Turn notes into presentation slides (without staring at a blank deck)

This Route is for people who can write notes but hate making slides.

Turning notes into slides fails for one main reason: notes are not a structure. Notes are raw material. Slides require decisions:

• What is the single message?
• What are the 3–5 main points?
• What proof supports each point?
• What should the audience do next?

This guide helps you decide those things fast so the slide generation step becomes easy.

1) When this Route is the right move

Use this Route when:

• You have meeting notes, a memo, or a rough doc, and you need a deck fast.
• You’re okay with a “first draft deck” that you will tweak (not final art direction).
• Your deck is for clarity and alignment (business update, proposal, internal report).

This Route works best for:

• 5–12 slides
• simple charts/figures (optional)
• a clear audience and goal

2) When NOT to use this Route

Skip this Route if:

• You need a high-design marketing deck with heavy visuals and brand polish (use a design-first workflow).
• Your content is unclear and you’re hoping slides will “make it coherent.”
• You don’t know the audience yet (exec vs team vs client changes everything).

Slides don’t fix unclear thinking. Slides expose it.

3) The main trap: turning every note into a slide

A deck is not documentation.

If you convert everything, you get:

• 25 slides nobody reads
• weak narrative
• unclear conclusion

Instead: choose a narrative first.

A simple narrative skeleton:

1. Context (why now)
2. Problem (what’s blocking)
3. Options (what we could do)
4. Recommendation (what we will do)
5. Next steps (who does what by when)

4) The “one sentence” test

Before generating slides, write:

• The deck’s purpose in one sentence
• The decision you want (approve / align / budget / next meeting)

If you can’t write this in one sentence, the deck will wander.

5) Outline rules that make slide generation easy

Use these rules:

• 1 slide = 1 idea
• 3 bullets max per slide (short bullets)
• Each slide ends with a takeaway (so it’s skimmable)

Recommended slide count:

• 1 title
• 1 agenda (optional)
• 3–6 content slides
• 1 decision / ask
• 1 next steps

6) What “good enough” looks like

A good first draft deck has:

• clear titles that read like headlines
• consistent structure
• obvious conclusion
• no overloaded slides

Design polish can come later. Clarity can’t.

7) Common failure patterns (avoid these)

• “Too many bullets” → cut until it hurts.
• “No recommendation” → add a clear ask slide.
• “All context, no action” → move next steps earlier.
• “Charts with no message” → every chart needs a sentence takeaway.

8) Trust note

Use official tool websites only.
Always verify numbers and names in generated slides.
If it’s client-facing, do a final pass for tone and formatting.