Talk

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

Input:

$ARGUMENTS

— mode and format/path.

---

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)

---

/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

---

/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]

---

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.