Technical guides author
Asad Ali
Asad Ali writes about presentation workflows, AI tooling and exports at SlidesMate. He is Co-Founder and CTO of AgencyPro, where his work covers product development and technical architecture, and founder and CEO of Chatsy. His SlidesMate articles focus on how presentation tools work and the practical steps involved in creating, editing and delivering a deck.
Writing topics
- Presentation workflows
- AI tooling
- PowerPoint exports
- Browser presenting
Public profiles
Articles by Asad Ali
AI vs Manual Presentation Design: Time, Cost and Quality
When AI drafting saves time on a presentation and when manual design is better, with a downloadable cost worksheet for your own hours and rates.
Markdown to Slides: A Practical Guide
Write slides in Markdown and convert them with SlidesMate: the exact syntax the converter reads, a worked example, the Business API and a CI recipe.
How to Use AI for Presentation Design
A practical AI presentation workflow: write a usable brief, generate a draft in SlidesMate, check every fact, fix the design and rehearse.
How to End a Presentation: 8 Closing Techniques
How to end a presentation: eight closing techniques with example scripts, the final slide for each, and when to use a recap, CTA, callback or vision.
How to Start a Presentation: 7 Opening Techniques
How to start a presentation: seven opening techniques with example scripts, the first slide for each, and a chooser matching openings to your audience.
Bullet Points vs Visuals: When to Use Each on a Slide
Bullet points vs visuals in presentations: what research supports, a slide-by-slide decision table, and four before/after slides from the same content.
How to Create Training Presentations with AI
Design training slides that change what people can do: objectives, a worked example, practice, assessment and facilitator notes, drafted with AI.
How Long Should a Presentation Be? Timing Guide + Worksheet
How long should a presentation be? A time-budget formula covering speaking pace, transitions, demos and Q&A, with worked 5-, 15- and 30-minute examples.
Remote Presentation Tips for Zoom, Teams and Meet
Remote presentation tips: audio, lighting and camera setup, slides that read on a laptop, and sharing slides with notes in Teams, Meet and Zoom.
How to Automate Presentation Creation
Three ways to automate recurring decks: saved AI briefs, a data-to-Markdown pipeline with the SlidesMate API, and PowerPoint scripting libraries.
15 Presentation Mistakes and How to Fix Them Fast
A 15-point presentation mistakes checklist to run before you present, with five before/after slide fixes and a five-minute rescue workflow.
How to Create Webinar Slides: Outline, Polls and CTA
Build webinar slides with a 45-minute outline, poll and Q&A slides, an honest CTA and a replay checklist, plus how Zoom, Teams and Meet share slides.
Presentation Color Palettes: 6 Examples With Contrast Ratios
Six presentation color palettes with HEX codes and measured WCAG contrast ratios, plus how to assign color roles, color charts, and test on a projector.
How to Make Accessible Presentations (WCAG 2.2 Guide)
Make slides accessible with WCAG 2.2 contrast, alt text, slide titles, reading order and captions, plus what to fix after exporting to PPTX or PDF.
Presentation Fonts: Pairings, Sizes and Export Tips
How to choose presentation fonts: six font pairings shown on real slides, size ranges by room, and what happens to fonts when you export to PowerPoint.
Storytelling in Presentations: Structure and Examples
How to use storytelling in presentations: a three-act structure, seven techniques, and one set of facts shown as a plain report and as a narrative deck.
How to Present Data in Slides: Charts, Tables, Examples
Pick the right chart, write insight headlines, label units and denominators, and avoid misleading axes, with a downloadable dataset and six chart examples.
Presentation Design Principles: 10 Rules With Examples
Ten presentation design principles—contrast, hierarchy, alignment, whitespace and more—each shown on the same example slide, before and after.
Slide Design Audit: Fix a Weak Deck Step by Step
A practical slide design audit: a flawed six-slide deck, a ranked defect log and the redesigned version, with PowerPoint and PDF files of both.