Mondays at Microsoft | Episode 76

Added: 2026-06-03

[00:00:16]Heat.

[00:00:24]Hey. Hey.

[00:00:34]Welcome to Mendy's at Microsoft. I'm Caroline Gatimu and I can't tell you how excited I am to come to you from San Francisco. I am here for Microsoft Build and this is the show where we go over everything that's happening in the Microsoft world with a special focus on AI business solutions, security, and power platform. Heather is out on vacation this week. So, we have two wonderful things happening in this show.

[00:00:59]We have a guest host and we have a special guest. I'm just excited. We have a guest host, Jonathan Jones, from my team. John, come on air.

[00:01:10]>> All right. Hello, everyone. Good morning. Um, Caroline, I'm so excited to be here. I know it's been a works in progress for a little bit talking about us getting me on the show here. So, very excited. Um, for those who I have not had the opportunity to meet, my name is Jonathan Jones. I am a customer experience PM here on the Microsoft 365 customer advocacy group. Um, and again, just very excited to be here and share the stage with you, Carolina.

[00:01:35]>> Well, it's always lovely to have a stage to share. This is the purpose of this platform, new and exciting voices, and you are one of those for sure. And we like to bring everyone so much interesting stuff. Jonathan, what is coming up today?

[00:01:48]>> Yeah, for sure. We have lots of great stories as you mentioned. We are covering everything that is happening at build this week. Um so everything you need to know as a developer, a builder, all of the tech leaders that will be at the conference this week. Um lots of amazing things happening and we also have a brand new design for Microsoft 365 co-pilot. So excited to bring that to you all as well.

[00:02:09]>> We'll also be checking out new announcements about AI skills in SharePoint that's now in public preview.

[00:02:16]You are not going to want to miss this.

[00:02:17]And as I mentioned, we do have a special guest. That's Kimberly Catrell, and she's going to be talking about the upcoming AI skills fest, which is another thing you aren't going to want to miss. So, let's get into it. Let's talk about our question of the day. If you are watching live today on YouTube, LinkedIn, or Facebook, we invite you to answer this question in chat. Uh, Microsoft Build is our builder conference. Literally, it's for prodevelopers, but it's so much bigger than that. Now, since all of us are makers in one way or another, what are you excited about and for Microsoft Build? Like, tell us what you're interested in and what you want to hear about in the chat and we'll come back to them at the end of the episodes. So, now let's hop into Microsoft's big rocks.

[00:03:04]Um, these are the large things that Microsoft are doing that is shaping the AI landscape. And as I mentioned here in beautiful San Francisco, uh we're kicking off Build this week. And you know, there's no better place to start the day than on Mondays, uh than at Microsoft Build. We're going to come to you live with a look ahead and everything that's happening here.

[00:03:25]There's going to be announcements.

[00:03:26]There's always lots of sessions. And if you're not joining us here in San Francisco, you can still join online.

[00:03:32]You can visit build.microsoft.com and register and really be a part of the event. I get the opportunity to host our sponsors and be on air for a little bit, but I'll also be going to sessions because learning never stops. You can expect fresh announcements, real conversations, and behind the scenes view of how Microsoft is showing up for this community. And of course, our chairman and CEO Sati Nadella will be joined by Microsoft technical leaders as well as featured sessions with well-known voices like Scott Hanselman uh from Microsoft uh throughout the event. So, this is today. This begins today here in town. Uh, but the second and the third online and you want to make sure to uh take a look and be watching for the Microsoft Build Book of News. We'll make sure to get that for you if you're following our Microsoft community page on LinkedIn because it's going to have all of the announcements all in one place. So, join us tomorrow morning at 9:30 a.m. uh to follow and follow our live blog uh to learn more about Microsoft's updates in the AI powered tools and platforms for developers area for sure. Now, I want to call to all my SharePoint friends and fans. We already know that SharePoint is the number one knowledge store for Copilot that's governed and has permissions built in, so you don't have to worry about people seeing the wrong information. And now we've made it even more powerful. Skills extend AI in SharePoint by turning repeatable multi-step workflows into a reusable asset that others can run on the same site. I love this. This is in public preview. You have to go and try this.

