How to Make an Automation Presentation [The Complete Guide]
- Ink Narrates | The Presentation Design Agency
- 2 hours ago
- 7 min read
While we were working on an automation presentation for our client Jennifer, she asked us something that made the whole team pause.
“How do I explain complex automation workflows without putting everyone in the room to sleep?”
Our Creative Director replied,
“You don’t explain everything. You reveal only what your audience needs to act.”
That line stuck.
As a presentation design agency, we work on many automation presentations throughout the year. And in the process, we’ve observed one common challenge: teams try to communicate too much instead of communicating what matters.
So, in this blog, we’ll talk about how to make automation presentations that don’t overwhelm but still influence action.
In case you didn't know, we specialize in only one thing: making presentations. We can help you by designing your slides and writing your content too.
What Are the Use Cases of an Automation Presentation?
Let’s get this straight. An automation presentation isn’t just a “tech thing.” It shows up across departments, industries, and roles. Whether you're automating conveyor belts or drip campaigns, the goal remains the same — to explain what’s being automated, why it matters, and how it’s going to change the way things work.
Here are the most common use cases we see:
1. Industrial & Manufacturing Automation Presentation
Think factory floors, assembly lines, robotics. These presentations usually aim to show how machines, sensors, and systems are replacing or enhancing manual tasks. But here’s the catch: most people in the room aren’t engineers. They’re decision-makers, finance leads, operations heads. The presentation needs to make the tech understandable without oversimplifying it to the point of sounding empty.
2. Marketing Automation Presentation
These decks are a whole different beast. You’re not showing machines; you’re mapping out customer journeys, email workflows, lead nurturing paths, ad sequencing. Marketing teams often struggle to visualize this because it lives inside platforms like HubSpot or ActiveCampaign. So the presentation needs to translate backend systems into clear front-facing stories.
3. HR and People Operations Automation Presentation
Automation in HR? It’s bigger than most people realize. From onboarding sequences to internal ticketing and time-off tracking, HR teams are automating experiences to save time and reduce errors. But pitching this to leadership or even to the team means you need to show how these flows respect privacy, improve experience, and reduce grunt work — without making it feel cold or robotic.
4. IT and Internal Process Automation Presentation
This includes things like setting up password reset systems, Slack alerts, or entire approval workflows through tools like Zapier or Power Automate. The goal here is to show how the systems reduce internal bottlenecks. But again, the challenge is to make the presentation intuitive enough that non-tech stakeholders can give a greenlight without zoning out.
5. Client-Facing Automation Presentation
If you're an agency, a SaaS company, or a consultant, you might be selling automation as part of your offering. In that case, the automation presentation is part pitch, part demo. It has to build trust, show proof, and make the future feel real — not like a rough wireframe of what might work.
Now here’s the good news: this guide is written to cover any kind of automation presentation. So even if your use case isn’t listed above, you’ll find the same principles apply. Whether you’re streamlining logistics or automating creative briefs, the structure stays the same — and the thinking behind it is what really matters.
How to Make an Automation Presentation
You've got something valuable to present. But value means nothing if it's buried under layers of complexity or delivered in a way no one wants to sit through.
From years of designing automation presentations across industries, we’ve developed a step-by-step approach that works — whether you're pitching to your boss, onboarding a client, or aligning cross-functional teams.
This isn’t theory. These are the actual steps we use in-house to build decks that convert.
Step 1: Define the Single Most Important Outcome
Before you open PowerPoint or start listing tools, define the one thing your audience needs to walk away with. What’s the action they need to take?
Is it approval? Budget? Team adoption? Client sign-off?
That’s your anchor. Every slide, every sentence should move them closer to that.
Most automation presentations fail because they try to do too much. Don’t fall into that trap. You’re not giving a training. You’re leading a decision.
So, get crystal clear on your answer to this question: “What does the audience need to believe by the end of this presentation?”
That belief is what drives the action.
Step 2: Start With the Problem, Not the Tool
It’s tempting to start with the software. “We’re using Zapier to connect Salesforce with Slack…” and so on. But no one cares — yet.
You have to earn their attention first.
Start with the problem. Not your team’s internal struggle, but the one that matters to the audience.
That could be:
Wasted time on manual tasks
Delays in customer onboarding
Missed handoffs between departments
Inconsistent reporting
Employee burnout from repetitive processes
Whatever it is, make it real. Use numbers, anecdotes, screenshots — whatever helps the room nod and say, “Yeah, this is a mess.”
Once they feel the pain, they’ll be more open to your solution.
Step 3: Visualize the Workflow, But Keep It Human
Now bring in the automation — but do it visually.
