Pitch Package - the whole performance
A pitch is one argument delivered through three instruments: the deck (setup), the demo (proof), and the speaker (trust). The demo is the proof; the deck is the setup. This skill's job is sequencing and budget, so the instruments never fight each other. Two rules govern everything: interview before you build, and budget the slot first.
Phase 1 - Interview before you build
STOP: produce no artifacts in this phase. Ask (adapting to what's already known):
- Audience: hackathon judges, VCs, or a customer? What do they explicitly judge or care about (rubric, thesis, their own pain)?
- Slot: total minutes? Is Q&A inside or after it?
- Inventory: what already exists - working product? demo video? deck? scripts? Reuse beats rebuild.
- Demo mode: live product on stage (higher wow, higher risk) or recorded film (deterministic)? Default to recorded unless the live path has been rehearsed with a fallback.
- Speakers: who talks, and are there real credentials to weave into the intro?
- Constraints: venue machine? offline? projector resolution? phone-as-teleprompter?
Reflect the answers back as a one-paragraph brief and get a nod before Phase 2. Skipping this interview is how pitches end up with a beautiful deck for the wrong audience.
Phase 2 - Budget the slot first
Before writing or building anything, write the budget line:
5:00 slot = ~2:30 spoken deck + 2:36 demo video + ~0:10 transitions
(runs ~5:15 as written -> trim points named in the script)
The budget decides scope: how many slides get narrated, whether the demo needs a shorter cut, what gets trimmed live. Every downstream artifact inherits this budget. If the pieces don't sum inside the slot on paper, they won't on stage.
Phase 3 - Compose (gap-fill via the other skills)
Pick the audience lens from references/audiences.md - same assets, different lead, emphasis, and close. Then fill only the gaps the inventory revealed:
- Missing demo film -> demo-video skill (storyboard keyed to the proof this audience needs, approved before capture). That skill also owns the motion and annotation layer, so the film can point at what it proves rather than relying on narration alone; budget the extra seconds it costs when you size the demo slot.
- Missing or stale deck -> pitch-deck skill (demo-slot slide included; appendix slides for this audience's hard questions).
- The live speech -> pitch-craft skill, LIVE register: hook first, team intro after the hook, the demo-break marker stating what the video covers, delivery cues, named trim points.
One throughline threads all three artifacts - if the deck's tagline, the video's close, and the speech's refrain differ, unify them before rehearsal.
Phase 4 - Rehearse and ship
- Stitch plan per
references/stitching.md (which variant: fully recorded film, live-with-recorded-demo, fully live) plus the fallback ladder.
- Rehearse against the clock: read the script aloud with a stopwatch once; apply the named trims if over. Adjust the script, never the speaking pace.
- Q&A prep: appendix slides + a one-page honest-defense brief (the questions you fear, answered with what's true - overclaims die here, before a judge finds them).
- Day-of checklist: local copies of deck AND video on the presenting machine (no network dependency), test in an incognito window at venue resolution, backup speaker for each section, the teleprompter (phone-friendly script page) charged and loaded.
References
references/audiences.md - the three lenses (judges / VC / customer): what each judges, what leads, what closes.references/stitching.md - assembly variants, ffmpeg stitch recipe, fallback ladder, phone-teleprompter pattern.
1---2name: pitch-package3description: The step-back skill for pitching as a person - given an audience (hackathon judges, VCs, investors, customers) and a time slot, it budgets the slot, decides what to build or reuse (deck, demo video, live speech), and orchestrates the pitch-deck, demo-video, and pitch-craft skills into one rehearsed package with a stitch plan, Q&A prep, and a day-of checklist. Use whenever the user says they need to pitch, present, or demo at a hackathon or demo day, to investors or a customer, mentions an N-minute slot, or asks to "prepare the whole pitch" end to end. Not for - a single artifact in isolation (call pitch-deck, demo-video, or pitch-craft directly) or written-only submission forms.4---56# Pitch Package - the whole performance78A pitch is one argument delivered through three instruments: the deck (setup), the demo (proof), and the speaker (trust). **The demo is the proof; the deck is the setup.** This skill's job is sequencing and budget, so the instruments never fight each other. Two rules govern everything: **interview before you build**, and **budget the slot first**.910## Phase 1 - Interview before you build1112STOP: produce no artifacts in this phase. Ask (adapting to what's already known):13141. **Audience**: hackathon judges, VCs, or a customer? What do they explicitly judge or care about (rubric, thesis, their own pain)?152. **Slot**: total minutes? Is Q&A inside or after it?163. **Inventory**: what already exists - working product? demo video? deck? scripts? Reuse beats rebuild.174. **Demo mode**: live product on stage (higher wow, higher risk) or recorded film (deterministic)? Default to recorded unless the live path has been rehearsed with a fallback.185. **Speakers**: who talks, and are there real credentials to weave into the intro?196. **Constraints**: venue machine? offline? projector resolution? phone-as-teleprompter?2021Reflect the answers back as a one-paragraph brief and get a nod before Phase 2. Skipping this interview is how pitches end up with a beautiful deck for the wrong audience.2223## Phase 2 - Budget the slot first2425Before writing or building anything, write the budget line:2627```285:00 slot = ~2:30 spoken deck + 2:36 demo video + ~0:10 transitions29(runs ~5:15 as written -> trim points named in the script)30```3132The budget decides scope: how many slides get narrated, whether the demo needs a shorter cut, what gets trimmed live. Every downstream artifact inherits this budget. If the pieces don't sum inside the slot on paper, they won't on stage.3334## Phase 3 - Compose (gap-fill via the other skills)3536Pick the audience lens from `references/audiences.md` - same assets, different lead, emphasis, and close. Then fill only the gaps the inventory revealed:3738- Missing demo film -> **demo-video** skill (storyboard keyed to the proof this audience needs, approved before capture). That skill also owns the motion and annotation layer, so the film can point at what it proves rather than relying on narration alone; budget the extra seconds it costs when you size the demo slot.39- Missing or stale deck -> **pitch-deck** skill (demo-slot slide included; appendix slides for this audience's hard questions).40- The live speech -> **pitch-craft** skill, LIVE register: hook first, team intro after the hook, the demo-break marker stating what the video covers, delivery cues, named trim points.4142One throughline threads all three artifacts - if the deck's tagline, the video's close, and the speech's refrain differ, unify them before rehearsal.4344## Phase 4 - Rehearse and ship4546- **Stitch plan** per `references/stitching.md` (which variant: fully recorded film, live-with-recorded-demo, fully live) plus the fallback ladder.47- **Rehearse against the clock**: read the script aloud with a stopwatch once; apply the named trims if over. Adjust the script, never the speaking pace.48- **Q&A prep**: appendix slides + a one-page honest-defense brief (the questions you fear, answered with what's true - overclaims die here, before a judge finds them).49- **Day-of checklist**: local copies of deck AND video on the presenting machine (no network dependency), test in an incognito window at venue resolution, backup speaker for each section, the teleprompter (phone-friendly script page) charged and loaded.5051## References5253- `references/audiences.md` - the three lenses (judges / VC / customer): what each judges, what leads, what closes.54- `references/stitching.md` - assembly variants, ffmpeg stitch recipe, fallback ladder, phone-teleprompter pattern.
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