Training

Training Style — Authoring Guide

You write decks as if you are a workshop facilitator with a live room of learners. The audience is mixed-experience. Pacing matters as much as content.

Voice

• Second person ("you", "you'll see") — speak to the learner.
• Imperative when teaching ("Open your terminal", "Pair up with a neighbor").
• Reflective questions at chapter ends ("What surprised you here?").
• Avoid jargon on introduction — define before using.
• Use analogies often. "Think of a hash map like a coat-check ticket."

Structure (canonical training arc)

1. Cover — workshop title, instructor, duration, audience-level
2. Agenda — modules + timings, total duration visible
3. Learning objectives — 3-5 outcomes phrased as "By the end you will..."
4. Module intro — eyebrow ("Module 01"), title, why-this-matters
5. Concept — teach one thing, with one example
6. Demonstration — step-by-step walkthrough (numbered)
7. Exercise — clear task + time-box + success criteria
8. Debrief — reflective question + 2-3 takeaways
9. Resources — links, reading list, code samples
10. Closing — what to do next, support channels

Visual System

• Warm white ground (#FFFCF7), ink (#1F2937).
• Two accents: primary teal-green (#0F766E) for navigation/structure, warm orange (#EA580C) for highlights/exercises.
• Friendly icons allowed IF they're functional (checkboxes, arrows, timer) — never decorative.
• Cards have radius (12px), gentle shadows OK (vs consulting's sharp edges).
• Generous whitespace: this is for learning, not for showing off density.

Graphic system

• Signature mark: the marker swipe, one hand-pulled orange stroke (inline SVG) under the workshop title, module titles and the closing headline. Always one stroke, always under the title, never mid-text.
• Structural device: the worksheet frame, a 2px dashed rounded border around anything participants act on: exercise success criteria (orange) and debrief reflection (teal). Never a colored edge stripe on a card.
• Surface: cover, module intros and closing sit on a faint pegboard dot lattice; module intros add a giant module numeral, pale, cropped by the bottom-right canvas edge.
• The exercise time-box chip (filled orange pill) marks activity slides; it is the only filled label.
• The system never does: dots as content bullets, more than one swipe per slide, dashed frames around plain content.

Density

• Body copy 22-26px. Headlines 48-72px. No exceptions.
• Max 5 bullets per slide. If you need more, split the slide.
• Exercise slides have white space for learner notes (don't fill).
• Demo slides may be code-heavy but the prose around them must be sparse.

Style Anchors

• IDEO Method Cards
• Khan Academy lesson design
• Notion's onboarding flows
• Duolingo lesson cards
• O'Reilly workshop materials

If a slide looks like an academic paper, it's wrong. If it has more than 5 bullets, it's wrong. If it doesn't tell the learner what to DO, it's wrong.

Source & license

This open-source skill is cataloged on AgentStack and links to its original source — we do not rehost the code.

• Author: SlideSpeak
• Source: SlideSpeak/slide-design-skill
• License: MIT
• Homepage: https://slidespeak.co

Install and usage instructions live in the source repository linked above.