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