Paper Slides: From Paper to Conference Talk

{
  "phase": 3,
  "venue": "NeurIPS",
  "talk_type": "spotlight",
  "slide_count": 10,
  "codex_thread_id": "019cfcf4-...",
  "status": "in_progress",
  "timestamp": "2026-03-18T15:00:00"
}

📊 Slide outline ready:
- Talk type: [TALK_TYPE] ([TALK_MINUTES] min)
- Slide count: [N] slides
- Figures used: [N] from paper/figures/
- Time budget: [breakdown]

Slide-by-slide outline:
1. [Title slide]
2. [Motivation — 1.5 min]
3. [Problem statement — 1 min]
...

Proceed to drafting? Or adjust the outline?

\documentclass[aspectratio=169]{beamer}

% Venue theme
\usepackage{xcolor}
\definecolor{primary}{HTML}{VENUE_PRIMARY}
\definecolor{accent}{HTML}{VENUE_ACCENT}

% Clean theme
\usetheme{default}
\usecolortheme{default}
\setbeamercolor{frametitle}{fg=primary}
\setbeamercolor{title}{fg=primary}
\setbeamercolor{structure}{fg=accent}
\setbeamercolor{itemize item}{fg=primary}
\setbeamercolor{itemize subitem}{fg=accent}
\setbeamertemplate{navigation symbols}{}
\setbeamertemplate{footline}{
  \hfill\insertframenumber/\inserttotalframenumber\hspace{2mm}\vspace{2mm}
}

% Packages
\usepackage{graphicx,amsmath,booktabs}
\graphicspath{{figures/}}

% Speaker notes (if enabled)
% \setbeameroption{show notes on second screen=right}

% Metadata
\title{PAPER TITLE}
\author{Author 1 \and Author 2}
\institute{Affiliation}
\date{VENUE YEAR}

\begin{document}

\begin{frame}
\titlepage
\end{frame}

% Content slides follow...

\begin{frame}{Motivation}
\begin{itemize}
  \item Bullet point 1
  \item Bullet point 2
  \item \textbf{Key insight in bold}
\end{itemize}
\note{Speaker note: explain the motivation...}
\end{frame}

% Figure slide example
\begin{frame}{Method Overview}
\centering
\includegraphics[width=0.85\textwidth]{method_overview.pdf}
\vspace{0.5em}
\begin{itemize}
  \item Key annotation about the figure
\end{itemize}
\note{Walk through the figure left to right...}
\end{frame}

% ... more slides ...

\begin{frame}{Thank You}
\centering
{\Large Questions?}\\[2em]
Paper: [URL or QR placeholder]\\
Code: [URL or QR placeholder]
\end{frame}

\end{document}

ln -sf ../paper/figures/*.pdf slides/figures/ 2>/dev/null
ln -sf ../paper/figures/*.png slides/figures/ 2>/dev/null

cd slides && latexmk -$ENGINE -interaction=nonstopmode main.tex

# Check slide count matches outline
pdfinfo slides/main.pdf | grep Pages

mcp__codex__codex:
  config: {"model_reasoning_effort": "xhigh"}
  prompt: |
    Review this [TALK_TYPE] presentation ([TALK_MINUTES] min) for [VENUE].

    Evaluate using these criteria (score 1-5 each):

    1. **Story arc** — Does the talk build a compelling narrative? (Problem → insight → method → evidence → takeaway)
    2. **Slide density** — Any slides with too much text? (Max 6 lines, 8 words/line)
    3. **Time budget** — Is [N] slides realistic for [TALK_MINUTES] minutes?
    4. **Figure visibility** — Will figures be readable on a projector?
    5. **Opening hook** — Do slides 2-3 grab attention? (Not "In this paper, we...")
    6. **Takeaway** — Is the final message clear and memorable?
    7. **Progressive build** — Are complex ideas revealed gradually?

