Turn messy notes into a clear presentation outline with AI
Job to be done: Structure a presentation argument from raw notes using an AI prompt
🇳🇬 Ways to use this in Nigeria
Ideas to get you started, adapt to your situation.
- Student
Structure your 15-minute project defense argument from messy lecture notes into a clear outline with AI.
- 9-5 employee
Turn your meeting notes into a 3-slide presentation outline with key claims and supporting evidence using AI.
- Entrepreneur
Create a compelling pitch deck outline from your startup idea notes, identifying audience engagement risks.
What you’ll get
You will get a structured outline for a presentation, including a single main point, a sequence of claims (one per slide), supporting evidence, and flags for potential audience disengagement. This approach helps you build the core argument before designing slides, ensuring every part of your talk serves the main message.
Tools you need
- ChatGPT (freemium): A chat AI that can understand and respond to text prompts.
Steps
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Open your AI chat tool: Go to chatgpt.com (or your preferred AI chat tool). You’ll need to sign in or create a free account if you don’t have one.
- You should see: The chat interface, ready for you to type a new message.
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Gather your raw notes: Collect all the notes, ideas, and information you have for your presentation.
- You should see: Your notes, ready to be copied.
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Paste the prompt and your notes: Copy the prompt below, paste it into the chat tool, and then replace
[paste your raw notes here]with your actual notes. Make sure to specify the talk duration, topic, and audience.I'm giving a [X] minute talk on [topic] to [audience]. Here are my raw notes: [paste your raw notes here] Do this, in order: 1. Tell me the single point someone should remember a week later. One sentence. 2. Build the outline as a sequence of claims that lead to that point. Each slide is one claim, written as a full sentence I could say out loud, not a topic label. 3. Under each claim, list only the evidence or example that earns it. Cut everything that does not. 4. Flag the two spots where I'm likely to lose the room, and why. Do not design anything. Do not pad it to fill time. If a section does not serve the main point, tell me to drop it. The output is not a deck. It is a spine.- You should see: The AI processing your request, then providing a structured text output with the main point, claims, evidence, and audience engagement flags.
Original source
This workflow was shared by Reddit user /u/FormalSad2143, who developed this prompt to create more effective presentations by focusing on the core argument before designing slides.
Notes & variations
- Free-tier alternatives: You can use other freemium chat AIs like Claude (claude.ai) or Gemini (gemini.google.com) with the same prompt.
- Common mistake: The author warns that the AI “will happily tell you your notes support a claim they do not.” Always review the output critically to ensure the claims are genuinely backed by your evidence. Don’t just copy-paste without thinking.
- Tip for better results: Be as clear and detailed as possible in your raw notes. The better your input, the more useful the AI’s output will be. If the first output isn’t perfect, try refining your notes or asking the AI to “Refine step 2 to make the claims more direct.”