Get a Strong Presentation Outline from AI by Structuring Your Request

What you’ll get

You will get a clear, logical outline for your presentation, starting with one main message, followed by 3-5 supporting claims, and specific evidence for each. This approach ensures your presentation has a strong argument and a solid structure before you even start designing slides.

Tools you need

• ChatGPT (freemium): An AI chat assistant used to generate the structured presentation outline based on your input.

Steps

1. Open your AI chat tool: Go to the ChatGPT website on your phone or computer. You should see the chat interface ready for your input.

2. Prepare your topic and material: Gather the main points, facts, or ideas you want to include in your presentation. This will be the content you paste into the prompt. Have your content ready to paste.

3. Paste the structured prompt: Copy the prompt below and paste it into the chat window. Replace [paste your topic and material here] with your actual presentation topic and material.

   Before writing any slides, build the spine of the talk. Step 1: State the ONE thing the audience should remember. Just one sentence. Step 2: List the 3-5 claims that have to be true for them to believe that one thing. Step 3: For each claim, note what evidence or example supports it, and flag any claim I haven't given you support for. Step 4: Now, and only now, lay it out as slides: one claim per section, evidence as the slides under it. Show me steps 1-3 first and stop. I'll confirm the spine before you build slides. Topic and material: [paste your topic and material here]

   You should receive a response from the AI that clearly outlines:

   • The single main message (Step 1).
   • 3-5 supporting claims (Step 2).
   • Evidence or examples for each claim, with any unsupported claims flagged (Step 3). The AI should stop here and not generate slide content yet.

4. Review and refine the outline: Read through the AI’s output for Steps 1-3. Check if the main message is clear, the claims are logical, and the evidence is sufficient. If you need changes, tell the AI what to adjust (e.g., “Make claim 2 more specific,” or “Add an example for claim 3”). You should have a solid, logical “spine” for your presentation that you are happy with.

5. Generate the slide structure (optional): Once you are satisfied with the outline from Steps 1-3, you can ask the AI to proceed with Step 4. For example, you could type:

   Okay, this looks good. Now, please lay it out as slides: one claim per section, with evidence as the slides under it, as per Step 4.

   The AI should then provide a more detailed slide-by-slide breakdown based on the confirmed outline.

Original source

This workflow was shared by Reddit user /u/Proud-Bath-3731 on the platform Reddit. They highlighted how giving AI a structured approach to outlining a presentation leads to much stronger and more logical results than simply asking it to “make slides.”

Notes & variations

• Free-tier alternatives: You can use other freemium AI chat tools like Claude.ai or Gemini.google.com for this workflow, as they offer similar capabilities for text generation.
• Common mistake: A common pitfall is providing very little or vague information for the “Topic and material.” The AI cannot invent strong arguments or evidence out of thin air. The more detail you provide, the better the outline will be.
• Tip for better results: Before you paste the prompt, spend a few minutes clearly defining your presentation’s core message, key points, and any specific data or examples you want to include. The quality of the AI’s output directly depends on the quality and detail of your input.