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2. Build Kickoff Deck

Note: The video covers material not in the guide below — please watch in full.

Action Step

Complete this before moving on.

Follow along with the video and build the BrightLoop kickoff deck yourself — sketch the slides as ASCII wireframes first, iterate on the structure at least once, then generate the PowerPoint. Once the deck is generated, upload it to Google Drive, open it as Google Slides, and submit the Google Slides link.

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Training Guide

You have a prep doc. You know the client, the pain points, the stakeholders, the timeline. Now you're building a deck — something visual that walks the room through who we are, what we're doing, and what happens next.

Building slides the normal way is slow. You burn an hour on formatting before the structure is right. There's a faster way: sketch the slides in text first, iterate with the AI, generate the PowerPoint once the content is locked.

(Your prep doc becomes the source material. Here's the workflow)

Step 1: Understand the ASCII Wireframe Trick​

Instead of going straight to PowerPoint, you describe your slides in plain text — like a wireframe. Each slide is a box with placeholder content. You iterate on order, content, flow — all in text, where changes take seconds.

Once the structure is right, the AI generates the actual PowerPoint file. Thinking first, formatting last.

It looks like this:

+-------------------------------------+
|  Slide 1: Title                     |
|  ---                                |
|  BrightLoop GTM Ops Embedded Engagement         |
|  Kickoff — March 17, 2026           |
|  LeanScale                          |
+-------------------------------------+

+-------------------------------------+
|  Slide 2: Engagement Overview       |
|  ---                                |
|  90-day embedded engagement         |
|  3 phases: Visibility, Process,     |
|  Marketing Ops                      |
|  Board-ready by Week 3              |
+-------------------------------------+

You're outlining a presentation in a format the AI can read, rearrange, and convert to a real file.

(Now let's build it for BrightLoop)

Step 2: Feed It the Context​

Open Claude Code in VS Code. Give it two things: your kickoff prep doc and the LeanScale brand tone guide. Use the copy path workflow for both files.

Type this above the two file paths:

"I need to build a kickoff presentation for BrightLoop. The first file is the kickoff prep doc I built — it has the client overview, pain points, stakeholder map, and proposed agenda. The second file is LeanScale's brand tone guide — I need the deck to match our voice. Sketch out the slides in ASCII wireframe format first. Don't generate PowerPoint yet — I want to review the structure."

Then add this below the paths:

"The deck should include these slides: title slide, who we are and the team, engagement overview and scope, the three phases with timeline, initial diagnostic plan, how we'll work together, and next steps. Keep it under ten slides. Make the tone earnest and confident — no hype, no buzzwords."

Hit Enter.

(Watch what comes back)

Step 3: Review the Wireframe​

The AI sketches out eight to ten slides, each with a title and content bullets. Read through and check:

Does the story flow? The deck is a narrative: who we are, what we heard, what we'll do, when, what we need from you. If next steps come before the timeline, or the phases appear before the problem — fix the order.

Too much text? A slide with six bullets and a paragraph is a document. You're talking over these slides. One idea per slide.

Does it sound like LeanScale? "Revolutionary transformation of your GTM engine" — kill it. "Board-ready pipeline review in three weeks" — keep it.

Is the board meeting front and center? If it's not, move it up — probably to the engagement overview slide.

(Time to iterate)

Step 4: Iterate on the Structure​

Rearranging text boxes takes seconds. Rearranging PowerPoint slides takes minutes. Make your changes in conversation:

"Move the team introductions slide right after the title — they need to know who's in the room before we talk about scope. On the phases slide, bold the Week 3 board meeting milestone — that's their top priority. Cut the 'how we'll work together' slide and fold those details into next steps. And add a slide after the phases called 'What We Need From You' — list the access requirements, the stakeholder time commitments, the Salesforce admin handoff."

Review. One more round on brand tone:

"Check every slide against the LeanScale brand tone. Replace anything that sounds like a generic consulting pitch. Instead of 'comprehensive Salesforce optimization' say 'Salesforce cleanup — pipeline stages that match how you actually sell.' Instead of 'strategic engagement framework' say '90-day embedded engagement — three phases, clear milestones, no filler.' Keep it direct and specific."

(Structure is locked. Now make it real)

Step 5: Generate the PowerPoint​

"The structure is locked. Generate the actual PowerPoint file. Use clean, professional styling — white backgrounds, dark text, minimal design. No clip art, no stock photos, no gradients. Put the LeanScale name on the title slide. Save it as brightloop-kickoff-deck.pptx in the Academy-Practice-Assets/Kickoff-Prep folder."

A .pptx file appears in your folder. The formatting will be clean but basic — functional, not award-winning. That's fine. Content and structure are what matter for the kickoff.

If something looks off:

"Slide four has too much text. Break the three phases into three separate slides — one phase per slide, with the timeline and key deliverables for each."

Step 6: Review the Deck​

Open the .pptx file and click through every slide. You're looking for:

  • Does the order make sense? Would someone following along in the room be able to track the story from slide to slide?
  • Is anything too dense? If a slide has more than four or five bullets, it's doing too much. Split it or cut it.
  • Do the specifics hold up? Dates, names, phase descriptions — anything that came from the transcript or SOW should match. The AI sometimes paraphrases in ways that shift the meaning.
  • Does it sound like you? Read a few slides out loud. If anything sounds like a generic consulting deck, rewrite it.

Fix anything that's off. This is the thing you're presenting — it's worth five more minutes.

Step 7: Upload to Google Drive​

Claude generated a .pptx file. That's fine for downloading and emailing, but you'll probably want it in Google Slides — easier to share, easier to present from, easier for your team to comment on.

  1. Open drive.google.com
  2. Drag the .pptx file from your folder into Drive — or click New → File upload
  3. Once it uploads, double-click it. Google Drive opens it as a preview.
  4. Click Open with Google Slides at the top

Google Slides converts it automatically. The formatting might shift slightly — check your spacing, font sizes, and alignment. Minor cleanup is normal.

Now you've got a shareable link, version history, and the ability to present directly from the browser.

Submission​

Share the Google Slides link.** Open the converted deck in Google Slides, click Share, set access, and submit the link.

What You Just Did​

You took a prep doc and turned it into a client-facing presentation without opening PowerPoint until the end. Sketch in text, iterate fast, generate when the structure is right. This works for kickoff decks, status updates, pitch decks, board presentations — anything with slides.

(You've got the prep doc and the deck. Before that call happens, one more thing to set up: the recorder that captures it)