AI Builds the Deck in Minutes Now. Agree the Argument Before You Ask It To.
The best way to use AI for a steering committee deck is to agree the argument with your sponsor first and let the tool build the slides from it. Write one sentence per slide saying what that slide has to prove, get the sponsor to read those sentences, then give the sentences and your source documents to the AI and ask for one slide per sentence. When the framing changes, edit the sentences and rebuild. The deck has become the quick part of the job, and the argument is where the time goes.
Building the Slides Stopped Being the Slow Part
Building a deck from your documents is now a standard capability across the main AI tools. Copilot builds a presentation in PowerPoint from a Word document or a PDF. Gemini builds one in Google Slides. Claude Slides launched in beta in September, and ChatGPT works inside PowerPoint through its add-in. Whichever suite your organisation runs, a deck can come out of the same conversation as the report it summarises.
That changes where a deck goes wrong. You’re two days out from steerco, the deck is at slide 34, and the sponsor emails: “Can we frame this around cost, not capability?” No tool stops that email arriving. What you rebuild from when it does decides whether it costs you an afternoon or the rest of the week.
Write the Argument as One Sentence per Slide
Before you open any tool, write the storyline: one sentence for each slide, stating the point that slide has to prove. “Slide 3 shows phase one went live on budget.” “Slide 6 shows phase two can start in November without new spend.” A sentence that only describes content, such as “Budget update”, is a sign you haven’t decided what the slide is for yet.
AI is useful here as well. Give it your notes and ask for two or three alternative storylines for the same decision, then pick the one closest to how your sponsor thinks. A storyline you throw away costs a few minutes.
Then send the sentences to the sponsor before any slides exist. Eight sentences take two minutes to read, and a disagreement about framing shows up while it’s still cheap to fix.
Build the Deck From the Agreed Sentences
Once the storyline is agreed, give the tool the sentences and the source documents together: the status report, the budget extract, the RAID log. Ask for one slide per sentence, using only facts from the sources, and for any sentence the sources can’t support to be flagged in place of being filled.
The flagging instruction matters because a generated deck reads smoothly whether or not the numbers behind it are real, so you want gaps reported as gaps.
Before you paste a budget extract or a RAID log into a third-party AI tool, check your organisation’s policy for that tool and that kind of material. An assistant inside your organisation’s own Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace and a consumer chat app are different conversations with IT.
Check Each Slide Against Its Sentence
Read the generated deck with the storyline beside it. For each slide, ask two things: does it prove what its sentence says, and can every figure be traced to a source you gave the tool? The first catches slides that drifted into describing the work. The second catches the confident number nobody can find.
Your organisation’s template, chart styling and any figures drawn from live systems will still need a person. Treat the generated deck as a strong first draft that someone checks before it goes into the pack.
Change the Sentences When the Framing Changes
When “cost, not capability” arrives, don’t open slide 30. Rewrite the sentences that carry the framing, send the changed lines to the sponsor, and rebuild from the storyline. Three edited sentences and a regenerated deck take less time than reworking thirty slides by hand, and the storyline stays the record of what was agreed.
Keep the storyline with the pack. Next month’s steerco usually follows the same shape, so you start from last month’s sentences and change only what moved.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can AI build a steering committee deck for me? Yes. Copilot in PowerPoint, Gemini in Google Slides, Claude and ChatGPT can all produce a deck from your documents. The deck still needs a person to check each slide against its point and its sources before it goes out.
What should I give AI to build a project presentation? An agreed storyline of one sentence per slide, plus the source documents the facts come from. Ask for one slide per sentence and for any unsupported sentence to be flagged rather than filled.
How do I handle a late change in framing from the sponsor? Edit the storyline sentences that carry the framing, confirm the change with the sponsor and regenerate the deck, rather than reworking slides one at a time.
What’s the last deck you rebuilt after a late reframe, and how many slides in were you?
What’s the last deck you rebuilt after a late reframe, and how many slides in were you?
Yes, AI helped me to write this :)
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