Make a presentation with AI: your outline first, then check every slide

Use it when you need slides for a meeting, a class or a pitch, you have notes or sources, and you will stand in front of the deck.

Not when you have nothing to say yet. A slide tool will fill an empty prompt with generic content. Work out your point first, or gather the facts with Research a topic with citation checking.

You need your notes and the sources behind every number, a slide tool with AI (see the table below), and about 90 minutes for ten slides. The steps and times are our suggestion. Leave confidential figures and client names out of the chat unless your plan allows them: What not to paste. This is the slide version of Writing: brief, draft, check.

Steps

Step 2: the outline prompt

An outline is cheap to fix. A finished deck invites you to accept what is there.

I am making slides for <AUDIENCE>. The one point they must leave with: <ONE_SENTENCE_POINT>.
I have <MINUTES> minutes, so about <SLIDE_COUNT> slides.
Use only the notes and sources below. Do not add numbers, names, dates, quotes or examples that are not in them. If a slide needs a fact I have not given, write [NEED SOURCE] instead.
Give me an outline only, no slides. One line per slide, in this form:
Slide N. Headline: one full sentence stating the slide's message, not a topic. Evidence: what the slide shows (chart, table, photo, diagram) and which source it comes from.
After the outline, list anything from my notes you left out.
NOTES AND SOURCES:
<NOTES_AND_SOURCES>

Replace the following:

• <AUDIENCE>: who will watch, such as the finance team, who know the budget well.
• <ONE_SENTENCE_POINT>: your sentence from step 1.
• <MINUTES> and <SLIDE_COUNT>: your slot and a rough count.
• <NOTES_AND_SOURCES>: your notes, with the source of each figure.

"Sales Q3" is a topic. "Q3 sales fell because two large orders moved to October" is a message (illustrative). The sentence form is the point: in a 2013 experiment with 110 engineering students, slides with a sentence headline and visual evidence led to better essay scores and fewer misconceptions than topic headlines with bullet lists and better scores on a test a week or so later (Garner & Alley, randomised experiment). It was one eight-minute talk on one topic, so treat it as a strong hint, not a law.

Step 4: which tools build slides

Checked on the vendors' pages on 2026-10-11. Features and plans change, so check yours.

Paste your edited outline, not your raw notes. Where the tool shows its own outline first, compare it with yours before you approve.

Step 5: check the facts

The vendors tell you to check. Microsoft says the output "should be human-reviewed and edited accordingly". OpenAI says to "Review important claims, numbers, and edits before sharing the deck." Canva says it "has not verified the accuracy of the Output".

Step 6: images

What the vendors say. Microsoft's terms say you must "make your own determination regarding the intellectual property rights you have in output content". Canva says you own your output "except for any Output that modifies or incorporates Licensed Content", says outputs "may not be unique", and forbids removing provenance tags from AI-generated content. In Copilot in PowerPoint, slides with AI-generated images get an "AI-generated" image source in the speaker notes; leave that in.

Step 8: accessibility

Microsoft's guidance: give every slide a unique title, add alt text to visuals, use text of 18 pt or larger, and run the checker (Review > Check Accessibility). Its own page says the checker misses some contrast problems, such as text in a transparent box over the background. For contrast, WCAG (the W3C's web accessibility guidelines) asks for at least 4.5:1 for normal text and 3:1 for large text (18 pt, or 14 pt bold). Check generated colour themes with a contrast checker.

The slide check

For every slide:
[ ] The headline is a sentence that states the message.
[ ] Every number, name, date and quote matches <SOURCE_FILE> (page or cell noted).
[ ] Chart units, period and axis match the source, and the source is on the slide.
[ ] Each image: own, licensed stock or generated? Terms read. No real person, logo or brand without the right to show it.
[ ] Alt text written, or the image marked as decorative.
For the deck:
[ ] Every slide title is unique.
[ ] Text is 18 pt or larger; contrast at least 4.5:1 (3:1 for large text).
[ ] Accessibility checker run; every item looked at.
[ ] Speaker notes written; rehearsed once aloud within <MINUTES> minutes.
[ ] AI use disclosed if <SCHOOL_OR_WORKPLACE> requires it.

Replace the following:

• <SOURCE_FILE>: the document or sheet your figures come from.
• <MINUTES>: your slot.
• <SCHOOL_OR_WORKPLACE>: whose rule applies, such as my course or my employer.

How to tell it worked

• Reading the headlines alone gives your one point and the argument for it.
• Every number on the slides has a tick against a source, and no slide still says [NEED SOURCE].
• You rehearsed once and finished on time.
• It has failed if you generated the deck first and then tried to find your point in it. Go back to step 1.

Sources

1. Garner & Alley, 2013. "How the Design of Presentation Slides Affects Audience Comprehension: A Case for the Assertion-Evidence Approach". International Journal of Engineering Education 29(6). Randomised experiment, 110 students. Link
2. Microsoft. Create a new presentation with Copilot in PowerPoint. Vendor help, updated 2026-09-15. Link
3. Google. Generate presentations with Gemini in Google Slides. Vendor help. Link
4. Canva. AI presentations (Magic Design for Presentations). Vendor page. Link
5. Anthropic. Create and edit files with Claude. Vendor help. Link
6. OpenAI. ChatGPT for PowerPoint. Vendor help. Link
7. Microsoft. Make your PowerPoint presentations accessible to people with disabilities. Vendor help. Link
8. W3C. Understanding Success Criterion 1.4.3: Contrast (Minimum), WCAG 2.2. Link
9. Canva. AI Product Terms, effective 26 June 2026. Link
10. Microsoft. Services Agreement, AI Services section, effective 30 September 2026. Link

Changes

1. v1.010 Oct 2026first version