/slide-deck

Narrative and voice for branded decks

Voice (LOAD-BEARING — write for the ear, not the page)

Decks are spoken aloud. Slide text gets read by the presenter (or the audience reads it WHILE the presenter is talking). Speaker notes are spoken verbatim. Write everything as you'd say it — not as you'd write it.

The fastest gut check: read the slide out loud. If you stumble, if it sounds like a slide deck, if a friend listening would think "weird thing to say" — rewrite.

This rule dominates everything below. For the rare exception (reading-first / async handouts where no one will speak the slides), see the bottom of this file.

Conversational rules (apply to slide text AND notes)

1. Use contractions everywhere. don't, won't, you're, I'd, we've, can't. Formal writing strips them; spoken language requires them. A slide without contractions reads like a press release.
2. Sentences short enough for one breath. If you have to inhale mid-sentence to finish it, split it.
3. "You" — never "the audience," "users," "people." You're talking to a person, not a category.
4. Spell numbers the way you'd say them. "roughly a quarter" not "approximately 23.7%." "three out of four" not "75%." If precision matters, say the number and then translate ("76% — three in four").
5. Cut words you wouldn't say. Therefore, furthermore, additionally, in conclusion — never. So, also, plus, here's the thing — sometimes. Match how you actually transition between thoughts when talking.
6. No nouns that sound smart but feel dead. Optimization, utilization, implementation — replace with verbs (tightening, using, shipping).
7. Read every slide aloud before saving. If it doesn't sound like something you'd say, it won't sound like something you'd say.

Voice DNA (carries over from social + copy)

1. Conviction-coded — make the audience feel the take, not the hedging
2. Listener-perspective — "you'll know X" not "I'll teach you X"
3. Specific nouns, short sentences, verbs that do work
4. Lead with a take, not a question

Voice anti-patterns to avoid

• "Today I want to talk about…" / "Let me start by…" / "First, let me…"
• "I'm excited to be here" (save it for notes, not the slide)
• "Has anyone ever…?" (engagement bait)
• Emojis as decoration
• Generic AI aesthetics in copy ("dive deep," "leverage synergies" — full list below)
• Sentences that parse on the page but don't land in the ear (compound subordinate clauses, parentheticals)
• Words you'd never say in real life (aforementioned, henceforth, utilize)

Anti-AI-slop discipline

LLMs converge toward generic copy. Hold a higher bar by avoiding these specific patterns:

Banned words/phrases on slides (use anything else):

• Dive deep, dive in, deep-dive
• Leverage, unlock, supercharge, turbocharge
• Game-changing, paradigm shift, next-level
• Synergies, ecosystems, holistic
• Robust, scalable, future-proof
• Empowering, enabling, transforming
• Journey (as a metaphor — "their journey," "your journey")
• Solutions (as a noun standalone — "marketing solutions")
• Best-in-class, world-class, cutting-edge
• "In today's fast-paced world…" / "Now more than ever…" / "In an era of…"

Banned slide patterns:

• Definitions on slide 1 ("Marketing is…")
• Three bullets that are just three rephrasings of the same idea
• A heading that doesn't survive being read aloud ("Optimizing Customer Engagement Through Strategic Initiatives")
• Stat with no source ("76% of CMOs say…") — either name the source or drop the stat
• Trailing question to invite engagement ("So what do you think?")

Test: if a slide's heading could appear unchanged in a generic SaaS pitch deck, rewrite it. Specific > vague every time.

The voice should be unmistakably the user's. If you can imagine three other marketers reading the same slide and it landing, it's not voiced enough.

Slide text vs speaker notes — the gap is small

Both get spoken. The difference:

• Slide text = the headline of what you're saying. Tight, scannable, the take. Still conversational — still uses contractions, still reads aloud naturally — but fewer words.
• Speaker notes = the full spoken delivery. More room for asides, callbacks, "you know," story digressions, second-person directness. Still in your voice — just looser.

Old framing said slide text was "written the user" and notes were "spoken the user." That's wrong — slide text is abbreviated spoken the user. Both pass the read-aloud test.

Narrative patterns (pick one, don't force any)

Take-first

1. Open with the take as the title slide (e.g., "Marketing Like an Engineer")
2. Brief moment of surreal/unexpected stat or image (slide 2)
3. Frame the problem the take solves
4. Walk through the system / framework
5. Show it working with examples
6. Close with the action the audience takes Monday

Best for: keynotes, conference talks, opinionated frameworks.

Story-first

1. Open inside a specific moment (a client conversation, a screenshot, a number)
2. Pull back: this isn't unusual — it's common
3. Why it happens
4. The reframe / framework
5. Concrete next step

Best for: persuasion talks, sales decks, fundraising pitches.

Problem → Reframe → System → Close

1. Show the broken thing the audience knows
2. The reframe (why their current model misses)
3. The system that fixes it
4. The path forward

Best for: pitches, internal updates that change direction.

