Lesson 6 of 7 · 7 min read

Build it in your own template

Approve a slide brief before any slide exists, then build in your own template with one blank slide per layout and real data.

Six steps, outline first

This lesson builds the deck. The method has six steps, and the slides appear only at the fifth. Emeri’s research team assembled it from practitioner guides by Perceptis, Plus AI and Ruben Hassid, and from the vendors’ own documentation. It rests on expert consensus. No study has tested it against other methods.

First, write the argument: the one sentence the deck must prove, and three to five supporting points. Lessons 2 and 3 did this. Second, have the assistant ask you about the audience before it writes anything. Third, turn the argument into a slide brief, with an action title for each slide, two or three points, the data needed and no paragraphs.

Fourth, approve the outline before any slide is built. Fifth, apply your own template and store your brand rules in a persistent instruction field. Sixth, supply real data so the assistant makes native, editable charts, one chart per claim, with the source under each.

Approve the outline before any slide exists

The fourth step is the gate. An outline fits on one page, and you can read its titles in order in a minute. Once slides exist, the argument sits under layouts, colors and charts, and a weak claim is harder to see.

Two vendors now build this gate into their products. Gemini in Google Slides asks follow-up questions and lets you edit or approve the outline before it creates slides. Copilot in PowerPoint asks about audience and style, and you refine the outline before it generates.

Run the titles-only test from Lesson 3 on the brief, not on the finished deck. If the titles do not make the argument as a paragraph, fix the brief. Then approve it in so many words, for example “The brief is approved. Build slide 1 only.”

One blank slide per layout

Assistants often ignore a corporate template. Stephen Smith, writing on Substack in October 2025, found that Claude laid its own content over his company’s template and ignored its placeholders, fonts and colors.

Smith got a usable result only after three changes. He supplied one blank example slide for each layout. He saved a layout inventory to a file. He mapped every slide in his outline to a layout, and added explicit rules for text size and bullets. It took him hours, and he calls the result still imperfect.

The products have changed since then. Anthropic says Claude for PowerPoint reads the slide master, layouts, fonts and color scheme of the deck you open. The step still helps, because it decides which layout each slide uses instead of leaving that choice to the assistant.

So open a new file from your real template. Add one blank slide for each layout you use. Write a short inventory: each layout’s name, what it is for, and its placeholders. Then add a layout column to your slide brief.

Test any tool this way before you trust it. Deckary advises trying an assistant with your real corporate template, not a blank demo deck. A tool that looks good on its own theme can fail on yours.

Write the brand rules and the fit rule once

Brand rules belong in a field the assistant reads on every request. Claude for PowerPoint has an Instructions field in its settings, and the rules there apply to every PowerPoint conversation. OpenAI’s page for ChatGPT for PowerPoint describes no such field, so paste the rules at the start of each request, or put them in a skill.

Write the rules from your Lesson 5 list of surface tells. Use only the template’s fonts. Use one weight per text level, and no italic flourishes. Keep one background color and at most two accent colors. Allow no icons, accent bars or stock 3D images unless they carry information.

Add a fit rule. One GitHub user added a diagram to a slide, and the content ran past the visible area. A second instruction to reorganize until the whole slide was visible fixed it, and the user asked for that rule to be built in. Write it in before the first slide: every slide fits inside the slide area at the template’s font sizes.

Real data, native charts

Give the assistant the data, not a description of it. Attach the sheet from Lesson 4 and tell it to use only those numbers. Ask for native, editable charts, so you can correct a value in PowerPoint without rebuilding the slide. Anthropic says Claude for PowerPoint makes native charts and diagrams.

Build one slide at a time and check each one before the next. A whole deck built in one request is harder to review, and an error on slide 2 repeats on slide 6.

What the vendors say about their own tools

Anthropic does not recommend Claude for PowerPoint for final client deliverables without human review. It also lists replacing your judgment on design and narrative flow as a limitation.

ChatGPT for PowerPoint launched as a beta on May 21, 2026. At launch, OpenAI warned that it may change or delete content if a request is unclear, and that template and font handling may not work yet. OpenAI’s current page says slides may not always match a preferred style, and advises duplicating important files first.

ChatGPT Work also produces presentations as files. It replaced the older agent mode on July 9, 2026. The steps below cover the two PowerPoint add-ins, with the date someone checked them.

Worked example · Larkfield Supply

Morgan builds the deck in Larkfield’s template

Morgan has the one sentence from Lesson 2, the action titles from Lesson 3, the evidence from Lesson 4 and the list of tells from Lesson 5. Larkfield’s company template has five layouts. Morgan uses Claude for PowerPoint on Larkfield’s Team plan.

  1. Morgan asks the assistant for an interview about the audience before it writes anything. Morgan answers: Priya reads the memo the day before, the meeting slot is 15 minutes, and the main objection will be cost.
  2. The assistant drafts a slide brief of seven slides. Morgan reads the titles aloud in order. The fourth title reads “Customer feedback”, which names a topic, so Morgan sends it back.That answers the question you guessed at: Guess: what should you approve before your assistant builds a single slide?
    What would you do next?The revised brief passes the titles-only test. What should Morgan check before approving it?Think it through, then show the answer

    That every slide names the data it needs, and that Morgan has that data. The sixth slide needs the 96% figure, and the brief must label it as Morgan’s estimate. Only then does Morgan approve the brief.

