Chatting with Your AI Sidekick - 10 Gemini Prompts for Your Daily Grind

April 23, 2025
7 mins
Artificial Intelligence
gemini

Hey there! So, you’ve probably heard about Gemini, Google’s cool AI helper. If you use Google Workspace stuff like Gmail, Docs, Sheets, Slides, or Drive, you can actually chat with Gemini right there in the side panel! There’s also Gemini Advanced for a standalone chat experience. It’s like having an extra brain for summarizing emails, whipping up documents, and lots more.

To get Gemini to really nail what you need, you gotta practice writing good prompts. Think of it like giving clear instructions to a new teammate. Stuff like telling it who you want it to act as (persona), what you want it to do (task), giving it the background info (context), and saying how you want the answer presented (format) really helps. You don’t need all four every time, but using a few will definitely improve things. Don’t forget to be specific and use natural language, like you’re just talking to someone.

Oh, and a super handy trick? You can use the @ symbol in your prompts to pull in info from other files in your Workspace!. It’s a quick way to give Gemini extra context from your documents, spreadsheets, or presentations.

Getting great results sometimes takes a little back-and-forth. Don’t be afraid to refine your prompts or even ask Gemini how it thinks you could make the prompt better. It’s all part of making it a conversation.

Okay, let’s look at some specific examples for those daily Gemini prompts we talked about, pulling from the sources to see how to make them effective. Remember, the goal is clear communication with your AI sidekick.

Summarize this email thread:

Example Prompt: “Summarize the key points of this email thread about the Q3 marketing budget meeting, focusing on action items and owners.”
Why it works: This is a classic summarization task mentioned as a capability of Gemini in the Workspace side panel, especially in Gmail. It specifies the context (email thread topic) and asks for specific details (action items, owners), making the request clear. Asking for specific details like action items and owners helps focus the summary.

Draft an email confirming attendance and asking about the agenda:

Example Prompt: “As a project manager, draft an email to the steering committee confirming my attendance at the meeting next Tuesday. Ask if we can allocate 15 minutes to discuss recent [urgent project roadblock] and [potential solution] before the main agenda items. Use a professional but approachable tone.”
Why it works: This prompt uses a persona (“As a project manager”), defines a specific task (draft email, confirm attendance, ask about agenda), provides context (meeting details, topics), and specifies a desired tone. Crafting emails based on specific needs is a common use case.

Summarize a report for a specific audience, focusing on key findings, implications, vulnerabilities, and actions, with a formal tone:

Example Prompt: “As a lead analyst, summarize the attached quarterly financial report (@[Q3 Financial Report]) for a non-technical executive audience. Focus on the key performance indicators, variance from the previous quarter, and projections for Q4. Present the summary as three key bullet points followed by a brief concluding paragraph. Use a formal tone.”
Why it works: This is a strong example of incorporating persona, task (summarize), context (report file, audience, specific focus areas), and format/tone (bullet points, paragraph, formal). Using the @ symbol to reference a specific file provides direct context from your Workspace. Summarizing for a specific audience is a recommended technique.

Suggest blog post topics that would be interesting for people passionate about travel and the tourism industry.

Make the topics unique and relevant. Include the target audience, a content outline, and a call to action for each.

Example Prompt: “Suggest blog post topics that would be interesting for people passionate about travel and the tourism industry. Here’s what I want you to focus on: Make the topics unique. There are lots of tourism blogs out there — let’s come up with fresh angles that would stand out. Keep the topics relevant. Tap into current trends or recent challenges/innovations within the tourism industry when brainstorming. I’d like each topic to include: Target Audience, Content Outline, Call to Action.”
Why it works: This is taken almost directly from a source example. It sets a clear task (suggest topics), specifies the context (topic area, desired qualities like uniqueness, relevance), and explicitly lists the required components for the format. Brainstorming is a common use case.

Example Prompt: “Write three engaging social media posts about our new sustainable coffee blend that would appeal to environmentally conscious young adults. Keep each social media post to two sentences and include a call to action to visit [our website].”
Why it works: This prompt is structured very similarly to an example from a source. It defines the task (write social media posts), provides context (product, topic, target audience), and includes constraints on format (number of posts, sentence limit, call to action). Drafting social content is a practical use.

Create a spreadsheet to track project issues:

Example Prompt: “In Sheets, create a simple spreadsheet to track project issues for the website redesign project. Include columns for Issue Description, Status (e.g., Open, In Progress, Resolved), Assigned To, Priority (e.g., High, Medium, Low), and Date Reported. Provide a sample row with placeholder data.”
Why it works: This clearly states the desired app (Sheets), the task (create a spreadsheet), the context (what it tracks, project type), and the desired structure/format (specific columns and their purpose, sample data). Providing details on the structure helps the AI generate the desired output.

Explain a complex topic like I’m 10 years old:

Example Prompt: “Explain how blockchain technology works like I’m 10 years old.”
Why it works: This is a direct example prompt mentioned in a source, highlighting Gemini’s capability (specifically Gemini 2.0 Flash or 2.5 Pro) to simplify complex concepts. The prompt uses natural language and specifies the desired level of explanation.

Create a slide describing what a product is from a tagged document, short and broad audience:

Example Prompt: “Create a slide describing what our new ‘Quantum Leap’ product is from @[Quantum Leap Product Notes]. Make sure it is short and easily understood by a broad audience.”
Why it works: This prompt is taken directly from a source example for using Gemini in Slides. It specifies the task (create a slide), the context (product name, source document using @), and the format/constraints (short, broad audience). Using the @ symbol is a key feature for bringing in context from your files.

Draft an anonymous employee satisfaction survey:

Example Prompt: “As an HR manager, draft an anonymous employee satisfaction survey. Include questions and answer options (e.g., Likert scale) covering key areas like workload, work-life balance, compensation, career growth opportunities, and company culture. Ensure questions are clear and avoid bias.”
Why it works: This prompt uses a persona (“As an HR manager”), defines the task (draft survey), provides context (purpose, anonymous, key areas), and specifies requirements for the format (questions, answer options, clarity, no bias). Generating survey questions is a specific use case mentioned in the sources.

Draft an email template to a customer highlighting self-service resources:

Example Prompt: “Draft an email template for a customer support response that highlights self-service resources on our website, referencing [insert link here] for common troubleshooting issues. Thank the customer for their business and end with a statement assuring them of our ongoing support. Use a helpful and friendly tone.”
Why it works: This defines the task (draft email template), provides context (purpose, self-service resources, link, common issues, customer relationship), specifies required elements within the format (thank customer, closing statement), and sets a desired tone. Drafting customer communications and standardizing frameworks are covered use cases.

These are just a few ideas to get you started! Gemini can help with so many tasks, from writing to organizing and brainstorming. Just remember, AI is a tool to help humans, but always review Gemini’s output for accuracy, clarity, and relevance before using it. Keep experimenting and happy prompting!