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The fastest way to create a lunch-and-learn presentation is to start from material you already have (a doc, a recording, or meeting notes) and let a tool turn it into slides. Gamma does this well: connect Granola, Fireflies, or Fathom to pull in a recorded talk, or drop in a doc, and get quick, highly visual slides plus a follow-up one-pager. PowerPoint, Google Slides, and Canva are solid choices if you'd rather build by hand, and Slido or Mentimeter add live polls and Q&A.
A lunch-and-learn is supposed to be relaxed. The prep shouldn't eat your week. This guide covers what a lunch-and-learn is, how to structure one, how many slides you need, ways to keep people engaged, a list of topic ideas, and a simple workflow for building the deck and the follow-up quickly.
A lunch-and-learn is an informal training session held over a meal break. One person (a teammate, a manager, or an outside guest) shares something useful while everyone eats. Sessions can be in person, remote, or hybrid.
They work because the stakes are low. Attendance is usually optional, the format is conversational, and the topic is narrow enough to cover in one sitting. Teams use them to:
Share knowledge across teams. Engineers explain a new system to sales; marketing walks support through a campaign.
Build skills. Writing, data, negotiation, presenting, or a new tool everyone's adopting.
Onboard and connect. New hires learn how other teams work, and people meet colleagues they don't usually see.
Spotlight experts. Give internal specialists a stage, or bring in a guest speaker.
Support wellbeing and growth. Financial planning, health, career development, and other topics outside day-to-day work.
People are eating, so keep the shape simple and predictable. This structure works for almost any topic:
Welcome and hook. Introduce yourself and open with a question, a surprising fact, or a short story that shows why the topic matters to this audience.
The one big idea. State the single takeaway you want people to leave with. Everything else supports it.
Core content in three parts. Break the topic into three short sections. Three is easy to follow and easy to remember.
A live example or demo. Show the idea in action: a real document, a tool walkthrough, or a before-and-after.
Interactive moment. A poll, a quick exercise, or a "try it now" prompt to break up the talk.
Q&A. Leave real room for questions. In many lunch-and-learns, this is the best part.
Wrap-up and next steps. Recap the big idea, share resources, and tell people where to find the follow-up.
Plan your content so you finish early. Q&A almost always runs longer than expected, and nobody minds ending a few minutes ahead.
Fewer than you think. A typical lunch-and-learn deck lands somewhere between 8 and 15 slides:
Title slide with the topic, your name, and your team
Agenda slide so people know what's coming
Hook slide with your opening question or stat
Big idea slide stating the takeaway in one sentence
Three to six content slides for your core sections
Example or demo slide (or a link out to the live tool)
Interactive slide with a poll, exercise, or discussion question
Q&A slide
Resources and next steps slide
Keep text light. People are eating and glancing up between bites. One idea per slide, big visuals, and short phrases work far better than dense bullets. Put the detail in the follow-up one-pager instead.
The difference between a forgettable lunch-and-learn and a good one is usually participation. Try these:
Open with a poll. Ask what people already know or what they most want to learn. It warms up the room and tells you where to focus.
Ask a show-of-hands question. Simple, fast, and works in person or on camera.
Run a quick quiz. A few questions at the end turn recap into a game.
Use a word cloud. Ask for one word that describes a challenge, then talk through the results.
Do a "try it now" exercise. If you're teaching a tool or a skill, give people a small task to do on the spot.
Collect questions throughout. An anonymous Q&A tool lets quieter people ask what they're actually wondering.
Pair people up. In person, a short partner discussion gets everyone talking.
For a deeper look at moving past static slides, see interactive training instead of boring slides.
Need a starting point? These topics work well in a single session.
Skills and productivity
Writing clear emails and docs
Running better meetings
Presenting with confidence
Time and priority management
Getting more out of the tools your team already uses
Data and technology
Spreadsheet tips everyone should know
How to read a dashboard
Using AI tools responsibly at work
Cybersecurity basics and spotting phishing
A tour of a new internal system
Cross-team knowledge
How our product actually works
A day in the life of the support team
What sales hears from customers
How a recent launch came together, and what we learned
Customer stories and case studies
Career and growth
Building your personal brand
Giving and receiving feedback
Mentorship: how to find one and be one
Negotiation basics
Wellbeing and life
Financial planning and benefits explained
Healthy habits at a desk job
Managing stress and avoiding burnout
Here's how the common options compare, based on each tool's documented features.
Gamma
Strength: Turning existing material into quick, highly visual slides. Connectors pull in recordings and notes from Granola, Fireflies, Fathom, Notion, and Slack, and the conversational AI agent asks a few defining questions before designing the deck. The same content becomes a follow-up one-pager.
Best for: Busy presenters who already have a doc, transcript, or recording and want a polished deck without starting from scratch.
Watch out for: Gamma doesn't have built-in live polling like Slido or Mentimeter. Pair it with one of those if live audience interaction is central to your session.
