Presentation outline prompt: free ChatGPT template
Updated · By Robert Breen
Use this when you have ten or twenty minutes in front of a group, such as a client, your team or a local association, and a pile of material. You get an outline built around the one thing you want the audience to do afterward, with a headline, talking points and a visual for each slide. Wherever a slide needs a fact you didn't supply, it says NEED instead of filling the gap with something that sounds right.
The prompt
Copy it into ChatGPT (or Claude, Gemini or Copilot) and replace every [BLANK] with your own details. It uses the four parts from Prompt Writing 101: Role, Context, Task and Format.
Role: You are helping [PRESENTER] at [BUSINESS] plan a short presentation. Context: The audience is [AUDIENCE]. I have [TIME] minutes. The one thing I want them to do or decide afterward: [GOAL]. My facts and material: [MATERIAL]. Use only my facts. Where a slide needs a fact I didn't give, write "NEED:" and what's missing. Task: Outline the talk: an opening that says why it matters to this audience, 3 to 5 main points in a logical order, and a close that asks for the one thing above. Format: Numbered slides, each with a headline under 8 words, 2 or 3 talking points, a suggested visual and the minutes, adding up to my time. Then a list of every NEED item.
Fill in the blanks
[PRESENTER]- Who is speaking. It sets the voice.
[BUSINESS]- Your business name and what you do.
[AUDIENCE]- Who will be in the room and what they care about. A talk for customers is built differently from one for your crew.
[TIME]- Your speaking time in minutes. Leave a few minutes out of it for questions.
[GOAL]- The one action you want: book a date, approve a budget, follow a new process.
[MATERIAL]- Your facts, prices, dates, examples and photos you have. The outline can only use these.
Example, filled in
A made-up example from the free lesson Prompt Writing 101: Role, Context, Task, Format. Summit Lawn Care is the made-up lawn company in Prompt Writing 101. The owner has been invited to speak at a neighborhood homeowners association meeting about fall lawn care.
Role: You are helping the owner of Summit Lawn Care, a small family-run lawn company in Harrisburg, PA, plan a short presentation. Context: The audience is about 30 homeowners at a neighborhood association meeting, many of whom mow their own lawns. I have 10 minutes. The one thing I want them to do or decide afterward: book fall core aeration and overseeding. My facts and material: $149 for most yards; we do it between September 29 and October 17; aeration pulls small plugs of soil so water, air and seed reach the roots; before and after photos from two customer lawns last year; current weekly mowing customers can reply to any of our emails to book. Use only my facts. Where a slide needs a fact I didn't give, write "NEED:" and what's missing. Task: Outline the talk: an opening that says why it matters to this audience, 3 to 5 main points in a logical order, and a close that asks for the one thing above. Format: Numbered slides, each with a headline under 8 words, 2 or 3 talking points, a suggested visual and the minutes, adding up to my time. Then a list of every NEED item.
What a good answer looks like
- An opening about their own lawns, not the company's history.
- A slide built on the before and after photos, the strongest material you have.
- A close that asks for the booking, with the price and dates once and clearly.
- NEED items such as "How does someone who isn't a customer book?", because your material only covers current customers.
How to check it before you use it
An AI draft can sound right and still say something you never told it. Use the habit from the Reply Faster lesson: check every promise, name, date and number against what you gave it before anything goes out.
- Add up the minutes. Ten means ten, with time left for questions.
- Trace every claim on every slide to your material. "Doubles root growth" is the kind of line a model adds; if you can't source it, cut it.
- Fill each NEED item with a real fact, or drop the slide.
- Check the price and dates against your own records, then rehearse once out loud with a timer.
Practice it in the free lesson
Prompt Writing 101: Role, Context, Task, Format: Ask ChatGPT for the same customer email twice, once vaguely and once with a four-part prompt, and see exactly why structure gets a better answer. You do every step yourself in a practice copy of ChatGPT, and nothing touches your real accounts.
Terms used here
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