How do I write a good prompt for AI slides?

Include four things: the audience, the one message the deck must prove, your real notes pasted in, and the shape (number of slides and how much text). Then read the outline before the tool designs the slides.

Why does my AI presentation have wrong numbers?

AI tools fill gaps with plausible numbers and can blur figures when they condense notes. Paste the real numbers into the prompt and check every figure on the slides against them before the deck goes out.

What is a brand kit in an AI presentation tool?

A saved set of your logo, colours, fonts and image style that the tool applies to every deck. Most AI slide tools have one under a name like theme, brand kit or brand settings.

Does this work in Gamma, Canva or PowerPoint?

Yes. The four habits are about what you give the tool and what you check, so they work in any AI slide tool or chat assistant.

Yes. Stepthrough is free and the practice needs no account.

How to Prompt AI for Slides (and Check Every Number) (Free)

Free · Live nowAI Basics Stepthrough~7 min18 stepsBeginner

Updated October 20, 2026. Built against the tool’s current screens and checked step by step. How we check this lesson

AI presentation tools make a deck in a minute, and a careless minute shows: generic slides, colours that change every time and numbers the AI rounded, mixed up or invented. In this free, hands-on lesson you learn four habits that fix it in Gamma, Presentations.AI, Slidebean, Runable or a chat assistant: a strong prompt, an outline you fix first, a brand kit and a number check. Every screen is a simple worksheet, so there is nothing to sign up for.

At a glance

Question	Answer
What you build	Four habits for any AI slide tool: a prompt with audience, message, source and shape, an outline you fix first, a brand kit, and a check of every number against your notes.
Tools	Stepthrough
Time	About 7 minutes, 18 steps in 4 parts
Level	Beginner, no coding needed
Cost	Free
Ways to learn it	Practice it step by step

The 4 parts, in short

Prompt for slides: Open the weak prompt, Part 1: the audience, Part 2: the one message, Part 3: the source, and 2 more steps.
Outline first: Open Outline first, Spot the slide out of place, When to fix the order.
Brand kit: Open Brand kit, Colours, Image style, Fix the look for good.
Check the numbers: Open Check the numbers, Check revenue, Check growth, Check retention, and 1 more step.

Start here first: Start Here: How Stepthrough Works (module 1 of AI Basics)

Part of: AI for Consulting & Agencies (step 33 of 33)

Part of: AI Presentations & Client Decks (step 2 of 10). Next up: A Presentation from Your Notes in 5 Minutes (Gamma)

Part of: AI Presentations and Visual Content (step 1 of 8). Next up: Presentations.AI: Build a Quarterly Sales Review Deck from Your Notes

What you will do

The example is Cedar & Finch Consulting, a made-up firm where Jordan Lee has a Q3 review with a client on Friday. You compare a one-line prompt with a strong one, move a slide that is out of order at the outline, set up the parts of a brand kit, then check four numbers on a slide against Jordan's notes. Two match. One is wrong. One was made up.

How to prompt AI for a presentation

A strong slide prompt has four parts. Who the deck is for, because a client owner and a finance team need different words. The one message the deck proves, in one sentence. The real source material, pasted in, because numbers you leave out are numbers the AI may invent. And the shape: how many slides, one idea per slide, how much text. Adjectives like "professional" add nothing.

Outline first, then the brand kit

Most AI slide tools show an outline before they design anything. That is the cheapest moment to fix the story: moving a line takes seconds, moving a designed slide can break the layout. In the lesson, a recommendation that asks for budget before showing results moves after the results.

A brand kit, also called a theme or brand settings, stores your logo, exact hex colours, fonts and the kind of images you allow. Set it up once and pick it for every deck, instead of describing your brand in every prompt.

Check every number the AI puts on a slide

AI tools can round, mix up or invent numbers, especially when they condense notes. Compare each figure with your source, one by one. Keep the ones that match, fix the ones that differ, and remove any number you cannot trace to a source. In the lesson the deck says growth was 18% when the notes say 12%, and shows a retention rate that is not in the notes at all.

How the interactive lesson works

Each step is shown first in the Watch panel, then you do it yourself in Your turn on a Stepthrough worksheet. It is module 2 of the free course AI Presentations and Visual Content, which then uses the same habits in Presentations.AI, Gamma, Slidebean, Runable, VisualGPT and Opus Clip.

Try it yourself, free

Reading the steps is a start. Doing them is how it sticks. The interactive module walks you through every click in a practice copy of Stepthrough, checks each step, and never touches your real accounts.

