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