Copilot Studio for Beginners - Build Your First Agent

Overview:

This session is for people who have heard about Copilot Studio, maybe even logged in once, and want a clean start. We begin with the bigger picture: what an agent actually is, the difference between declarative agents and custom engine agents, and where Copilot Studio fits alongside the lighter-weight Agent Builder inside Microsoft 365 Copilot. We then build our first agent live, end to end. We give it a name, a description, and instructions written in plain English. We point it at a knowledge source - a SharePoint site or a few documents - so it can answer questions grounded in your real content. We use the Test pane to try it out and refine the instructions until it behaves the way we want. We add a couple of starter prompts so users have somewhere to begin, and we publish the agent to Microsoft Teams. Along the way we cover the essentials: what good instructions look like, why citations matter, when the agent will hallucinate, and how to keep it on the rails. You leave with a working agent of your own and the confidence to build the next one without help.

Why you should Attend:

Everyone has been told that AI agents are the future of work. The headlines are everywhere. The Microsoft slides are stunning. The actual experience for most people is opening Copilot Studio, staring at the canvas for thirty seconds, and quietly closing the tab. The tool is not the problem. The starting point is. Nobody has shown you the simple version, just the impressive version, and the gap between the two is where most people give up. This session fixes that. We start at the very beginning, build a real working agent together, and we do it without writing a line of code. By the end of the hour you will have your own agent answering questions, grounded in your own content, running inside Microsoft Teams. You will also understand the landscape — what Copilot Studio is, where it sits next to the Agent Builder inside Microsoft 365 Copilot, and which tool to reach for next time you have a problem worth solving with an agent.

Areas Covered in the Session:

• What an agent actually is, and what "agent" means in Microsoft 365 today
• Declarative agents vs custom engine agents, in plain English
• Where Copilot Studio fits next to the Agent Builder in Microsoft 365 Copilot
• Touring the Copilot Studio canvas without getting overwhelmed
• Creating your first agent: name, description, and instructions that work
• Pointing the agent at a knowledge source (SharePoint, files, websites)
• Using the Test pane to refine instructions and catch problems early
• Adding starter prompts so users know where to begin
• Publishing your agent to Microsoft Teams
• What good and bad agents look like, and the habits that separate them

Who Will Benefit:

• First-Time Makers - ready to build their first agent
• Microsoft 365 Champions - exploring agents for their teams
• Business Analysts & Power Users - with a problem an agent could solve
• IT Pros - getting hands-on before rolling agents out
• Curious Knowledge Workers - who want to understand what is actually possible