[00:05:09]Especially if you want to tinker or you find yourself doing something more than two or three times on a site or with some data on a site. A skill can capture organization specific rules such as document standards or review checklists so that AI and SharePoint performs the task more consistently than one-off prompts because if you leave something out of the prompt then you've left it out of your process. You can create a skill in chat using natural language and review the draft before you save it and then you can reuse that skill across future prompts. I love these things. Uh and this is something that is becoming more and more mature in the AI space.

[00:05:44]rubrics and these skills uh in editable natural language files that that everyone can access uh and design and AI and SharePoint can automatically load a relevant skill based on your request or you can invoke it by name. So it uses the built-in capabilities of AI and SharePoint and it can chain those building blocks into a sequence right that is makes my workflow architect's heart happy. Depending on what uh AI and SharePoint supports on your site, a skill can understand and summarize content, organize files and folders, and interact with SharePoint content such as lists. Yes, you heard me say it. It can interact with lists. Woo! Now we're talking. So, two really important announcements for the top of the hour.

[00:06:28]And now, you know, this is everything is moving what we call the AI pace of change, AI clock speed, but it's important that you keep up your skills.

[00:06:37]And so I'm very happy to bring on air our guest Kimberly Catrell and she is the learning and skilling manager on the global skilling team and she's responsible for all for everyone knowing about the AI skillfest that is taking place in June. Hello. Hello Kimberly.

[00:06:56]>> Hi. It's so great to be here today with you Carana. Thank you for having me and I just can't wait to tell everyone about AI Skills Fest. It's coming up next.

[00:07:04]>> I know it's such an exciting thing. I love these because we make it fun. But but just let's start at the beginning.

[00:07:10]Tell everybody what AI Skillsfest actually is.

[00:07:15]>> All right. So AI Skillsfest is a global online event. It's happening June 8th to 12th and it's designed to make AI skilling feel practical and approachable and relevant to real work. So we're bringing everyone together around the world in one focused online experience that is curated by different job roles.

[00:07:36]um with live digital shows. We have expertled sessions and on demand learning. So there's really something for everyone here and we are so excited to help people build real skills they can use right away and gain confidence in AI. It's going to be awesome.

[00:07:56]>> That is fantastic. That is fantastic.

[00:07:59]And you know what I like that you said there and I love that we're doing is making it relevant for work, right?

[00:08:04]Because yes, you can go and you can hunt around. You can go on Microsoft Learn and frankly even I get a little overwhelmed with all the content that's on Microsoft Learn, but this is more of a structured way of learning and I feel like that's really fun. Plus, you know, you happen to be doing it with other people. And when you complete it, what happens? Is there like a badge? Is there is there something that shows that I did this thing?

[00:08:27]>> Yes. So, there's lots of fun perks like badges. We have Credley badges that folks can earn. Um, another really cool thing is that these AI Skills Fest playlists that I mentioned, they're curated by different job roles and you'll have the chance to go through and take courses that are curated for your job. And then after you finish the playlist, you could have the chance to earn a free certification exam voucher, which is awesome. Everyone loves those.

[00:08:56]So you can then go ahead and take that and um take your certification exam and then um get your certification as well.

[00:09:04]So there are so many fun perks like that.

[00:09:08]>> Well, that really matters. I mean, it's a fun perk, but also it's important to attach these things to your LinkedIn profile to prove you're educating yourself, uh to be able to share that with your manager or with your colleagues. And you know, for those of you out there who are champions who listen to this show, this is a fun thing to get people together in your organization to do. You can gify this in your own organization and have people join the AI skills fest and pick the different playlists that they might want to do. Make it fun for your own company.

[00:09:38]Uh, and get everybody in on it because it's really important that we all build these skills. Kimberly, um, how long have you been with, um, the the skilling area?

[00:09:49]Um, so I've been working in the skilling area for um, a few years. I've only been at Microsoft for six months, though, so it has been such a delight. Yes, I know.

[00:10:00]I'm a newbie. Um, and oh my goodness, I absolutely love it. Yes.

[00:10:04]>> Well, welcome to the madness. Uh, six months now is like six years. I'm so, you know, I have to say, but you're in a fun or in a great place. Um, I love working with the skilling folks. I, you know, I do content for y'all. I help you with all your stuff and our platforms connect together. I'm really working with your engineering teams and so it is uh so much fun. Welcome to the Microsoft fam. Glad to have you on. Uh now you >> I need to give you a uh I need to make a badge for Mondays at Microsoft guests. I can do that and you can put it on.

