Presentation Redesign

Presentation Redesign

Turn a dense, report-like PowerPoint into a deck people can actually present. Use native PPTX editing, not exported screenshots as the source of truth. The output is a live speaking deck; detailed jobs, measures, ownership, and source material belong in a companion document or appendix.

When to Use

Use when someone says a deck is too dense, repetitive, small, machine-made, or hard to present. Also use for strategy decks that need a clearer executive story, a source deck that needs a full visual rebuild, or a slide deck created from a long document.

Do not use for a one-word copy fix, a single chart correction, or a detail-heavy report that is meant to be read rather than presented.

Prerequisites

• A source .pptx and the source material that governs facts, terminology, and ownership.
• python-pptx for native editing.
• soffice plus pdftoppm or pdftocairo for render verification when available.
• A clear audience and decision. For a continuing strategy-deck task, default to an executive working session and state that assumption in the plan.

Non-negotiable Output Rules

1. Every visible text run must be 28pt or larger. This includes labels, captions, footers, and page numbers. Omit nonessential text instead of shrinking it.
2. Zero empty placeholders. An empty PowerPoint title placeholder still shows Click to add title in the editor. Remove its XML element; do not merely leave it blank.
3. One idea per slide. Move detailed inventories, ownership, and source tables to a companion document or clearly labeled appendix.
4. No invented facts, metrics, customers, or milestones. Compress source material; do not embellish it.
5. Render every slide before delivery. A valid PPTX can still have clipped text, broken fonts, or an ugly rhythm.

Workflow

1. Establish the presentation brief

Write down the audience, decision, and speaking mode before touching the deck. For a strategy presentation, choose a Decide / Learn composition: a small number of ideas land in sequence. Do not use a report or dashboard composition.

Default story arc:

tension → strategic leverage → operating model → pillar moves
→ how the system compounds → delivery sequence → customer outcome → close

Use references/executive-storyboard.md for the slide-by-slide contract.

Completion criterion: every planned slide advances the story; no slide exists only because a source document had a section heading.

2. Audit the source before redesigning

Extract the outline and render the existing deck. Inventory all source facts, terminology, required labels, and visuals worth keeping. Distinguish:

• Live-deck material: tension, decision, strategic move, customer outcome.
• Reference material: exhaustive jobs, owners, dates, complete project lists.

Run the mechanical audit before and after editing:

python3 skills/presentation-redesign/scripts/audit_pptx.py \
  path/to/deck.pptx --min-font-size 28

Completion criterion: the design brief lists the facts that must survive and the detailed material that moves out of the live story.

3. Distill copy before designing layouts

Write the slide headlines first. Each headline should make a claim or advance a decision; it should not repeat a category name such as "Overview" or "Customer outcomes."

Good live-deck pattern:

Slide headline: Make the agent loop fast, governed, and programmable.
Evidence: Fast Terraform · Shift-left policy · tfctl
Customer change: Shorter wait, fewer scripts, earlier policy feedback.

Avoid turning every source paragraph into a bullet. Prefer a sharp sentence, three named moves, and one consequence the audience can remember.

Completion criterion: an audience can explain the strategy from the headline sequence without reading body text.

4. Build an intentional visual system

Start from the existing brand/template when one exists. Otherwise use a small, high-contrast system:

• one accent color
• two background modes at most (for example, light analysis + dark chapter transitions)
• a deliberate type hierarchy
• a limited family of dividers, rules, and diagrams

Use dark slides as chapter transitions, not as decorative interruptions. Vary compositions across the deck: a tension diagram, a capability flow, a timeline, and an outcome slide should not all be card grids.

Do not use gradients, generic icon tiles, fake metrics, stock-art filler, or rounded rectangles as a substitute for hierarchy.

Completion criterion: every slide treatment has a job, and repeated layouts are reserved for repeated concepts such as pillars or timeline phases.

5. Remove empty PowerPoint placeholders

When creating slides from a layout, remove empty placeholders before adding custom text. This fixes the editor-visible Click to add title defect.

for shape in list(slide.shapes):
    if shape.is_placeholder and shape.has_text_frame and not shape.text.strip():
        shape._element.getparent().remove(shape._element)

Use the audit script to prove none remain. To remove them mechanically while writing a new file:

python3 skills/presentation-redesign/scripts/audit_pptx.py \
  path/to/source.pptx --remove-empty-placeholders \
  --output path/to/cleaned.pptx --min-font-size 28

Completion criterion: the audit reports empty_placeholders: [].

6. Enforce projection-safe typography

Use 28pt as the hard floor. Typical working sizes:

Never solve overflow by shrinking text. Shorten copy, split the slide, or turn the detail into an appendix.

Completion criterion: the audit reports no small_text findings at the chosen threshold.

7. Render, inspect, and iterate

Use a real renderer and inspect every slide at presentation scale:

mkdir -p .pptx-render
soffice --headless --convert-to pdf --outdir .pptx-render path/to/deck.pptx
pdftoppm -png -r 144 .pptx-render/deck.pdf .pptx-render/slide

Review for:

• clipped or wrapped text
• contrast failures
• accidental empty space versus intentional pacing
• repeated composition
• title overlap
• missing or broken brand elements
• a story that becomes understandable only after reading the source document

Run audit_pptx.py again after the final render.

Completion criterion: every slide is presentation-readable, the narrative works in order, the PPTX parses successfully, and the audit returns no defects.

Common Patterns

Strategy deck, not a report

Use 12–18 slides for a live executive deck. Keep the detail in a companion roadmap. A good sequence uses a few sparse dark transitions to create pacing, then lighter evidence slides to explain the move.

Pillar architecture

For four strategic pillars, use this order:

1. Tension and strategic leverage
2. Four-pillar operating model
3. A transition plus one evidence slide per pillar
4. How the pillars compound
5. Delivery sequence and customer outcome
6. A closing portfolio test

Reference material

If ownership or exhaustive project rows matter, place them in the Word roadmap or a clearly separated appendix. Do not let a reference table become the meeting's main slide.

Troubleshooting

Click to add title appears in PowerPoint but not the PDF

Cause: The layout created an empty title placeholder. Renderers usually hide it; PowerPoint does not.

Fix: Remove the empty placeholder with the script or XML snippet in Step 5, then reopen the actual .pptx and rerun the audit.

Text fits in code but is unreadable on a projector

Cause: The deck was validated as a document rather than a live speaking surface.

Fix: Raise text to at least 28pt. Remove secondary copy, split the slide, or move it to the companion roadmap. Do not keep a tiny footer as an exception.

Slides look polished individually but the deck still feels bad

Cause: The deck has no story or repeats one layout regardless of the idea.

Fix: Rebuild the outline from the tension, strategic leverage, pillar moves, and customer outcome. Use a different composition for each idea type.

Verification

Run all of the following before delivery:

python3 skills/presentation-redesign/scripts/audit_pptx.py \
  path/to/final.pptx --min-font-size 28
python3 -m zipfile -t path/to/final.pptx

Then render the final deck and inspect every slide. The audit must report zero empty placeholders and zero text runs below 28pt.

Resources

• references/executive-storyboard.md: Content and pacing contract for a 12–18 slide strategy deck.
• scripts/audit_pptx.py: Checks font size, inherited text formatting, and empty PowerPoint placeholders.