We don’t mean a flowchart crammed with 37 arrows. We mean a clean, high-level graphic that shows what’s happening.
Show:
The trigger (what starts the process)
The steps (what happens and in what order)
The outcome (what gets done, and by whom)
Here’s the trick: frame everything around the people involved.
Don’t say: “API triggers a webhook”
Say: "When Sarah approves a request, the system sends an update to finance instantly.”
People process people. If your automation saves John three hours a week, say that. If it eliminates 12 back-and-forth emails between teams, say that.
If your audience can see themselves in the workflow, they’ll get it faster — and trust it more.
Step 4: Prove That It Works
Now it’s time to build belief. That means proof.
There are a few ways to do this, depending on what you’ve already done:
Before-and-after comparisons: Show what the process used to look like vs. what it looks like now.
Live demo or walkthrough: If it’s ready, give a quick, clean tour of the automation in action.
Stats: Share how much time/money was saved, or how many steps were eliminated.
Testimonials or feedback: If a pilot group used it, quote them.
Benchmarks: Reference industry stats to support your case (for example, “Companies using sales automation see a 10–15% increase in pipeline efficiency – McKinsey”).
Don’t assume people will just believe the concept. They need to see that it’s not only a smart idea — it’s already working somewhere.
Step 5: Frame the Benefits in Their Language
You might be excited about the automation for your own reasons — saved hours, cleaner handoffs, better data.
But your audience sees the world differently.
So, talk their language:
For finance, show cost savings, reduced headcount dependency, or process accuracy.
For leadership, focus on scale, consistency, and visibility.
For marketing or HR, show how it improves speed or customer/employee experience.
Every benefit should answer this question: “Why should they care?”
The more directly you answer that, the faster you’ll win buy-in.
Step 6: Address the Resistance Upfront
Here’s what most people avoid — and it costs them.
Every automation pitch will face some resistance. Common concerns include:
“Will this replace someone’s job?”
“Is this secure?”
“What if it breaks?”
“How long will this take to set up?”
“Do we have the internal capability to maintain this?”
If you ignore these, you leave them bubbling under the surface — and your audience won’t say yes.
So bring them up. Address them before someone else does.
You can do this in a section titled “What You Might Be Thinking…” or even weave it into the narrative naturally.
It shows that you’re not naïve. You’ve thought through the risks. And more importantly, you’ve got answers.
Step 7: Keep It Short. And Cut the Clutter.
An automation presentation doesn’t need to be 50 slides long.
In fact, it shouldn’t be.
Aim for 10 to 15 slides max. Here’s a rough structure we follow:
Title / Framing Slide
The Problem
Impact of the Problem
Vision / Goal
Automation Overview (Visual Flow)
How It Works (Simplified Explanation)
Proof of Concept (Demo / Pilot / Data)
Benefits by Stakeholder
Risks + How We’re Mitigating Them
Next Steps / Action Needed
You can add or remove based on your use case, but the key is: make every slide earn its place.
If it doesn’t move the decision forward, it doesn’t belong.
Step 8: Design It for Focus, Not Flash
We’re a presentation design agency, so yes — we care about aesthetics. But here’s the thing: good design isn’t about making your slides look “cool.”
It’s about making them clear.
That means:
Use large fonts. No one wants to squint at size 10 text.
Leave space. Don’t cram 12 ideas on one slide.
Use icons or illustrations to simplify concepts.
Choose a simple, professional color scheme.
Use animation sparingly, and only to guide focus — not distract.
Think of your slides as a tool for conversation, not a report. The fewer words, the better.
And always, always test your deck on the actual screen you’ll present on. Things look different on a projector than on your laptop.
Step 9: Practice the Story, Not Just the Slides
Here’s the final mistake most people make: they build a great deck, then wing it.
Don’t.
Practice not just what you’ll say, but how you’ll say it.
This isn’t about memorizing lines. It’s about owning the flow. Know when to pause. When to ask for feedback. When to move quickly, and when to slow down and let a point sink in.
Record yourself. Watch the timing. Trim what feels repetitive. Ask someone who doesn’t know the project to watch it — and see where they get confused.
Your slides might be clear. But if your delivery isn’t confident and controlled, the message will still fall flat.
Why Hire Us to Build your Presentation?
If you're reading this, you're probably working on a presentation right now. You could do it all yourself. But the reality is - that’s not going to give you the high-impact presentation you need. It’s a lot of guesswork, a lot of trial and error. And at the end of the day, you’ll be left with a presentation that’s “good enough,” not one that gets results. On the other hand, we’ve spent years crafting thousands of presentations, mastering both storytelling and design. Let us handle this for you, so you can focus on what you do best.