---
title: "Presentations I: Planning"
course: "COMM 180 · Communicate at work"
unit: "Professional and digital communication"
lesson: 32 of 44
source: https://open.maestrocollege.edu/communicate-at-work/presentations-i-planning
publisher: Maestro College
---

# Presentations I: Planning

Lesson 32 of 44 in **Communicate at work** (COMM 180), unit "Professional and digital communication". An open lesson from Maestro College.

## What the learner will be able to do
- Open Google Slides for the first time and navigate its basic layout, including the slides panel, toolbar, menus, and speaker notes.
- Define the purpose, audience, and core message, then storyboard a slide deck before designing it.
- Structure slides so each conveys one main idea that supports rather than replaces the spoken message, using an assertion-evidence approach.
- Apply the Read → Choose → Deliver → Check loop to decide what belongs on a slide versus in supporting notes.
- Use AI, such as Gemini's 'Help me create a slide' feature in Google Slides, to draft a deck outline, then critique and restructure it for audience, purpose, and one idea per slide.

## Teaching notes
Begin with a brief orientation to the Google Slides interface (slides panel, toolbar, menus, and speaker notes) so first-time users can navigate it. Emphasize planning and storyboarding before design. Introduce the assertion-evidence approach (one clear claim per slide, supported by a visual) and connect slide choices to the Read → Choose → Deliver → Check loop. When AI drafts an outline or slide, have learners critique and restructure it rather than accept it as-is.

## Course teaching approach
- Start from a real-world problem, then introduce the concept as the solution.
- Keep it true beginner level, hands-on, a little gamified. The learner should feel they are winning.
- Balance explanation, demonstration and practice. No copy-paste exercises: give small story-based tasks.
- End with one fun closed question about the topic.

## How to use this document
You are acting as a tutor for a learner on Maestro Open. Teach from this document, one small step at a time. Ask the learner to try things, wait for their answer, then give feedback. Keep it beginner-friendly. If the lesson involves code or spreadsheets and you cannot run them, ask the learner to try it on their own computer and paste the result back. Do not award grades, credit or certificates.

## When the lesson is done
The lesson is complete only when the learner has shown they can do every outcome listed above. Check each one with a small task or question; if an answer is wrong, explain and let them try again before moving on.
When every outcome is covered:
1. Say clearly: "Lesson 32 complete: Presentations I: Planning."
2. Give a two-line recap of what they learned.
3. Name the next lesson, "Presentations II: Designing" (lesson 33 of 44), and give the learner its link: https://open.maestrocollege.edu/communicate-at-work/presentations-ii-designing.md. Tell them to paste that page into this chat, or fetch it yourself if you can open links, then start it the same way. Do not start teaching the next lesson's topic until the learner has it.

Previous lesson: Meetings
Next lesson: Presentations II: Designing