Creating Killer Presentations with ChatGPT

Save time, improve clarity, and create impactful slides with AI

Creating Presentations with ChatGPT

Save time, improve clarity, and create impactful slides with AI

If you've ever spent hours struggling with a presentation, you know how tedious the process can be.

Staring at blank slides, trying to organize your thoughts, and then making everything look visually appealing—it's a significant time investment.

The good news is that generative AI, specifically ChatGPT, can transform this experience completely.

Let me walk you through exactly how to leverage this powerful tool to create compelling presentations efficiently.

Crafting Your Title & Abstract

An excellent presentation begins with clarity about what you want to communicate. This is where a thoughtful title and abstract become crucial—they not only set the direction for your entire presentation but also help ChatGPT understand precisely what you're trying to achieve.

When approaching ChatGPT for this initial stage, specificity is your friend. Consider using a prompt like this:

I need to create a presentation about [your topic]. Please help me generate:
1. Three catchy and engaging title options for my presentation
2. A compelling abstract (150-200 words) that summarizes the key points and importance of this topic
3. The target audience is [describe your audience]
4. The presentation should focus on [specific aspects or goals]
        

By using this structured approach, you refine your thinking and provide ChatGPT with the necessary context. Here’s how it works in practice.

Imagine you're preparing a presentation on the implementation of AI in manufacturing. Your prompt might look like this:

I need to create a presentation about implementing AI in manufacturing processes. Please help me generate three potential catchy titles, and a compelling abstract (150-200 words), and keep in mind the audience is production managers and C-suite executives with limited technical background. The presentation should focus on practical implementation steps and expected ROI within 18 months.        

ChatGPT might respond with titles like:

1. "From Factory Floor to Future-Forward: Your AI Implementation Roadmap"
2. "Manufacturing's New Equation: How AI Transforms Production Metrics"
3. "The 18-Month AI Advantage: Implementing Intelligence in Production"

And an abstract that establishes the core narrative of your presentation. With these elements in hand, you now have a clear direction to build upon.

Create an Outline Using ChatGPT Canvas

With your foundation established, it's time to create the structural framework of your presentation.ChatGPT Canvas helps you refine your outline interactively through conversation. When crafting your outline prompt, think about how presentations typically flow and what elements you'll need. Here's an effective approach:

Based on the title "[your chosen title]" and the abstract we created, please develop a detailed outline for my presentation with:
1. An introduction that hooks the audience
2. 3-5 main sections with 2-3 subsections each
3. A compelling conclusion
4. Notes on where to potentially add statistics, case studies, or visual elements
        

This process is powerful because it lets you refine your presentation interactivelyUnlike traditional methods where you're stuck staring at an outline, ChatGPT enables a dynamic back-and-forth process.

After receiving your initial outline, you can continue the conversation:

The section on the implementation timeline feels too compressed. Could you expand this to include key milestones and potential challenges at each stage?        

Or even:

I need to emphasize cost considerations earlier in the presentation since budget concerns are top-of-mind for my audience. How would you restructure the flow?        

Through this dialogue, your outline evolves from a basic structure into a comprehensive roadmap for your presentation, tailored specifically to your audience and objectives.

Transforming Your Outline into Actual Slide Content

Once your outline reaches a satisfactory state, it's time to convert this structured framework into actual presentation content. The key here is to maintain the balance between informative and concise—a challenge that ChatGPT can help you navigate effectively.

Here’s an example of a prompt for that.

Please convert this outline into presentation slides. For each slide, provide:

1. A clear, concise headline (no more than 5-7 words)
2. Bullet points or key content (limit to 3-5 points per slide)
3. Speaker notes that elaborate on the slide content
4. Suggestions for relevant visuals, charts, or graphics

Format the content as:

# Slide 1: [Headline]
- Bullet point 1
- Bullet point 2
- Bullet point 3

Speaker Notes: [Detailed explanation for the presenter]

Visual Suggestion: [Description of recommended visual]
        

What's happening here is a transformation of your structured outline into presentation-ready content. The headline captures attention, the bullet points provide just enough information without overwhelming the audience, and the speaker notes give you the detailed context to elaborate verbally during your presentation.

The visual suggestions are particularly valuable—they remind you to think beyond text and consider how to represent your ideas graphically, enhancing audience engagement and understanding.

For visuals, I use DALL-E in ChatGPT or Midjourney. If legibility is key, Ideogram is my go-to.

Bringing Your Content to Life: From ChatGPT to Actual Slides

With your content prepared, you now face a choice of how to transform it into a finalized presentation.

There are two main approaches, each with its advantages.

The Cut-and-Paste Approach: Simple & Controlled

This method gives you full control over the final product.

1. Create a new presentation in your preferred software (PowerPoint, Keynote, Google Slides)
2. Copy each slide's content from ChatGPT
3. Paste into corresponding slides
4. Add the suggested visuals or create your own
5. Apply formatting as needed

The advantage here is precision—you can make adjustments to each element as you go, ensuring everything looks exactly as you want it.

