brycewang-stanford/talk

Talk

Create, audit, or compile presentations (Beamer or Quarto RevealJS).

Input: $ARGUMENTS — mode and format/path.

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Modes

/talk create [format] — Create Beamer Talk

/talk create [format] --quarto — Create Quarto RevealJS Talk

Generate a presentation from the paper.

Agents: Storyteller (creator) → storyteller-critic (reviewer)

Format Constraints

| Format | Slides | Duration | Content Scope | |--------|--------|----------|---------------| | job-market | 40-50 | 45-60 min | Full story, all results, mechanism, robustness | | seminar | 25-35 | 30-45 min | Motivation, main result, 2 robustness, conclusion | | short | 10-15 | 15 min | Question, method, key result, implication | | lightning | 3-5 | 5 min | Hook, one result, so-what |

Workflow

Step 1: Parse Arguments

• Format (required): job-market | seminar | short | lightning
• Paper path (optional): defaults to paper/main.tex
• Engine: Beamer (default) or Quarto RevealJS (--quarto)
• If no format specified, ask the user.

Step 2: Dispatch Storyteller

Read the paper and extract: research question, identification strategy, main result, secondary results, robustness checks, key figures/tables, institutional background. Design narrative arc for the chosen format. Build the slide file with shared preamble if available.

The Storyteller follows these design principles:

• One idea per slide — never cram two concepts onto one frame
• Figures over tables; tables in backup — audiences absorb figures instantly; regression tables belong in backup slides where referees can inspect them during Q&A
• Build tension — motivation → question → method → findings → implications
• Transition slides between major sections — signal where the talk is going
• All claims must appear in the paper — the paper is the single source of truth; never add results or claims that are not in the manuscript

Compile with XeLaTeX (Beamer) or quarto render (Quarto).

Save to paper/talks/[format]_talk.tex (Beamer) or paper/quarto/[format]_talk.qmd (Quarto).

Step 3: Dispatch Storyteller-Critic

After the Storyteller returns, dispatch the storyteller-critic to review across 5 categories:

| Category | What It Checks | |----------|---------------| | Narrative flow | Does the story build properly? Is there a clear arc from motivation through results to implications? Are transitions smooth? | | Visual quality | Text overflow, font readability (>= 10pt), figure sizing, consistent formatting, overfull hbox warnings | | Content fidelity | Every claim traceable to the paper — no orphan results, no unsupported statements | | Scope for format | Right amount of content for the duration — not cramming a seminar into a lightning talk, not padding a short talk to seminar length | | Compilation | Does it compile cleanly without errors or warnings? |

Score as advisory (non-blocking). Save report to quality_reports/[format]_talk_review.md.

Step 4: Fix Critical Issues

If the storyteller-critic finds Critical issues (compilation failures, content not in paper):

1. Re-dispatch Storyteller with specific fixes (max 3 rounds per three-strikes rule)
2. Re-run storyteller-critic to verify

Step 5: Present Results

Report to the user:

1. Generated file path
2. Slide count and format compliance
3. Storyteller-critic score (advisory, non-blocking)
4. TODO items (missing figures, tables not yet generated)

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/talk audit [file] — Visual Audit

Check existing slides for layout issues.

Run visual quality checks:

• Text overflow on any slide
• Font sizes (>= 10pt for projection)
• Table readability
• Figure sizing and labels
• Consistent formatting
• Overfull hbox warnings

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/talk compile [file] — Compile Talk

3-pass XeLaTeX compilation for Beamer:

cd paper/talks && TEXINPUTS=../preambles:$TEXINPUTS xelatex -interaction=nonstopmode [file]

For Quarto:

cd paper/quarto && quarto render [file]

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Principles

• Paper is authoritative. Every claim must appear in the paper.
• Figures over tables. Audiences absorb figures instantly. Put regression tables in backup slides for Q&A.
• Less is more. Especially for short and lightning formats — ruthlessly cut.
• One idea per slide. If you need a second point, make a second slide.
• Audience calibration. Job market = demonstrate rigor and command of the literature. Seminar = sell the interesting result. Short = method and key finding. Lightning = sell the idea in one breath.
• Advisory scoring. Talk scores don't block commits.
• Worker-critic pairing. Storyteller creates, storyteller-critic critiques. Never skip the review.