Make a presentation with AI, step by step

Before the tool: the substance

An AI lays out slides very fast. It does not know what you want from your audience. If you give it just a title, it will return generic text, neatly dressed. Settle the argument before you create a single slide.

• The decision you want. What should your audience do when they leave: approve a budget, choose an option, remember three ideas?
• Three verified facts. The figures and the evidence come from you, not from the tool.
• An outline. One idea per slide, written as a sentence, not as a label.

An assistant like ChatGPT or Claude helps you write that outline: “Prepare the outline of eight slides for an executive committee. Decision wanted: approve the training budget. Verified facts: those in the attached memo. For each slide, suggest a title that states an idea, an argument, and the evidence to show. Do not make up figures.”

Step by step, with Gamma

Gamma is a good fit for a first try: it opens in the browser and has a free plan. The steps are similar in the other tools.

1. Open Gamma and click the button to create. Three paths: “Generate” to start from a topic, “Paste” to paste in your notes, “Import” to start from a file or a web page.
2. If you already have a text (meeting notes, a memo, an article), choose “Paste.” Gamma splits it into slides and takes care of the form, without reinventing the substance.
3. Review the suggested outline before you generate. Fixing a title at that point saves several rounds of edits later.
4. Start the generation. Gamma writes and lays out each slide, images included.
5. Edit by talking with the Agent, one element at a time: select a single block, say what needs to change, compare before and after.
6. Replace every figure with your own and check every claim.
7. Export to PowerPoint, to PDF, or to Google Slides, or present directly from Gamma. Open the exported file before the big day.

On the free plan, Gamma gives 400 credits at sign-up, which do not refill, and 10 slides per generation. The “Made with Gamma” badge stays visible; it is removed from the Plus plan up.

Which tool to choose

Plans and prices checked on October 3, 2026 on the vendors’ pages, as shown from France.

If your company requires its own PowerPoint template, two paths are safer: Claude, which returns an editable .pptx file, and Copilot, which works inside PowerPoint. If you are after visual impact, Canva starts from a template and applies your brand identity. Pitch, a German vendor, suits teams that build their presentations together and send them by link. Napkin does not replace these tools: it makes the diagram a slide is missing.

What to review before you present

• The figures. Anything that does not come from your files can be made up, in Gamma as elsewhere: review everything before you present.
• The wording. Generated text is often too long and too smooth. Cut: three points at most per slide, a title that says something.
• The export. In PowerPoint, the rounded corners of Gamma’s tables become square and some gradients are simplified; Google Slides does not carry over the theme’s fonts.
• The tool’s branding. A “Made with Gamma” badge can be awkward on a deck handed to a customer. It goes away with a paid plan.
• Confidentiality. On Gamma’s individual plans, your content can be used to train its AI, unless you turn the setting off in “Settings,” under the “Data Controls” tab. And a plain share link opens for anyone who receives it.

Finally, rehearse. A presentation made in a few minutes goes badly if you discover it at the same time as your audience.

What Nova brings

Nova is subscription software. You recreate these moves there as demos, with the prompt ready: ten slides from one sentence, a Word report turned into a PowerPoint, an 80-page study turned into ten slides. Each tool page gives the plan required, the prices, and their check date. Try the interactive demo.

Frequently asked questions

Which AI lets you make a PowerPoint presentation without paying?

Two paths. Gamma, with 400 credits granted at sign-up and an export to PowerPoint, which keeps the “Made with Gamma” badge. And Claude, which builds a PowerPoint file to download from its free plan, within its usage limit.

Can you start from a Word document or a PDF?

Yes. In Gamma, the “Import” path takes a PowerPoint, a document, or a web page and gives it a fresh layout. In Claude, attach the file and ask for an eight-slide presentation to download.

Does AI follow my company’s brand guidelines?

It depends on the tool and the plan. Gamma applies a theme in the company’s colors and logo with its Pro plan, at €18 per user per month billed yearly. Canva saves your brand identity. If a PowerPoint template is required, work in PowerPoint instead.

Can you edit the presentation afterward in PowerPoint?

Yes. Gamma exports a real file, where tables stay editable, but the export is not always faithful to the screen. Claude returns a PowerPoint file directly. Always open the exported file and fix it before you send it.

Is a presentation made with AI confidential?

Not by default on an individual plan. Check the tool’s training setting, avoid customer names and sensitive amounts in a personal account, and prefer your company’s team plan for confidential content.

Sources

• Gamma pricing, Gamma
• Does Gamma use my content to train its AI features?, Gamma, help center
• Claude pricing, Anthropic
• Microsoft 365 Copilot pricing (France, in French), Microsoft
• Canva pricing (France, in French), Canva
• Pitch pricing, Pitch
• Napkin AI pricing, Napkin AI

Go further

• Gamma: the full tool page, credits, and prices
• Claude: real PowerPoint, Word, and Excel files
• Microsoft Copilot, in PowerPoint and Word
• Canva: create a visual without being a designer
• Pitch: presenting as a team
• Napkin AI: text becomes a diagram
• ChatGPT: the full tool page
• How to write a good prompt
• The free AI tools that are really useful at work
• AI training for independent consultants
• AI training for corporate trainers
• AI training for project managers
• AI training: all jobs