avatarShuyi Wang

Summarize

How to Leverage AI for Crafting PowerPoint Presentations?

I trust that today’s discourse will empower you to swiftly assemble slides, deliver compelling presentations, and captivate your audience, earning their admiration and attention.

The Ask

A friend recently inquired if I knew of any AI software that could directly generate PowerPoint presentations.

I suspect if you’re reading this, you might be harboring a similar curiosity.

Indeed, such software exists, some with quite comprehensive features. However, if you solely rely on these AI-assisted PPT generation tools, you might find them lacking in certain areas. Instead, I’d like to introduce you to a combined approachthat compensates for the limitations of individual tools. This aligns with the software usage principle proposed by Mr. Zhang Yuxin: “Use powerful tools lightly”. Use each software for its strengths, and then combine them for maximum efficacy.

What should one consider when crafting a compelling PPT? I believe conveying the value of the content is paramount. Aesthetic flourishes are just the icing on the cake. It’s crucial to prioritize.

How can one generate valuable content that stands up to scrutiny? AI can play a supportive role here. You decide on a theme, and let AI draft the initial content. But remember, you must review it before using. I’ve often emphasized treating AI as an assistant, not a gunman. We humans should remain the driving force in this collaboration.

Even if AI drafts the initial content, the quality of that draft largely depends on the reliability of the chosen model and whether the Large Language Model (LLM) is updated with the latest information. After all, you wouldn’t want to convey outdated or fabricated information to your audience, would you?

Let’s delve into a practical example to see how AI can assist in generating content.

Content

Suppose you wish to explain “quantum entanglement” to your audience. You could first employ GPT-4, combined with an internet-searching plugin called Link Reader, to gather the latest materials and prepare the introduction.

My prompt was:

The Translation goes as:

Please search for the latest information, then answer in Chinese about the parts you are confident with. Thank you: Please use language that a primary school student can understand to give me a detailed and vivid explanation of ‘quantum entanglement’.

Before the colon, I instructed, “Please search for the latest materials and respond confidently in Chinese.” This is a template I use whenever I need GPT-4 to answer questions based on research. To avoid repetitive and error-prone inputs, I’ve stored this template as a macro in Keyboard Maestro.

So, whenever I want to query ChatGPT, I simply use the shortcut ;qb to prepare the "template". Then, I clearly describe my question:

“Please explain quantum entanglement in a manner that a primary school student can understand, and do so vividly and in detail.”

Note that there’s some prompt engineering at play here.

Firstly, asking for an explanation suitable for a primary school student implies avoiding complex jargon and mathematical formulas.

Secondly, the terms “vividly and in detail” instruct the AI to provide richer content, especially easy-to-understand analogies and examples.

GPT-4 responded promptly.

The translation of the answer is:

Alright, I’ll try to explain the concept of ‘quantum entanglement’ in simple and understandable language. You can imagine quantum entanglement as two incredibly special friends. How special are these friends? No matter how far apart they are, even if one is on one side of the Earth and the other is on the opposite side, they can instantly know each other’s state. For instance, we have two magic balls, one red and one blue. We mix them together then put them separately into two boxes. These boxes are sent to opposite ends of the Earth; one in Beijing and another in New York. Now, if you open up the box in Beijing and find a red ball inside it, you would immediately know that there must be a blue ball inside the box in New York without having to open it up to check. This is a simple analogy for quantum entanglement.

However, quantum entanglement is much more complex than this analogy suggests when applied to real-world physics scenarios. In the world of quantum physics, two entangled particles have states that are interconnected; if one particle changes its state then so will its partner instantaneously no matter their distance from each other — hence why quantum entanglement sometimes gets referred to as “spooky action at a distance”.

This phenomenon represents an important concept within Quantum Mechanics but cannot be found within our everyday classical physical world which explains why many scientists find it both astonishing yet perplexing.

I hope this explanation helps you understand what Quantum Entanglement entails! If you have any further questions feel free to ask anytime.

From the process, it’s evident that GPT-4 utilized Link Reader to ensure the validity and accuracy of the information. Then, observe the style of its output:

“Imagine quantum entanglement as two incredibly special friends. How special? No matter how far apart they are, even if one is on one end of the Earth and the other on the opposite end, they can instantly know each other’s state.”

Doesn’t this explanation from GPT-4 align with our prompt requirements? The subsequent “red and blue magic balls” analogy further elucidates the concept for the audience.

Once the content is ready, pasting it directly into a PPT might not be the best idea. The audience’s attention could be diverted by the extensive text, leaving them no time to listen to your narration. Moreover, the dense text might be illegible to those seated at the back, making the presentation seem tedious or even prompting them to “rest their eyes.”

What’s the solution?

