If you have Copilot, PowerPoint can build a deck from your document, write your speaker notes and read a long deck for you. A deck that used to take me an afternoon now takes me 10 minutes. Here are the steps and the prompts.
Turn this into a [6]-slide deck for my client, [client name]. One idea per slide, short headlines. Keep every number and name exactly as it is in my document.
Write speaker notes for every slide. Conversational, about 30 seconds each. Write them the way I'd say them out loud to [who the audience is], and don't repeat the slide text word for word.
Summarize this presentation into 10 bullets and list any decisions it's asking me to make. For each decision, give the slide number, what I'm being asked to decide and by when, if it says.
Save the document to OneDrive, open a new blank presentation and select Copilot on the ribbon. Type Create presentation from file and pick your document. Copilot builds a draft with images and speaker notes. Send any instructions, like the number of slides, as a second message.
Yes. On the View tab, open the Notes drop-down and choose Generate speaker notes for all slides, then select Keep it. Microsoft says it works best on decks under 50 slides. You can also ask Copilot for notes in a set style, such as conversational and about 30 seconds a slide.
Yes. Open the deck, select Copilot and ask it to summarize the presentation. It handles decks up to about 40,000 words. Ask it to list the decisions the deck wants from you, or type Show action items for the tasks it finds.
Yes. You need PowerPoint for Microsoft 365 with Copilot. At work that means a Microsoft 365 Copilot license from your company. At home, Microsoft 365 Personal, Family and Premium include Copilot, and build decks from a single Word file. A work license also takes PDFs.
Format the document with Word's heading styles. Microsoft says Copilot uses them to work out how to break the document into slides. Keep the file under 24 MB, and if your company has a PowerPoint template, open it first and build the deck from there.
Three prompts I run before a deck goes anywhere: one that asks the questions your client will ask, one that sharpens every headline, and one that drafts your reply to a long deck you were sent.
You are [client name]'s [role, e.g. head of operations], seeing this deck for the first time. You're busy and a little skeptical. 1. List the 5 questions you'd ask me, starting with the hardest. 2. For each one, give the slide it comes from. 3. Tell me which slide you'd skip and why. Then give me a short answer to each question, using only what's in the deck. If the deck doesn't answer one, say so.
Rewrite the title of every slide as a short sentence that states the slide's point, under 8 words each. Keep the slide content as it is. Show me the old and new title for each slide in a list before you change anything.
Draft a short email reply to [name] about this presentation. Thank them in one line. Then list each decision it asks me to make, with my answer: [your answers, or 'I need more time on this one']. End with up to 3 questions, using only what's in the deck. Keep it under 150 words, friendly and direct.
PowerPoint has a built-in Speaker Coach that listens while you practice. Microsoft suggests running through the deck with it once or twice before the big day.
Prompts, step-by-step guides and checklists you can put to work today.