Start “Prompting for Slides: Outline, Brand Kit, Check the Numbers”

Step by step: Prompting for Slides: Outline, Brand Kit, Check the Numbers

All 18 steps of the interactive module, in order. In the module you watch each one, then do it yourself in a practice copy that checks your work.

1. Prompt for slides

Open the weak prompt. Click the Weak prompt.
Jordan has a quarterly review with a client on Friday. Any AI slide tool will make a deck from one line. But look what one line gets you.
Part 1: the audience. Click Part 1: who it is for.
Generic slides, and guessed numbers. A strong prompt has four parts. First, who the deck is for.
Part 2: the one message. Click Part 2: the one message.
Second, the one message. One sentence the whole deck proves.
Part 3: the source. Click Part 3: the real source material.
Third, the real source material. Numbers you leave out are numbers it may invent.
Part 4: the shape. Click Part 4: the shape.
Fourth, the shape. How many slides, and how much text.
Pick the best prompt. Answer the question: which prompt gets the best first draft?
So which prompt gets Jordan the best first draft?

2. Outline first

Open Outline first. Click the Outline first tab.
Audience, message, source, shape. Next, the outline.
Spot the slide out of place. Click slide 2. Our recommendation.
Most tools show an outline before they design anything. Read it like a client would. Slide two asks for money before showing any results.
When to fix the order. Answer the question: when is it cheapest to fix the order?
Move it after the results. When is the cheapest moment to fix the order?

3. Brand kit

Open Brand kit. Click the Brand kit tab.
At the outline. Now, the look.
Colours. Click the Colours card.
A brand kit stores your logo, colours and fonts, so every deck starts on brand. Use exact colour codes, not navy and gold.
Image style. Click the Image style card.
And say which images are allowed. AI-made people can embarrass you in front of a client.
Fix the look for good. Answer the question: what fixes the colours and fonts for good?
Every deck comes out in different colours. What fixes that for good?

4. Check the numbers

Open Check the numbers. Click the Check the numbers tab.
Set it up once and pick it every time. The last step matters most.
Check revenue. Click Revenue: $412K.
AI tools can round, mix up or invent numbers. Compare every number with the notes at the bottom. Revenue matches.
Check growth. Click Growth: 18%.
Growth says eighteen percent. The notes say twelve. Wrong.
Check retention. Click Client retention: 96%.
And this one isn't in the notes at all. The AI made up a number that sounds right.
A number you cannot source. Answer the question: what do you do with a number that is not in your notes?
So what do you do with a number that is not in your notes?

Frequently asked questions

How do I write a good prompt for AI slides?: Include four things: the audience, the one message the deck must prove, your real notes pasted in, and the shape (number of slides and how much text). Then read the outline before the tool designs the slides.
Why does my AI presentation have wrong numbers?: AI tools fill gaps with plausible numbers and can blur figures when they condense notes. Paste the real numbers into the prompt and check every figure on the slides against them before the deck goes out.
What is a brand kit in an AI presentation tool?: A saved set of your logo, colours, fonts and image style that the tool applies to every deck. Most AI slide tools have one under a name like theme, brand kit or brand settings.
Does this work in Gamma, Canva or PowerPoint?: Yes. The four habits are about what you give the tool and what you check, so they work in any AI slide tool or chat assistant.
Is this lesson free?: Yes. Stepthrough is free and the practice needs no account.

Start this module free

More in AI Basics

◷Start Here: How Stepthrough Works

Try the practice in under two minutes: watch a step, click, type, get unstuck with Do it for me, and finish.

Free · Live ~2 min Beginner

ChatGPT in Work mode showing Worked for 1m 12s opened to the five steps it took with a list of overdue invoices

AI Agent vs Chatbot vs Automation: One Job Done Three Ways

Chase six unpaid invoices three ways: a chatbot writes a template, an automation follows a rule, and an AI agent works out the steps and flags the tricky one.

Free · Live ~7 min Beginner

Webhook.site inbox with two POST requests and the Raw Content showing a customer's name, email, phone and message as JSON

What Is a Webhook? Send a Test and Watch the Data Arrive

Point a plumber's website contact form at a free webhook tester, send a test and a real message, and watch the data arrive the moment it's sent.

Free · Live ~6 min Intermediate

◷Automation Basics: Triggers, Actions and Data Mapping

Learn the three ideas behind every n8n workflow, Make scenario and Zap: a trigger starts it, actions do the jobs, and data mapping carries the details. Fix the classic…

Free · Live ~6 min Beginner

◷When to Add AI to an Automation (n8n, Make or Zapier)

Sort six office jobs into plain rules, AI steps and human decisions, then see the safe shape of an AI automation and how n8n, Make and Zapier each add the AI step.