The Hidden Architecture of Copilot: Understanding Microsoft 365 Before You Turn It On

Microsoft 365 can feel like a collection of separate tools—Teams, SharePoint, Planner, Viva Engage, and Groups—until Copilot enters the picture and suddenly connects everything. If you’ve ever wondered how all these services are related (or why Copilot’s answers depend so heavily on how they’re set up), this session is for you.

In this session, you’ll learn the foundational concepts behind Microsoft 365 Groups and the different types of SharePoint sites—the building blocks that power collaboration across Teams, Planner, Outlook, and Viva. Whether you’re a business user, an M365/Teams/SharePoint administrator, or part of a security or governance team, understanding this architecture is critical to making Copilot useful, accurate, and secure in your tenant.

Karen will break down these often-overlooked fundamentals in a clear, approachable way and show why governance and user education are not optional add-ons—but essential prerequisites for Copilot success. You’ll leave with a stronger understanding of how Microsoft 365 really works, why Copilot depends on it, and what you can do now to ensure your organization is truly ready to get value from AI.

How Sensitivity Labels Protect Your Organization from Oversharing with Copilot

This session is for both admins (Global, SharePoint, Teams, Purview) and M365 power users. When preparing to implement Copilot, we are always told we should be using sensitivity labels as a part of compliance and risk management. What are sensitivity labels? What can they do? How do you implement them?

In this session we will:

1 - Review Microsoft 365 Groups and how they are a part of SharePoint and Microsoft Teams
2 - Learn what a sensitivity label is, what it is capable of, who can create them, and how to create them
3 - Learn what a retention label is, who can create them, and how to create them
4 - Learn what a Data Loss Protection (DLP) policy is and who manages them
5 - Discuss how sensitivity labels, retention labels, and DLP policies work together to extend security and compliance in a tenant.
6 - Review what we know and how to define our needs and build a strategy for implementation using this knowledge
7 - Discuss options for user adoption and training

Copilot Without Chaos: How Sensitivity Labels Prevent Oversharing Before It Happens

Copilot doesn’t create risk; it exposes the gaps already in your data estate. When a prompt surfaces the wrong file or summarizes information that was never meant to travel, the issue isn’t Copilot itself; it’s the permissions, labels, and lifecycle decisions that have quietly accumulated over time. These moments often trigger questions from Legal, Security, or HR about what happened and whether the organization can stand behind its governance model.

This session walks through a realistic Copilot-enabled scenario end to end: the initial prompt, the unintended oversharing, the resulting escalation, and the investigation that follows. You’ll see how Sensitivity Labels guide what Copilot can use, how Purview and eDiscovery form the record of truth, and why label design and content architecture show up later when accountability matters.

We focus on what Copilot changes in M365, how it amplifies the structures already in place, and how to align labels, retention, DLP, permissions, and eDiscovery so Copilot remains both useful and defensible. This is not a policy walkthrough. It’s a practical, real-world view of how to prepare your environment before and after Copilot goes live.

Who Should Attend

- M365 Admins and Architects
- Security, Compliance, and Purview teams
- Teams and SharePoint Admins
- Copilot rollout leads
- Anyone responsible for governance or risk in M365

How to Store and Display Video in SharePoint and Microsoft Teams

Now that you have to store all video files in SharePoint and OneDrive, what options do you have for displaying and sharing videos? What can Copilot do for you with Stream? Learn how Karen helped clients reorganize their videos on their intranets, in Microsoft Teams, and for sharing from OneDrive. Gain an understanding of how many different web parts can support your video goals for your organization. And a bonus (time permitting) - learn about some cool, new features in the new Stream app in Microsoft 365 including what Copilot can do for you in Stream.

This session will help Stream Classic video administrators understand how to manage videos in SharePoint, Teams, and OneDrive and how to use Copilot for Stream.

Stream classic administrators are having a difficult time understanding how to transition from managing video files in Stream classic to managing them in SharePoint. SharePoint Administrators don't know anything about displaying videos. This session will help bridge the gap for both groups.

Managing the Process: Migrating to SharePoint Online

You've upgraded your SharePoint site in the past (or maybe you haven't), but now you're moving it to the Microsoft 365 Cloud. What do you need to plan for? What steps are needed for this kind of migration? Who do you need to include in the planning process? How do you identify and manage the risks? Karen will talk through real examples of managing simple and highly customized migrations from on-premise SharePoint sites to Microsoft 365 - managing the requirements, timeline, migration, and follow-up for a successful migration.

