New training course
AI as a Precision Tool: Better PowerPoint, Faster
A hands-on course in your own AI tool and your own template. Learn to orchestrate the AI on specific tasks, and keep control of the quality.
Why take this course?
Your organisation has given you an AI tool, such as Microsoft 365 Copilot, Claude, Gemini or ChatGPT. You've asked it to "make a deck". And you got slides that ignore your template, your brand and your message.
You write slide documents for demanding stakeholders, inside and outside your organisation. You want to be quicker and more confident with AI. But not at the cost of quality or control.
What you'll learn
You'll learn what AI can and can't yet do well in PowerPoint, and where your judgement matters most. You'll build the habit of directing AI on specific tasks, rather than handing over control.
In practice, that means briefing the AI properly before you ask for anything. Using it to shape the storyline and write clear, insight-led titles. Building on-brand slides, visuals and charts in your own template, and fixing what it gets wrong. Then using it as a sceptical reviewer, and handing off the repetitive jobs it does well. All within your organisation's AI policy.
Course content
Set-up
What good looks like and why AI needs it spelled out, your "AI team" of roles, a project or notebook as your deck's memory
Brief the AI, then plan
Document or presentation, the 1-2-3 framework, letting the AI interview you, storyline, headlines not labels
Build slides on brand
Your template, fonts and theme colours, keeping the AI on brand, spotting AI tone tells
Visuals
Icons, images and illustrations, diagrams as editable PowerPoint shapes
Data
The right chart for the message, charts in your theme style, sense-checking the numbers
Review
AI as a demanding critic, executive summaries, consistency checks, accessibility
Productivity
Bulk changes, tidying, merging slides from different templates, reusing the prompts that work
Present
Speaker notes, rehearsing with a likely-questions list
How it runs
Format
One day in person, two half days about a week apart, or two virtual sessions of about three hours. Virtual sessions can be delivered in any time zone.
Group size
8 to 12, so everyone gets help during the exercises.
Your tool
We deliver in the AI tool your organisation uses. The principles and prompts carry over to the others.
Your template, your industry
Case studies are tailored to your organisation and built in your own template. Or people bring a real deck of their own.
What you'll get
What you need
A paid AI tool
A full Microsoft 365 Copilot licence, or a paid Claude, Gemini or ChatGPT plan. The free versions are too limited.
Some experience
PowerPoint basics, some use of your AI tool, and awareness of your organisation's AI policy.
Your template and AI policy, shared in advance
So the course can be tailored. A full prerequisites list for your IT team is available on request.
Steve helped us co-create the two Visual Communications courses that are now included in our core training curriculum for all our consultants here at Berkeley, and so has helped us drive further improvement in the high quality and impact of our client-facing materials – so I’m happy to recommend his SHARPN training courses
Bring this course to your team
Book a short call to talk through your team, your tool and your template. Or download the full course outline.