Conference Talk Builder

Conference Talk Builder

This skill helps create compelling conference talk outlines and iA Presenter markdown slides using the Story Circle narrative framework.

Process

Follow these steps in order when building a conference talk:

1. Gather Information

Ask the user for:

• Talk title and topic
• Target audience and their expected knowledge level
• Main points they want to cover
• Brain dump of everything they know about the topic
• Problem they're solving or story they're telling
• Any constraints (time limit, specific technologies, etc.)

2. Read the Story Circle Framework

Load references/story-circle.md to understand the eight-step narrative structure.

The framework maps tech talks to:

• Top half: Established practices and order
• Bottom half: Disruption and experimentation

3. Create the Outline

Structure the talk using the eight Story Circle steps:

1. Introduction - Current status quo
2. Problem Statement - What needs solving
3. Exploration - Initial attempts
4. Experimentation - Deep investigation
5. Solution - The breakthrough
6. Challenges - Implementation difficulties
7. Apply Knowledge - Integration into project
8. Results & Insights - Lessons learned

Map the user's content to these steps. Show this outline to the user and refine based on feedback.

4. Generate iA Presenter Slides

Read references/ia-presenter-syntax.md for markdown formatting rules.

Create slides that:

• Use --- to separate slides
• Add tabs (⇥) before content that should be visible on slides
• Leave speaker notes without tabs (spoken text only)
• Include comments with // for reminders
• Format code blocks with proper syntax highlighting
• Keep slides focused on one concept each

Structure the slide deck:

• Title slide
• Introduction slide with your photo/bio
• One or more slides per Story Circle step
• Code examples broken across multiple slides for readability
• Closing slide with contact info and resources

5. Refine and Iterate

After showing the slides:

• Ask if sections need expansion or compression
• Check if code examples need better formatting
• Verify the story flow makes sense
• Adjust based on user feedback

Key Principles

Tell a Story: You don't need to be an expert. Focus on how you approached a problem and solved it.

Keep It Readable: Break code across slides. Use syntax highlighting. Test on bad projectors (consider light themes).

Engage the Audience: Use humor where appropriate. Ask questions. Make eye contact.

Make Follow-up Easy: Include a memorable URL or QR code on the final slide linking to resources.

Bundled Resources

References

• references/story-circle.md - Eight-step Story Circle framework with examples. Read this first to understand the narrative structure.
• references/ia-presenter-syntax.md - Complete iA Presenter markdown syntax reference. Read this when generating slides.

Example Workflow

User: "I want to create a talk about migrating from JavaScript to TypeScript"

1. Gather their experience, main points, and target audience
2. Read story-circle.md
3. Map their content:
   • Introduction: Current JS codebase
   • Problem: Type safety issues and bugs
   • Exploration: Research into TypeScript
   • Experimentation: Pilot conversion on one module
   • Solution: Incremental migration strategy
   • Challenges: Third-party library types
   • Apply Knowledge: Full codebase migration
   • Results: 40% reduction in runtime errors
4. Read ia-presenter-syntax.md
5. Generate markdown slides with proper formatting
6. Iterate based on feedback