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Building quick workarounds with Copilot – practical tools, data conversion and team shortcuts

Copilot

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Overview

Every team has a list of small annoying problems that never quite make it onto the IT backlog. Data in the wrong format, manual conversions that take an hour every week, reports that need reformatting before they're usable. This workshop is about fixing those problems yourself, fast, using Copilot. We'll work through real examples of data conversion, quick tool building and practical shortcuts that save genuine time. Hands-on and problem-focused, you'll spend most of the session working on actual challenges you bring to the room. No coding required, just curiosity and a willingness to experiment.

Workshop Outcomes

  • Use Copilot to solve small but persistent team problems without involving IT
  • Convert, clean and reformat data quickly using AI-assisted techniques
  • Build simple helper tools and shortcuts tailored to your team's actual needs
  • Develop a problem-solving mindset that reaches for Copilot before a workaround spreadsheet
  • Leave with working solutions to real problems you brought on the day

Topics Covered

  • The "hacky tool" mindset; solving small problems fast with AI
  • Data conversion and cleanup; CSV, JSON, tables and messy formats
  • Building quick calculators, checklists and reference tools with Copilot
  • Formula generation and spreadsheet problem-solving without being an Excel expert
  • Turning repetitive manual tasks into reusable Copilot prompts
  • Real examples from government and corporate teams

Who this workshop is for

Operations staff, coordinators, executive assistants, analysts and team leaders who deal with data wrangling, format conversions or repetitive manual tasks. Anyone who has ever thought "there has to be a faster way to do this." No technical background required.

Materials provided

Prompt recipe cards for common data tasks; conversion and cleanup cheat sheet; reusable prompt template library

What to bring

Laptop with Copilot access; at least one real problem or data file you'd like to solve during the session (the messier the better)