AI Won't Replace Your Presentation — But It Will Do 80% of the Work
- 11 hours ago
- 3 min read
Introduction: The Tools Are Already Here
A year is a long time in AI. Robin Dohmen was back at Present to Succeed with a significantly longer list of tools, a clearer framework for using them, and a firm conviction: AI can now handle the majority of the work that goes into building a great presentation. The catch is that it only works if you know how to ask.
Start With the Right Framework
Before diving into tools, Robin establishes a principle that runs through everything: story first, software second. The order matters. Script your message, clarify what you want to say and to whom, and only then open your design tool. AI can generate slides, images, copy, and structure — but it cannot tell you what matters to your audience. That part is still yours.
Robin frames his session in three parts: Inform, Inspire, and Interact. Inform covers what AI is and why it behaves the way it does. Inspire is the tools demonstration. Interact is the Q&A. It is a clean structure, and it is worth borrowing.
Getting AI to Work for You: Prompting
The quality of what you get from AI is almost entirely determined by the quality of what you put in. Robin's three prompting principles:
Act as an expert — instruct the AI to take on a relevant role before it answers
Use a personal profile — include context about who you are so responses match your tone and situation
Improve this prompt — always ask the AI to refine your prompt before you use it
A strong prompt should also cover five essentials:
Audience — who is this for?
Purpose — what should it achieve?
Length — brief summary or in-depth breakdown?
Format — list, paragraph, slide outline?
Depth — surface level or detailed explanation?
The Tools: Matched to How You Work
Rather than recommending one tool for everyone, Robin maps his picks to team size and workflow:
Beautiful AI — best for large corporate teams; polished, security-conscious, and enterprise-ready
Slides AI — for Google-first teams; familiar interface with significantly more powerful output
Canva — for smaller teams needing a one-stop shop, from logo to full deck
Tome — clean script-to-design experience with high-quality AI-generated imagery built in
Pitch.com — Robin's personal favourite; collaborative access controls and real-time analytics so you know exactly when a client opens your proposal
ChatGPT voice mode — captures ideas hands-free on the go, ready to pull into a working brief at your desk
Pitch Bob — walks startups through 35 crafted questions to generate a complete pitch framework from scratch
The 80/20 Rule
AI will do 60 to 80 per cent of the work. The remaining 20 per cent — the personal angle, the specific insight, the moment of genuine connection with an audience — still needs to come from a human. That ratio is shifting, and Robin expects the tools to get significantly better at learning individual style and behaviour. But for now, the magic dust, as he puts it, is still yours to add.
Q&A Highlights
Two questions stood out from the audience. On adapting AI output to match a personal style, Robin's advice was to invest in learning how to prompt well and to choose tools that are already learning from user behaviour — both are maturing quickly. On the question of originality as AI becomes more widespread, his answer was honest: being truly original with AI takes time and craft right now, but the tools are evolving fast, and within a year the landscape will look very different.
Final Thoughts: Know Your Tools, Know Your Story
The tools are not the strategy. They are the engine. Feed them a clear brief, a well-crafted prompt, and a story worth telling, and they will do the heavy lifting. Skip that preparation, and no amount of AI will save a presentation that does not know what it is trying to say.
Join the Conversation
Which AI tool has changed the way you work most — and what do you still wish it could do better? Share your thoughts in the comments below.