# Creating Presentations

> Create bold, minimal slide decks and investor pitch decks. Covers the full presentation workflow including narrative structure, slide copywriting, visual design (typography, layouts, section colors), speaker notes, and async-readable pitch decks. Supports dark and light themes. Use when asked to "create a presentation", "outline a deck", "write slides about...", "design a talk on...", "build a pitch deck", "investor presentation", "help me with my talk", "draft slide content", "write speaker notes", or any task involving planning, structuring, writing, designing, or preparing a slide deck for live presenting or standalone distribution.

- Skill: `aaronvanston/creating-presentations` (Agent Skill, multi-file: 6 files)
- Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add aaronvanston/creating-presentations`
- Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/aaronvanston/creating-presentations/raw
- Safety review: pending
- Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex
- Category: Design & Media
- Author: aaronvanston (https://skillmd.com/u/aaronvanston)
- Updated: 2026-09-17
- Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/aaronvanston/creating-presentations

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# Creating Presentations

Build bold, minimal presentations designed for live impact or standalone reading.

## Workflow

Determine which phase applies and load the relevant reference:

1. **Outline** - structure the narrative arc and section flow: [references/outline.md](references/outline.md)
2. **Write** - bold headlines and minimal slide copy: [references/content.md](references/content.md)
3. **Design** - visual layout, typography, and composition: [references/design.md](references/design.md)
4. **Notes** - speaker notes for natural delivery: [references/notes.md](references/notes.md)

**For investor pitch decks** (standalone, async): follow [references/pitch-deck.md](references/pitch-deck.md) instead. Uses the 10-slide framework with denser copy optimized for reading without a presenter.

## Principles

- **One message per slide** - if it takes more than 5 seconds to read, cut it
- **Headlines do the work** - bold statements ("AI has no memory"), not explanations ("Discussion of AI context limitations")
- **Scale over weight** - big text at light weight (400-500), not small text in bold
- **Section colors** - each major section gets its own accent color for visual rhythm
- **High contrast** - dark (#000 bg, white text) or light (#fafafa bg, dark text) with colored accents
- **Notes prompt, not script** - scannable bullet cues for riffing, not paragraphs to read

## Standard Flow

```
1. Opening (teal)    - Title + goals (3 takeaways max)
2. Context (red)     - Current state, the tension to resolve
3-5. Core (varies)   - 3-5 slides per section, dividers between
6. Closing (teal)    - Recap + resources + Q&A
```

## Context Adjustments

- **Internal**: assume shared context, be direct, reference history
- **External**: more setup, clearer transitions, define terms
- **Recorded/async**: tighter copy, stronger signposting