writing with Copilot - bespoke
TLDR
A bespoke training programme for public sector teams using Copilot for any kind of writing. Builds a shared approach to using Copilot well: writing that's detailed enough to be credible, clear enough to be acted on and unmistakably yours.
Copilot is a powerful tool for drafting and editing, and used well it can save real time, whatever your team is writing. Used badly, it produces writing that uses generic phrasing, confident-sounding claims that haven't been checked, and a tone that could belong to any organisation rather sounds specifically from yours.
There's a cost to getting this wrong. When a document is too long, too complex, or simply generic, the reader pays for it, in the time it takes them to work out what it actually says, and in how much they trust the person, and the organisation, who sent it. That in turn affects the organisation in how much people read, engage and act on what you communicate to them.
This training programme works directly with your team's own writing, whatever that writing is: email, policy submissions, internal communications, complaints responses, public-facing messaging or anything else your team produces. Before the day, we learn about your team and your organisation through a discovery conversation and pre-workshop questionnaire, and we use your organisation's strategy papers and tone of voice guide as the backbone of the training, so what we teach is compatible with how you work and helps carry your organisation's values, tone and messages through everything the team writes. Exercises are built from real, anonymised examples of your own writing.
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By the end of the programme, participants will be able to:
Prompt Copilot for a specific reader, purpose and format
Check the claims, figures and assumptions Copilot generates before they go into a document
Write drafts that reflect your organisation's tone of voice and house style
Structure documents, from a short email to a longer paper, so a reader can get the answer up front and the full detail if they need it
Apply one consistent approach to Copilot-assisted writing across the team
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Writing that's detailed enough to be credible and clear enough to be read and acted on
No unchecked claims and avoidable errors making it into final drafts
Writing that sounds like your organisation
One shared, consistent approach to Copilot use across the team
Confidence that Copilot-assisted work will hold up under scrutiny
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Pre-workshop questionnaire
A short discovery conversation and questionnaire covering what your team writes, how they're currently using Copilot, and where they run into problems most often. We also ask for your organisation's strategy papers and tone of voice guide, which become the backbone of the training, so the day reinforces your organisation's own values, tone and messages rather than working against them. This shapes the exercises and examples used on the day.
Full-day core workshop (in-person or virtual)
Participants work on their own writing throughout the day, whatever that is, built from real anonymised examples the team has provided. The day includes a live writing exercise, starting with something short such as an email, before moving on to a longer or more complex piece. For smaller teams, or where the focus is narrower, the workshop can run as a half-day instead.
Follow-up virtual meetup (2 hours, 1 month later, optional)
Review how the new approach is being used
Work through anything that needs further work
Identify any remaining gaps
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09:30 – 09:45 | Welcome and context
09:45 – 10:30 | Purpose, audience and effect
Writing for different readers, with a clear purpose, audience and effect in mind.10:30 – 11:15 | Structuring for the reader
Structuring documents so that readers with different requirements get what they need from each one, from a short summary through to the full version and a detailed annex if needed.11:15 – 11:30 | Break
11:30 – 12:45 | Copilot as a writing partner
Prompting Copilot for a specific reader, and testing a draft against different audience personas. Includes discussion of when Copilot can help with structure, challenge and editing, and when human judgement, confidentiality, accuracy checks and accountability must take precedence.12:45 – 13:30 | Lunch
13:30 – 14:45 | Practical writing: from an email to a longer document
Participants rework their own writing, from emails to longer documents, using Copilot, peer review and a structured checklist.14:45 – 15:00 | Break
15:00 – 16:00 | The ruthless edit
Cutting a long, dense document down to its essential point with confidence and speed: a rapid editing exercise that sharpens a 12-page document into 100 words in 10 minutes.16:00 – 16:30 | Commitments and close
What each participant will do differently the next day, and what the team agrees to do consistently going forward.
