You already have the information. Give people a useful way into it.
Turn one checked source into a presentation, visual guide or study activity with a clear job to do—and a way to check that the meaning survived.
By Joe McKenna. Adapted from his September 29, 2026 workshop.
Choose the reader’s task first. Then create one format from the source, check every important claim and provide the same information in readable text.
What should someone be able to do with this?
You have a document full of useful information. Now someone has to understand it, remember it or use it while doing a job. Those are different needs. Giving everyone the same long document does not necessarily meet them.
In the workshop, I started with a handbook and talked through what it could become: a useful guide, a presentation, an infographic and a mind map. Later, I showed generated materials about barbering. The interesting part is being able to work from the same information in several ways.
But before you ask AI to make all of those things, choose one person and one task. A colleague presenting a process needs something different from a learner checking whether they understand it. Start there. The design should serve that task.
Give the same information a different useful form
What to notice: Joe names a slide deck, an infographic and a mind map. Choose the form for the reader’s job, then check what the transformation preserved or omitted.
0:44. From The One-Person AI Business, 20:01.00–20:45.16.
Visual context: Joe introduces slide, infographic and mind-map outputs on the shared workshop lesson screen. Each format is described aloud.
Read the clip transcript
but I can make a slide deck in a couple moments that explain it in any style, in any way I want. I can make an infographic that breaks it through. Say right now, if it were me, I would make an infographic of how to build out your, how you build out your stuff or clean it. I could pick a certain one and say, okay, here's the steps I went through. And I would have AI make an infographic of that, and I would share that. And so I'll probably do a little bit of on the spot demos of that kind of stuff. And then I asked it to make a road or a mind map where it looked at that big document and said, hey, here's the topics in that document. And here's the subtopics in that document. And you can actually chat with the different subtopics. That's, we're actually gonna do that in a very short period of time, starting with one document.
Automatically transcribed from this excerpt and aligned locally. Transcript accuracy and word synchronization still require a human listening review.
Pick the format that fits the job
| Format | Useful when someone needs to… | Check before sharing |
|---|---|---|
| Slide deck | Follow an explanation with a presenter, or read a short briefing. | Does it need a speaker to make sense? Keep essential detail in notes or a companion document. |
| Infographic | See a sequence, comparison or small set of relationships at a glance. | Can people read the labels? Are exceptions and the full text available? |
| Mind map | Explore how topics and subtopics connect. | Do the branches reflect the source, or imply relationships it never established? |
| Audio or video overview | Hear an introduction or revisit an explanation. | Check the narration, pronunciation and visuals; provide corrected synchronized captions for video with speech, and a transcript for audio. |
| Flashcards or quiz | Practice recall or make a decision using what they learned. | Check each answer and explanation against the source. Avoid questions that reward guessing. |
A short process might make a good infographic. A complicated process with several exceptions may need a readable guide alongside it. You can keep the visual simple without removing the detail people need.
Keep the facts steady as the format changes
Here is a small fictional source written for this exercise. It is a practice procedure, not a recommendation for running your organization.
The audience is a team member borrowing the kit for the first time. The outcome is simple: collect and return it correctly. That gives us a reason to make a sequence graphic. We also need to preserve the missing-item exception and the exact return deadline.
Using only the practice source above, draft the wording for a simple process infographic for a first-time borrower. Use four numbered steps: reserve, check at collection, use and return, check at return. Keep the missing-item instruction and the exact return deadline. Do not add rules, fees or approval requirements. After the visual wording, give me a complete plain-text version containing every instruction. List anything you could not determine from the source.
This is an authored practice prompt. Asking for the wording first gives you something easy to inspect before spending time on the visual design.
See what should survive the transformation
Here is an authored example of a checked result, not a captured AI response. The numbered list can serve as the full text equivalent of the proposed graphic.
Now change the purpose. If someone is presenting this to new team members, a short deck could have three slides: booking the kit; checking it before leaving; returning and checking it again. Put the exception on the collection slide and the deadline on the return slide. Moving the information should not change the rule.
