Presentations & Slides prompts

Help me build a presentation.

WHAT I NEED TO PRESENT: [THE SUBJECT]
THE POINT: [WHAT THE AUDIENCE SHOULD CONCLUDE OR DECIDE]
AUDIENCE: [WHO, WHAT THEY KNOW, WHAT THEY CARE ABOUT]
TIME SLOT: [MINUTES, INCLUDING OR EXCLUDING QUESTIONS]
MY MATERIAL: [NOTES, DATA, RESEARCH]
CONTEXT: [meeting / conference / pitch / internal update / training]
WILL IT BE READ WITHOUT ME: [yes / no]

Produce:

1. THE ARGUMENT IN ONE SENTENCE - what this deck argues. If it is 'an overview of X', that is a document, not a presentation. Push me to a claim.

2. THE STRUCTURE - as an argument, not a topic list: the situation, the complication, the question it raises, your answer, the evidence, and the implication. Adapt to my context.

3. THE SLIDE PLAN - each slide: an assertion title stating the point, what is on the slide, what I say, and which step of the argument it advances. If a slide advances nothing, cut it.

4. ASSERTION TITLES - this is the single highest-value change to any deck. 'Q3 revenue' is a label; 'Revenue fell in Q3 because two large accounts churned' is a title. Someone reading only the titles should get the whole argument. Write every title this way.

5. THE SLIDE COUNT - for my time slot. Budget generously; every deck runs long. State the realistic number and cut the plan to fit.

6. WHAT GOES ON THE SLIDE VERSUS WHAT YOU SAY - a slide the audience reads is a slide they are not listening to. Slides carry what must be seen: a chart, a number, an image, a short assertion. Everything else is spoken.

7. THE READ-WITHOUT-ME PROBLEM - I said whether this will be circulated. If yes, the resolution is not to cram the slides with text; it is a separate document or full speaker notes. Say which and why.

8. THE ONE SLIDE THAT MATTERS - if they remember one, which. Make sure it is designed to be the memorable one.

9. THE QUESTIONS - the four the audience will ask, which slide answers each, and what to have in an appendix.

10. THE CUT LIST - ordered, for when time is shorter than planned.

This slide has too much on it. Help me fix it.

THE SLIDE CONTENT:
"""
[PASTE OR DESCRIBE EVERYTHING ON IT]
"""

WHAT IT IS MEANT TO COMMUNICATE: [THE POINT]
CONTEXT: [presented live / circulated / both]
HOW LONG IT IS ON SCREEN: [SECONDS OR MINUTES]

Produce:

1. THE ONE POINT - what this slide is for, in one sentence. If there is more than one point, that is the diagnosis: it is more than one slide.

2. THE SPLIT - if it should be several slides, how to divide it. Slides are free; attention is not.

3. WHAT TO REMOVE - everything that is not serving the point:
   - Text that duplicates what you will say
   - Detail that supports the point but need not be seen to accept it
   - Decoration, logos on every slide, and template furniture
   - Gridlines, borders, backgrounds and shadows
   - Any second idea

4. WHERE THE REMOVED MATERIAL GOES - the appendix, the speaker notes, a handout, or nowhere. Do not delete evidence you might need; relocate it.

5. THE REBUILT SLIDE - what it should contain, specifically.

6. THE GLANCE TEST - a slide should be comprehensible in about five seconds, because that is how long the audience looks before returning attention to you. If mine cannot be, it is still too busy.

7. THE TEXT RULE - if there is a paragraph, nobody is listening while they read it. Convert to a short assertion, or to an image, or move it to the notes.

8. IF IT IS A CHART - what to strip: unnecessary series, gridlines, legends that could be direct labels, decimal places nobody needs, and every non-data element. And the title rewritten as the finding.

9. IF IT IS A TABLE - tables rarely work on slides. Show the two numbers that matter, or convert to a chart, or hand out the table. If the table must be shown, highlight the cells that matter and grey the rest.

10. THE HONEST QUESTION - does this slide need to exist? Sometimes a busy slide is a sign that the content belongs in a document rather than a presentation.

Help me make my slides look better.

WHAT THE DECK IS: [PURPOSE AND AUDIENCE]
CURRENT STATE: [DESCRIBE HOW IT LOOKS, OR THE TEMPLATE YOU ARE USING]
BRAND CONSTRAINTS: [COLOURS, FONTS, TEMPLATE YOU MUST USE]
SOFTWARE: [PowerPoint / Keynote / Google Slides / other]
MY DESIGN SKILL: [none / some / comfortable]

Produce a small number of high-impact rules, not a design course:

1. THE ALIGNMENT RULE - everything on a slide should align to something else. Misalignment is the single most common reason amateur slides look amateur, and fixing it costs nothing. How to use guides and alignment tools in my software.

2. THE SPACING RULE - consistent margins on every slide, and consistent gaps between elements. Pick one spacing value and its multiples, and use only those. Inconsistent spacing reads as carelessness even when nobody can name why.

3. THE TYPE RULE - two sizes and two weights is enough for most decks: a title size and a body size. Set them once. Never resize text to make it fit; that is the signal to cut text instead.