[00:10:40]>> Yes, this is definitely a highlight highlight of my first year for sure. Um, and I started right at Ignite. So, um, Ignite is my third week here. Um, and so, yeah, I've just had the most amazing first six months. Um, and I had the chance to share with people on the floor at Ignite AI Skills Navigator, which is the basis of AI Skillsfest. And people loved it. It was so cool to experience.

[00:11:03]And they especially love this playlist feature that you're going to get to experience as part of >> Yes, I remember that. I think I saw you there on the floor. I was roaming around with the crew doing interviews and stuff.

[00:11:14]Yeah, >> that that was really that was really fun. But that is that just shows um how much fortitude you have to join the three weeks before Ignite and and still be here and still be smiling. So, you know, I like people to know that there are people behind this AI uh revolution and everything that's happening. You know, it is not the machines taking over. No, we are actually really focused on workforce transformation and making sure people build the skills that they need to be successful going forward and everyone in the skilling zone works on that. Uh, and thank you for coming to represent them today. So, folks, get it together. You can take AI skills fest by the way, it's free. It's totally free.

[00:11:56]>> There's no charge. You go there, you register, you you know and one of the things that you can do is you can log in with your work address and then you can associate your personal addresses, email addresses to it. So that's portable for you. Uh and but that way it will validate well on your LinkedIn profile.

[00:12:13]So you know go do it.

[00:12:16]>> Yes, absolutely. Join us. Um it's uh you can register now at aka.maiiskllsfest and just go sign up so that you're in the queue and then you join us next Monday to get started and we'll have mainstage moments, playlists, live uh sessions. There's just so much that you can dig into and there's content that is about building your AI skills of course, but then there's content around human skills and kind of just exploring the um things like ask a recruiter session where we'll have a chance to get honest advice about how to navigate uh getting a job in this AI era. Um we'll also have a hackathon which is super cool um so developers and builders can have a chance to put their skills into action.

[00:13:04]uh submit an AI agent and bring a little competition into the experience. So there's just something for everyone. As I mentioned, you don't need to have any experience. If you are just new to AI, we have something for you as well um as those who are more um further along in their journey. So we're just so excited to bring people on.

[00:13:26]>> That is fantastic. And for the leaders out there who are listening to this or if you're hearing it on demand later, you know, really promoting an event like this in your organization is how you build a culture of learning. And I don't know about you, Kimberly, what do you think? I I think that being agile and being curious and learning is probably the most important skill since the actual tech is changing so quickly. Do you do you agree with that?

[00:13:50]>> Yeah, I absolutely agree with that. um you have to be agile. And then as a leader um I think the most important thing is to make space for this um in your team's uh experience. Make it visible. Give space for upskilling and learning about AI. Bring the whole team to AI skills fest. Upskill together.

[00:14:08]Learn together. Uh the leaders really set that tone on their team. And this is something that's super practical and role-based. And so everyone can kind of pick their job and then go through the training that will really help them immediately start using AI um in new and exciting ways.

[00:14:28]>> Thank you so much for sharing this all with you with us, Kimberly. Everybody out there, tell everybody about it. AI Skills Fest is super important. This is a great opportunity. Uh and you know, it's free skilling that you're going to be able to validate on your profile.

[00:14:43]It's an opportunity for leaders and champion leaders to really gamify and build that learning culture. This is wonderful and I'm just excited. I love this having guests on the show. This is a new thing we're doing and we're going to be doing more of it. So, thank you for joining us, Kimberly, and welcome.

[00:14:58]Really sincerely, welcome to Microsoft.

[00:15:00]It's a great time to be here and uh you know, I'm a bit of a fan girl of Microsoft, so you know, but uh >> me too. Me too. I love it so much. It's so great to be here. I'm just uh pinched myself. So happy.

[00:15:12]>> Excellent. Excellent. Alrighty then.

[00:15:15]Well, now we have even more exciting news that I know Jonathan is going to bring us. Jonathan is going to talk us all about the jets, I do believe. Oh my goodness.

[00:15:25]>> Yeah, absolutely. And just uh thank you so much again for you know just joining us and sharing about the AI skills fest.

