This edition is part of our "Presentation Prompts" series designed to help you master various aspects of presentation creation through specific ChatGPT prompts. Each installment focuses on a particular area of presentation design or content creation, providing you with prompt templates that you can immediately apply to your work.
Distilling dense, text-heavy documents into slide-ready copy can be a time-consuming grind. Starting the process can often be the most daunting part because you're transitioning from one form of communication that's detailed and expansive to another that's streamlined and focused. You’ve got pages of a financial report, a strategic proposal, or a detailed project plan—and now you need to reshape that content into something presentation-ready that communicates the key points effectively for your audience.
The goal isn’t just to shorten—it’s to refine and reframe. You’re taking complex, detailed information and shaping it into clear, focused points that tell a story and drive the message forward. To pull out the details that really matter—the points that drive your message home, align with your strategic goals, and resonate with your audience. That’s where the real art (and the real challenge) lies: finding what’s essential and shaping it into a narrative that works in a slide deck.
AI tools like ChatGPT are game-changers for this type of work. They help sift through dense content, zero in on the critical insights, and reshape them into clear, concise slide copy—fast. With the heavy lifting done, you can focus on what moves the needle: sharpening the message, tightening the story, and creating a presentation that delivers.
Ready to dive in? Let’s talk strategy, prompts, and practical steps to turn complex content into impactful slides.
ChatGPT In Action: Distill and Organize
The magic here isn’t in one perfect prompt—it’s in breaking the process down into small, manageable steps. This isn’t about dumping a giant document into ChatGPT and hoping for the best. Instead, it’s about guiding the tool—step by step—to pull out what’s most relevant, prioritize the key insights, and shape them into usable slide content.
Here’s a simple, effective sequence of prompts to help you transform content into slides:
Prompt 1: Start with the context
Give ChatGPT a head start by setting the scene. What’s the goal of your presentation? Who’s your audience? What kind of presentation are you building?
Assume the role of a [Digital Marketing Strategist, Content Specialist, or Audience Engagement Expert] with expertise in [your industry or focus area, e.g., “Digital Content Strategy and Audience Engagement”]. I'm creating a presentation on [Insert topic, e.g., "Leveraging Digital Trends to to Amplify Brand Visibility, Drive Audience Growth, or Improve Engagement"]. The goal is to [briefly describe intent, e.g., “help the team understand how emerging digital platforms and tools can be used to engage audiences, enhance campaigns, and drive results.”] The presentation will be [length of time, in-person/virtual], and the audience includes [describe audience, e.g., “marketing professionals, campaign managers, and content creators.”]. I'm building the presentation using [describe content source or foundation, e.g., “existing campaign data, recent industry trends, or case studies.”] I'm going to give you some instructions for helping me create the story and slide copy for the presentation. |
Prompt 2: Pull out the essentials (distill)
Ask ChatGPT to identify the most important high-level points—not every chapter or subheading. This ensures the output is concise and aligned with your presentation goals. If your document is short enough, ChatGPT can review it in one go.
If it’s longer (e.g., 100+ pages), break it into smaller sections for better focus and accuracy. If you’re working with a large document (e.g., a report with 20+ chapters), don’t let ChatGPT go through it chapter by chapter—it’ll get too granular and lose focus. Instead, tell it to summarize it into broader chunks, look for overarching themes, key sections, and the most critical insights. If needed, you can also upload the document and direct ChatGPT to summarize it in broader chunks.
Review this [describe document or content type] and provide a high-level summary of the key points for a presentation. Focus on the 5-7 main ideas that matter most to the audience, and ignore overly detailed or repetitive sections. For each point, include:
Additional instructions:
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Prompt 3: Explore different angles for the content (organize)
Ask ChatGPT to generate multiple approaches to structuring and presenting the content. This ensures you have options to choose from, depending on your goals, tone, or audience engagement needs:
Using the outline you just created, provide three different ways to structure and present the content. For each approach, include:
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Prompt 4: Turn the outline into slide copy
Once you’ve settled on a structure, the next step is turning the outline into clean, slide-ready copy. At this point, you want each slide to communicate one key idea in a clear, punchy way that’s easy to grasp at a glance.
Turn the outline for [option 3—choose from the options ChatGPT gave you] into a slide-by-slide presentation outline, with slide-ready copy. Include:
Avoid unnecessary detail, and focus on clarity and flow. |
Prompt 5: Edit for tone, clarity and flow
Now that you have a first draft, it’s time to refine. This is where you make the copy feel polished, natural, and aligned with your audience’s expectations. You’re looking to adjust the tone, remove fluff, and tighten the wording.
Ask ChatGPT to tweak the language based on the tone and style you need:
- Conversational and approachable?
- Formal and executive-ready?
- Action-oriented and energetic?
Review the slide content I’ve drafted to ensure it’s clear, concise, and flows smoothly. Edit for:
If needed, suggest improvements to slide headlines for better impact and adjust supporting text to keep it sharp and slide-friendly. |
Bonus: Export to an Editable PowerPoint File
Once your slide copy is finalized, take it one step further: ChatGPT can generate a fully editable PowerPoint file (.pptx) with all your slide content organized and ready to download. No copy-pasting required: "using the finalized slide copy, create an editable PowerPoint file (.pptx)."
Tips for Working with ChatGPT
To get the most out of ChatGPT when turning your documents into slides, here’s how to set yourself up for success:
- Know your end goal: Before you start, be clear on what you’re trying to achieve. What’s the purpose of the presentation, and what do you want your audience to take away?
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Prep your docs: Make sure your documents are digital and tidy. A clean document means ChatGPT can do its thing without getting tripped up by messy formatting.
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Break it down: If you’re working with a long document, split it into manageable pieces. This way, ChatGPT can handle each section thoroughly without getting overloaded, making the process smoother for both the AI and you.
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Iterate: Working with AI is a back-and-forth game. Throw a prompt at it, see what sticks, tweak, and repeat. It’s all about refining to get that perfect slide content.
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Double-check everything: Make sure to review ChatGPT’s output before you finalize your slides. It’s important to verify that the summaries accurately reflect the key points of your document and are aligned with the objectives of your presentation.
Transforming dense content into presentation slides doesn’t have to feel like a time-consuming grind. By breaking the process into manageable steps and leveraging tools like ChatGPT, you can go from overwhelmed to presentation-ready—faster and with better results.