Presentations & work

How to turn notes into a presentation

Your audience needs the point, the evidence, and a clear next step. Decide what your presentation should help them do.

By Eversight · the makers of PhraseSeptember 8, 20266 min read

Read the guide

From notes to slidesExample

One idea.
Room to explain it.

A short deck starts with a clear outline.

One point per slide, with the evidence under it

The quick answer

Choose the audience and the decision they need. Outline one job per slide, then check its claims against your notes. In Phrase, ask the assistant to create and revise a deck, then export PDF or present from iPhone.

Start with one planning note

One planning note, covering a short approval meeting. Its proposed plan, its owners, and the decisions still open all have to survive the trip to the slides, so keep an eye on the unresolved ones.

Example source note

Library volunteer check-in pilot

Ask the coordinator to approve a two-hour pilot on Saturday, 10 a.m.–noon. Staff report queues at the shared desk, but we have not measured waiting times. Test a separate volunteer check-in desk. Twelve volunteers have been invited; attendance is not confirmed. Mia will run the desk. Dev will count arrivals and note queue length every 15 minutes. Proposed spending cap: USD 120 for signs and supplies; nothing has been approved or spent. Lee will confirm the budget by Tuesday. Mia will confirm space by Tuesday. Do not announce the pilot until both are confirmed.

Download text file

The coordinator needs to decide whether to approve the pilot. A prediction about time saved would add a claim the note does not support.

Turn the note into five slides

Slide	On the slide	What to explain aloud
1 · Approve a two-hour check-in pilot	Saturday, 10 a.m.–noon. Approval requested.	The plan is a proposal. We are asking whether to run it.
2 · Test a separate check-in desk	Staff report queues at the shared desk. No waiting-time baseline yet.	A separate desk is the idea to test; improvement has not been measured.
3 · Run a small, observed session	12 volunteers invited; attendance unconfirmed. Mia runs the desk. Dev counts arrivals and checks queue length every 15 minutes.	Describe who does what. Do not describe invitees as confirmed attendees.
4 · Set a proposed USD 120 cap	Signs and supplies. Budget approval pending. No spending yet.	The figure is a proposed ceiling, not an approved budget or actual cost.
5 · Confirm space and budget by Tuesday	Lee: budget. Mia: space. Announce only after both confirmations.	End with the conditions for proceeding and the people responsible.

Library volunteer check-in pilot

Saturday, 10 a.m. to noon
A separate volunteer desk
Mia runs it, Dev counts arrivals
Proposed cap: USD 120
Lee and Mia confirm by Tuesday

1Approve a two-hour check-in pilot
2Test a separate check-in desk
3Run a small, observed session
4Set a proposed USD 120 cap
5Confirm space and budget by Tuesday

The planning note and the five slides it becomes. Every slide title comes from something the note says.

This outline was written for the example. Slide three carries the most detail; split it if it looks crowded. Other talks may need a different slide count.

Ask for a deck with clear boundaries

Use this in the note’s chat or paste your source after the prompt. Change the audience and slide count to suit the assignment.

Notes-to-presentation prompt

Create a five-slide presentation from the source note below.

Audience: the person deciding whether to approve this plan.
Purpose: explain the proposal, its evidence, and the decision needed.

Give each slide a clear title and a small amount of readable text. Keep proposals, confirmed facts, and open questions distinct. Preserve names, numbers, units, dates, and owners. Do not invent research, approvals, results, or quotations.

List any missing information separately for me to check. Suggest what I should explain aloud instead of putting every detail on a slide.

SOURCE NOTE:
[Paste your notes here.]

Download text file

In Phrase, open the note and ask the assistant to create the presentation. Open the resulting deck in the Artifacts library. You can request a specific revision, such as shortening slide three while keeping its owners and measurement interval.

A meeting note and three slides from the deck Phrase made from it.

Check the claims before polishing the layout

Read each number with its label: invited or attending, proposed or approved, estimate or actual. The same number can mean different things.
Match names, dates, owners, and units to the original. In this example, USD 120 must not become 120 per person.
Remove unsupported conclusions. Queue observations do not establish a percentage improvement or prove what caused the queue.
Keep unresolved decisions visible. A slide title should not turn “approval requested” into “pilot approved.”

First draft: ~~Pilot approved~~Checked against the note: Approval requested
First draft: ~~12 volunteers attending~~Checked against the note: 12 invited, attendance not confirmed
First draft: ~~USD 120 per person~~Checked against the note: Proposed cap: USD 120 for signs and supplies
First draft: ~~Queues will be shorter~~Checked against the note: No waiting-time baseline yet

Four claims from a first draft, checked against the planning note. Each one said more than the note does.

Use source-note links when available, or reopen the note yourself. Then inspect the deck at its actual display size. Shorten long lines and keep detailed explanations for the spoken part of the talk.

Once you have a speaking draft, use the words-to-minutes calculator to estimate its length with your chosen pace and pauses. Rehearse aloud before cutting the final version.

Rehearse, then connect the display

Open the deck on iPhone and rehearse the sequence. Check the first and last slide and any numbers you will read aloud.
For AirPlay, connect your iPhone and a compatible receiver to the same Wi-Fi network. Apple’s linked instructions explain selecting the receiver from Screen Mirroring in Control Center.
For a cable, use an adapter or display connection compatible with your iPhone and the room’s equipment. Select the correct input on the display.
Open the deck with the external display connected. Phrase supports full-screen slides on that display while your iPhone remains the controller. Check the audience view before beginning.

Rehearse with the room’s equipment when possible. If a connection fails, you can still review the deck on your iPhone while resolving the display setup.

With a display connected, the deck fills the big screen and the iPhone moves through it.

Choose the file your audience needs

Phrase exports decks to PDF, with one page per slide. It does not currently export native PowerPoint .pptx files. If someone must edit the deck in PowerPoint, arrange that workflow before promising a deliverable. A PDF is suitable for reading, but it is not an editable PowerPoint deck.

Creating and revising decks uses Phrase’s cloud AI service and is included with Pro. The current usage allowance is shown in the app.

Sources & editorial notes

Sources were checked on September 8, 2026. Steps for Apple features follow Apple’s current documentation, linked below. The conditions change with each iOS release.

Phrase: AI presentation maker Deck creation, conversational revisions, external-display presentation, and PDF export.
Apple: AirPlay and screen mirroring Compatible receivers, the network connection, and Control Center screen mirroring.
Apple: Connect iPhone to a display with a cable Matching the adapter to your iPhone and selecting the display input.

Published by Eversight, the makers of Phrase. Our editorial approach · Suggest a correction