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AI prompts for presentations: slide outlines, speaker notes and decks from documents

How to use ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini to plan a presentation: start from the audience and the one decision or idea you need, get a slide-by-slide outline, turn a long document into slides without inventing data, and write speaker notes. Includes copy-paste templates.

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Where AI helps with a presentation

  • Structure: turning a goal and an audience into a slide-by-slide outline with one message per slide.
  • Condensing: pulling the key points out of a report, a spec or meeting notes you already have.
  • Wording: short slide titles that state the point ('Churn fell after the onboarding change') instead of topics ('Churn').
  • Rehearsal: speaker notes, likely questions from the audience and a shorter version for when time gets cut.

What to tell the model first

  • The audience and what they already know: executives, a client, your team, a conference room.
  • The outcome you need: a decision, approval, budget, or simply that people understand one idea.
  • Time and slide budget: '10 minutes, at most 8 slides'.
  • The source material, pasted inside delimiters, and a rule that every number must come from it.
  • Constraints: your template's sections, words per slide, whether charts are allowed, language and tone.

Common problems and how to prevent them

  • Invented figures: models fill gaps with plausible numbers. Ask for '[data needed]' placeholders instead and a list of every figure with where it came from.
  • Too much text: ask for at most a title plus three short lines per slide, with the detail moved to speaker notes.
  • A list of topics instead of an argument: ask for titles that are full sentences, and check that reading only the titles tells the story.
  • Generic visuals: ask what each chart should show (which data, which comparison), not for 'a nice image'.
  • Confidential content: remove client names, financials or personal data before pasting, or use a tool your company has approved.

Templates

Slide-by-slide outline from a goal

I need to present [topic] to [audience: role, what they already know].
Outcome I need: [decision / approval / understanding of one idea]
Time: [minutes]. Maximum slides: [number].

Create an outline. For each slide give:
- Title: one full sentence that states the point
- 2–3 short supporting lines (max 12 words each)
- Speaker note: what I say, 2–3 sentences
- Visual: what a chart or image should show, or "none"

Rules:
- Reading only the titles in order must tell the whole argument.
- Don't invent numbers, names or dates. Where data is needed, write [data needed: what].
- End with a slide that states the ask or the takeaway explicitly.
Opens the analyzer with the prompt prefilled.
Open in Promptea

Turn a document into slides

Turn the document below into a [number]-slide presentation for [audience].

<document>
[paste the report, spec or notes]
</document>

For each slide: a sentence title, up to 3 short lines, and a speaker note.

Rules:
- Use only information from the document. If something the audience will need is missing, add it to a "Gaps" list at the end instead of filling it in.
- Every number on a slide must appear in the document; after the slides, list each number with the sentence it came from.
- Keep the document's terminology; don't rename products, teams or metrics.
Opens the analyzer with the prompt prefilled.
Open in Promptea

Rehearse: likely questions and a short version

Here is my presentation outline for [audience]:

<outline>
[paste slide titles and notes]
</outline>

1. List the 5 questions this audience is most likely to ask, from hardest to easiest, and a 2-sentence answer for each based only on the outline. If the outline can't answer one, say so.
2. Point out the weakest slide and why.
3. Give a 3-slide version for when I only get [minutes] minutes, keeping the ask.
Opens the analyzer with the prompt prefilled.
Open in Promptea

FAQ

Can ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini make the slides themselves?
Some of their apps and integrations can create slide files, and the features change often, so check what your plan offers. Either way, the outline is where the quality comes from: get the argument, titles and notes right first, then build or generate the slides from that.
How many slides should I ask for?
Give the model your time limit and a maximum slide count rather than leaving it open; otherwise it tends to produce more slides than you can present. The right number depends on your audience and how much you speak per slide.
How do I stop the AI from inventing data on slides?
Paste the source material, tell the model to use only that, ask for placeholders where data is missing, and ask for a list of every number with the sentence it came from. Then check that list against the source before you present.