[00:15:31]I saw the post on social. I'm like we have to what better time than now to have her on and and share the exact news and opportunity. So >> that is fantastic. And one thing I wanted to mention that um our lovely producer Aaron who's always just so together uh showed as well is we have a video on our channel with regard to uh this SharePoint skills. So if you'd like to see how those SharePoint skills work, go and take a look at the Microsoft Community Learning channel on YouTube.

[00:16:00]There's a great demo there and you can actually get a visual of how those skills are working. So I wanted to shout that out for people. Thank you, Erin, for pulling that up and double-checking that for me while we were live. That's he's such a he's a gem.

[00:16:12]>> So, Jonathan, tell us what's next.

[00:16:14]>> Yeah, absolutely. Um, so recently there was an article by Rob Schaefer with the Sports Business Journal where he did share about the NFL team, the New York Jets, and how they were really leaning into AI under their new front office leadership. Um, so Iwa Fosilo, he started as the New York Jets chief data and analytics officer this past January and his main duty was to oversee both the business and the football analytics.

[00:16:40]Um, since he joined the team, his primary focuses have been pretty much twofold, which is developing the internal analytics applications for coaching and scouting and then also continuing to drive AI usage throughout the entire organization. Um, the latter is actually an effort that the team owner, Woody Johnson, formerly began two years ago across the NFL. One of the first official NFL teams to kick off really implementing AI into their process. Pilo did say that 91% of the Jets front office now use Microsoft Copilot on a day-to-day basis. So, very exciting um, you know, for us and our teams to to hear those news and how they're adopting C-pilot. Um and this came up from just a handful um of teams and and people using co-pilot just at the beginning of and top of the year. So um very quick and very fast acceleration there with the adoption. Um he did say that he calls that the level one for their adoption program. Um and everything else is is still on the horizon to come. and he did reference his personal three-level framework for AI deployment within a company with levels two and three representing deeper levels of workflow automation. So really leaning to agents and how they can automate some of their processes there.

[00:17:53]So um we're really lots of amazing and groundbreaking technology and revelations happening in sports entertainment. So really just glad to see it coming to um the forefront like I said of adoption and usage there. Um, Facilo did project that measurable measurable business results to follow the Jets step into level two of their AI learning curve. Um, which he labels the workflow again the workflow automation stage where he said the Jets are already using AI to aid in areas um such as sponsor prospecting revenue reconciliation and then as well on the football side structuring data from physical evaluations of players at the draft combines at various practices and at various trainings as well. Um, so Facilo said that by using this as the cornerstone example of how they could really leverage AI and implement it within their organization, they could do all of these cool, you know, revelations and and tactics across scouting and coaching as we mentioned um, in just the fraction of the time that they were able to do it in before. Um, and you could really see the excitement across the organization and the staff and the players and the personnel. Um so again just really exciting news on how they're bringing this to the forefront here um with a human centric approach which is I know um carowana something that you Heather and myself that we like to really preach to the community is keeping that humanity and keeping that h human element within the revolution of AI as well.

[00:19:17]That is so true. Uh, you know, because this is about how AI can empower humans, not the other way around. And I think you can see this in the types of leaders that are really implementing AI in this way. Uh, they really they're getting it right. And it's hard to get it. So, I'm not knocking anybody who's still on their learning journey with regard to how they're going to implement AI, but really think about your people and how it can empower what they're already doing, how you can be doing new and different things, right? You don't want to get something as transformational as AI and do the same stuff with it that you've always been doing. You want to supercharge that stuff and also think about other business practices as part of that frontier transformation that we like to call it. So, that's a great story. Thank you for that, Jonathan.

[00:20:03]Yeah, absolutely.

[00:20:04]>> There's lots of lots of things happening. Lots of things happening.

[00:20:08]Let's take a few a look at a few product changes in case you missed it. There is a new design for Microsoft 365 Copilot.

[00:20:16]Uh again, I have to caveat it with that. If you're a trainer out there, I apologize from the bottom of my heart, but you know, this is where we teach our our business users to just look at the screen, read the screen. That is one of the most important skills you can have because yes, we're moving the buttons around quite a bit. Uh, but we've introduced a newly redesigned Microsoft 365 co-pilot to make it more intuitive and faster and more integrated into the flow of work.

