Because you asked: Take prompting to the next level

Laura Mae Martin, Google’s executive productivity advisor, shares ways to work smarter with Google Workspace. If you missed our last post, check out Small but mighty ways Gemini boosts my workday.

Our question comes from Mina, a sales director. She asks, “What techniques can I use to write a single, highly effective prompt?”

Instead of trying to write that single perfect prompt, you can use multiple tactics and steps to achieve better and more consistent results. For example, let’s imagine you’re planning your annual sales conference. Here are several approaches that can help you get the most out of Gemini and the event.

Offer context

You want Gemini to help you develop a sales conference agenda and schedule. The more background details you can provide in your prompts, the more helpful Gemini’s responses will be. Share as much relevant context as possible, including:

• Basic timing: The conference begins Tuesday evening at 6 with a welcome dinner and ends Friday morning at 11.
• Your high-level sales goals: Increase revenue from current customers by 15% and secure a 5% market share in a new sales region.
• Conference sessions and their ideal lengths: keynote (60 min), market overview (45 min), two strategy sessions (90 min each), new product review (75 min), teambuilding activity (2 hours), and a “fireside chat” forum with our CEO (45 minutes).
• Reference points: Review the attached conference agendas from prior years.
• Constraints: The conference is for 20 sales team members with a maximum budget of $25,000. Limit formal programming to six hours daily and schedule all sessions between 8:30 AM and 5:00 PM.
• Feedback from last year’s sales conference: Attendees wanted more time for informal networking.

Question

Try an iterative process with Gemini that’s similar to a discussion, where each question builds on the last one. This can help you identify blind spots in your agenda, session outlines, and presentations. Don’t worry if you can’t remember to include all the context the first time around. It’s not a monologue — it’s a conversation. Here are three examples of questions you can ask.

• In the Gemini app: What conference theme or tagline would best engage the sales team? Review @2026SalesStrategy, @2025ConferenceSessionOutlines, and @2025ConferenceAgenda.
• Using Gemini in Google Docs: How can I make the conference networking sessions in this agenda more effective?
• In Gemini in Google Sheets: Does my catering checklist cover dietary restrictions and sustainability goals?

Gemini can also generate questions for you. Try prompts like these:

• Ask me three questions that will further clarify my conference goals.
• What 10 questions should I ask to confirm that the conference agenda is engaging and aligns with our sales strategy?
• What five questions should I ask to ensure we can clearly measure the financial ROI of the conference?

Learn how to question your way to better prompting.

Refine

Tell Gemini what it got wrong and what you’d like to see instead. There’s no need to be polite — you can’t hurt Gemini’s feelings.

• Try focusing on outcomes: Alternate deep-dive conference sessions with energizing team-building exercises to maximize engagement.
• Incorporate new information: Rewrite this slide to reflect the changes to @2026SalesStrategy.
• Offer specific feedback: The session outline you provided spends too much time on past sales performance. Instead, shift to a forward-looking focus on future goals.
• Change formats. In the Gemini app, suggest: Create talking points using @2026SalesGoals in Google Slides.
• Go further. Even if you’re happy with the response you received, push the boundaries by iterating one more time. That last prompt may unlock surprising and powerful results: Is there something I missed? Share one last thing that could make the conference better.

Prompt across Workspace

Include references to files from across Google Workspace in your prompts. Draft a conference invitation in Gmail by referencing @2025ConferenceAgenda in Docs. Create a status update Doc by referencing multiple files in your Drive, including @2025ConferenceBudget, @2025ConferenceSchedule, and @2025ConferenceVendorProposals. To access files and data from multiple apps, you’ll need to turn on Google Workspace extensions.

Build your skills over time

Prompting is a conversation and often requires give and take. Instead of trying to write one perfect prompt, use each response as a chance to learn and guide the next prompt. When you allow for back and forth, Gemini generates richer and more-relevant results that drive measurable, real-world outcomes. So your sales conference will ignite the performance you need.

Check out our Prompting Guide 101.