Documents, Reports and Presentations

A blank page is the slowest part of writing a report or a presentation. AI is excellent at producing outlines and first drafts, and unreliable at facts, figures and sources. In this lesson you will learn to work by iterations, from a plan to a draft to a polished document, while keeping the content consistent and every claim traceable.

You can now write messages and produce minutes. Longer documents (reports, procedures, proposals, presentations) require a different approach: you build them in stages, and you stay in charge of the substance.

Camille's management committee

Camille has to present the results of last quarter's campaigns to the management committee, with recommendations for the next quarter. She has her notes, a spreadsheet and a lot of ideas, but no structure. If she asks for "a presentation about our campaigns", she will receive something generic. Instead, she works in layers.

The iterative method: five passes

1. Brief: purpose, audience, length, tone, what the reader should do afterwards.
2. Outline: ask for two or three possible structures, choose and adjust one.
3. Draft by section: provide your facts and notes for each section, ask for a first draft of that section only.
4. Revision: tighten, clarify, adapt the tone, remove repetition.
5. Verification: check facts, figures, consistency and sources; polish by hand.

Working in passes keeps you in control: you validate the structure before investing in the details, and you see exactly where the AI has added content that you did not provide.

A ready-to-use prompt: the brief and outline

I need to write a [type of document: report, proposal, procedure, presentation] about [topic].
Audience: [who will read it, what they know, what they need to decide].
Purpose: [what the reader should understand or do after reading].
Constraints: [length, number of slides or pages, tone, mandatory sections].
Material I will provide later: [notes, data, previous documents].

Propose two different outlines. For each, give section titles and a one-line description of what each section contains. Point out what information you would need from me for every section. Do not write the content yet and do not invent facts.

Drafting section by section

After choosing an outline, give the assistant your material for one section at a time. This is the single most effective habit for factual accuracy: the AI formulates, you supply the substance.

A ready-to-use prompt: draft from your material

Write the section "[section title]" of my [document type] for [audience].
Use only the material below. If the material does not support a claim, do not make it. If something is missing, list it at the end under "Missing information".
Style: [plain, concise, active voice]. Length: about [number] words.
Material:
[your notes, figures and facts for this section]

Presentations: from storyline to slides

A presentation is not a document cut into pieces. It needs a storyline: what is the message of each slide in one sentence? Ask the assistant to propose a storyline first: a sequence of slide titles written as full messages ("Our email campaigns outperformed paid ads in Q2") rather than topics ("Results"). Then for each slide request bullet points, speaker notes and a suggestion of the visual you could create (a chart, a photo you own, a diagram) described in words.

Keep slides short; use the assistant to cut text rather than add it. And be careful with charts: ask for a description of the chart you should make from your real figures, not for invented numbers.

Other useful document types

• FAQ: give your real policies or product information and ask for likely questions and answers; check every answer against the source.
• Procedures: describe the steps as you do them, ask for a numbered procedure with prerequisites, warnings and checks; then test it by having someone follow it.
• Proposals and executive summaries: provide the objectives and constraints; ask for a one-page version for decision-makers.
• Templates: ask for a reusable template with placeholders for recurring documents.

Marc, the plumber, uses this approach for his standard "intervention sheet" given to customers after a repair: he lists what he always explains, asks for a clear one-page sheet in plain language, then adjusts it with his own safety recommendations.

Consistency and sources

Long documents drift. A term is used with two meanings, a figure appears with two values, a recommendation contradicts an earlier section. After drafting, ask the assistant to act as a proofreader:

Read the document below as a critical editor. List:
1. Inconsistencies (terms, figures, names, dates) with their location.
2. Claims that are not supported by evidence in the text.
3. Repetitions and sections that could be shortened.
4. Sentences that a non-specialist reader could misunderstand.
Do not rewrite the document. Only report the issues.
[paste document]

As for sources: if the document relies on external information (a study, a regulation, a market figure), you bring the source and cite it. Do not ask the assistant to "add some statistics" or "add references": it may invent them. If you want to cite something, find the original document yourself, read the relevant passage and cite it precisely.

Bad use versus good use

Bad use	Good use
"Write a 10-page report on our market" and copy the result.	Brief, outline, sections drafted from your own material, then a critical read-through.
Asking the AI to add statistics to make the report look solid.	Adding only figures you have verified, with their source.
Making 30 slides full of bullet points generated automatically.	A storyline with one message per slide, short text, visuals from your real data.

Your turn: a short report in five passes

Exercise. Choose a real document you must produce (a one-page report, a short procedure or a five-slide presentation). Follow the five passes. After the draft, run the proofreader prompt. Keep a log of: what you provided, what the assistant added that was not in your material, and what you had to correct.

See a solution

An example log for Camille's presentation: she gave the campaign results and her interpretation; the assistant added the sentence "this confirms the growing importance of video", which she had not said and which her data did not show, so she deleted it. It also produced a slide that mixed two campaigns under one label, found thanks to the consistency check. She rewrote the closing recommendation herself, because it was the part where her judgment mattered most.

The takeaway: the assistant saves time on structure and wording, but it adds interpretation that must be removed or confirmed. The log helps you improve the prompt, for instance with "do not add interpretations or trends that are not in my material".