Presentation Creator

Build presentations that match the speaker's documented rhetoric and style patterns. The rhetoric-knowledge-vault is this skill's constitution. Every presentation is a joint effort — the skill brings rhetoric knowledge, the author brings topic expertise.

Before You Start: Load the Vault

The vault lives at ~/.claude/rhetoric-knowledge-vault/ (may be a symlink to a custom location). Read tracking-database.json from there to get config.vault_root.

Load from vault root: rhetoric-style-summary.md (constitution — all patterns), slide-design-spec.md (visual rules), speaker-profile.json (structured data). The interaction-rules steering rule (one-question-at-a-time, applies to all phases) is loaded automatically via tile steering — do not treat it as a vault-root document. Then load local references per phase: references/phase0-intake.md, references/phase1-intent.md, references/phase2-architecture.md, references/phase3-content.md, references/phase4-guardrails.md, references/phase5-slides.md, references/phase6-publishing.md, references/phase7-post-event.md, references/patterns/_index.md.

Checks: Warn if profile.generated_date < summary."Last updated" (stale profile). Warn if schema_version > 1. If profile doesn't exist (<10 talks), run in summary-only mode — read instruments from summary prose, use default guardrail thresholds (1.5 slides/min, 45% Act 1 cap), ask for template/publishing interactively.

Workflow Overview

Do not skip phases. Do not write content before Phase 3. Phase 2 is joint, not autonomous.

Late Entry (single-task requests)

Even when the user asks for a single task (QR code, export, shownotes), vault loading is mandatory. Do not jump straight to the action. Minimum context before ANY Phase 6 action:

• speaker-profile.json — publishing config, shortener, URL patterns
• secrets.json — API keys for shorteners and Gemini
• presentation-spec.md — talk slug, metadata (source of truth)
• presentation-outline.md — the outline (slide references, shownotes URL)

If any file is missing, STOP and ask. Do not guess values that should come from files. Never hand-write code when a script exists — if the script isn't working, diagnose why (wrong args, missing config, missing secrets) and fix the inputs.

Phase 7 late entry requires the same 4 files plus a YouTube video URL from the speaker. If shownotes don't exist and Step 7.2 is requested, STOP and ask — either run Phase 6 Step 6.1 first or get the shownotes URL manually.

Phase 0: Intake & Context Loading

1. Load vault documents (see above).
2. Capture what the user has shared — topic, conference, audience, time slot.
3. Read any provided CFP description, conference website, or existing talk to adapt.
4. Report what you know and what you still need.

Phase 1: Intent Distillation

Ask about what's missing; skip what's known. See references/phase1-intent.md for the full question set. Produce the Presentation Spec:

PRESENTATION SPEC
=================
Title:             [working title]
Thesis:            [one sentence]
Audience:          [who]
Venue:             [conference, slot, format]
Mode:              [from profile presentation_modes — present options]
Commercial intent: [none / subtle / direct]
Must-include:      [list]
Must-avoid:        [list]
Co-presenter:      [none | name + handle + role split]
Profanity register:[from profile rhetoric_defaults]
Duration target:   [from profile rhetoric_defaults.default_duration_minutes]
Shownotes slug:    [generated per profile shownotes_slug_convention — see phase1-intent.md]

Gate: Author confirms or edits the spec.

Save to: {presentations-dir}/{conference}/{year}/{talk-slug}/presentation-spec.md

This file is the source of truth for the talk slug, duration, mode, and other metadata. Later phases (especially Phase 6 publishing) read it — do not rely on conversation context for these values.

Phase 2: Rhetorical Architecture

The instrument menu comes from the vault, not from a static file. Read the summary (sections 2-13) and profile instrument_catalog for options.

11 Decisions to make together:

Mode, Opening, Narrative, Humor, Audience Interaction, Closing, Slide Design, Persuasion, Template Patterns, Pattern Strategy, Illustration Strategy. Each reads from the matching instrument_catalog entry + summary section. Decision #10 uses the 4-tier Pattern Strategy from references/patterns/_index.md + profile → pattern_profile. Decision #11 (Illustration Strategy) is optional — only when the author wants AI-generated illustrations; covers style proposals, format vocabulary, model choice, and visual continuity devices (see references/phase2-architecture.md for full workflow).

