How to Build Gamma Decks Using Real Workspace Data (Full Transcript)

[00:00:00] Speaker 1: Gamma is the easiest and fastest tool I've found for making great-looking presentations. Of course, it can be tempting to fall back to PowerPoint or Google Sheets when I want to build something with real information from my emails or my documents. But today, we're partnering with Gamma to show how you can build presentations with Gamma's distinctive styles and designs while also using real information that you already have in Google Workspace or Microsoft 365 or wherever. I didn't know Gamma could do that, but now that I do, it's really easy. In Gamma, you can choose to make documents, websites, or a presentation. Or maybe you want to start with a template. Choose a template, then use the AI prompt to describe the presentation you want, and let Gamma's AI build it for you. This was fast, it was easy, and the presentation looks great. But in this case, we really just have general placeholder information. I can go back through and I can add in my specific details manually, but I'd really rather start with data and insights from my business. And there are two ways to do that. You can import information into Gamma, or you can use MCP connectors in your favorite AI assistants. To import information, I'll back up and use the Create with AI option again to make a presentation. But here's the key. There's an option here to import file or URL. You can import a document, PDF, or even an existing PowerPoint presentation, or import from Google Slides or Google Docs. Or even better, let's say you really liked one of those templates. We can back up, go to Create from Template, choose the template first, then before anything else, choose Import Content. So let's say I need a presentation for new hires at my company that explains the most important day one tasks. I'll select my company's employee manual, and it loads the entire content of that document into the prompt field. Then I just need to add my instructions above or below that. So I'll tell it to identify the 10 most important day one tasks and make a presentation. Below that, you can choose the type of visuals you want, then click Generate. And we can watch as it builds a presentation. This took less than a few minutes, and best of all, it contains actual information from my business. But that's sort of a light version of this scenario. We just used information from one document, and most of the time that's all I need. But sometimes I want to collect information from different sources, maybe some documents or email messages. For this, you'll need to take a quick side trip to your AI assistant of choice. If you manage your business in Microsoft 365, you might go to Copilot. If you use Cloud, this will work there as well. I'll go over to Gemini, and I can tell Gemini to find information about the Volunteer Day event from my Google Drive and email messages and collect that information into one single document. Of course, you will prompt your AI assistant to give you whatever information will be useful for your presentation. This is one pretty specific scenario. You could ask it to give you a document that you can download, then import that into Gamma later as we just saw. Or since I'm using Gemini, I can just ask it to save the reference document directly on my Google Drive. I'll give it some time to process, and when that's done, I'll go back over to Gamma. I'll make a new presentation using AI, and I'll choose Import File or URL. Of course, if you have a file that you generated in Copilot or Cloud, you could choose the option for Upload a File. But in my case, I'll choose Import from Google Drive and select that file that Gemini just generated. Now from here, you can choose the type of Gamma project you want. I'll make a presentation. And once again, it added all of my reference information into the prompt field. I just need to add my specific instructions describing how I want Gamma to use this information and what I want in the presentation. There are some additional controls on the left, so you can choose the visual theme you want. And there's a full list that you can browse here. You can choose the type of images you want in the presentation, and if you do set it to Generate Images Using AI, you can choose the style and you can choose which AI model you want to use. Then you can set how many cards you want in the presentation. Gamma uses cards instead of slides. Then Generate. And once again, you can watch as the AI builds the presentation. And when that's done, I have this full presentation that uses all of the information I provided about the event. So any of your AI assistants can generate a document full of information that you can import into Gamma. But here's a different option. If you use Cloud or ChatGPT, you can connect those directly to Gamma using MCP connectors. So for example, if you're working in Cloud, you can go to Customize, then to Connectors, click the plus button and browse, then search for Gamma. And when you connect Gamma, you'll need to sign in. Now that connector is set, but you should probably connect other MCP services as well. You can link Cloud or ChatGPT to your Google Drive, Gmail, and many other services. I want to use information from my OneDrive, so I'll set up the Microsoft 365 connector. And Cloud can orchestrate tasks across all of the apps and connectors you set up. So in a new chat in Cloud, I can tell it to find information about previous events from my OneDrive, then create a Gamma presentation to recruit team members for the event in August. We can see as Cloud uses the Microsoft 365 connector to find that information, then it uses the Gamma connector to make the presentation. And when that's done, there's a link to edit the presentation in Gamma. I can make revisions and keep working. And if you haven't used Gamma before, you'll find that it's very easy to revise and polish your presentation. If it was generated by Cloud or ChatGPT, the first thing you might want to do is change the theme. Using the Theme button at the top, you can try a few different themes until you find a design you want. If you need to change the text, you can edit it directly, or open the formatting bar to change the font, size, color, and everything else. There's even a button for the AI Assistant to help you rewrite. And this is the structure that you'll see pretty much everywhere in Gamma. The standard manual editing tools that you expect, and an AI Assistant that can help you. So if you need to change a picture, just select the picture. There are manual editing tools, and from there you can swap in a different picture. Or if you have AI-generated pictures, you can change the art style, the aspect ratio, or use the AI prompt to describe the revision you want. Then generate your revised picture. Or you can select the picture, then go directly to the Edit with Agent option. Need to change the styling or layout of the full card? The buttons at the top of the card give you manual controls, or the AI Assistant. Need to add an entirely new card? You can add a new blank card, a new card from a template, or just use the AI Agent to describe the card that you want to add. So Gamma presentations have great design and layout. But I think the biggest differences, compared to some of their traditional apps, are in the ways you can present or share your presentation. There's a Present button at the top, so you can jump into the presentation mode at any time. Click on the left or right side of the card, or use the arrow keys on the keyboard to go forward or backward. And cards scale dynamically in a way that traditional slides just don't. So you can resize the browser window, and the cards will fit that window size. And that also means you can present on any screen of any size or shape, and the content will always fit perfectly. Gamma completely reimagines how presentations should work, how you build them, and how you share them. But the fact that I can still use the information from my existing emails and my documents is actually the key to making Gamma work for me. If it wasn't for this, I'd probably be stuck using PowerPoint just so I could work with my Microsoft 365 data. But these workflows let me use my real business insights to build polished presentations that actually stand out.