[00:20:44]And this, of course, is based on feedback and research that we do with our user community around the globe. Uh, it transforms Copilot from a static prompt into a more dynamic taskaware workspace that adapts in real time and it surfaces the right tools and actions based on what you're trying to accomplish. It's cleaner and more responsive with the single flexible entry port across all the Microsoft 365 apps. Uh, but let me stop telling you about it. Let's just take a look. We have a video. So, let's give you a look at the new Microsoft 365 copilot.

[00:21:36]Oh, wow.

[00:21:46]Oh.

[00:22:00]Heat. Heat.

[00:22:08]Heat. Heat.

[00:22:55]There you have it folks. It really is uh a great um update to the design of Copilot and I hope that everyone will appreciate uh and I want to give a shout out to the folks who made that video because you may not realize how much time and effort it takes to do something like that that really shows and takes you on a product tour in less than in around a minute. Uh but go and take a look at the blog post that's on this by John Freriedman. Uh and I believe he is corporate vice president of the design studio if I'm not mistaken. Uh, but at any rate, uh, go and check out that blog post and it will be rolling to you very soon. If you do not already have it, I'm going to tell you about something. I'm going to hop into some of the other products here and I want to tell you about something that has personally changed my relationship with AI and literally how I work every day and that is co-pilot co-work. Now, of course, you remember that at Microsoft you have your choice of the different models that you work with. So this is going to be for the folks who have enthropic in their environment. But uh let me tell you something. Co-work is phenomenal at doing multiple things at the same time and outputting some of the most wonderful documents and artifacts that I have seen so far with AI. Uh it really works across conversations and skills and integrations and devices. It is really a fantastic experience and we recently introduced this through the frontier program. uh so that you can move beyond just having a dialogue and having a co-pilot be your work buddy that you can have conversations and get information from. This actually helps you delegate real tasks and have them complete for you. Uh I actually had co-work do a complete retrospective of my prior fiscal year and analyze all of the different strategy documents and assets we're putting together for FY27 and put it together in a beautiful deck uh to present to my leadership. And you know, I didn't have to do much to that deck. It was gorgeous. What's becoming clear is that once AI understands your work, it can start to really contribute and work alongside you, like in my example. And co-work is built on work IQ. And that's our intelligence layer that understands your data and tools in your organization all in that governed and secure manner. So the foundation allows co-work to plan, act, and produce outcomes that are really grounded in that information. So, if you're not in the Frontier program, this is an excellent reason to be in it. And think about some of the more difficult things that you need to actually accomplish that you need to get done. And this is when you can bring co-work uh into your world. And it all you have to do is go into your uh app catalog, your agent catalog, and pull that up, and it'll show up right there on your left rail, and off you go. So, uh Charles Amano will tell us all about that. Now, Jonathan, you have one of my favorite items. I do believe you do.

[00:25:48]>> Do very happy to share. So, if you have been to any of our community events around the world, you may have seen the announcement about the new 2026 work trend index annual report. Um, so we did analyze trillions of anonymous Microsoft 365 productivity signals and we surveyed over 20,000 workers using AI across 10 countries. We also spoke with leading experts in AI, work, and organizational psychology. We are building out the Microsoft 365 co-pilot with the future of work in mind. And our latest wave of co-pilot helps employees, leaders, and organizations meet us in that moment.

[00:26:26]Some stats that we did find was that only one in four AI users in an organization say that their leadership is clearly and consistently aligning on AI. In fact, 65% of AI users fear that falling behind um could be a possibility if they do not use AI to adopt quickly.

[00:26:46]Yet, almost half, about 45% say that it feels safer to focus on current goals than to redesign how to work, how the work will get things done using AI. So, this is what we call the transformation paradox. Um so in plain and simple language what this means is that the same forces are accelerating AI adoption but they are also holding us back in some ways. So these trends and data are really useful and wonderful to help us leverage within our conversations with teams, executives, our leaders um when discussing overall the adoption of co-pilot into our business operations.

[00:27:24]So, make sure you give that a read and really put some thought and share this story out. Um, because we do want to continue the conversation of how we're leveraging AI and how we're driving adoption again, keeping that humanity at the center of it.

[00:27:38]>> All right. And with that, uh, well, Carowana, do you have any thoughts? I know you love, you know, digging.