For each: present options, recommend based on spec, let author choose. If co-presented, add role split and voice differentiation — see references/phase1-intent.md.

Slide budget — read from profile → guardrail_sources.slide_budgets at runtime. If the profile is unavailable (summary-only mode), use these defaults:

Gate: Author approves the architecture.

Phase 3: Content Development

Write the talk as a section-by-section outline. See references/phase3-content.md for the full outline format, voice calibration, callback identification, and placeholder types.

Outline structure (abbreviated):

# [Talk Title]
**Spec:** [mode] | [duration] | [venue]
**Slide budget:** [N slides]

## Illustration Style Anchor  ← only when illustration strategy is defined
**Model:** `model-name`
### STYLE ANCHOR (FULL — Landscape 1920×1080)
> [anchor paragraph]

## Opening Sequence [3 min, slides 1-5]
### Slide 1: Title Slide
- Format: **FULL**            ← only when illustration strategy is defined
- Illustration: [visual concept]
- Image prompt: `[STYLE ANCHOR]. [generation prompt]`
- Visual: [description]
- Speaker: [no notes — visual only]
### Slide 2: [Opening hook]
...

## Act 1: [Title] [N min, slides X-Y]
...
## [CUT LINE: drop below here for short version]
...
## Closing Sequence [3 min, slides N-end]

When an illustration strategy is defined, each slide gets Format, Illustration, and Image prompt fields. The [STYLE ANCHOR] token in prompts references the header anchors. Talks without illustration strategy use the standard - Visual: field only.

Placeholders — use typed, independent numbering (each type starts at 01): [AUTHOR 01], [DEMO 01], [DATA 01], [SCREENSHOT 01], [IMAGE 01], [MEME 01]

Every placeholder requiring author input MUST use one of these typed tags — never use generic [TODO] or [TBD]. Meme placeholders MUST include a structured brief:

[MEME 01]
Template: [meme template name]
Search query: "[search terms to find the template image]"
Overlay text: [specific text to apply]
Rhetorical function: [what argument this meme serves]

See references/phase3-content.md for full placeholder type definitions.

Save to: {presentations-dir}/{conference}/{year}/{talk-slug}/presentation-outline.md

Phase 4: Revision & Guardrails

Start by running scripts/guardrail-check.py <outline.md> <speaker-profile.json> for the computable checks (slide budget, Act 1 ratio, closing, cut lines, data attribution, profanity). Then add the remaining checks manually per references/phase4-guardrails.md.

All 10 checks are mandatory — run every one, never skip a category:

GUARDRAIL CHECK — {talk title}
================================================
[PASS/FAIL] Slide budget: {actual}/{max} for {duration}-min slot
[PASS/WARN] Act 1 ratio: {%} (limit: {max}% — WARN within 5%)
[PASS/FAIL] Branding: footer elements for {conference}
[PASS/FAIL] Profanity: {register} applied, {N} on-slide
[PASS/FAIL] Data attribution: {N} slides checked, {M} missing sources
[PASS/FAIL] Time-sensitive: {count} items (expired dates, stale versions, dead memes)
[PASS/FAIL] Closing: summary={y/n} CTA={y/n} social={y/n}
[PASS/FAIL] Cut lines: {present/missing}
[INFO] Anti-patterns: {flags from profile recurring_issues}
[RECURRING/CONTEXTUAL] Presentation Patterns: {taxonomy-based antipattern flags}
[PASS/FAIL/SKIP] Illustrations: {coverage} | {format tags} | {prompt quality}
================================================

Illustrations line shows [SKIP] when the outline has no Illustration Style Anchor.

Iterate on author feedback. Apply changes first, guardrail second. Flag but don't block intentionally overridden guardrails. See references/phase4-guardrails.md for iteration protocol.

