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:

• Introduction - Current status quo

• Problem Statement - What needs solving

• Exploration - Initial attempts

• Experimentation - Deep investigation

• Solution - The breakthrough

• Challenges - Implementation difficulties

• Apply Knowledge - Integration into project

• 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"

• Gather their experience, main points, and target audience

• Read story-circle.md

• 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

• Read ia-presenter-syntax.md

• Generate markdown slides with proper formatting

• Iterate based on feedback