Managing Permissions in SharePoint and Teams

This session will focus on how to manage permissions whether you are a SharePoint site owner or an owner of a team in Microsoft Teams. We will discuss and demonstrate
• how to plan your site permissions for Intranet sites, collaboration sites, or team sites.
• the tricks to managing permissions for videos in your SharePoint environment.
• how permissions are handled for Power Apps that you display on your SharePoint site.
• how to protect work in a team in Microsoft Teams while sharing information and files from your team to people outside of it via your team’s SharePoint site.

Organization Branding in Your Tenant

Almost all organizations expect their employees to support their brand by following the organization's branding guidelines. Organization branding guidelines can be automatically enabled through the use of three tools that allow business users to manage branding in your tenant. See the power of utilizing the Organization Assets Library in your tenant, the new Brand Center in SharePoint, and the Brand Center for ClipChamp. In addition to demonstrating how these branding tools work, this session will walk administrators through how to set them up.

Not an Administrator? This session will show you what is possible with the use of the Organization Asset libraries and Brand Kits. Come to the session to learn what you can do with branding in your SharePoint sites and how to use an organization asset library. You will leave knowing what to ask your admins to setup for you.

Project Management in Microsoft 365

Tools like Planner, Planner Premium (aka Project for the Web), Project Online, and Task Lists make it confusing to understand which tool to use to manage different kinds of projects. Add Copilot's new Project Manager agent into the mix and it isn't always straightforward. Let's take a tour of these tools and leave the session knowing what to use for tracking tasks, running projects, and what can be automated or streamlined with a Copilot license.

Lights, Camera, Copilot: Creating Impactful Videos with Microsoft 365

Your Microsoft 365 tenant includes powerful capabilities for recording, editing, and producing video content—and now Copilot makes it even easier. In this session, you’ll explore how Microsoft Clipchamp and the new M365 Copilot Video Creator can transform how your organization communicates.

Learn how to:

- Produce polished videos in minutes using Copilot‑assisted scripting, editing, and scene generation
- Apply your organization’s branding automatically with Brand Center integration
- Create personalized, one‑minute videos for colleagues and teams
- Edit Copilot‑generated videos or revise meeting recordings to highlight key moments
- Navigate practical tips, best practices, and common questions about using video across Microsoft 365

Walk away with the confidence to bring video into your everyday workflows—no production studio required.

Making Sense of Project Tools in Microsoft 365: Planner, Projects, and the Power of Copilot

Microsoft 365 offers a suite of project and task management tools—but with recent changes, overlapping features, and evolving deprecations, it can be difficult to know which one to rely on. From Planner to Planner Premium (formerly Project for the Web), from legacy Project Online to SharePoint Task Lists, and now the Copilot Project Manager agent, the choices can feel overwhelming.
Join this session for a fast-paced, practical tour of the Microsoft 365 project management ecosystem. You’ll learn:

- Which tools are actively evolving—and which are on the path to retirement
- How Planner, Planner Premium, Project Online, and List-based task tracking differ
- Clear “use this when…” scenarios for personal tasks, team collaboration, structured projects, and enterprise portfolios
- How Copilot enhances planning, reporting, and project automation across the stack

Walk away with a confident understanding of the tools available today—and a simple decision framework to choose the right one for every project, every team, and every level of complexity.

Magical M365 Groups

If you are new to Microsoft 365 or if you have never really thought about how Microsoft 365 Groups, SharePoint, Microsoft Teams, Microsoft Planner, and Viva Engage are all related . . . This session is for you! Whether you are a business user, a systems administrator for SharePoint, Teams, or M365 Groups -- or if you are a security person -- understanding the foundation of Microsoft 365 will benefit you. This session will cover the basics of Microsoft 365 groups as well as the foundations of the different types of SharePoint sites. Karen will simplify this complex topic and help everyone understand the need for governance and education for users - and how this will prepare you for M365 Copilot.

This is a topic I share frequently through work. There isn't a time when I have given it that an admin or user hasn't been surprised by some of the information. It's a primary building block for understanding the tools used in a Microsoft 365 tenant.