What a Repetitive AI Presentation Taught Me About Better Briefs

I loved the first visual deck Nancy helped create. It gave us a direction to build on. Then we made a 20-slide version, and the longer presentation lost something.

It was repetitive. I wanted distinct visual storytelling and a shorter structure. Adding slides had given me more material to review without giving the presentation a better flow.

That experience is worth sharing because presentations are an obvious place to try AI. You can get a lot of output. The harder question is whether each part earns its place.

I run AI Business Boomer, and I have been using Nancy, my AI assistant, to help produce visual decks and presenter notes. The work has included good first results and revisions that needed much clearer direction from me.

Review the story across the slides

A slide can look fine on its own and still be unnecessary in the full deck. When several slides make a similar point, changing the image or layout does not automatically make the story move forward.

That was the problem I wanted corrected in the longer version. My request was for a shorter presentation with clearer, more distinct visual storytelling.

The practical question I would ask when reviewing a deck is: what does this slide add?

It might establish the problem, explain a process, show an example, or support a decision. If I cannot identify its role, I need to consider whether it should be combined with another slide or removed.

This is something a business owner can judge without being a designer. You know what the audience needs to understand. That gives you a basis for reviewing the structure before polishing the details.

Give the visuals a clear purpose

Asking for a visual presentation leaves plenty open. The assistant still has to decide what to show, how to arrange it, and how the slides relate to one another.

My experience suggests a more concrete brief. Explain who will see the deck, what they should understand by the end, and what each section needs to accomplish. Then look for visual choices that help communicate those ideas.

A process might benefit from a sequence. A comparison needs differences the audience can see. An example needs enough detail to make the idea tangible. Those are useful directions for a revised brief, rather than simply asking for more graphics.

There is no need for every slide to use a completely different style. The point is to make the ideas distinct while keeping the whole presentation coherent.

Let presenter notes carry some of the explanation

Nancy also helped prepare presenter notes. That is useful because the slide and the explanation have different jobs.

The audience needs to be able to take in the screen. The person presenting needs enough detail to explain the point and connect it to what comes next.

When reviewing a deck, I would look for paragraphs that belong in the notes and ideas that deserve a simpler visual treatment. I would also check that the notes support the actual slide rather than repeating its text without adding anything helpful.

The finished result still needs a human review. A clean layout does not establish that an example is accurate or that the sequence makes sense for the audience.

Specific feedback matters on smaller documents too

I ran into a related issue with one-page briefs. The early versions were not what I needed. I asked for less text, more bullets, and exact layout changes.

That experience reinforced the same lesson as the presentation: useful feedback identifies the problem in the work.

“Shorten this section and turn it into bullets” gives a revision a clear direction. So does identifying two slides that repeat a point, or explaining where the audience needs an example.

How I would approach the next deck

Start with a short sequence of ideas. Check whether it tells the right story before asking for a large number of finished slides.

Then review each slide for its purpose, the accuracy of its content, and the usefulness of its visual treatment. Keep supporting explanation in presenter notes where that helps. Remove repetition before spending time on decoration.

AI gave me material I could respond to, and the first visual result showed what was possible. My feedback still shaped the result. The longer version made that especially clear.

If you have a presentation or brief you would like to make clearer, get in touch with AI Business Boomer for a free, no-obligation conversation about where an AI assistant could help.