Why plan before you open Slides
Most unclear decks start the same way. Someone opens Google Slides, picks a theme and begins filling boxes. The result is a set of slides about a topic that never states what the audience should think or do.
In this level you plan the deck on paper, in a Google Doc or in a notes app before you make a single slide. You will produce four things:
- An audience statement
- A one-sentence key message
- 6–10 slide headlines, each carrying one idea
- Those headlines arranged as a storyline
The plan works the same on desktop, web and mobile, because none of it happens in Slides yet. Gemini is the one exception, and its plan and device limits are covered in its own section below.
Running example: Priya, an operations lead at a 40-person start-up, has to present to the leadership team about a slow supplier.
Task 1: Write the audience statement
An audience statement says who is in the room and what decision or action you need from them. If you can't name the decision, you aren't ready to build slides.
Fill in this template:
[Audience] already knows [what they know], cares about [their priority], and needs to decide [the decision] by [when].
Priya's version:
The leadership team already knows deliveries have been late, cares about cash and customer churn, and needs to decide whether to switch suppliers by the end of the quarter.
Do this now: Choose a real presentation you have coming up and write its audience statement. If you have more than one audience, write a statement for each one, then plan the deck around the audience that makes the decision.
Task 2: Write the key message in one sentence
The key message is the single sentence you want the audience to remember and act on. It should answer the decision in your audience statement.
Check your sentence against this list:
- It is a complete sentence with a verb, not a topic ("Supplier review" is a topic).
- It takes a position, so someone could disagree with it.
- It fits in one breath when you say it aloud.
- It answers the decision named in Task 1.
Priya's key message:
We should move to Supplier B next quarter because it cuts late deliveries by half for a 4% cost increase.
Do this now: Write your key message. If you need "and" twice, you probably have two messages. Pick the one that serves the decision.
Task 3: Turn ideas into headlines, one idea per slide
A slide headline should state the point of the slide instead of just labelling it. Think of a newspaper: "Prices rise 4% in March" tells you the news, but "Prices" doesn't.
| Topic label (avoid) | Headline carrying one idea (use) |
|---|---|
| Delivery performance | 1 in 5 orders arrived late this year |
| Costs | Late orders cost us about £18k in refunds |
| Options | Supplier B is the only option that meets our deadlines |
Steps:
- List every point you could make to support your key message.
- Rewrite each point as a full sentence with one claim.
- If a sentence holds two claims (often joined by "and"), split it into two headlines.
- Cut any headline that doesn't help the audience make their decision.
- Aim for 6–10 headlines. If you have more, merge related ones or move detail into an appendix or a handout.
At this stage figures like "£18k" are your own claims. Check every number against its source before you present.
Task 4: Put the headlines in order as a storyline
A storyline is the order that leads the audience from where they are now to your decision. A simple, dependable pattern for intermediate presenters:
- Situation: what the audience already accepts
- Problem: what has changed or is going wrong
- Answer: your key message
- Evidence: 2–5 headlines that support the answer
- Action: the decision and next step you are asking for
Priya's storyline (8 headlines):
- Customer orders grew 30% this year
- 1 in 5 orders arrived late
- Late orders cost us about £18k in refunds
- We recommend moving to Supplier B next quarter
- Supplier B halved late deliveries in a 6-week trial
- The switch adds 4% to unit cost
- Lower refunds more than cover the extra cost
- Decision today: approve the switch for Q1
The headline test: Read only the headlines, in order, aloud. Someone who has never seen the slides should still understand the argument and the request. If they wouldn't, reorder, rewrite or cut.
Task 5: Ask Gemini for an outline, then check it
Plan check (as of 1 November 2026): On 30 June 2026 Google announced that Gemini in Slides can create a multi-slide presentation from a prompt. Before it builds any slides, it shows you an outline to edit. Google listed these eligible plans: Workspace Business Standard and Plus, Enterprise Standard and Plus, Google AI Pro and Ultra (consumer), and Google AI Pro for Education. Google's help page says the feature works on desktop and in English only. The announcement specified English (United States). It does not work on the mobile apps. As covered in Level 1, your IT admin can switch Gemini off, so a work account on an eligible plan might still not have it. These details change often, so check Google's current help page.
Steps (desktop browser):
- Open a blank presentation in Google Slides and click Ask Gemini (top right).
- In the side panel, paste your audience statement and key message, then ask for an outline of 6–10 slides. You can attach source files from Drive.
- Answer any follow-up questions Gemini asks, for example about audience or tone.
- Stop at the outline. Don't click Approve yet.
Check the outline against your plan:
- Does every slide serve the decision in your audience statement?
- Does the outline lead to your key message, not a softer or different one?
- Is each slide title a headline with one idea, or just a topic label?
- Are any facts or numbers ones you can't trace to a source? Mark them for checking.
- Does it pass the headline test when read aloud?
Edit, add or remove slides in the outline until it matches your storyline. Gemini is useful for spotting a point you missed or offering a better order. You still decide what the deck says. If you don't have Gemini, skip this task; your paper plan is complete without it.
Your task: plan a real deck
For a presentation you actually have to give:
- Write the audience statement (Task 1).
- Write a one-sentence key message (Task 2).
- Draft 6–10 one-idea headlines (Task 3).
- Order them using Situation, Problem, Answer, Evidence, Action, then run the headline test (Task 4).
- Optional: compare your plan with a Gemini outline and note one change you accepted and one you rejected (Task 5).
Keep this plan. You will build the deck from it in the next levels.
Key takeaways
- Plan the message before you open Slides. The plan needs no software.
- An audience statement names who is listening and the decision they need to make.
- The key message is one sentence that takes a position and answers that decision.
- Each slide headline states one idea as a full sentence, not a topic label.
- Put 6–10 headlines in a storyline and test it by reading only the headlines aloud.
- Gemini's outline step (eligible plans, desktop, English only, may be switched off by IT) is a draft to check against your audience statement and key message, not a replacement for them.