Anti-thesis

1. Show the conventional wisdom
2. Take it apart
3. What's actually true
4. What to do with that

Best for: contrarian talks, hot-take keynotes.

Single-question deck

The whole deck answers ONE question, building up the answer slide by slide.

Best for: short decks (5–10 slides), lightning talks.

Slide-level patterns

Hooks that work (slide 2 / right after title)

• A specific number that's bigger or smaller than expected ("$120k saved by removing one button")
• A counterintuitive observation ("the more we asked customers, the less they bought")
• A short story with a named person and place ("Last week, a founder asked me…")
• A surreal moment / image that earns "wait, what?"

Hooks that don't work

• Definitions ("Marketing is…")
• Generic stats from a McKinsey report
• Questions
• "Today I want to share…"

Speaker notes discipline

Notes are the full spoken talk. If a presenter could read just the notes (not the slides) and deliver the talk, the notes are doing their job. Write them as you'd actually say them — pauses, callbacks, asides included.

Structure per slide (3–5 lines):

1. Opener — the exact phrase you say when the slide appears
2. Point — the one idea this slide makes
3. Support — example, data, color
4. Transition — segue into the next slide
5. (Optional) Aside — quip, callback, audience read

Title slides and section dividers get 2–3 notes lines, not 5.

Notes-specific tics that work (since notes are pure spoken)

• "Here's the thing —" / "So check this out —"
• Direct address: "You've probably felt this…"
• Callbacks to earlier slides ("Remember when I said X? This is why.")
• Mini-stories: "Last quarter, a client told me…"
• One-line laughs / asides — fine in notes, awkward on slides

Notes-specific tics to skip

• "I'm going to talk about…" (just talk about it)
• Restating the slide verbatim — notes should say more than the slide does
• Reading numbers or bullets aloud — translate them to natural speech ("the first one" not "bullet point one")

Length calibration

For pitch decks specifically: 10–15 slides is the sweet spot. 20+ becomes a doc, not a deck.

Density modes

Borrowed from frontend-slides. Ask the user up front — affects slide count, copy length per slide, and which primitives to favor.

speaker-led (low density)

Best for: public talks, keynotes, conference slots, live explanation.

Rules:

• One idea per slide. If two ideas are fighting, split.
• Large type, lots of negative space. Let the slide breathe.
• Max 3 bullets per BulletList — and consider whether bullets are even right (vs. one strong line).
• <Body> paragraphs: ≤2 sentences on a single slide. Beyond that, split.
• More slides, not denser slides. A 20-min talk might be 30 speaker-led slides — that's fine, each slide is short.
• Favor: title slide, hook slides, single-quote slides, section dividers, framework slide with 3-bullet list, close with one CTA line.
• Avoid: dense tables, multi-column comparisons with long content, big numbered lists.

reading-first (high density)

Best for: reports, async handouts, async review, detailed internal docs, post-meeting recap.

Rules:

• Self-contained slides. The audience reads alone — no presenter to fill in gaps.
• 4–6 bullets per BulletList allowed. Up to 6 cards in a grid.
• Structured layouts: TwoCol comparisons, tables, annotated lists, captions.
• Strong hierarchy — Eyebrow → Heading → Body → BulletList so the reader can scan.
• Fewer slides, denser slides. A 10-page reading-first deck conveys what a 25-page speaker-led deck would.
• Speaker notes optional (no one's reading them; audience reads the slide).
• Favor: TwoCol, BulletList with longer items, framework slides with explanations under each bullet, tables.

Voice exception: the "write for the ear" rule at the top relaxes here. Reading-first decks are read silently, so written voice is fine (more formal sentences, fuller words, longer constructions). Still avoid AI-slop banned terms — those are bad written too. But the conversational gut check (read aloud, contractions everywhere) doesn't apply to reading-first decks.

When stated needs are mixed

Pick the closer mode rather than inventing a middle. Live audience persuasion → speaker-led. Async circulation or detailed review → reading-first. Never let high density become visual clutter — if a slide starts to overflow, split it.

Section discipline

When using sections (SectionRange[]):

• 3–7 sections per deck (more than 7 = sprawl)
• Each section is named with a noun phrase, not a question
• The first section is always Title (single slide)
• The last section is always Close or CTA
• Section names appear in the presenter view "where am I" header

Local overlay (your personal voice DNA)

Same pattern as jab-hook/references/voice.md: layer personal rules on top via ${MAKERSKILLS_CONFIG:-$HOME/.config/makerskills}/slide-deck/voice.local.md. The skill loads generic rules first, then your overlay.

This is the right place for:

• Your stage voice tics
• Your specific anti-AI-slop additions (the public list is solid; you may have personal additions)
• Speaker-note conventions unique to your delivery
• Brand-specific narrative patterns