Phase 5: Slide Generation & Interactive Iteration

Build the .pptx deck from the finalized outline. See references/phase5-slides.md for the full technical reference.

Setup:

python3 scripts/strip-template.py "{template_pptx_path}" "{output_path}"

Then open with MCP open_presentation and walk the outline: add_slide → populate_placeholder → manage_image for each slide. When the outline has an Illustration Style Anchor, generate illustrations first (generate-illustrations.py), then generate builds for progressive-reveal slides (generate-illustrations.py --build), and use illustration-format-aware insertion (FULL → full-bleed, IMG+TXT → image + text, EXCEPTION → real asset). Build slides are inserted as sequential full-bleed images. Inject speaker notes via python-pptx batch after MCP generation.

Key rules from profile:

• design_rules.background_color_strategy — how to pick background colors
• design_rules.footer — pattern, position, font, color adaptation
• design_rules.slide_numbers — typically "never"
• infrastructure.template_layouts[] — layout index + placeholder mapping

Phase 6: Publishing

Read publishing_process from speaker-profile.json. Each speaker's workflow differs. If publishing_process is missing or empty, ask the author interactively.

Execute the steps from the profile: 0. Resources — extract and curate resource list from outline (extract-resources.py)

1. Export — run export_method / export_script (see references/phase5-slides.md)
2. Shownotes — if shownotes_publishing.enabled, use curated resources from Step 6.0
3. QR Code — if qr_code.enabled, generate and insert per profile
4. Additional steps — execute each additional_steps[] entry
5. Go-live checklist — surface unobservable patterns from references/patterns/_index.md as a delivery preparation reminder (see references/phase6-publishing.md Step 6.5)

Gate: Author confirms published and ready to deliver.

Phase 7: Post-Event

Triggered separately — days or weeks after delivery. Not part of the linear Phase 0-6 flow. The talk has been given and recorded.

1. YouTube Thumbnail — select a high-impact slide, compose with speaker photo and hook title via Gemini (generate-thumbnail.py), iterate with speaker
2. Video to Shownotes — add video embed/link to existing shownotes page

Read references/phase7-post-event.md for the full workflow including pre-flight checklist, slide selection criteria, prompt strategy, and tracking database updates.

Adapting Existing Talks

1. Check if the talk has been ingested by the vault. If not, process it first.
2. Read the original talk's analysis from {vault_root}/analyses/
3. Copy the previous deck as starting point — do NOT start from fresh template.
4. Start at Phase 1 with the original spec pre-filled, modify as needed.
5. Auto-generate adaptation checklist: footer, shownotes slug, time-sensitive content, slide budget, profanity register, locale references, commercial intent.

CFP Abstract Writing

1. Complete Phase 0-1 (lighter touch)
2. Skip Phase 2 (not needed for an abstract)
3. Write: title, abstract (200-300 words), key takeaways (3-5 bullets), speaker bio
4. Phase 4 revision as normal
5. Save approved materials to the Sessions Catalog (see below)

Sessions Catalog

The sessions catalog ({vault_root}/sessions-catalog.md) is the single source of submission-ready materials for active talks. Load it during Phase 0 to know the active rotation and flag overlapping territory. Pull an existing entry before starting a new CFP; adapt rather than rewrite.

What goes in the catalog

Each entry contains:

• Title (including subtitle if any)
• Abstract (submission-ready, anti-pattern-checked)
• Outline (with section descriptions and time allocations)
• Small Print (notes for the Program Committee — positioning, scope clarifications, or anything the PC should know; internal, not public-facing)

Catalog maintenance

• Save approved title, abstract, and outline after CFP abstract writing (step 5) and after Phase 4 if no entry exists yet. Remove or archive entries when a talk is retired.
• The catalog reflects the latest approved version — full history lives in the tracking database and analysis files.
• Run an anti-pattern check on entries before saving (use the blog-writer skill's ai-anti-patterns.md if installed). Keep the "Last updated" date current.
• Entries are separated by --- horizontal rules for easy scanning.