[00:27:43]>> You know, I talk about the work trends index all the time. I think it's really important. And again for champions and leaders, this is information to inform your strategy about how you're going to engage people with AI and you know miss some of the road bumps that other people have uh encountered like take advantage of what other people have done in the research that we've done to be able to inform your strategy. So uh the deck that's out there is gorgeous. You can use those slides yourself or take pieces of it. Uh so I highly encourage people never start from scratch with this stuff. always use our stuff and and build your build your work from there.

[00:28:18]So, but I know that we'll be talking about it more because you're going to talk about all these events. I saw this list. It's huge. There's no way we'll get through all of them. Highlight, I think, for us.

[00:28:29]>> Yeah, absolutely. Um, so let's with that, let's jump into our community events. Um, which you can, as always, check out on our one-stop shop for all Microsoft community events, and that's mic www. communitydays.org. So, be sure to go over and check that out and make sure you're attending these local events and sharing yours as well. Um, our community engagement initiative this month and our calls are kicking off very strong per usual. Um, again, feel free to go over to check check out the site and the calendar where you can find all of those listings there. Um, you can also go to our Microsoft tech community.

[00:29:03]Um, so you could go to that aka link there where again you can find all of those MTC listings for the events. Um, we do invite you to stay in the know about all of our event production and training series that we've been doing.

[00:29:15]So, if you want those on your calendar, you want to attend um and get some cool tips and tricks from us, um, be sure to join our MGCI call so you can sign up um, at the AK, excuse me, aka link right below there. Um, and always be sure to subscribe to our Microsoft community learning channel. Some of you may be watching here right now live with us.

[00:29:35]This is where all of our videos and content, learning series, everything will live on demand. Um, so we have everything from broadcast to keynotes to interviews to event content. So again, make sure you subscribe, turn on alerts, and we'll be having lots of amazing content to continue to roll out over the next few months. Um, so again, we are in very high event season and as Karen pointed out, there is a ton going on all over the world. Um, and these are just some of our past event over the last two weeks. Um we just wrapped up the Microsoft Azure Infra summer um which was uh virtual and online this May. Um we also had different virtual recordings of the SharePoint internet festival. So that did kick off May 20th. Um I believe that is on demand. So again if you want to go over to the website and the MTC listing and catch up on the content there. Um, so again, lots of amazing local events happening um, all over the world, all across our communities and coming up, lots of amazing events um, and and just exciting activities taking place as well. Um, I know we're having a build watch party. Um, so that will be taking place. There's tons of those being planned again across the country if you are not attending in person at the conference. So be sure to get with some of your local community members um, and see if there's anything taking place um, in your city. there. We have a collab days coming up in Madrid on June 4th. Um, a Memphis community days. We are coming up on our TechCon Chicago which all of our team will be at. I know myself will be there. Heather, Brian Wolfberg, um, Carolina, you'll be there all just giving sessions and connecting with the community. So, I'm very excited to represent my hometown in Chicago um, and attend that uh, that conference and that event for the first time. So, again, lots of just amazing events coming up. So feel free um again to go to communitydays.org and make sure you're in the know there. Um carowana again lots of exciting things happening.

[00:31:30]Right.

[00:31:32]>> There are there's so many exciting things happening and actually I will not be at TechChon Chicago. I believe Heather and Brian are going to keynote that. Um you all are going to have such a good time. I'm missing out.

[00:31:43]>> Doubt as always.

[00:31:45]>> I know you will. I've been traveling so much that I'm I'm a little I'm a little happy to be home for a minute uh and see the family. But um let's bring Kim Kimberly back on just so we can wrap this up and say goodby good goodbye.

[00:31:58]Thank you again Kimberly for joining us with regard to AI Skills Fest. John Jones, you killed it. Gotta love you as my co-host. This is fantastic. You all don't want to miss our next episode. Do you? Of course you don't. That's going to be on June 15th. Come back here.

[00:32:14]Share us with your friends and your colleagues at work. We try to keep you up to date on everything that's happening. um and follow along on our Microsoft community channel on Microsoft uh on the on LinkedIn if I can get that out and we will see you again June 15th.

[00:32:32]>> All right. Thank you everyone.

[00:32:34]>> Everyone thank you. So great to be here.