Ask-me-anything session	Expert or Champion, clear invitation, a way to collect questions	Low-medium: one session with light follow-up	Questions asked, topics raised that need further guidance
Targeted support clinic	Known blocker theme, expert support, escalation owner	Medium-high: preparation, facilitation, resolution tracking	Blockers resolved, policy or access issues identified, gaps in existing guidance uncovered

Option	What you need	Support and timing	How you’ll know it’s working
Showcase	Validated example, presenter, audience that can apply it	Medium: prepare the example and host the session	Interest in applying the example, requests to adapt it, questions raised
Demo day	Multiple examples, presenters, coordination, follow-up path	Medium-high: planning and facilitation	Attendance, feedback, interest in adopting the examples
Reusable example or Champion story	Approved example, before-and-after workflow, adaptation guidance	Medium: writing, review, packaging	Downloads or views, reuse requests, teams adapting the example

Choose the right Champion-led activation

Align the activation with your goals

Start with the outcome, not the activity

Key considerations for choosing an activation

Audience

Outcome and workflow

Adoption maturity

Support and timing

Choose your activation path

People need help finding a useful first task

People have tried Copilot but aren't repeating a workflow

People have a workflow but need better quality or consistency

People are trying Copilot but keep getting stuck

People have something that works but it hasn't spread

People are ready for more complex or agent-assisted work

Use Cowork to choose and plan your activation

Discover more resources for Champions

Become a Champion

Streamline user training

Validate your skills

Choose the right Champion-led activation

Align the activation with your goals

Start with the outcome, not the activity

Key considerations for choosing an activation

Audience

Outcome and workflow

Adoption maturity

Support and timing

Choose your activation path

People need help finding a useful first task

People have tried Copilot but aren't repeating a workflow

People have a workflow but need better quality or consistency

People are trying Copilot but keep getting stuck

People have something that works but it hasn't spread

People are ready for more complex or agent-assisted work

Use Cowork to choose and plan your activation

Discover more resources for Champions

Become a Champion

Streamline user training

Validate your skills

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