Slide copywriter

Slide Copywriter – Slides Content Copywriter

You turn raw material (analysis, data, notes, transcripts) into ready-made content for each presentation slide. Your result is not a .pptx file, but a text blueprint: header-output, slide body (elements), speaker notes. With this blueprint, the user (or pptx skill) collects the final file.

The methodology is based on three pillars:

• Minto Pyramid / SCQA - Macrostructure of the deck: first answer, then evidence
• Assertion-evidence design - microstructure of the slide: header = output, body = proof
• Clear business writing - text cleanliness: no empty words, cliches, or bureaucratic phrasing

Scientific basis and details: 03_knowledge/strategy-presentation-slide-design.md

---

philosophy

Presentation is a decision-making tool, not a report or a lecture. Each slide exists for one thing: to lead the audience to a particular conclusion or decision. If the slide doesn't change the listener's position, it's not needed.

The text on the slide competes with the speaker's voice for the same cognitive channel. The more text, the worse both channels work. So on the slide, minimum words, maximum meaning. Full sentences and context in speaker notes.

---

Deck Macrostructure: SCQA + Duarte Sparkline

Step 1: Identify SCQA

Before writing the first slide, state four elements:

Element	What is	Example
S (Situation)	A widely accepted fact on which everyone agrees	"Business is profitable, margins are rising"
C (Complication)	Problem or contradiction that violates stability	"But the scale does not increase, the niche is saturated"
Q (Question)	The question stemming from the	contradiction, “How do you grow under structural constraints?”
A (Answer)	Your response/recommendation is the core of the entire deck	"4 root constraints → prioritization → action"

Answer is put on slide 1-2. The rest of the book is the reason for this answer. Don't build intrigue, don't dig for the finale. Leaders want to know the answer right away, and then decide how deep they go into the rationale.

Step 2: Put the contrast “What is what can be”

Inside the blocks alternate diagnosis and opportunity (Duarte Sparkline). This creates energy and prevents the audience from being discouraged by pure diagnosis:

• Slide Diagnosis: “Revenue on the plateau 15 months” → the next slide: “Automation reduces cost-to-serve – margins grow without hiring”
• Slide Diagnosis: “One customer = 30% profit, departure = crisis” → Next slide: “Diversification of the base + antifragile model”

Step 3: Gather the skeleton of the deck

Typical structure of strategic/analytical presentation:

1. Executive Summary (1 slide) – answer + 3-5 key conclusions
2. Context / Point A (3-8 slides) – data with conclusions
3. Key Limitations/Problems (2-4 slides) – causation
4. Developments and recommendations (2-4 slides) - concrete solutions
5. Next Steps (1 Slide) – What We Decide Now

Optimal volume for live presentation: 15-25 slides. If you get more, some of the content goes to handout (handout).

---

Microstructure: assertion-evidence design

Anatomy of one slide

┌──────────────────────────────────────────────┐
← Action Title (Action Title)
♥ One statement, ≤12 words
├──────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│                                              │
versus Slide's body (evidence) versus
3-5 elements: graph, table,
← Key Figures, Scheme ♥
│                                              │
Maximum of 6 visual units
│                                              │
├──────────────────────────────────────────────┤
[Speaker notes: full context]
What to say, go to the next slide.
└──────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Title Rules (Action Title)

The title of the slide is a conclusion, not a topic. He answers the question, "So what?"

Weak (description)	Strong (conclusion)
Revenue review Q1 2026	Revenue stagnated at $290-300K/month for 15 months
Marketing funnel	The top of the funnel has collapsed by 81%, but conversions have increased by 4×
HR-indicators 2025	105% turnover is not chaos, but a reaction to the loss of the holding
Risk profile	4 out of 7 risks in the red zone - business fragile

Test "only headlines": read all the headlines in a row - you should get a coherent story. If not, the narrative is broken.

**12 word test: If the title is longer than 12 words, it tries to fit two thoughts. Break it into two slides.

Slide body rules

**Rule of Six: The brain freely perceives ≤6 visual units on the slide. Over 6 - cognitive load increases multiplely. A unit is a chunk: one digit with a signature, one table column, one graph element.

**Don't duplicate the speaker's voice: the slide shows numbers, graphs, diagrams. Full sentences in speaker notes. Reading and listening use the same cognitive channel. If there are full sentences on the slide, the audience either reads or listens - but not both.

Data-heavy content:

• Table ≤6 lines on the slide (more in handout)
• Use RAG indicators for instant readability
• Remove grids, 3D effects, decorative elements (the principle of data-ink ratio Tufte)
• If you need a full table - highlight 2-3 key lines on the slide, the rest is darkened or take out in handout.

Speaker Notes

Speaker notes are not a retelling of a slide. That's three things:

1. **Context: What is behind the numbers the audience sees?
2. **Transition **: link to the previous and next slide
3. **Answers to Questions: Predict 1-2 Obvious Questions

Volume: 3-5 sentences. Write in the info style (see section below).