We need to transform the lengthy text into individual slides. Each slide should have a title, and the content should be organized in a list format, concise and to the point. The slides should follow a logical sequence…

Sounds demanding, doesn’t it? Might we be better off doing it manually?

Transformation

Not necessarily. Here’s a prompt I’ve refined over multiple iterations, which I’m sharing with you.

The translation of the prompt is:

Please make each paragraph of the above answer into a page of Markdown revealjs slide (if the number of words in a paragraph exceeds 100, it can be split into 2 or more pages). Each slide includes a title (represented by ‘##’, secondary title) and an unordered list within the page. The unordered list on each page can use up to two levels of indentation structure to represent logical relationships. It is required that the titles and contents of each item on every slide are as concise as possible. If an item originally contains examples, definitions or explanations, please follow this current page with a new one showing specific content using that item as its title. The content of the list on each page does not exceed 6 items. Express your answers in Chinese and put them in Markdown code block. Because there are secondary title symbols, you don’t need ‘ — ‘ as separators between pages. Use primary titles (‘#’) to represent overall slideshow titles. If there are mathematical formulas, please express them according to latex standards.Thank you

GPT-4 quickly grasped the intent, and the lengthy text was dissected into a structured outline for slides.

The translation is:

# Explanation of Quantum Entanglement 
## Metaphor for Quantum Entanglement 
- Quantum entanglement can be imagined as two super special friends. 
- No matter how far apart they are, they can instantly know each other's state. 
## Example of Magic Balls 
- We have two magic balls, one red and one blue. 
- Mix them together and then put them in two separate boxes. 
- These two boxes are sent to opposite ends of the earth, one in Beijing and one in New York. 
- Open the box in Beijing and find that it is a red ball inside. 
- Then you immediately know that there must be a blue ball inside the box in New York, even if you haven't opened it to see. 
## Complexity of Quantum Entanglement 
- In the real physical world, quantum entanglement is much more complex than this metaphor suggests. 
- In the quantum world, particles with intertwined dimensions have states that are interrelated; 
- when one particle changes its state, another particle will also change its state immediately no matter how far apart they are from each other.
## Speciality of Quantum Entanglement 
- This is why quantum entwinement is sometimes referred to as "spooky action at a distance". 
- This phenomenon is an important concept within quantum mechanics;
- we cannot find such phenomena within our everyday classical physics world which makes many scientists feel amazed and puzzled by quantum entwinement.

At this point, you can use Quarto to convert this outline into Revealjs slides. I frequently use Revealjs slides for lectures and videos.

However, if you proceed this way, you’ll need to make some adjustments. Currently, your slides only contain text and lack visuals, making them less engaging. To add visuals to Revealjs Markdown, you’d need to understand basic Markdown syntax or use a conversion tool. For many outside the IT domain, this might not be convenient.

But why worry? We have AI.

Generation

You can use an AI tool called Gamma to transform the obtained outline into a PPT.

First, you need to visit its homepage and register for a free account. Here’s the link.

Gamma will then invite you to create a new workspace, defaulting to your name.

You’ll also be asked

about your intended use for Gamma. I told it “personal use,” just for fun.

Next, skip the default guide and go directly to your workspace homepage. Choose to use AI to “Create New” slides.

In the pop-up dialog, select the second option, “Text Transform.” This means you provide the content, and Gamma transforms it into a PPT.

This is the interface awaiting your input.

Before inputting content, let’s adjust some settings. First, set the number of slides to be generated to the maximum, around 12.

Next, adjust the language settings to Simplified Chinese.

Once the settings are in place, you can copy the outline generated by GPT-4 into the input area.

After clicking the “Generate” button in the bottom right corner, Gamma will first analyze the content and plan how to layout the slides. Here, you can choose a template style.

I didn’t change the template and used the default preset. Gamma then automatically selects visuals based on your settings and input, meticulously crafting each slide.

Each slide has a flexible layout, and the visuals are exquisite. I’m particularly fond of the visual on this slide, which aligns perfectly with the text content.

Gamma even thoughtfully adds a “Conclusion” slide at the end, humorously linking it to “contemplating life.”

Now, you’re ready to present to your audience. I’m fond of the “Spotlight” mode in the presentation interface.

In this mode, Gamma sequentially highlights each element on a slide during playback, like this:

Not only can you present directly online with Gamma, but you can also export the slides in PPT or PDF format.

Note that the PPT export is currently in Beta. I tried exporting to PPT, and while playback was smooth, it lacked the element-by-element appearance of the online version. So, there’s room for improvement.

In Conclusion

This article showcased how AI can assist you in generating content around a theme using GPT-4, transforming it into a slide outline, and then using Gamma to automatically find visuals and output it as a polished PPT. I hope today’s guide helps you swiftly craft presentations, deliver high-quality talks, and captivate your audience.

Happy AI-assisted PPT crafting!

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