Ever leave a meeting and realize nobody wrote down the action items…again? Or maybe you and your staff struggle to balance time in meetings with organizing notes – leading to unclear priorities or clarity into who’s handling what. We’ve all been there. But now there’s an answer to all our problems in Teams, thanks to Microsoft. In this article, you’ll explore how your business can leverage Copilot in Microsoft Teams Meetings – so everyone can reclaim time back in their day.
Table of Contents
What is Microsoft 365 Copilot?
Microsoft 365 has leveled up since the introduction of Copilot. These days, all you need to do is type a quick question in order to do more in apps your organization already uses, like Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and Teams.
By harnessing advanced AI and tapping into your organization’s data through Microsoft Graph, Copilot gives you real-time assistance tailored to specific tasks at the moment you need it.
Key Features
- Enhanced productivity
- Informed decision-making
- Improved communication
What Copilot Looks Like in Teams Meetings
Copilot integrates with your day-to-day use of Teams – including meetings, calls, chats, and channel conversations. It turns standard meetings into strategic assets – more efficient, more focused, and easier to act on.
“When Copilot is integrated into Teams, it doesn’t just record what happened,” explained Reid Johnston, Teal cofounder and CIO. “It helps teams understand what matters, where to focus their attention, and what to do next. That kind of clarity changes how decisions get made.”
Let’s take a look at how you can use Copilot in a Teams meeting.
How to Use Copilot During a Meeting
Catch Up
Running a few minutes behind to a meeting? No problem. If Copilot is enabled, you’ll get a prompt to catch up. Just click Open Copilot, and a meeting summary will appear on the right – so you’re instantly in the loop without disrupting the meeting flow.
Make Meetings More Productive
Want to keep things focused? Click Copilot from the meeting controls, select View Prompts to explore helpful prompts like:
- “Recap the meeting so far”
- “List action items”
- “Generate meeting notes”
- “What questions are unresolved?”
Or create your own questions, such as:
- “What points did Sarah disagree with?”
- “Create a pros/cons table of the ideas discussed.”
- “What questions can I ask to move the conversation forward?”
Bonus: You can pop out the Copilot pane into a new window to take notes, check emails, or multitask without losing track of the meeting.
End the Meeting with Clear Next Steps
Near the end of the meeting, Copilot will prompt you to wrap up. It delivers a crisp summary and ensures follow-up tasks are crystal clear – so no one leaves the meeting wondering what to do next.
You can also ask:
- “What’s still unresolved?”
- “Any open items left from the agenda?”
Using Copilot After a Meeting
You can still access Copilot’s insights even after the call ends. Just head to the meeting chat or the Recap tab.
From the Chat
Click Open Copilot in the upper-right corner. It pulls from both the meeting transcript and chat to give you a full picture.
“One of the things our clients love most is how Copilot keeps delivering value even after the meeting ends,” said Reid.
“You can ask a simple question like ‘What ideas were discussed?’ and instantly get a clear summary – which is pulled from the transcript and the chat. It gives leaders what they need to make faster, smarter decisions.”
From the Recap Tab
This option gives you the same insights and chat history as the meeting chat. Microsoft points out one important note for recurring meetings:
Pro tip: If you want to hang onto Copilot insights for future reference, consider saving them outside the meeting thread.
Copilot vs Intelligent Recap in Teams Meetings
While both Copilot and Intelligent Recap enhance the Teams meeting experience using AI, they serve distinct functions.
Intelligent Recap
The Intelligent Recap feature gives you a post-meeting overview. It includes AI-generated notes, suggested tasks, and personalized highlights. This allows participants to catch up on or review meetings more efficiently.
| Intelligent Recap Feature | Description |
|---|---|
|
Meeting recording |
Replay the entire meeting or jump to relevant timestamps. |
|
Speaker timeline |
See when each person spoke and the duration. |
|
AI notes |
Review key discussions, themes, decisions, and summarized content. |
|
Automatic task detection |
Highlighted follow-up tasks and assignments. |
This feature is enabled by your team. It does not require you to create any prompts to gain insights from the meeting.
Copilot Meeting Insights
Copilot, on the other hand, acts as a real-time assistant. You can gain dynamic insights before and during your meetings using prompts. Here are some examples Microsoft provides on how you can leverage it in each instance:
Before:
- Ask Copilot about the agenda, participants, goals, or context. It will search across emails, documents, chats, and more to give you helpful responses.
- Use Copilot to create a structured meeting outline or talking points.
- Prepare key questions to keep the discussion focused and productive.
During:
- Copilot listens and transcribes meeting audio live.
- It identifies agreements, disagreements, options, decisions, actions, and follow-ups.
- You can ask questions like “What are the pros and cons of option A?”
- Copilot provides relevant insights and can suggest next steps.
- You can ask Copilot to set reminders (e.g., “Remind me to email Jack after the meeting”).
Anticipated ROI & Real-world Applications
According to Microsoft, Copilot users save on average 10 hours a month when catching up on missed meetings. That time savings translates into some serious productivity gains – especially when users consistently adopt the habit of using Copilot.
After 11 weeks of consistent use, a tool like Copilot can become second nature. If your team uses it daily, they can gain back 11 minutes each day. That’s over 10 hours saved in the same amount of time it takes to build the habit.
“When you bring in a new solution, it has to move the needle – you need to see real, measurable impact,” said Reid. “That’s exactly what we’ve seen with Copilot, both in our own operations and across our many of our clients’ organizations.”
Our Experience Investing in Copilot
As a strategic MSP, we’re constantly evaluating technologies that can drive meaningful impact for our clients. When Microsoft Copilot launched, we saw clear potential. Not just for internal gains, but as a tool many of our clients could benefit from as well.
We piloted it with our leadership team and quickly saw results. From meeting summaries to intelligent task management, Copilot streamlined our workflows and surfaced insights that supported faster, more informed decisions.
The real value became clear within a few months: reduced manual effort, improved clarity, and more time spent on high-impact initiatives.
In fact, one of our financial services clients used Copilot to automatically capture meeting tasks and eliminate follow-up confusion, and it saves them 5 hours per week.
Copilot is a strategic asset for any organization looking to improve productivity, growth, and decision-making.
Accelerate ROI with a Clear Copilot Implementation Path
Whether you’re exploring its capabilities or wondering how it could support your team, our Microsoft 365 experts are here to help.
As your IT partner, we’ll guide you through integration, answer your questions, and make sure it aligns with your business goals.
What You Should Know Before Using Copilot in Teams Meetings
Before diving in, here are a few important things to keep in mind to get the most out of Microsoft Teams Copilot:
- Transcription Enables Copilot, But It’s Optional
To use Copilot during a meeting, transcription must be turned on, unless the meeting organizer selects “Copilot only during the meeting.”
This is a great option for confidential conversations where you want AI assistance without recording or saving a transcript. Just note:
- Copilot won’t be available in the Recap tab afterward.
- If you want to keep anything Copilot generated (like summaries or ideas), copy it before the meeting ends.
- Starting Copilot
If Copilot is set to “Only during the meeting” Copilot does not start automatically. Participants must select Copilot in the top menu to start Copilot for the meeting. Once it is started, it will be on for the duration of the meeting.
- Internal Use Only
Copilot only works in meetings hosted within your organization.
- Private, Personalized Support
No one else in the meeting can see what you’re asking Copilot or what it’s generating.
Get Started with Copilot Using Microsoft’s Resources
Microsoft has created a Success Kit to help your team unlock value from Microsoft 365 Copilot.
Download the resources that match where you are in the implementation process and move forward with confidence.