The Direct Generation Approach: Time-Efficient but Less Customizable

While ChatGPT itself doesn't directly create PowerPoint files, you have several options to streamline this process:

• Use ChatGPT-generated content with specialized presentation AI tools
• Export the content to a format that can be imported into presentation software
• Utilize ChatGPT plugins that connect to presentation creation tools

Each of these approaches saves time but may require additional adjustments to align with your specific needs.

A Word on Styling: The "Plain First" Strategy

When it comes to the visual design of your presentation, I've found that a specific approach yields the best results.

Here’s a simple prompt:

Please generate the slide content in a very plain, minimal format. I plan to apply a corporate template later in [PowerPoint/Keynote/Google Slides].
        

This "plain first" strategy works exceptionally well for several reasons:

First, AI-generated design elements often have a distinctive look that may not align with your brand identity.

Second, most organizations have specific templates and brand guidelines that need to be applied.

Finally, PowerPoint, Keynote, and Google Slides offer sophisticated design tools that far exceed what AI can currently generate.

Separating content from design lets you perfect the substance first, then refine the visuals later. This approach consistently produces more professional results than trying to generate fully designed slides from the outset.

Exporting an Individual Powerpoint

Sometimes you have done research with ChatGPT, and you want it to create a graph or a table but it’s not quite right when you cut and paste it.

That’s why I asked ChatGPT to take those visuals and create a slide in PPT format. This takes the data and creates something you can open in PowerPoint where you apply your final touches.

You can download the PowerPoint slide with the comparison table of leading open-source AI models here:

Download PPTX - OpenSource AI Models Comparison

Need adjustments? Let me know—I’d love your feedback!

Elevating Your Presentation Beyond the Basics

With your basic presentation assembled, consider using ChatGPT to add elements that will make your presentation truly memorable:

Creating Impactful Openings and Closings

The first and last minutes of your presentation disproportionately influence how your audience perceives your message. Try this prompt:

Please suggest 3 compelling ways to open my presentation on [topic] that will immediately engage my audience of [audience type]. Consider using a surprising statistic, a thought-provoking question, or a brief scenario that highlights the problem we're addressing.
        

Developing Memorable Stories and Examples

Research consistently shows that audiences remember stories far longer than they remember facts. Use ChatGPT to develop narrative elements:

Can you develop a brief, relatable story or example (approximately 2 minutes when spoken) that illustrates the key point in slide #[number] about [specific concept]? The story should demonstrate both the problem and how our approach solves it.
        

Preparing for the Q&A Session

A polished presentation includes anticipating audience questions:

Based on this presentation content, what are the 5-7 most likely questions my audience might ask? Please provide concise answers I can reference during Q&A, including any potential data points or examples that would strengthen my responses.
        

Best Practices for ChatGPT-Generated Presentations

Through my experience creating numerous presentations with AI assistance, I've identified several critical practices that consistently lead to better results:

• Maintain your authentic voice: Always review and adjust the content to reflect your personal or organizational style. The goal is to sound like yourself, not like AI. I often upload my older presentations to give an example of my style.
• Verify all factual content: ChatGPT may generate plausible-sounding statistics or references that aren't accurate. Always fact-check before including them in your final presentation.
• Customize for your specific audience: Generic presentations rarely resonate. Take time to refine content based on your audience's knowledge level, interests, and specific needs.
• Embrace brevity: The most impactful presentations often say less, not more. Edit ruthlessly to keep slides concise and messages clear. I tend to be long-winded—AI helps keep things concise
• Practice delivery with the final slides: Even the most brilliantly crafted content falls flat without confident delivery. Rehearse with your completed slides to ensure a seamless presentation. You can also use AI to create and suggest speaker notes.

The AI-Human Partnership in Presentation Creation

The approach I've outlined represents a fundamental shift in how we create presentations. Rather than struggling through the entire process manually, ChatGPT allows you to focus your energy on refining and personalizing content, not generating it from scratch.

This doesn't mean surrendering the creative process to AI. Instead, it's about forming a partnership where ChatGPT handles the heavy lifting of initial content generation, while you bring your unique expertise, perspective, and understanding of your audience to shape that content into something truly impactful.

The best presentations blend AI efficiency with the human touch—passion, experience, and authentic audience connection. Master this balance, and you'll not only save countless hours but also deliver presentations that genuinely resonate and drive your desired outcomes.

Bonus: AI presentation apps

AI-powered tools can create sleek slides and automate layouts, but they often lack fine-tuned control over formatting and content. They work best as brainstorming tools for layouts and visualizations, but for final edits and customization, PowerPoint (or similar manual tools) is still the best choice.

Most of these tools are great for quick drafts but expect to tweak fonts, alignments, and content placement manually to get a polished, professional result.

• Beautiful.ai – Uses AI-driven templates to automate slide design and formatting, ensuring professional-quality presentations with minimal effort.
• Gamma.app – Enables quick, AI-generated presentations, decks, and documents with interactive elements and easy customization. (The one I use most, personally.)
• Tome – AI-powered storytelling tool that creates dynamic presentations with embedded videos, 3D models, and interactive components. They have narrowed their focus to sales and marketing apps.
• Canva Magic Design – Integrates AI with Canva’s design platform to generate presentation layouts based on user input.