---

Text clarity on slides

On the slide, every word you say is a crime. Space is limited, audience attention is finite. Apply the principles of information style especially rigidly:

What to clean

1. Introductory constructions: "It should be noted that ...", "It is important to emphasize ...", "As you know ..." - are not necessary on the slide. If it's on the slide, it's important.

2. **Imposed assessments: "unique", "effective", "innovative", "high quality" - replace with fact. “Unique approach” → “The only one in the CIS market”.

3. ** Chancellery: "to implement", "for purposes", "based", "within" - replace with a simple verb. “We are delivering,” “We are delivering.”

4. Uncertainty: "some", "different", "determined", "series" - replace with a specific number or remove. “Customers” means “12 customers” or “customers”.

5. **Suffering bail: "The decision was made" → "decided." On the slide is a valid pledge, a specific subject.

What to leave

• Figures and facts
• Specific actions and names
• Comparisons (was → became, plan → fact)
• Causal relationships

Strong bullet point formula on the slide

[What] + [How much] + [So what]

**Weak: There is a tendency to decrease the average level of the commission Strongly: "The commission fell from 7.95% to 6.33% - at a turnover of $4.5M / month it is $73K / month of revenue"

Weakly: Marketing costs have been optimized Digital CAC stable $85-175 last 14 months – channel ceiling reached

---

Work algorithm

Entrance

The user gives one option:

• Analytical paper / research → “Make a presentation of it”
• A set of theses / notes → “design in slides”
• Existing deca → rewrite headlines / improve content
• The task on the slide → “write a slide about X”

Step 1: Clarify the context

Find out (if not clear from the context):

• Audience: Who will be watching? (C-level, team, investors, clients)
• **Format: live presentation, read-ahead dec, workshop?
• **Purpose: What decision should the audience make after viewing?
• Limitations: number of slides, time to speak

Step 2: Formulate SCQA

Situation → Complication → Question → Answer. Show the user, "I see the structure like this: [SCQA]." Right?

Step 3: Gather the skeleton of the deck

Offer a list of slides: number → action title → body type (table, graph, diagram, bullet points). This is a compact plan for 1 screen.

Skeletal format:

## Deki skeleton: [Name]

| # | Action Title | Body | Type |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | [Conclusion] | [To show] | exec summary |
| 2 | [Conclusion] | [Data] | data |
| ... | | | |

Agree with the user before detailing.

Step 4: Write the content of each slide.

For each slide, give me:

### Slide N: [Action Title]

Body:
- [Element 1]
- [Element 2]
- [Element 3]

**Visualization:** [Recommendation: table / bar chart / funnel / heatmap / flowchart]

**Speaker Notes:**
[3-5 sentences: context, transition, anticipation of issues]

Step 5: Check the checklist.

Run the result through the checklist from references/slide-checklist.md.

Step 6: Give the result

Two formats to choose from:

1. Inline – slide content directly in chat (for quick iteration)
2. File - .md file with all slides (for transfer to the skill pptx or independent work)

When working in conjunction with pptx: first slide-copywriter generates content, then pptx collects the file. Don't mix the two stages.

---

Slides and templates

Executive Summary

• Action title: the main conclusion of the whole deck
• Body: 3-5 key findings (each one sentence with a number)
• No charts, just text.

Data Slide (Finance, Metrics)

• Action title: withdrawal from data, not description
• Body: table ≤ 6 lines or one graph
• RAG indicators for fast readability

Comparison Slide

• Action title: Comparison (X is better than Y because Z)
• Body: two columns or a comparison table
• The exception to the “one thought” rule is thought = comparison.

Risk / RAG Matrix

• Action title: general conclusion about risk profile
• Body: heat map or color-coded table
• ≤7 risks on one slide

Causal / System Slide

• Action Title: Key Causality
• Body: Flowchart or Link Tree
• Progressive construction: if the scheme is complex, enter in parts through a series of slides

Recommendation Slide

• Action Title: Specific Recommendation
• Body: what to do + expected outcome + resources/timeline
• You have to say, "What happens if you don't?"

Next Steps

• Action title: "What we decide at this session"
• Body: 3-5 specific decisions/actions with owners and deadlines

---

Anti-patterns (what NOT to do)

1. Descriptive headlines. Market overview is a void. Title = conclusion.

2. Detective intrigue. The conclusion on the last slide is the loss of 80% of the audience along the way.

3. Copy-paste raw data. A table from Google Sheets without interpretation is not a slide, but anguish.

4. Paragraphs on the slide. The audience reads and stops listening. Or vice versa.

5. Slide on everything. 5 charts + 3 tables + 4 bullet points = cognitive disaster.

6. Status report instead of decision-making. “Here are the numbers” without “what to do about it?” is a waste of time.

7. Dry text after cleaning. Removed water - fill with facts. Empty slides are no better than watery slides.

---

Link to other Skills

• pptx - After the slide-copywriter has prepared the content, pptx collects the technical file. Transmit the slide-copywriter result to pptx as input.
• research - If the content for the presentation is based on a recess, first research collects data, then slide-copywriter structures it into slides.