Neil's background in UC and hobbies

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This episode explores practical ways to lift the quality of hybrid work through better tools, clearer communication, and smarter use of AI. Neil Fluester shares insights from years in unified communications, including how Copilot is evolving from a task engine to an enhancement engine, why peripheral design matters for productivity, and how thoughtful setups, from webcams to lighting to teleprompters, shape human connection in meetings. 

🎙️ Full Show Notes
https://www.microsoftinnovationpodcast.com/785

👉 What you’ll learn    

• How to move from basic Copilot prompts to agentic, enhancement-focused workflows 
• How hardware design influences productivity and meeting presence 
• How speaker attribution, transcription and translation are reshaping collaboration 
• How to improve video quality with simple upgrades to lighting, cameras and placement 
• How home automation and monitoring can streamline daily routines 

✅ Highlights    

• “I use it as a bit of a do engine. Copilot, do this for me, Copilot, do that for me.” “I’m trying to cross the chasm to where we move from that just getting it to do stuff to enhance me.” 
• “The translation stuff is just blows my mind.” 
• “You can kind of opt in and train it and teach it your linguistic style and your tone.” 
• “It’s garbage in, garbage out.” 
• “You wouldn’t leave the house looking terrible, so why would you turn up to the meeting looking terrible?” 
• “Stop sucking on the way you look.” 
• “Any free power is free power at the end of the day.” 
• “Lithium iron phosphate is the new chemistry that everyone sort of loves because it’s super safe.” 
• “You can knock up a large amount of kilowatt storage now.” 

🧰 Mentioned      

• Microsoft Teams - https://teams.microsoft.com 
• Copilot - https://copilot.microsoft.com 
• Microsoft MVP YouTube Series - How to Become a Microsoft MVP - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLzf0yupPbVkqdRJDPVE4PtTlm6quDhiu7 

✅ Keywords     
copilot, teams, logitech, webcams, teleprompter, ai, video quality, home assistant, automation, translation, transcription, unified communications 

Microsoft 365 Copilot Adoption is a Microsoft Press book for leaders and consultants. It shows how to identify high-value use cases, set guardrails, enable champions, and measure impact, so Copilot sticks. Practical frameworks, checklists, and metrics you can use this month. Get the book: https://bit.ly/CopilotAdoption

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Thanks for listening 🚀 - Mark Smith