/talk

name: talk
description: Create and audit presentations (Beamer or Quarto RevealJS). Combines talk creation, visual audit, and compilation. Replaces /create-talk, /visual-audit, /compile-latex (for talks).
argument-hint: "[mode: create | audit | compile] [format: job-market | seminar | short | lightning] [--quarto] [file path]"
allowed-tools: Read,Grep,Glob,Write,Edit,Task,Bash

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.