Build (and Edit!) Slideshows in Gemini

I am not a huge fan of using AI to create Slideshows because they used to be very difficult to edit. They would come in as a flat image and you would have to jump through more hoops to edit the content. Gemini now offers the ability to create editable Google Slides presentations directly inside of the Gemini app and as of a few days ago, you can now see and edit a preview, ask for adjustments, and keep working right inside of Gemini until you are happy. Then you can export it to Slides, PDF, or PowerPoint.

To start, head over to gemini.google.com and start with a prompt. As always, the more detailed you are, the better the result will be. If you have any reference documents or text to include, you can attach or copy and paste those. Tell it if you want certain fonts, colors, images, etc. If you have a style you want to match, you could even upload a different slideshow for it to use as reference. I didn't go into quite that much detail, but here is the prompt I used:

"Help me build a Google Slide presentation about NASA's early history of Mercury and Gemini. It should be geared towards 9th grade students, so make sure it includes large font with not too much detail on each slide, images, diagrams where appropriate, and engaging fonts and colors that appeal to teenagers without being too distracting."

Here's the result:

Not a bad start! Now from here, I can actually click on the text in any slide and edit it myself. I can highlight text and ask Gemini to make changes to just that text. For example, one slide had the term "Ablative Heat Shield". Maybe I might want that to be defined for the students. So I can highlight the text and request that:

Ta-Da:

When you are happy with the overall design and ready to move it into Google Slides, you simply click the "Export" button and choose Slides. Obviously you can continue to make adjustments to it within Slides, but having more granular control over the edits within Gemini allows you to truly collaborate with the technology rather than being stuck with whatever content and design the AI chooses.

Building and editing slideshows in Gemini is cool, but that's only the beginning of what this new feature can do. Next week I will share how you can create things like worksheets, study guides, or other PDF files that can include visuals, diagrams, charts, and more!