☕ Tech Tips & Tales from The MS Office Maestro

Your weekly guided mini lesson on Microsoft, Copilot & smart working

☕ The Demo Nobody Sees

Hello Reader

This week started rather differently from most.

We had two of our granddaughters staying with us for a couple of days before they head back to school, so work took a back seat while we enjoyed some grandparent time.

One of the highlights was a trip to the local shopping mall to buy school supplies. There was great excitement over new school bags, pencil cases, pens and pencils. Every choice seemed incredibly important and quite rightly so when you're getting ready for a new school year.

What I loved most was that they also wanted to choose gifts for their brothers and sisters who weren't with us. That turned a simple shopping trip into something much more thoughtful and we all had great fun finding just the right things.

As I watched them carefully choosing everything they needed for the months ahead, it struck me that so much of life is about preparation.

Getting organised.

Thinking ahead.

Making sure everything is in place before the important day arrives.

A day later, I found myself back at my desk doing something surprisingly similar.

This year I’ll be delivering a new session called Cowork: Delegating Real Work to AI at The Autumn PA Show Summit and I was in full preparation mode.

Whenever I start creating a new session, I feel excited by the possibilities. New ideas, new demonstrations and new ways of helping people see what Microsoft 365 and Copilot can do in the real world.

What I tend to forget is how much work sits behind the polished presentation that the audience eventually sees.

For this session, I wasn't just creating slides. I was building realistic scenarios, creating supporting documents, testing workflows and making sure everything worked the way I wanted it to.

Then came rehearsal.

I opened Presenter View in PowerPoint, started talking through the session out loud and quickly discovered several things that needed attention.

Some wording sounded clumsy when spoken. A few slides were in the wrong order. Parts that made perfect sense when I was building the deck suddenly felt less clear when I heard myself explaining them.

So it was back to editing.

Then rehearsing again.

Then making a few more changes.

And that, of course, is exactly why rehearsal matters.

It reminded me of something I often tell assistants when they're preparing a presentation for an executive.

The slide deck isn't the finished product.

The finished product is a confident presenter who understands the material, knows the flow and can deliver it naturally.

That only comes from rehearsal.

This time I found Presenter View and Rehearse with Coach particularly useful. Presenter View helped me focus on the flow of the session and the transitions between sections, while Rehearse with Coach highlighted timing and pace.

Both helped me spot issues that simply weren't obvious when I was creating the slides.

It's remarkable how often something looks perfectly clear on the screen but sounds completely different when you say it out loud.

If you're supporting an executive, it's worth scheduling rehearsal time into the project plan. Not as a nice-to-have but as part of the presentation process itself.

The executive needs time to make the material their own.

Sometimes we focus so much on producing the deck that we forget to make space for the person who has to deliver it.

✨ This week's Copilot Moment

Turn speaker notes into a rehearsal checklist

You know when a presentation looks finished but you're not quite sure whether the flow works when you actually start speaking?

Before rehearsal, ask Copilot to help you spot potential weak points.

Try this in Copilot:

Role: Acting as my presentation coach

Goal: Review this presentation and identify places where I may stumble during delivery

Context: The audience is new to the topic

​Steps: Review slide titles and speaker notes and identify awkward transitions, jargon, unclear explanations, or places where more context may be needed

​Expectations: Present findings as a table with Slide Number, Potential Issue and Suggested Improvement

Why this helps at work

Rehearsal is where most presentation problems reveal themselves. Copilot can help you spot potential weak points in the flow of your presentation before you start practising, so you know what to pay attention to when you rehearse.

Quick win: Before your next presentation, ask Copilot to review the flow and identify any weak transitions between slides.

📌 A tiny Microsoft tip

Use Presenter View and Rehearse with Coach Together

Most people know about Presenter View in PowerPoint but fewer take advantage of Rehearse with Coach.

Presenter View helps you see your notes, timing and upcoming slides while practising. Rehearse with Coach listens as you present and provides feedback on pace, filler words and timing.

Where to find them:

· Presenter View: Slide Show → Presenter View

· Rehearse with Coach: Slide Show → Rehearse with Coach

Why this helps

Together they create a simple rehearsal environment before you ever stand in front of an audience.

Try this today: Take a presentation you've already delivered and spend ten minutes rehearsing it out loud using both tools. Don't change any slides before you start. See what you notice first.

🎓 Coming Up: Microsoft 365 with Copilot - The Human Advantage

My next Microsoft 365 with Copilot: The Human Advantage programme starts on 8 September.

Across four practical sessions, we'll explore how to get more from Microsoft 365, where Copilot can genuinely save time, and how human judgement remains your greatest professional advantage.

The Early Bird offer has now closed but enrolment is still open.

If you'd like to build confidence with Microsoft 365, Copilot and practical workplace AI, I'd love to have you join us.

​Find out more and reserve your place today.​

💛 Before I Go...

If there is one thing I've learned after years of delivering training, conference sessions and presentations, it's this:

Rehearsing silently in your head is not the same as rehearsing out loud.

The moment you start speaking, you'll discover what works, what doesn't and what needs a little more attention.

Whether you're preparing a board presentation, a team briefing or a conference session, give yourself time to rehearse.

The audience only sees the finished presentation.

They never see the preparation that made it possible.

Until next week,

✍️ Shelley Fishel

The MS Office Maestro​
Expert-led, human-centered Microsoft 365 training