    Slide outline:
    [PASTE SLIDE_OUTLINE.md]

    Selected frames (LaTeX):
    [PASTE KEY FRAMES]

    Provide:
    - Score for each criterion
    - Top 3 actionable fixes
    - Overall: Ready to present? (Yes / Needs revision / Major issues)

# Speaker Notes

## Slide 1: Title
[No speaking — wait for introduction]

## Slide 2: Motivation
"Thank you. So let me start with the problem we're trying to solve..."
[Time: 1.5 min]

## Slide 3: Problem Statement
"Specifically, the challenge is..."
→ Transition: "To address this, our key insight is..."
[Time: 1 min]

...

python3 -c "import pptx" 2>/dev/null || pip install python-pptx

cd slides && python3 generate_pptx.py
# Output: slides/presentation.pptx

# Talk Script: [Paper Title]

**Venue**: [VENUE] [YEAR]
**Talk type**: [TALK_TYPE] ([TALK_MINUTES] min)
**Total slides**: [N]

---

## Slide 1: Title [0:00 - 0:15]

*[Wait for chair introduction]*

"Thank you [chair name]. I'm [author] from [affiliation], and today I'll be talking about [short title]."

---

## Slide 2: Motivation [0:15 - 1:30]

"Let me start with the problem. [Describe the real-world motivation in accessible terms]. This matters because [impact statement].

The current state of the art approaches this with [brief existing approach]. But there's a fundamental limitation: [gap statement]."

→ *Transition*: "So what's our key insight?"

---

## Slide 3: Key Insight [1:30 - 2:30]

"Our key observation is that [core insight in one sentence].

This leads us to propose [method name], which [one-sentence description]."

→ *Transition*: "Let me walk you through how this works."

---

## Slide 4-N: [Continue for each slide...]

...

---

## Slide [N]: Thank You [TALK_MINUTES:00]

"To summarize: we've shown that [main result]. The key takeaway is [memorable final message].

The paper and code are available at the QR code on screen. I'm happy to take questions."

---

## Time Budget Summary

| Slide | Topic | Duration | Cumulative |
|:-----:|-------|:--------:|:----------:|
| 1 | Title | 0:15 | 0:15 |
| 2 | Motivation | 1:15 | 1:30 |
| 3 | Key Insight | 1:00 | 2:30 |
| ... | ... | ... | ... |
| N | Thank You | 0:15 | [TALK_MINUTES]:00 |

**Total**: [sum] min (target: [TALK_MINUTES] min)

---

## Anticipated Q&A

### Q1: How does this compare to [strongest baseline]?
**A**: "[Specific comparison with numbers]. Our advantage is particularly clear in [specific scenario], where we see [X%] improvement."

### Q2: What are the main limitations?
**A**: "[Honest answer]. We see this as [future work direction]."

### Q3: How computationally expensive is this?
**A**: "[Training/inference cost]. Compared to [baseline], our method requires [comparison]."

### Q4: Does this generalize to [related domain]?
**A**: "[Answer based on paper's discussion section]."

### Q5: What's the most surprising finding?
**A**: "[Interesting insight from the experiments]."

### Q6: How sensitive is the method to [hyperparameter/design choice]?
**A**: "[Reference ablation study if available]."

### Q7: What's the next step for this research?
**A**: "[Future work from conclusion]."

### Q8: [Domain-specific question]
**A**: "[Answer]."

📊 Slide generation complete:
- Talk type: [TALK_TYPE] ([TALK_MINUTES] min) for [VENUE]
- Files:
  slides/
  ├── main.tex              # Beamer LaTeX source
  ├── main.pdf              # Compiled slides (primary output)
  ├── presentation.pptx     # Editable PowerPoint
  ├── SLIDE_OUTLINE.md      # Slide-by-slide outline
  ├── SLIDES_REVIEW.md      # GPT-5.4 review feedback
  ├── speaker_notes.md      # Per-slide speaker notes
  ├── TALK_SCRIPT.md        # Full word-for-word talk script + Q&A
  ├── SLIDES_STATE.json     # State persistence
  ├── generate_pptx.py      # PPTX generation script
  └── figures/              # Symlinked from paper/figures/

Next steps:
1. Practice with TALK_SCRIPT.md (read aloud, time yourself)
2. Edit presentation.pptx for visual tweaks (animations, custom graphics)
3. Review Anticipated Q&A section before the talk
4. Do a dry run with a colleague

/paper-slides "paper/" — talk_type: oral, venue: ICML, minutes: 20, aspect: 4:3, notes: false