How to Use AI to Create Presentations (Slides, Outlines, and Talking Points)

# How to Use AI to Create Presentations (Slides, Outlines, and Talking Points)

Making a presentation is one of those tasks that feels like it should take two hours but somehow takes six. You know what you want to say, but turning it into slides — with the right structure, the right amount of content per slide, and speaker notes you will actually use — takes time.

AI can compress that significantly. Here is how to approach it.

## Two Different Ways to Use AI for Presentations

Before you start, decide what you actually need:

**Approach 1: AI helps you write the content, you build the slides yourself.**
You use ChatGPT or Claude to create the outline and talking points, then make the slides in Google Slides, PowerPoint, or Keynote. More control, more polished result, takes a bit more time.

**Approach 2: AI tools that generate actual slides.**
Tools like Gamma.app or Beautiful.ai take your topic or outline and produce a complete, designed deck. Faster, but the slides usually need human polish before they are presentation-ready.

Both approaches are useful. Most people who do this regularly end up using Approach 1 for important presentations and Approach 2 for quick drafts and internal decks.

## Approach 1: Getting the Outline Right First

The single most useful thing AI can do for a presentation is build the outline. A good outline is most of the work — the slides are just the outline made visual.

**Start with this prompt:**
“I am giving a [X-minute] presentation to [audience] about [topic]. The goal is for them to leave understanding/deciding/feeling [specific outcome]. Build me a slide-by-slide outline. For each slide, give me: the slide title, the one key point, and 2-3 supporting details or talking points.”

**Example:**
“I am giving a 10-minute presentation to my team about why we should switch from our current project management tool to a new one. The goal is for them to agree to run a 30-day trial. Build me a slide-by-slide outline.”

The AI will produce something like: Problem (1 slide), Current pain points (2 slides), Proposed solution (2 slides), Comparison (1 slide), Trial plan (1 slide), Ask (1 slide). Each with talking points.

From there, you can ask it to expand any section, cut slides you do not need, or reorder the flow.

## Getting Talking Points and Speaker Notes

Once you have the outline approved, AI is excellent at generating speaker notes — the words you will actually say, not just what the slide shows.

**Prompt:**
“For the slide titled [X] with these bullet points [paste them], write me 3-4 sentences of speaker notes. Keep it conversational, not formal. I want to sound like I am explaining it to a colleague, not reading from a script.”

Do this for every slide where you need help, or just the ones where you are less confident. The result is usually much better than bullet points you ad-lib from — and better than a formal script you try to memorize.

## Approach 2: AI Slide Tools

Tools like Gamma.app let you describe your presentation and they will produce a full designed deck — slides, layout, visuals, and all.

**How it typically works:**
1. You enter a topic or paste an outline
2. The tool generates a full deck (usually 8-15 slides)
3. You edit content, swap images, adjust the design

**Honest assessment:** AI-generated decks from these tools are genuinely impressive for drafts. They are usually good enough to use for internal presentations, informal pitches, or early-stage brainstorming. For important external presentations — client pitches, investor decks, conference talks — they almost always need significant human polish. The content can be thin, the design choices can be generic, and the slides sometimes have an uncanny quality where they look designed but do not quite communicate.

Use Gamma.app when you need something fast and the stakes are moderate. Use Approach 1 when the presentation matters.

## Recommended Workflow

Here is the sequence that produces the best results:

1. **Describe the goal, not just the topic.** Tell the AI what you want the audience to do or believe at the end, not just what you are presenting about.

2. **Get the outline first.** Do not skip this step. The outline is where the real thinking happens.

3. **Decide your tool.** Will you build in Google Slides yourself, or use a slide-generation tool? Make that call before you write the full content.

4. **Generate talking points per slide.** These are often more useful than the slides themselves — especially if you tend to read from the screen.

5. **Ask AI to help with Q&A prep.** This one is underused: “What are the 5 most likely questions someone would ask after this presentation? Give me a concise answer for each.” This is worth doing for any presentation where you expect pushback or hard questions.

## Also Useful: Turning Existing Content into Slides

Have a document, report, or email thread you need to turn into a presentation?

“Here is a report I wrote [paste it]. Turn it into a 10-slide presentation outline for a non-technical audience. Simplify the language and focus on the most important findings and recommendations.”

AI is good at this distillation task — extracting the essential points and structuring them for a presentation format.

## What AI Cannot Do for Your Presentation

It cannot know your audience as well as you do. It does not know that your manager gets annoyed when presentations start with a lot of context before getting to the point, or that this particular client responds better to data than to narratives. The AI gives you a solid generic structure — you bring the knowledge of who is in the room.

It also cannot make design decisions that reflect your brand or your taste. That part still requires a human eye.

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## FAQ

**Is Gamma.app free?**
Gamma.app has a free tier that lets you create a limited number of AI-generated decks. Paid plans unlock more generations and advanced features. It is worth trying on the free tier before committing — you will know within one or two decks whether it fits your workflow. (We have a full review of Gamma.app and other AI slide tools if you want more detail.)

**Can AI help me cut down a presentation that is too long?**
Yes, and it is good at this. Paste your current outline or slide list and say: “This presentation is 25 minutes but needs to be 12. Which slides would you cut and why? What could be combined?” It will make editorial judgments and explain its reasoning — useful even if you disagree with the cuts.

**What if I already have slides and just want to improve them?**
Paste the text content of your slides and ask: “Review this presentation structure. Is the flow logical? Are any slides doing too much? Where might an audience lose interest?” AI can give you useful editorial feedback on an existing deck without you having to rebuild from scratch.

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*Related: [How to Use AI at Work: Practical Uses](/how-to-use-ai-at-work-practical-uses/) · See also: our review of Gamma.app for AI-generated slides*

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