(2025-05-21 Updated after feedback to talk a bit more about ChatGPT)

The process of creating a great PowerPoint presentation has not changed for many years but you can improve the quality of your presentations by using ChatGPT’s ability to create custom images to illustrate the concepts that you are using.

Making a great presentation takes time

Just as with any other document deliverable it is not possible to just go straight to the final presentation. It is always necessary to iterate it. You always start with too much information and text and then ruthlessly remove it. When you have honed your concepts you can use ChatGPT to generate images to illustrate them.

It takes a ridiculous amount of time to create a great presentation so it is only worth doing for high value events. Stop as soon as you realise that you are spending too much time on it.

Quickly write the first draft

1. Decide on your Title and Subtitle. This will guide you and your audience when writing and reading your presentation.
2. Create your slides
   • Do this quite quickly. Don’t worry to much about text length or phrasing because you will edit it later. Paste in clip art and use Smart Graphics where it will help but don’t spend too much time on it. You can also populate the speakers notes with text. Again don’t worry about perfection.

Carefully review your content

Review your content and decide “WHAT” you are trying to communicate. You need to identify the what is “essential” (intrinsic to the concepts you are discussing) and what is “accidental” (interesting but not essential).

Only when you are clear in your own mind what is important will you be able to communicate this to your audience. This step is not easy.

If you “can’t see the wood for the trees” ask some else to review your presentation and discuss it with them.

Precisely write the second draft

1. Edit your slide headings and content to communicate the essential messages. Do this quite quickly.
2. Identify your sections. Typically a presentation will have several Sections and these may have between 1 and 5 slides in them. If you have a large slide with 5 bullet points this might be a candidate for being split into 5 pages.
3. Carefully revise your text, we set the font sizes first to show us where we are too wordy
   • Make all slide headings at least 40pt
   • Make all slide text 32pt
   • Delete as many words as you can and create extra slides if necessary.
4. Create some custom graphics for your slides that communicate in pictures what you are saying in words (see next section).

You will now have a presentation that is good enough for the typical team presentation.

Using ChatGPT to create custom graphics

PowerPoint is a intensely visual medium, your audience should be looking at what is on the screen while listening to what you are saying. What is on the screen must support and illustrate what you are saying.

Many concepts can be represented by PowerPoints built-in Smart Art (for processes and relationship) and icons but it is often very difficult to get icons, graphics and images that are specific to your domain and this is where ChatGPT’s ability to generate custom graphics can really help.

For example, here is an icon it made for me to represent a AI powered chatbot that uses retrieval augmented generation when interacting with users.

And here is full width photorealistic image that could be used as slide background (with 85% transparency).

Onerously give it the final polish

For very important presentations you may wish to polish your slides. If you don’t have a graphics department to do it for you here is a method you can use,

1. Look at the purpose of each slide and use the correct templates. For example, a comparison might use the Comparison template and a process might use a Smart Art diagram.
2. Use PowerPoint’s built in “Designer” to force migrate your layouts to one that it recommends. This will make it look a bit ‘corporate’ but it will make it easier for your audience to digest. We will change the colours in the next step.
3. Now you have applied the Designer it is helpful to explore the Theme options and their Variants. These options let you change the shape and colours of all the slides at the same time. You can also change individual elements like fonts. It is also possible to view the Slide Masters and change layouts. There is lots you can do here if you want to achieve visual perfection.
4. Use ChatGPT as described above or stock images to create background images for each slide that helps deliver its message. I like using photorealistic images with 85% transparency so that they don’t make it difficult to read the foreground text.