Presentations with AI

Start with the message, not the slides

Most weak presentations have too many slides and no clear point. Before you open any tool, answer three questions in one sentence each:

1. Who is listening? (Your manager, a client, classmates, investors?)
2. What do you want them to do or believe at the end?
3. Why should they care?

For example: "I'm presenting to the management team. I want them to approve a delivery van. It will cut our delivery delays and save money on dispatch riders."

That sentence is your whole presentation in miniature. Everything else supports it.

Ask AI for an outline

Give an AI assistant (ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini or Copilot) your three answers and ask for an outline, not finished slides:

I'm presenting to our management team (5 people, 10 minutes). I want
them to approve buying a delivery van for our bakery in Port Harcourt.
Key facts: we pay dispatch riders about ₦450,000 a month, and 1 in 8
deliveries is late. Suggest an outline of 7 slides: a title for each
and 2–3 bullet points of what it should say.

Read the outline critically. Move slides around, cut what doesn't help your one message, and add what's missing. You know your audience; the AI doesn't.

Write slides people can read

Slides support you; they don't replace you. Good rules of thumb:

• One idea per slide. The title should say the point, like "Late deliveries cost us customers", not just "Deliveries".
• Few words. Around 3–5 short lines, not paragraphs.
• Numbers big and simple. "1 in 8 deliveries is late" beats a table of 40 numbers.
• Put the detail in speaker notes, not on the slide.

Ask AI to help with exactly that:

For slide 3, give me a headline that states the point, three short
bullet points (max 8 words each), and speaker notes of about 80 words
in a confident, friendly tone.

Build the deck quickly

Pick the tool you already have:

• PowerPoint or Google Slides: start from a built-in theme, then paste each slide's headline and bullets. Keep to one theme, one or two fonts and a few colours.
• Canva: search the presentation templates, choose one, and replace the text. Canva is good for a polished look fast.
• AI slide generators: some tools can create a whole draft deck from a prompt, such as Copilot in PowerPoint, Gemini in Google Slides, Canva's AI features or Gamma. Availability depends on your plan. Treat the result as a first draft and edit it hard.

Add one strong image or chart where it helps the point, and leave the rest clean.

Check it and make it yours

Before you present:

• Check every number, name and date. AI can invent figures that look real.
• Say it out loud. If a sentence sounds unnatural when you speak, rewrite it in your own words.
• Time yourself. Roughly one to two minutes per slide.
• End with a clear ask: "I'd like approval to buy the van this quarter."

Try it

1. Write your three sentences: who, what, why, for a presentation you might really give.
2. Ask an AI assistant for a 5–7 slide outline.
3. Change at least two things in the outline yourself.
4. Build three slides in PowerPoint, Google Slides or Canva: a title slide, one content slide with a headline that states the point, and a closing slide with your ask.