Reports and decks have two parts: the thinking (what the numbers mean) and the packaging (structure, words, slides). AI is a strong helper on the packaging and a useful sparring partner on the thinking.
Numbers to commentary
Paste a small table: “Write 5 bullets of commentary: what changed, possible reasons, what to watch. Don’t invent reasons; mark guesses as questions.” You then fill in the real reasons, which only you know.
Structure first
“Give me a 6-slide outline with a headline that states the point of each slide.” Review the storyline before any slide is made.
Slides and notes
Copilot in PowerPoint can create a draft deck from a Word document or prompt, and Designer suggests layouts.
Ask for speaker notes per slide (under 100 words).
Ask for a one-paragraph executive summary for the email that accompanies the deck.
💡 Keep the numbers out of AI’s hands: calculate in Excel, then give AI the final table. Retyped or re-calculated numbers are where errors creep in.
⚠️ Check every number, chart label and name on generated slides against your source. A wrong figure in a board deck costs far more than the time AI saved.
Practice
Do the three exercises with a small non-confidential results table.
📎 Practice files for this article
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Lesson 6 worksheetPrompts and exercises for this lesson.
