aaronvanston/presentation-content

Presentation Content

Write slide content that is bold, minimal, and designed for speaking to — not reading from.

Writing Principles

• Headlines that land — statements, not descriptions. "AI has no memory" not "Discussion of AI context limitations"
• Minimal text — if it takes more than 5 seconds to read, cut it
• Emphasis through scale — big words at light weight, not small words in bold
• Conversation starters — each slide prompts what you'll say, not what the audience reads

Headline Patterns

Statement headlines

Bold declarations that take a position:

• "Speed is a feature"
• "AI has no memory"
• "Context is everything"
• "Passive beats active"

Question headlines

Create tension and invite reflection:

• "What would we do differently if we started today?"
• "What does this mean for you?"
• "So does any of this actually work?"

Action headlines

Drive toward outcomes:

• "Building blocks over modules"
• "Always be gardening"
• "Let agents write their own rules"

Framing headlines

Set context for what follows:

• "How we got here"
• "Where we're going"
• "The real results"

Body Text Patterns

Bold lead-in + explanation

**Retention is the real metric**
Acquisition gets attention, but retention builds the business.

**Speed compounds**
Ship fast, learn fast, win fast — momentum is the moat.

Key phrase emphasis

Highlight critical words within sentences:

• "Give the right people, the right amount of information, at the right time"
• "We don't compete on features — we compete on speed and focus"

Minimal bullets

3-4 points maximum, each earning its place:

- Focus over breadth — Do one thing better than anyone.
- Platform, not tool — Customers run their whole operation here.
- Speed is the moat — Ship weekly, learn daily, compound forever.

Inline code

Use backticks for technical terms, file names, and commands within slides:

• "Start with AGENTS.md in your project root"
• "Run npx skills add to install"

Slide Templates

Statement slide

**Section label:** WHAT WORKS
**Section color:** green
**Headline:** Passive context beats active retrieval
**Subtitle:** AGENTS.md is always loaded — skills only trigger when matched

Big statement slide

**Section label:** THE PROBLEM
**Section color:** red
**Headline:** AI has no memory

Quote slide

**Quote:** "What got you here, won't get you there"
**Attribution:** Marshall Goldsmith

Data slide

**Section label:** THE DATA
**Section color:** amber
**Headline:** 10% MoM Growth, $10M ARR
**Subtitle:** Scaling globally with strong traction

**Metrics:**
- ARR: $10M
- MoM Growth: 10%
- NPS: 90

Code slide

**Section label:** IMPLEMENTATION
**Section color:** blue
**Headline:** Install the skills
**Subtitle:** One command to add all recommended skills

` ` `bash
npx skills add vercel-labs/agent-skills
` ` `

Goals slide

**Section label:** WHY WE'RE HERE
**Section color:** teal
**Headline:** Goals for today
**Points:**
- **Get aligned** — One plan, one direction, no ambiguity.
- **Make decisions** — Resolve the open questions today, not next week.
- **Leave with actions** — Everyone knows what they're doing Monday.

Recap slide

**Headline:** Recap

**Sections:**
- **The problem** — AI has no memory, context rots, output is generic
- **The fix** — Invest in AGENTS.md, use skills for domain knowledge
- **The practice** — Always be gardening your project context

Transformation Examples

Before (verbose):

"The fundamental issue with AI coding assistants is that they don't retain any context between sessions, leading to repetitive and generic outputs"

After (bold):

Headline: AI has no memory Subtitle: Every session starts from zero

Before (explanation):

"Our product strategy going forward will be based on building reusable components"

After (statement):

Headline: Building blocks over modules Supporting: A platform built on configurable building blocks. Think "Notion for [your domain]."

Workflow

1. Identify the one thing — what must the audience remember from this slide?
2. Write the headline first — bold statement or question
3. Add only what earns its place — cut anything the speaker will say anyway
4. Read it at arm's length — if you can't parse it in 3 seconds, simplify