For a study activity, ask: You collect the kit and notice an item is missing. What should you do before leaving? The supported answer is to tell the coordinator. That checks an actual decision. A question about the kit’s replacement cost would be unsupported because the source never gives one.
Do not turn the deadline into “within 24 hours.” A working-day deadline and a 24-hour deadline can produce different results. Small wording changes can matter more than the visual style.
Make the asset after the wording is right
The workshop refers to NotebookLM. Google’s current help calls the product Gemini Notebook. Open your notebook with the relevant sources and use its Studio panel for the format you need.
For slides, Google distinguishes a detailed deck intended for reading from presenter slides that support a speaker. Use the customization control to specify your audience and focus. Google also warns that decks may contain factual or visual errors. Its current revision instructions say sources are not taken into account during slide revisions, so recheck revised claims against the original yourself. Read Google’s slide-deck guidance.
Google documents flashcards and quizzes as separate Studio options with customization for difficulty and focus. Those are useful extensions to this lesson; their creation was not taught in depth in the recording. Read the study-aid instructions.
Notebook connections and features can vary with account, settings and rollout. The current Gemini notebooks guidance explains the connection between the apps. If a generation option is unavailable, you can still draft and check the content as text, then assemble it in your usual presentation or document tool.
Check the meaning, then check the experience
Keep the original source open while you review. First check names, numbers, order, conditions and exceptions. Then inspect the format: tiny labels, crowded slides, confusing arrows and generated illustrations can all make correct information harder to use.
For an infographic, provide a short image description that identifies its purpose and a nearby text version with all the instructions. For an audio or video explanation, review the actual media and its captions or transcript. Generated narration needs checking just as written text does. A polished voice is not evidence that a claim is right.
In the workshop’s barbering example, the played explainer has a generated narrator. Its historical statements need their own source checks before reuse. Treat it as a demonstration of a possible format, not as a verified history lesson.
Try one transformation today. Choose a short source, name the reader’s task and make a single asset. Ask someone to explain what they would do next using that asset. If they cannot find the next step, revise the explanation before adding more formats. For help turning the underlying document into a practical guide first, use the document-to-guide lesson.
Questions that come up
Should I make every available format?
No. Start with the format that serves a real reader task. Each additional version needs checking and maintenance when the source changes.
Can I use a generated infographic on its own?
Check it first and provide the essential information in readable text alongside it. A short alt description can identify the graphic, but may not contain the full explanation or all its steps.
What if the asset looks good but changes a fact?
Correct the wording against the source and check the resulting asset again. If the tool keeps changing a critical detail, assemble the checked content in an editor you can control.
Are these examples actual outputs from Joe’s workshop?
The handbook and barbering demonstrations come from the workshop. The display-kit source, sample transformations and prompts were written for this article and are not recorded AI outputs.
15 Days of AI
Put this into practice with Joe.
Give AI useful context. Work with your own materials. Create something you can use. Explore the independent classes and choose the ones that fit your goals.
Explore the classesAbout this lesson
Adapted from Joe McKenna’s workshop teaching using the machine transcript, not verified verbatim audio. The handbook-to-multiple-formats idea and barbering demonstrations are source-supported; no direct quotations are used. Narration beginning around 56:44 belongs to a generated explainer, not Joe. The display-kit procedure, transformations, review method and prompts are authored practice material. Flashcards/quiz directions and current product terminology are researched additions. Account problems in the recording were not diagnosed. No listening, caption accuracy or classroom outcome claim is made.
Source passages: 17:51–20:57; 54:12–1:00:23. Source: The One-Person AI Business, September 29, 2026.
Official guidance checked September 30, 2026. Product features can change.
- Gemini Notebook Help
- Generate a Slide Deck in Gemini Notebook
- Generate Flashcards or Quizzes in Gemini Notebook
- Organize your projects with notebooks in Gemini Apps
AI-assisted organization and supplementary examples. Prepared from Joe McKenna’s workshop.