4. THE COLOUR RULE - one accent colour used sparingly for emphasis, and everything else in a neutral grey scale. Decks that use six colours look chaotic. Say exactly where the accent should and should not appear.

5. THE CONTRAST RULE - text must be readable in a bright room on a poor projector. Dark text on light, or light on dark, with real contrast. Mid-grey text on a white background disappears in a meeting room.

6. THE EMPTY SPACE RULE - resist filling the slide. Space around an element is what gives it weight.

7. WHAT TO DELETE FROM THE TEMPLATE - the decorative elements most templates include: swooshes, gradient bars, the logo on every slide, page numbers on a ten-slide deck, and the date.

8. THE IMAGE RULE - use few, use them large, and use real ones. A full-bleed photograph is better than a small stock image floating in a corner. Avoid generic business stock photography entirely; it actively signals that there was nothing to show.

9. THE CONSISTENCY MECHANISM - use the slide master or theme so changes apply everywhere, rather than styling each slide. This is what keeps a deck consistent as it grows.

10. THE FIVE MINUTES THAT HELP MOST - given my skill level, the specific things to do first, in order.

Help me prepare to deliver this presentation.

THE DECK: [DESCRIBE IT - slide count, structure, subject]
AUDIENCE: [WHO AND WHAT THEY WANT]
TIME SLOT: [MINUTES]
FORMAT: [in person / video call / hybrid / recorded]
MY CONFIDENCE: [comfortable / nervous / this matters a lot]
WHAT I AM WORRIED ABOUT: [YOUR CONCERN]

Produce:

1. THE OPENING, WRITTEN OUT - the first 60 seconds, verbatim. This is the only part worth scripting, because it is where nerves are highest and the audience's impression forms. After that, notes are enough.

2. THE TRANSITIONS - the sentences that connect sections. These are where presenters lose their place. Write them.

3. THE TIMING PLAN - minutes per section, with a checkpoint: where you should be at the halfway mark. Then the cut plan for when you are running long, decided now rather than improvised.

4. THE REHEARSAL METHOD - out loud, standing, at full pace, timed. Reading through silently in your head takes about half as long as speaking and tells you nothing about whether it works. Say how many run-throughs are worth doing.

5. THE QUESTIONS - the six likely ones, with short answers. Include the hostile one and the one you hope nobody asks. Having an answer ready for the worst question removes most of the anxiety.

6. THE 'I DON'T KNOW' SCRIPT - the honest response to a question you cannot answer, which is a stronger position than an invented answer. Write the exact words.

7. THE FORMAT-SPECIFIC ADVICE - for my stated format. Video calls need more energy, shorter sections, and deliberate pauses for reactions you cannot see. In-person allows movement and eye contact. Hybrid needs the remote audience addressed explicitly or they disengage.

8. WHAT TO DO ABOUT NERVES - practical rather than reassuring: slow down deliberately, pause between sections, breathe out before starting, and have water. Nerves show as speed, so the countermeasure is pace.

9. THE FAILURE PLANS - what to do if the technology fails, if you lose your place, if someone interrupts persistently, if you run out of time, or if the audience is visibly disengaged.

10. THE NIGHT BEFORE AND THE HOUR BEFORE - what is worth doing and what is not. Rehearsing once more helps; rewriting the deck at midnight does not.

Turn this document into a presentation.

THE DOCUMENT:
"""
[PASTE]
"""

AUDIENCE FOR THE PRESENTATION: [WHO, AND HOW THEY DIFFER FROM THE DOCUMENT'S READERS]
TIME SLOT: [MINUTES]
WHAT THEY SHOULD DECIDE OR DO: [OUTCOME]
WILL THEY GET THE DOCUMENT TOO: [yes / no]

Produce:

1. THE ARGUMENT - what this document argues, extracted. A presentation is an argument; a document can be a survey of a subject. If the document has no argument, say so and propose the one the presentation should make.

2. THE RESTRUCTURE - do not follow the document's section order. A document is ordered for reading and reference; a presentation is ordered to persuade. Lead with the conclusion, then the evidence for it. State the new order and why it differs.

3. THE SLIDE PLAN - each slide with an assertion title, its content, and speaker notes.

4. WHAT DOES NOT GO ON SLIDES - the majority of the document. Detailed reasoning, methodology, caveats, tables, and supporting analysis all belong in the document or the appendix. Name what is being left out so it is deliberate rather than accidental.

5. THE THREE OR FOUR NUMBERS - out of everything in the document, the figures the audience should retain. Put each on its own slide, large. A slide with one number and a title is more memorable than a table with twenty.

6. THE VISUALS - where a chart or diagram would carry a point better than text. Say which data from the document should become a chart, and what kind.

7. THE HANDOUT QUESTION - I said whether they get the document. If yes, the slides should be sparse and the document carries the detail; say this explicitly, because the temptation is to duplicate. If no, what needs to exist as a leave-behind - and the answer is a short summary document, not a printout of dense slides.

8. THE APPENDIX - the slides to have ready but not present: the detail behind each claim, the method, and the alternatives considered. Prepared for questions.

