talk · diff
git:20260527.f278992 to git:20260701.665f249
62 added, 77 removed. Audit A to A.
---
name: talk
description: >-
- Writes conference talk proposals and outlines: CFP abstracts, talk structure
- with timing, and key slides flow. Optimized for technical developer conferences.
- Make sure to use this skill whenever the user says "conference talk", "write a
- talk", "presentation on", "CFP submission", "talk proposal", or runs /talk.
- Also triggers when the user wants to submit to a conference or turn a blog post
- or project into a speaking proposal.
+ Conference talk builder for technical CFP submissions, speaking proposals, timed talk outlines,
+ and slide flows. Use when the user asks for a conference talk, CFP abstract, talk proposal, or to
+ turn a project/article into a speaking proposal.
user-invocable: true
argument-hint: "[conference topic or title]"
---
# Conference Talk Builder
- Structured for technical developer conferences (25-30 min single track). Produces three deliverables: CFP abstract, talk outline with timing, key slides list.
+ Structured for technical developer conferences. Produces three core deliverables: CFP abstract, talk
+ outline with timing, and key slides list. Optional iA Presenter markdown is generated only when the
+ user asks for slide markdown.
## What Makes a Talk Work
The talk structure that gets accepted and remembered:
- 1. **Visceral opening** — a failure story, a question the audience can't answer, a stat that reframes what they thought they knew. Not "today I'm going to tell you about X."
-
- 2. **The painful thing everyone does** — establish shared experience. The audience needs to recognize themselves. If they're nodding, you have them.
+ 1. **Visceral opening** — a failure story, a question the audience can't answer, or a stat that
+ reframes the topic. Not "today I'm going to tell you about X."
+ 2. **The painful thing everyone does** — establish shared experience. The audience needs to
+ recognize themselves.
+ 3. **The journey with failed attempts** — what the speaker tried, what failed, and what changed.
+ This is credibility: lived experience, not a literature review.
+ 4. **The insight with a demo** — the thing attendees came for. Keep demos minimal and have a backup.
+ 5. **Monday morning takeaways** — 3 concrete actions attendees can take back to work.
- 3. **The journey with failed attempts** — how you discovered the solution, including what didn't work. This is what separates a talk from a blog post. The failed attempts are credibility — they show you lived this, not just read about it.
+ ## Workflow
- 4. **The insight with a demo** — the thing they came for. Keep demos minimal. Have a backup screenshot. Live demos fail publicly; plan for it.
+ ### 1. Clarify the Submission
- 5. **Monday morning takeaways** — 3 concrete things they can do when they're back at their desk. Not "think differently about X" — actual actions.
+ Before drafting, confirm or explicitly mark assumptions for:
- ## Workflow
+ - target conference and audience level
+ - talk length (default: 25–30 minutes)
+ - one-sentence core insight
+ - speaker's direct experience with the topic
- ### 1. Clarify the Submission
+ Do not invent speaker experience. If credibility is missing, ask for the story, project, production
+ incident, research, or client work that gives the speaker standing.
- Before writing, establish:
- - Target conference / audience level (introductory, intermediate, advanced)
- - Talk length (default: 25-30 min)
- - The single core insight — if it takes more than one sentence, the scope is too broad
- - Speaker's direct experience with the topic (required for credibility in the abstract)
+ Complete when those four inputs are known or a clearly labeled assumption is shown for user approval.
### 2. Draft CFP Abstract
- **Format (400-500 words total):**
+ **Format (400–500 words total):**
- ```
+ ```text
TITLE
- [Direct and specific. "How we reduced deploy time from 40 min to 90 sec"
- beats "Optimizing CI/CD Pipelines". Concrete beats clever.]
+ [Direct and specific. Concrete beats clever.]
- ABSTRACT (250-300 words)
- Paragraph 1: The problem — what's painful about this right now, why it matters today
- Paragraph 2: The journey — what you tried, what failed, what you discovered
- Paragraph 3: What attendees will leave with (specific, not vague)
+ ABSTRACT (250–300 words)
+ Paragraph 1: The problem — what's painful now and why it matters
+ Paragraph 2: The journey — what was tried, what failed, what changed
+ Paragraph 3: What attendees will leave able to do
WHAT ATTENDEES WILL LEARN
- [Specific skill or decision they'll be able to make]
- [Specific tool, pattern, or technique they'll use]
- [Mental model that changes how they approach this problem]
SPEAKER BIO HOOK (50 words)
- Not a resume. One sentence about why you specifically are the right person
- to give this talk — the thing that establishes credibility on this topic.
