SSkilvy

A good presentation is an argument, not a pile of slides

Before you ask AI to "make a deck", answer one question: what should the listener do or understand at the end? The whole structure is built from this goal. Without it you get something pretty but empty.

Goal what the audience should do/grasp Audience who is in the room, what matters Setting a meeting, a defense, a sale Time 5 minutes or 30, how many slides
Structure comes from the goal: what should change in the listeners mind.

Give AI four inputs

  • Goal: approve a budget, buy, change a mind, understand a topic.
  • Audience: management, clients, students, investors.
  • Setting: a meeting, a conference, a defense, a webinar.
  • Time: it drives the number of slides and the depth.
Goal: convince management to allocate a budget for team training. Audience: directors, they value numbers and risks. 5 minutes. Give a 6-slide structure.
1) Title: "Training the team: an investment, not a cost". 2) Problem: where we lose money due to skill gaps (with a number). 3) What happens if we change nothing (risk). 4) Proposal: the training program briefly. 5) Expected effect and payback. 6) The ask: a specific sum and the next step.

Classic frameworks AI knows

  • Problem to solution to benefit to call — for persuasion.
  • What to why it matters to how to takeaway — for explaining.
  • Situation to complication to question to answer — for analysis.

Ask AI to propose a framework for your goal and pick from several. Then edit to your logic — you know the context better.

Structure check: strip the styling and read only the slide headlines. Do they form a coherent argument? If yes, the skeleton is solid.

🧠 Where does deck structure begin?