9. THE LENGTH CHECK - whether this document's content fits my time slot. If not, what to cut, and whether the honest answer is that the audience should read the document instead.

10. THE OPENING SLIDE - which finding from the document should lead, chosen for this audience rather than for the document's own structure.

Help me build a pitch deck.

THE BUSINESS OR IDEA: [WHAT IT IS]
WHO I AM PITCHING TO: [investors / a client / internal decision-makers / a partner]
WHAT I AM ASKING FOR: [MONEY, APPROVAL, PARTNERSHIP, AND HOW MUCH]
TRACTION SO FAR: [WHAT EXISTS - customers, revenue, product, nothing yet]
THE TEAM: [WHO AND WHY THEY CAN DO THIS]
THE HONEST WEAKNESSES: [WHAT YOU WOULD RATHER NOT DISCUSS]
TIME SLOT: [MINUTES]

Produce:

1. THE SLIDE SEQUENCE - a standard structure exists because it answers the questions in the order they are asked. Adapt it to my situation:
   - The problem, specifically, for a specific person
   - Why it matters and why now
   - The solution, in plain terms
   - How it works
   - Evidence: traction, customers, results. This is the slide that matters most, and if there is none, say so and be clear about what you are asking someone to believe instead.
   - The market: bottom-up, not a large top-down number
   - The business model: how money is made, per unit
   - Competition: including the honest ones, and why you win
   - The team: why these people
   - The ask: the amount, what it buys, and what it achieves

2. THE PROBLEM SLIDE - the most important and most commonly botched. It must describe a specific person with a specific problem, not a market condition. Write it.

3. THE MARKET SIZE WARNING - a large top-down market figure signals inexperience and invites scepticism. Build it bottom-up from customers and price. Show the arithmetic.

4. THE COMPETITION SLIDE - never claim to have no competitors; it means either you have not looked or there is no market. Include the status quo and doing nothing as competitors. A two-by-two with you in the favourable corner is a cliché and is treated as one.

5. THE WEAKNESSES - I told you what I would rather not discuss. Every one of these will be asked about. For each: the honest answer, and whether to address it in the deck proactively. Volunteering a known weakness with a plan is more credible than being caught by it.

6. THE ASK - specific. The amount, the use of funds broken down, and what milestone it reaches. Vagueness here is fatal.

7. THE APPENDIX - the detail behind every claim, ready for questions: unit economics, the pipeline, the assumptions in any projection, and the technical detail.

8. THE QUESTIONS - the ten you will be asked, with honest answers. Include the ones about the weaknesses.

9. THE SLIDE COUNT - for my time slot, and what to cut.

10. WHAT NOT TO DO - no hockey-stick projection without a mechanism, no claiming a tiny share of a huge market as if that were a plan, no team slide full of logos of previous employers without saying what they did, and no jargon.

Help me build training slides.

WHAT I AM TEACHING: [THE SUBJECT AND SKILL]
WHO IS LEARNING: [AUDIENCE, THEIR PRIOR KNOWLEDGE, WHY THEY ARE THERE]
FORMAT: [live session / recorded / self-paced / hybrid]
DURATION: [LENGTH]
WHAT THEY SHOULD BE ABLE TO DO AFTERWARDS: [THE OUTCOME]
HOW THEIR LEARNING IS CHECKED: [assessment / practical task / nothing]

Training slides follow different rules from presentation slides. The audience is there to acquire a capability, not to be persuaded.

Produce:

1. THE OUTCOME, STATED AS A CAPABILITY - what they can do, observably, that they could not before. 'Understands the process' is not testable; 'can complete a purchase order without assistance' is. Rewrite my stated outcome this way if needed.

2. THE PREREQUISITE CHECK - what they must already know. Teaching over a knowledge gap loses people silently, and they will not say so.

3. THE STRUCTURE - in the order that builds capability, which is usually: why this matters to them, the concept, a worked example, a guided attempt, an independent attempt, and common mistakes. Not the order the subject is organised in.

4. THE CHUNKING - break the content into segments short enough to absorb, with a practice or check after each. Continuous instruction without practice does not produce capability. Say roughly how long each chunk should be for my format.

5. THE WORKED EXAMPLE - the most effective element in teaching a procedure and the most commonly omitted. Show the complete thing being done, with the reasoning at each step, before asking anyone to do it.

6. THE PRACTICE - what learners actually do, at each stage. For a recorded or self-paced format, what they do and how they know if they got it right.

7. THE COMMON MISTAKES - teach these explicitly. Knowing the three ways people get this wrong is often more useful than another example of it going right.

8. THE SLIDE DESIGN FOR LEARNING - which differs from presentation design: slides may carry more text because learners refer back to them, diagrams should be built up in steps rather than shown complete, and every slide should be self-contained enough to make sense out of context.

9. THE REFERENCE MATERIAL - what they take away and use afterwards. This is usually more valuable than the session itself. A one-page job aid beats a fifty-slide deck.

10. THE CHECK - how you know it worked. Given what I said about assessment, whether it actually tests the capability or just recall.