+ One sentence about why this speaker is the right person for this topic.
```
- ### 3. Talk Outline with Timing
+ Complete when the abstract names the problem, journey, takeaway, and credibility hook.
- ```
- [0:00-2:00] Opening hook — the failure/question/stat
- [2:00-7:00] Problem setup — the painful thing everyone does, why it's wrong
- [7:00-15:00] Journey — what you tried, what failed, the turning point
- [15:00-22:00] Resolution — the insight, live demo or concrete example
+ ### 3. Build the Timed Outline
+
+ ```text
+ [0:00-2:00] Opening hook — failure/question/stat
+ [2:00-7:00] Problem setup — the painful thing everyone does
+ [7:00-15:00] Journey — failed attempts and turning point
+ [15:00-22:00] Resolution — insight, demo, or concrete example
[22:00-25:00] Takeaways + Q&A setup
```
- Adjust for actual length. Keep demo segments to 5-7 min max — they always run long.
+ Adjust for actual length. Keep demo segments to 5–7 minutes max.
- ### 4. Key Slides List
+ ### 4. List Key Slides
Not the slides themselves — the logical flow. One line per slide/beat:
- ```
- 1. Opening image/question (no title slide to start)
- 2. "Here's the mistake" — the thing everyone does
- 3. Code showing the wrong way
- 4. The moment of discovery
- 5. Architecture diagram / key concept
- 6. Code showing the right way
- 7. Benchmark / result / proof
- 8. Demo (or screenshot if demo risky)
+ ```text
+ 1. Opening image/question
+ 2. The mistake everyone makes
+ 3. Concrete wrong-way example
+ 4. Moment of discovery
+ 5. Key concept / architecture diagram
+ 6. Right-way example
+ 7. Proof: benchmark, result, or production lesson
+ 8. Demo or backup screenshot
9. Three takeaways
10. One slide people will photograph
```
- ### 5. iA Presenter Slides (if requested)
-
- When the user asks for slide markdown (not just the outline), generate iA Presenter format:
-
- ```markdown
- # Slide Title
-
- Content visible on slide (indented with tab)
-
- Speaker notes without tab (invisible to audience)
-
- // reminder comment
-
- ---
- ```
-
- **iA Presenter rules:**
- - Separate slides with `---`
- - Visible slide content must be indented with a tab
- - Speaker notes are left-margin (no indent)
- - Code blocks on slides: break across multiple slides if >8 lines — code must be readable on a bad projector
- - Use `// comment` for author reminders
+ ### 5. Generate iA Presenter Markdown Only If Requested
- Structure: Title slide → speaker intro → one or more slides per Story Circle step → closing with contact/resources.
+ If the user asks for slide markdown, load `references/ia-presenter-syntax.md` and follow it. Do not
+ reconstruct the syntax from memory.
## Output
Deliverables in this order:
- 1. CFP abstract (ready to paste into submission form)
+
+ 1. CFP abstract
2. Talk outline with timing
3. Key slides list
- 4. iA Presenter markdown (if requested)
+ 4. iA Presenter markdown, only if requested
- Present 1–3 together — they inform each other and the reviewer needs to see the full shape.
+ Present 1–3 together; they inform each other and a CFP reviewer needs the full shape.
## References
- | Priority | Stage | Load when | Reference |
- |----------|-------|-----------|-----------|
- | 1 | Outline | Building the narrative arc or structuring the talk story | `references/story-circle.md` |
- | 2 | Slides | Generating iA Presenter slide markdown | `references/ia-presenter-syntax.md` |
+ | Priority | Load when | Reference |
+ | --- | --- | --- |
+ | 1 | Building the narrative arc or structuring the talk story | `references/story-circle.md` |
+ | 2 | Generating iA Presenter slide markdown | `references/ia-presenter-syntax.md` |