Presentation Engine

> Orchestration Log: When this skill is activated, append a log entry to outputs/orchestration_log.md: > `` > ### Skill Activation: Presentation Engine > **Timestamp:** [current date/time] > **Actor:** AI Agent (presentation-engine) > **Input:** [paper source], target format: [conference talk / workshop / poster] > **Output:** presentation.md with [N] slides + speaker notes > ``

Presentation Engine

Core Principle

A conference presentation is NOT a paper read aloud. It's a persuasion exercise: convince the audience in 15-20 minutes that your research matters, your method is sound, and your findings are interesting. This engine transforms a paper into a focused, visually driven presentation with clear narrative flow.

When to Activate

• User says "create slides", "make a presentation", "conference talk"
• User says "prepare presentation for [venue]", "slide deck"
• After paper acceptance at a conference
• User runs /generate-slides

Prerequisites

• draft.md or latex/paper.tex exists (complete paper)
• figures/ directory with generated figures (optional but recommended)

---

Step 1: EXTRACT Key Content

From Each Section

Read the paper and extract:

| Section | Extract | Max Slides | |---------|---------|-----------| | Title/Abstract | Title, authors, affiliations, 1-sentence summary | 1 | | Introduction | Motivation hook, gap, RQ(s) | 2-3 | | Theoretical Background | Key theory/framework, 1-2 core concepts | 1-2 | | Methodology | Method name, key design choices, data summary | 2-3 | | Results/Findings | Top 3-5 findings, key tables/figures | 4-6 | | Discussion | Key implications (2-3), limitations (1-2) | 2-3 | | Conclusion | Main takeaway, future directions | 1 |

What to Leave Out

• Detailed literature review (one framework slide is enough)
• Methodological minutiae (sampling details, coding tables)
• All limitations (pick the 2 most honest ones)
• Roadmap paragraph
• Most of the related work

---

Step 2: DESIGN Slide Structure

Standard Conference Talk (15-20 min, 15-18 slides)

## Slide Structure

1. **Title Slide** — Title, authors, affiliations, venue, date
2. **Motivation** — Why should the audience care? (practical hook)
3. **Problem / Gap** — What don't we know? What's missing?
4. **Research Question(s)** — Clear, prominent, memorable
5. **Theoretical Lens** — Key framework (1 visual if possible)
6. **Method Overview** — Approach in 3-5 bullet points + visual
7. **[Method Detail]** — Optional: sample, process, timeline
8. **Results 1** — First major finding (with figure/table)
9. **Results 2** — Second major finding
10. **Results 3** — Third major finding (or synthesis)
11. **[Results 4]** — Optional: additional finding or robustness
12. **Discussion: What This Means** — Interpretation of findings
13. **Implications** — For theory AND practice (split or combined)
14. **Limitations & Future** — Honest, brief, forward-looking
15. **Conclusion / Takeaway** — One memorable message
16. **Thank You / Q&A** — Contact info, paper reference

Short Talk (10 min, 10-12 slides)

Remove slides 6 (method detail), 11 (results 4), and merge 12-13.

Workshop / Seminar (30-45 min, 25-30 slides)

Add: deeper literature context, method details, additional findings, more discussion, interactive elements.

---

Step 3: GENERATE Slide Content

Format: Markdown Slides

Generate slides in Marp-compatible markdown format:

---
marp: true
theme: academic
paginate: true
---

# [Paper Title]
## [Subtitle if applicable]

**[Author 1]**, [Author 2], [Author 3]
[Affiliation(s)]
[Venue] — [Date]

---

# Motivation

[Striking opening statement or statistic]

- [Key trend 1]
- [Key trend 2]
- [Key challenge]

> "[Compelling quote or statistic]" — [Source]

---

# The Gap

What we **know**: [established knowledge, 2-3 points]

What we **don't know**: [specific gap]

Why it **matters**: [consequence of the gap]

---

# Research Question

> **RQ: [Research Question]**

[1-2 sentences contextualizing the question]

---

Slide Design Principles

For each slide:

• One idea per slide — never more
• Maximum 5-6 bullet points — prefer 3-4
• Maximum 7 words per bullet — use fragments, not sentences
• One figure or table per slide — large, readable
• Speaker notes for every slide — 2-5 sentences of what to say

Figure Integration

For figures from the paper:

• Reference existing figures/fig_*.png files
• Recommend which figures work on slides (some are too detailed)
• Suggest simplifying complex figures for presentation

---

Step 4: GENERATE Speaker Notes

Speaker Note Template per Slide Type

For Motivation slides:

Open with [the hook]. Pause for effect.
Key message: [what the audience should feel/understand].
Transition: "This brings us to the question of..."
Time: ~1 minute

For Results slides:

Present [finding]. Point to [specific part of figure/table].
Explain what this means: [interpretation in plain language].
Connect to RQ: "This tells us that [answer to RQ aspect]."
If asked about [likely question]: [prepared answer].
Time: ~2 minutes per result slide

For Discussion slides:

Summarize: "So what does this mean?"
Key implication: [most important takeaway].
Compare to prior work: "Unlike [Author], we find [contrast/extension]."
Time: ~2 minutes

---

Step 5: SAVE Output

Output Files

| File | Content | |------|---------| | presentation/presentation.md | Marp-compatible slide deck with speaker notes | | presentation/speaker_notes.md | Standalone speaker notes (for rehearsal) | | presentation/slide_outline.md | Slide-by-slide outline (for quick reference) | | presentation/figures/ | Presentation-optimized figures (if modified) |

Checkpoint

🎤 PRESENTATION READY
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Paper: "[Title]"
Format: [Conference talk / Workshop / Seminar]
Slides: [N] slides (~[N] minutes estimated)

Structure:
  1-3:   Introduction & Motivation
  4-5:   Theory & Method
  6-10:  Results
  11-14: Discussion & Implications
  15-16: Conclusion & Q&A

📁 Saved: presentation/

→ Review slides and speaker notes
→ Rehearse with speaker notes (target: [N] min)
→ Render with Marp: marp presentation.md --pdf

---

Error Recovery

• Paper too long for slot: Prioritize ruthlessly. Focus on 2-3 findings, not all.
• No figures in paper: Generate simple visuals for key findings via figure-engine.
• Multiple RQs: Dedicate 1 slide to listing all RQs, then focus the talk on answering the most important one.
• Paper is in German, talk in English (or vice versa): Translate key terms, keep framework names in original language.

---

Integration

| Scenario | Integration | |----------|-------------| | After paper acceptance | Natural next step | | Figure-engine | Generate presentation-specific visuals | | Writing-engine | Refine speaker note language | | Submission-engine | Presentation deadline tracking |

Source & license

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

• Author: TobiasBlask
• Source: TobiasBlask/open-paper-machine
• License: MIT

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