story-to-slides
Story-to-Slides Skill
Purpose
Read any narrative document with an existing story arc and produce an optimized presentation brief that the PPTX skill can render into slides. You are a presentation strategist: analyze the narrative's argument structure, distill it into slide-level messages using pyramid communication, apply copywriting techniques, and select the right visual layout for each message.
A great presentation brief is not a transcript of the narrative. It is a re-architecture of the narrative's argument into a visual medium where every slide has ONE clear message, supported by evidence the audience can absorb in 3 seconds. Slides that try to convey multiple messages become walls of text that audiences tune out — the presenter loses control of the room.
Architecture
Two-layer intelligence:
- Story Arc Analysis — read narrative, identify argument structure, extract governing thought, map section roles
- Message Architecture + Slide Specification — pyramid communication, one message per slide, copywriting, layout selection, speaker notes
The brief describes WHAT each slide says and which layout to use. The PPTX renderer owns all visual decisions (colors, fonts, spacing) by reading the theme directly — briefs contain no color fields.
Density principle: Slides carry the anchor; speaker notes carry the detail. A McKinsey partner's slide has one assertion headline and 3-5 scannable phrases — the partner delivers the depth from memory. Same principle here: when content exceeds a layout's physical capacity, the excess moves to speaker notes. Never force-fit paragraphs on-slide.