A slide deck is the pitch or the talk on a screen, and with AI it is a Workflow you can finish in an afternoon. You hand the AI one page of notes and the decision you want at the end, it outlines, drafts and builds the slides in that order, and you present. This page is about the deck itself: a sales pitch, a sponsor or partner pitch, a proposal walkthrough or the slides behind a talk. If you are pitching a talk to an event organizer, the abstract and the speaker notes are on our speaking page, and this page picks up at the slides. The AI does the outline, the words and the first build. You supply the proof, fix the design and stand up in front of the room.
- Shape
- Workflow
- Sitting
- an afternoon
The shape: Workflow
A deck is a Workflow because it has three steps that depend on each other, and the order matters. The outline decides the argument. The slide copy carries the argument one idea at a time. The build puts the copy on screens people can read from the back of the room.
Skip a step and the deck gets expensive to fix. If you ask for a finished deck in one go, you get thirty pretty slides with the wrong argument, and moving them around takes longer than starting over. If you approve the outline first, a wrong order costs you one minute. Keep the whole job in one chat so the AI remembers what the outline promised when it writes slide twelve.
The steps fit in one afternoon for a short deck. The parts that run long are gathering proof before you start and checking the build after it is done. The writing in the middle is the fast part.
What you give the AI
A thin brief gets a deck that any business could present. Gather these before you open the chat:
- The audience, by name or role. "The owner and office manager of a three-location dental group" beats "potential clients".
- The setting. In the room, on a video call, or sent as a file someone reads alone. A deck that is read alone needs more words per slide than one you talk over.
- The time you have. The minutes for the pitch itself and the minutes for questions.
- The one decision you want at the end. A signed proposal, a second meeting, a sponsorship at a named level, a yes to a pilot. If you cannot say it in a sentence, the deck will not either.
- The problem they have, in their words. Lines from their emails, a discovery call, a request for proposal or a past meeting.
- What you offer. Your service or product, what is included and what is not, and your price if this deck names one.
- Your proof. Past work you have permission to show, real numbers with their source, reviews that appear on your website, credentials.
- The objections you expect. Price, timing, "we tried this before". One line each.
- Your brand rules. Colors, fonts, logo file and any template you already use.
- An old deck or proposal, if you have one. It shows the AI how you sound and how much you put on a slide.
What comes back
Three things, in order: a numbered outline, the copy for each slide, and a slide file or text ready to paste into your tool. Paste this first, with your notes filled in:
Act as my presentation writer.
Below are my notes for one slide deck.
Use only the facts in these notes.
If something is missing, ask me before you invent it.
Audience:
Setting (in the room, video call, or read alone):
Time for the pitch, and time for questions:
The one decision wanted at the end:
Their problem, in their words:
What is on offer, what is included and what is not:
Proof to show, with the source of each number:
Objections to expect:
Brand rules:
A past deck or proposal of mine:
Step 1: Write the outline only.
Give me a numbered list of slides.
For each slide: a title of eight words or fewer and the one idea it carries.
Open with their problem, not with my company history.
End on the one decision wanted, stated as a plain ask.
Fit it to the time, at roughly one slide per minute or fewer.
Stop after step 1 and wait for my edits.When the outline reads right, ask for the copy in the same chat:
Step 2: Write the slide copy.
For each approved slide: the title, the words on screen, and a note on the visual.
No more than one idea and about a dozen words on screen per slide, unless the deck will be read alone.
Put every number next to its source in brackets for me to check.
Mark any slide where you had to guess with GUESS.
Then give me two or three short talking points per slide, as notes, not a script.
Stop after step 2 and wait for my edits.Then the build:
Step 3: Build the deck.
Use my brand colors and fonts.
One idea per slide, large type, plenty of empty space.
No stock photos of people shaking hands, no icons for the sake of icons.
Return a slide file if you can make one; otherwise return the copy slide by slide, ready to paste into my own template.Some assistants return a file that Google Slides, PowerPoint or Keynote can open. Others return the copy and a description of each layout, which you paste into your own template. Either way, the outline and the copy are the parts worth your attention. The build is the part you will touch up by hand.
How to judge it
You can reject a bad draft in a minute. Look for these:
- Numbers you never gave it. A market size, a percentage, a "studies show". Anything not in your notes comes out, even if it sounds right.
- An opening about you. If slides one to three are your history, your team and your mission, the audience waits too long to hear their own problem. Ask again with "Open with their problem."
- No ask, or a soft one. The last slide says "Thank you" or "Questions?" and nothing else. The deck has to end on the decision you want.
- Two ideas on one slide. A title that needs "and", a slide with six bullets, a chart and a quote side by side. Split it or cut it.
- Walls of text. If you would read the slide aloud word for word, it is a document, not a slide.
- Filler visuals. Generic icons, handshakes, a skyline that is not your city. A blank slide with one large line is better.
- Promises you cannot keep. "Guaranteed results", "double your sales". A buyer will hold you to it.
- Unmarked guesses. A slide the AI filled in without telling you. That is why the step 2 prompt asks for the GUESS label.
- The wrong length. Count the slides against the minutes.
When the same problem shows up twice, fix the notes rather than the draft. Better notes fix every slide that comes after them.
What stays with you
The AI outlines, drafts and builds. The pitch is still yours, and so are these parts:
- The proof. Check every number and result against its source before it goes on screen. If you cannot point to where it came from, cut it.
- Permissions. A client named or shown on a slide agrees first. Logos, photos and screenshots need the right to use them.
- The price and the terms. Read them twice. A typo in a fee on a slide becomes a conversation you do not want.
- The design pass. Open the file and look at every slide at full size. Fix text that runs off the edge, colors that do not match your brand and charts that do not match their data.
- The rehearsal. Click through the deck out loud, with a timer, at least once. Cut the slide you skip every time.
- The room. Reading faces, handling the question you did not expect, and asking for the decision out loud. That part is only ever you.
A worked example
This is an editorial example with an invented business. Say you run a small catering company, and a regional chamber of commerce has asked for a proposal to cater its annual awards dinner. You have twenty minutes on a video call with the events committee.
The notes name the audience as four committee members, two of whom ran last year's dinner. Their problem, in their words from the request: last year the food came out late and cold to the back tables. The one decision you want: the committee picks your proposal at its next meeting. The proof is a menu you have served, a photo from an event you catered with the host's permission, and a service plan showing how many staff serve each table.
The AI's outline opens with the late, cold plates at the back tables, then the service plan, then the menu, then the price and what it includes, and closes on the ask. Its first draft also adds a slide claiming a percentage of guests rate catering as the most important part of an event. That number is not in your notes, so it comes out. You merge the two menu slides into one, change two colors to match your logo, and rehearse once with a timer. The finished deck is eleven slides.
Where this fits
A deck is rarely used once. The opening line of the pitch is your value proposition, and getting that sentence right first makes the outline faster. The key number on a slide can become a visual of its own with our infographics page. After the pitch, the same slides cut down to one idea each make a social carousel, and there are formats for that in our carousel post ideas. The full list of jobs like this one is on the DIY marketing hub.
Of every job on this list, social media is the one that comes back every week, and Boomp is software that does that one for you. See ten posts made from your website, free
