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Practical playbook

Create a presentation from source material

The thinking is all there, spread across notes and files, but the storyline and the slide order are still a mess.

Turn the notes, documents and data you already have into an editable first deck, while the argument and the evidence stay in your hands.

  • 30 min
  • 5 steps
  • Comfortable

Use this page in order

Copy the prompt, follow the steps and check the result before using it.

  1. Copy and adapt
  2. Follow the steps
  3. Check the result
  4. Go deeper only if needed

Try it now

Copy this into your AI tool and fill in the brackets.

Remove anything you cannot share first.

Starter instruction

Use these files to propose a [length]-slide presentation for [audience]. The outcome I need is [decision or action]. Start by showing only the storyline, the job of each slide and the source material each slide would use. Keep source facts traceable and mark missing evidence. Wait for my approval before drafting the full presentation.

Do it

Tick each step as you go.

The person and AI shape the work at different moments. Your ticks stay in this browser.

0 of 5 done

See it done

Watch the judgement change the draft.

Before · the honest starting point

Monthly metrics, project notes and the previous board-deck template for a ten-minute operating review.

After · the version a person can stand behind

A tight seven-slide review pack with source notes attached, one decision per section, and figures that have each been checked.

How it got thereAI first pass, then your correction
  1. AI · a useful first pass

    A seven-slide storyline: result, drivers, customer evidence, delivery risks, decisions required, next month and appendix.

  2. You · context changes the answer

    The manager cuts a vanity metric, fixes a churn figure that had used the wrong denominator, and moves the decision the board actually needs to make up to slide two.

The decision stays human

Someone must be able to stand behind the result.

The presenter owns the argument, the ethical use of evidence, the final ask and the delivery. AI can accelerate synthesis and production, but it cannot read the room or take responsibility for persuading people with a misleading story.

Verification required

0 of 4 checked

Go deeper

The detail behind each step.

Open only what you need.

How AI and you split the work3 capabilities

Use the capability. Keep the part that needs a person.

Presentation generation is valuable when it removes production work without outsourcing the argument. The person must still decide what the audience needs to believe, understand or do.

Choose a capability for a real job.

Multi file synthesis and storyline drafting

AI can read notes, reports, spreadsheets and a previous template, then propose a slide sequence that connects the evidence to the intended decision before designing the deck.

The person contributes
The person chooses the governing message, identifies the audience's existing knowledge and decides which tension or decision deserves the limited presentation time.
Do not assume
A coherent storyline can still be generic, politically naive or aimed at information transfer when the real job is alignment, challenge or approval.

Editable presentation and document creation

File creation features can produce PowerPoint, Google Slides or other editable drafts with speaker notes, tables and source material already organised for revision.

The person contributes
The person protects the organisation's template, chooses what belongs on the slide versus in speech, and rewrites anything that sounds unlike the presenter.
Do not assume
Generated files may contain layout defects, weak hierarchy, unsupported filler or formulas and charts that do not update as expected.

Charting, visual concepts and critique

AI can create a first chart, suggest diagrams, identify crowded slides and critique whether the evidence supports the stated takeaway.

The person contributes
The person chooses the truthful visual encoding, removes decoration that competes with the message and decides whether a chart clarifies or overstates the evidence.
Do not assume
A polished visual can imply precision, causation or certainty that the underlying data does not support.
What you bring that AI cannot3 resources

The resources already inside the work.

Strategic intent

You know the decision, behaviour or conversation the presentation must create, not merely the information it should contain.

Audience dynamics

You know what the room already believes, where resistance may appear, which context can be spoken rather than displayed and who needs to feel heard.

Narrative accountability

You decide what evidence is strong enough for the claim, what must be disclosed, and whether the deck presents uncertainty honestly rather than selling a conclusion too hard.

What goes wrong, and the skill you buildFailure to watch

Failure to watch

The main failure is persuasive polish without earned meaning. A generated deck can look board ready while carrying the wrong denominator, a generic storyline or an ask that ignores the relationships and history in the room.

Skill strengthened

Strategic communication

Used well, the workflow strengthens argument design, evidence selection, visual judgement and the ability to adapt a message to a specific room without losing truth or clarity.

When this is the wrong fit3 signs
  • Do not expect a deck with a point of view unless you supply the point of view and review the result.
  • Never put a claim or a figure on a slide that you have not checked against the source, because a clean, confident-looking deck is exactly what an audience reads as trustworthy, and a wrong number travels every time it is forwarded.
  • Do not treat the first generated deck as done: build the truth layer first, a note of which claim rests on which source and which numbers are still assumptions, and it helps to have a second tool argue against the draft before it leaves your desk.
Tools that can support this3 tools
Keep going4 links
Where this came fromReviewed 19 September 2026

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