Presentations

Presentations

Use this skill for creating and editing slide decks that are coherent, readable, polished, and useful for the intended audience.

Start by classifying the request

• CREATE: build a new deck from source material or instructions.
• EDIT: revise an existing deck.
• SUMMARIZE: explain a deck, extract talking points, or audit content.
• TEMPLATE: follow a provided deck, brand system, or reference style.
• CLEANUP: fix layout, spacing, hierarchy, alignment, and consistency.
• STORY: improve framing, flow, recommendations, and slide-to-slide logic.
• VISUALS: add or improve images, charts, diagrams, tables, or evidence.
• SPEAKER SUPPORT: add speaker notes, presenter cues, or talk track structure.

Non-negotiable deck requirements

• Content must cover what the user requested.
• The deck must have a coherent story and logical slide-to-slide flow.
• Avoid cramming low-value detail onto one slide.
• Keep title slides minimal.
• Use clean layouts with consistent margins.
• Fix all unintended overlap before delivery.
• Fix clipped text, unreadable labels, and broken slide hierarchy.
• Do not leave placeholder text, sample copy, or bracketed instructions.

Font size and readability

When a template is provided, match the template's typography.

When no template is provided, use readable sizes:

• deck title: large enough to feel like a title slide
• slide title: prominent and readable
• section labels or callout headers: clearly above body text
• body text: readable at presentation distance

If a slide has too much text:

• shorten wording
• split the content across slides
• convert prose to a diagram, table, or bullets
• move detail to speaker notes or appendix

Do not solve dense slides only by shrinking the font.

Story and structure

Before authoring, identify:

• audience
• purpose
• desired decision or action
• required source material
• number of slides, if specified
• tone: executive, sales, technical, educational, investor, workshop, or internal

Build a deck arc:

1. title or framing
2. context or problem
3. key insight
4. evidence or analysis
5. recommendation or solution
6. next steps or close

For informational decks, use a clear progression from overview to detail. For persuasive decks, make each slide move the audience toward the recommendation.

Slide-level rules

• Use one main message per slide.
• Make slide titles carry meaning, not just a topic label.
• Keep body copy concise.
• Use visual hierarchy to show what matters first.
• Align objects precisely.
• Keep margins consistent.
• Avoid UI-like card grids unless the content truly needs a dashboard or comparison layout.
• Avoid excessive white space, but do not fill space with clutter.
• Use speaker notes for useful detail that should not crowd the slide.

Template following

When the user provides a reference deck or template:

• Treat it as the visual source of truth.
• Preserve typography, palette, spacing, layout rhythm, footers, page markers, and brand elements unless the user asks to restyle.
• Map new content into existing layout patterns.
• Reuse source slide archetypes thoughtfully instead of inventing unrelated designs.
• Do not mix in a second visual system.
• Check that every new slide still feels like part of the deck.

Editing existing decks

When editing an existing deck:

• Preserve the deck's style unless redesign is requested.
• Keep charts, images, speaker notes, links, and labels that still matter.
• Update only the slides in scope unless the user asks for deck-wide cleanup.
• Check slide order after edits.
• Check that revised slides still support the overall story.
• Remove stale or contradictory content created by the edit.

Visual assets

Use visuals when they improve understanding:

• real images for people, places, products, physical context, or examples
• charts for quantitative comparisons or trends
• diagrams for processes, systems, relationships, or architecture
• tables only for compact comparisons
• icons only when they add quick recognition

Visual rules:

• Do not reuse the same image repeatedly unless it is a deliberate motif or background.
• Crop images around the subject that matters.
• Avoid low-quality, blurry, or irrelevant visuals.
• Prepare visuals for the slide's aspect ratio and placement.
• Keep decorative visuals subordinate to the message.

Charts and data

For charts:

• Confirm the source data and units.
• Choose chart type by purpose: line for time, bar for comparison, scatter for relationships, stacked bars for composition over categories.
• Use pie charts only for simple parts-of-a-whole.
• Keep labels readable.
• Avoid chart junk.
• Check that titles, legends, axes, and footnotes match the data.

Diagrams

Use diagrams only when they clarify complex relationships.

Diagram rules:

• Keep node labels short.
• Avoid crossing connectors through labels.
• Put connectors behind nodes when possible.
• Keep enough spacing between elements.
• Prefer simple process, flow, hierarchy, or system diagrams over decorative complexity.

Tables

Use tables only for compact comparisons.

• Keep columns few and meaningful.
• Avoid paragraph-heavy cells.
• Use alignment by data type.
• Keep labels and values readable.
• Split dense tables across slides or move detail to appendix.

Final QA checklist

Before finishing:

1. The deck covers the requested content.
2. The story flow is coherent.
3. Every slide has a clear purpose.
4. Titles, labels, charts, and body text are readable.
5. No slide has unintended overlap or clipped text.
6. No placeholder or stale text remains.
7. Visual style is consistent across the deck.
8. Charts and diagrams are accurate and legible.
9. Slide order is correct.
10. Any density tradeoffs are clearly mentioned.