  3. Morgan opens a new file from the template and adds one blank slide per layout: title, section, title and content, title and chart, and closing. Morgan writes the layout inventory and adds a layout to each slide in the brief.
  4. Morgan pastes the brand rules and the fit rule into the Instructions field, then attaches the shipment sheet from Lesson 4.
  5. Morgan asks for slide 1 only, in the title layout, then slide 2 with a native chart of on-time shipments. Morgan checks each slide before asking for the next.
  6. The cost slide lists the shift’s wages, the hours and the overtime comparison. The text runs past the bottom of the slide.
    What would you do next?What should Morgan do about the cost slide?Think it through, then show the answer

    Keep the claim and move the detail. The slide keeps one claim: about $62,000 for the shift, against about $24,000 of overtime last peak. The line-by-line cost moves to an appendix slide. Shrinking the text would break the fit rule.

Morgan has seven slides and one appendix slide, all in Larkfield’s layouts, with no surface tells from the Lesson 5 list. Morgan has not yet looked at the rendered slides as a whole, or said the talk aloud. Lesson 7 does both.

Starter prompts

  • Audience interview, then argument

    Before any slides, ask me questions about my audience, one at a time: who decides, what they already know, what they will object to, and how long I have. When I have answered, write the one sentence this deck must prove, then 3 to 5 supporting points. Use only facts I give you. Mark any gap as [TBD]. Do not build slides yet.

  • Slide brief mapped to my layouts

    Here is my argument:

[paste your one sentence and supporting points]

Here is my layout inventory:

[paste each layout name, what it is for, and its placeholders]

Write a slide brief. For each slide give an action title that states the conclusion in one full sentence, 2 to 3 points, the data needed, and the layout from my inventory. No paragraphs. Use only facts in my argument. Mark missing data as [TBD]. Do not build slides yet.

  • Brand rules and fit rule

    Use only this template’s layouts, fonts and colors. Use one font weight per text level. No italic flourishes. One background color. At most two accent colors: [name your accent colors]. No icons, accent bars or stock 3D images unless they carry information. Every slide must fit inside the slide area at the template’s font sizes. If content does not fit, stop and propose a split. Do not shrink the text. Use only numbers from files I attach. Make native, editable charts, one chart per claim, with the source under each chart. Do not add numbers.

Steps for your assistant

In Claude

Checked on October 15, 2026

  1. Find the Claude for Microsoft 365 listing on Microsoft AppSource and select Get it now. Open PowerPoint, activate the add-in, and sign in with your Claude account.
  2. Open a deck that already has your template applied before you ask for any content. Claude reads the slide master, layouts, fonts and color scheme.
  3. Open Settings in the add-in sidebar and paste your brand rules and fit rule into the Instructions field. They apply to every conversation in PowerPoint.
  4. Paste your approved slide brief and ask for one slide at a time, naming the layout, for example “Build slide 2 in the title and chart layout.”
  5. To change a slide, select it and say what to change. Review every change before you move on.

Anthropic lists Claude for PowerPoint for Pro, Max, Team and Enterprise plans, on PowerPoint for the web, Windows and Mac. Chat history stays in your browser and does not sync across devices.

In ChatGPT

Checked on October 15, 2026

  1. In PowerPoint, go to Home, then Add-ins. Search for ChatGPT and add it, then open ChatGPT from the ribbon and sign in.
  2. Duplicate the file first, as OpenAI advises for important work, so you can go back if an edit goes wrong.
  3. OpenAI describes no persistent instructions field. Paste your brand rules and fit rule at the start of each request, or click + and choose a skill that holds them, if your plan has skills.
  4. Ask for a plan before larger edits, for example “Before editing, outline which slides you would change and why”. Approve the plan, then ask for one slide at a time.
  5. Say what to change, what to keep and where. Review every claim and number before you share the deck.

OpenAI lists the add-in for Free, Go, Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise, Edu and K-12 users, with limited use on Free and Go. Its page says slides may not always match a preferred style.

When not to use AI

  • Before the argument is settled. An assistant builds slides for whatever brief it gets, so fix the brief first.
  • With templates or files from a source you do not trust. Anthropic warns that downloaded templates and vendor files can carry hidden instructions for the assistant.
  • With highly sensitive or regulated data, unless your organization has controls in place for it. Anthropic lists this as a limitation of Claude for PowerPoint.
Recall from memoryWhat goes in a slide brief, and why approve it before any slide exists?Answer it without looking back, then show the answer

An action title for each slide, two or three points, the data needed and no paragraphs. An outline fits on one page, so a weak claim shows in a minute. Once slides exist, the argument sits under layouts, colors and charts.

Exercise · your project

Build your deck in your own template, one slide at a time.

  1. Run the first two prompts on your argument, and approve the brief only after it passes the titles-only test.
  2. Open a new file from your real template, add one blank slide per layout, and write the layout inventory.
  3. Store the brand rules and the fit rule in your assistant’s instruction field, or paste them at the start of each request.
  4. Save a copy of the file, then build one slide at a time with your real data, and check each slide before the next.

Sources