PowerPoint
Strength: Full control over every element, and the format most companies already standardize on. Copilot in PowerPoint can draft slides from a prompt or a file, depending on your Microsoft 365 license.
Best for: Presenters who need to match a strict corporate template or present from a locked-down work laptop.
Watch out for: Building a visually strong deck by hand takes time and design skill.
Google Slides
Strength: Real-time collaboration, free with a Google account. Gemini in Google Slides can generate slides on eligible Workspace and Google AI plans.
Best for: Co-presenters building one deck together, or teams already working in Google Workspace.
Watch out for: Default themes can look plain, so plan on some design work.
Canva
Strength: Wide template variety and a big library of graphics and photos, with a free presentation editor.
Best for: Presenters who want a playful, highly designed look and plenty of templates to choose from.
Watch out for: It's easy to spend more time picking templates than writing content.
Slido and Mentimeter
Strength: Live polls, quizzes, word clouds, and Q&A. Slido offers free add-ons for PowerPoint and Google Slides, and Mentimeter has a free plan with a monthly participant limit.
Best for: Adding audience interaction to any deck.
Watch out for: Neither is a slide design tool on its own, and free tiers have limits on features or participants. Our guide to Mentimeter alternatives covers more options.
The honest take: If you're starting from a blank page and want full control, PowerPoint or Google Slides will do the job. If you already have source material, such as a doc, an SOP, or a recording of a talk, Gamma gets you from that material to a finished, good-looking deck with the least effort. Add Slido or Mentimeter if live polling matters.
Most lunch-and-learns start from something that exists: a process doc, a project retro, a recorded internal talk, or notes from a meeting where you explained the topic once already. Turning an SOP into a session? See how to turn an SOP into training slides.
If you've given this talk before, or explained it on a call, connect Granola, Fireflies, or Fathom and pull the meeting notes or transcript in directly. Notes living in Notion or a thread in Slack work the same way. Skip the copy-and-paste, and Gamma builds the story from your content. You can also import a doc, a PDF, or an old PowerPoint deck.
The conversational AI agent asks a few defining questions: who's attending, how long you have, and what you want people to take away. Answer them, and it designs a deck that follows the lunch-and-learn structure above.
Cut slides down to one idea each. Add a poll question, a discussion prompt, or a "try it now" exercise slide. Use AI editing to select an element and describe the change, or switch to freeform editing to place and resize elements exactly.
Apply your team template so the deck looks like it came from your company. If you have an existing branded PowerPoint, import it with high fidelity and save it as a template so every future lunch-and-learn follows the same style.
Present directly from Gamma or export to PowerPoint, PDF, or Google Slides if you need to present from another tool. Afterward, repurpose the deck into a one-pager with the key takeaways, resources, and links. Send it to attendees and anyone who missed the session. See how to create a one-pager with AI.
Pick a specific title. "Five spreadsheet shortcuts that save you clicks" draws more people than "Excel training."
Respect the lunch break. Start on time and end on time, even if Q&A is going well. Offer to keep talking afterward.
Make it easy to eat and listen. Big visuals and short phrases, so people can glance up and get the point.
Record remote sessions. People in other time zones will thank you, and the recording becomes source material for next time.
Always send a follow-up. A one-pager with the key points and resources is what people actually keep.
Ask for feedback. One or two quick questions after the session tell you what to cover next.
Build a series. A recurring slot, with a different speaker each time, turns one-off sessions into a learning habit.
If you already have source material, Gamma is a strong option: connect a recording from Granola, Fireflies, or Fathom, or import a doc, and get quick, highly visual slides plus a follow-up one-pager. PowerPoint and Google Slides work well for building by hand, Canva offers lots of templates, and Slido or Mentimeter add live polls.
Match the session to the length of your company's lunch break, and plan content that ends early to leave room for Q&A. A tight topic with one clear takeaway fits better than a broad survey.
Most land between 8 and 15 slides: title, agenda, hook, big idea, a few content slides, an example, an interactive slide, Q&A, and resources. Keep text light so people can follow while they eat.
Open with a poll, add a quick exercise or discussion question in the middle, and close with a short quiz or open Q&A. Tools like Slido and Mentimeter make polls, word clouds, and anonymous questions easy.
Popular topics include productivity skills, tool tips, cybersecurity basics, how other teams work, customer stories, career development, and financial wellbeing. The best topics are narrow enough to cover in a single session.
Yes. In Gamma, connect Granola, Fireflies, or Fathom to pull in the transcript or notes from a recorded talk, and the AI agent turns it into a designed deck you can edit, present, and repurpose into a one-pager.
Send a short one-pager with the main takeaway, key points, resources, and a link to the recording if you have one. It helps attendees remember the content and lets people who missed it catch up.
You already know the topic. Bring your doc, notes, or recording to Gamma, get quick, highly visual slides and a follow-up one-pager, and spend your prep time on the conversation instead of the formatting.
