AI for Communications and Documents

From Blank Page to Polished Document in Minutes

🔄 Quick Recall: In the previous lesson, you built a complete AI meeting workflow — briefs before, transcription during, and automated follow-up after. Now you’ll use AI for the documents that fill the spaces between meetings: presentations, reports, board materials, and executive communications.

Document creation is where many EAs spend their most frustrating hours. A quarterly report can take a full day. A board deck can take a week. AI collapses that timeline dramatically — not by replacing your judgment, but by handling the structuring, drafting, and formatting so you can focus on content and strategy.

Presentations

Step 1: Narrative structure first.

Before any slide content, define the story:

Create a presentation outline for [topic]:

Audience: [who will see this — board, team, clients]
Purpose: [inform, persuade, get approval for X]
Key message: [the one thing the audience should remember]
Duration: [how long the presentation should be]
Data available: [what numbers/evidence we have]

Structure the outline as a narrative arc:
1. Opening hook (why this matters now)
2. Current state (where we are)
3. Key findings (what the data shows)
4. Recommendation (what we should do)
5. Expected outcomes (what happens if we act)
6. Ask (what we need from the audience)

Step 2: Generate slide content.

Using this outline, create content for each slide:
[paste outline]

For each slide include:
- Headline (one clear sentence, not a label)
- 3-4 bullet points (concise, data-driven where possible)
- Speaker notes (what the presenter should say)
- Suggested visual (chart type, diagram, or image description)

Step 3: Design. Use Canva AI or Beautiful.ai to automatically design slides from your content. These tools apply professional layouts, color schemes, and typography without manual formatting.

✅ Quick Check: Notice the slide headlines say “one clear sentence, not a label.” Why? Compare these: “Q2 Sales Results” (label — tells you the topic) vs. “Q2 Sales Exceeded Target by 18% Despite Supply Chain Challenges” (sentence — tells you the story). A board member who reads only the headlines should understand your entire presentation.

Reports and Executive Summaries

The structure-then-fill approach:

Create a quarterly business review report structure:

Include sections for:
1. Executive summary (1 page — key metrics, wins, challenges, outlook)
2. Financial performance (revenue, expenses, margins vs. targets)
3. Operational highlights (projects completed, milestones reached)
4. Team updates (headcount, hiring, notable achievements)
5. Risks and mitigation (what could go wrong, what we're doing about it)
6. Next quarter priorities (top 3-5 goals)

For each section, tell me what data you need from me to complete it.

AI responds with exactly what raw data to provide. You gather the inputs, paste them in, and AI structures them into polished sections.

Executive summary formula:

Write an executive summary for this report:
[paste full report content]

Format: 4 paragraphs
1. Performance headline (one sentence capturing the quarter's story)
2. Key wins (2-3 biggest accomplishments with metrics)
3. Challenges and response (what didn't go as planned, what we're doing)
4. Outlook (what's ahead, what decisions are needed)

Tone: confident but honest. Don't hide bad news — frame it with the action plan.

Board Materials

Board documents have unique requirements:

Board-specific prompt:

Rewrite this operational update as a board-ready summary:
[paste internal update]

Audience: Non-executive board members
Focus on: Financial impact, strategic implications, risks, and recommendations
Remove: Operational details, team-level updates, technical jargon
Add: Comparison to targets/benchmarks, forward-looking projections
Length: One page maximum

✅ Quick Check: Why does “one page maximum” matter for board materials? Because board members review materials for multiple companies and committees. They have limited time and attention. A one-page summary with a clear structure (headline, key metrics, recommendation) gets read. A five-page detailed report gets skimmed or skipped.

Internal Communications

EAs often draft company-wide announcements, team updates, and executive messages:

Draft an internal announcement from [executive name]:

Topic: [what's being announced]
Audience: [whole company / specific department / leadership team]
Key facts: [the essential information]
Tone: [celebratory / informative / reassuring / urgent]
Voice: [executive's voice guide]

Include:
- A clear headline
- Context (why this matters)
- What's changing / what happened
- What employees should do next
- How to get more information

Key Takeaways

• Start presentations with narrative structure, not individual slides — every slide should build toward a clear ask
• Reports follow a structure-then-fill approach: AI outlines the sections, tells you what data it needs, then writes polished content from your raw inputs
• Board materials must be strategic, not operational — one-page summaries with financial impact, risks, and clear recommendations
• Headlines should be sentences that tell the story, not labels that name the topic
• Always add strategic context and political awareness that AI can’t provide — this is your irreplaceable contribution

Up Next: You’ll learn AI-powered project coordination and event planning — managing deadlines, delegating tasks, and orchestrating logistics with AI tools.