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Working with AI COMMUNICATION CRAFT · Presentation Storytelling

Presentation Storytelling with AI

AI helps shape a persuasive presentation — building the narrative arc, tightening the story, anticipating objections. But a persuasive story must serve a genuinely good case; AI will just as readily make a slick case for a bad decision. What to advocate, and whether the argument is honest, is yours.

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1How to use AI for this

A step-by-step way to work

1

Define the one thing

Tell AI the single decision or change you want the audience to make — a presentation with two messages has none.

2

Build the arc

Give it your content and ask for structure: audience context → tension → your case → resolution.

3

Cut to the story

Have it strip an information-dump deck to the slides that advance the argument.

4

Anticipate objections

Ask what a skeptic in the room would push back on, and prepare responses.

5

Check the case is honest

Make sure the persuasion serves a sound argument, not just a desired outcome.

2Worked examples

Real prompts, and what good output looks like

Anticipating objections
Your prompt

I'm presenting a case to sunset our legacy API. What will skeptics in the room push back on, and how should I prepare?

What good output looks like

'It'll break integrations' → bring the data on how many customers actually use it and your migration plan/timeline.

'Now isn't the time' → quantify the ongoing maintenance cost of keeping it.

'Big customers will complain' → name the specific accounts affected and your account-management plan.

Weakest point in your case: if you don't actually know usage numbers, that's the objection that sinks you — get them first.

Genuinely useful prep, and the last line is the value: AI points at the weakest part of your case so you can shore it up before someone else finds it.
3Copy-paste template

A prompt you can reuse

Fill in the highlighted parts and paste it into your AI tool of choice. Edit the output — it's a starting point, not a finished answer.

Reusable prompt
Help me build a persuasive presentation. The case must be honest — flag where it's weak, don't just make it sound good.

The one decision I want from the audience:
[the single ask]
My content/evidence:
[paste]
Audience:
[who, what they care about, their likely starting position]

Please:
1. Structure it: audience context → tension/why-now → my case → the specific ask.
2. Cut anything that doesn't advance that one decision.
3. List the objections a skeptic will raise and how to prepare for each.
4. Tell me the weakest point in my own argument so I can address it.
4Common pitfalls

What AI gets wrong here

Slick case for a weak decision

AI optimises for persuasiveness regardless of whether the underlying call is right.

Do this instead: Use it to clarify and stress-test a sound case; if AI has to stretch to make it work, reconsider the decision.

Two messages, no message

AI may keep all your content, diluting the single ask.

Do this instead: Force it to serve one decision; cut everything that doesn't.

Manufactured emotion

AI can add narrative flourish that rings false to a sharp audience.

Do this instead: Keep the story grounded in real evidence; persuasion built on substance survives questions, theatre doesn't.
The judgment that stays yours

AI is a capable story-builder and a useful sparring partner for finding the weak points in your argument. But persuasion is only craft when it serves a case that deserves to win — in service of a bad decision, the same skill is manipulation. The judgment of what to advocate, and the honesty of the argument, is yours to keep.