A slide deck skill that treats 'Thank You' as a bug

What it does

This is a Claude Skill that overrides the assistant’s default presentation mode and retunes it for academic rigor. Instead of letting Claude generate decorative slides with topic-label titles, it enforces action titles (complete-sentence takeaways), logical argument flow, and strict citation hygiene. It works as a content layer on top of Anthropic’s built-in PPTX skill, which still handles the actual file generation.

The interesting bit

The skill applies consulting-grade discipline—Barbara Minto’s Pyramid Principle, the “ghost deck test,” and one-exhibit-per-slide rules—to a chatbot that would otherwise happily fill your deck with decorative icons and “Thank You” slides. It even ends presentations on a Conclusions slide meant to linger during Q&A, treating the blank “Thank You” card as the error it is.

Key highlights

• Forces every slide title to be a complete-sentence takeaway, not a topic label
• Structures decks as arguments (situation → complication → resolution) rather than slide collections
• Requires in-text citations on borrowed figures and a proper References slide
• Limits design to white backgrounds, one sans-serif font, and three colors maximum—no decorative icons
• Includes a standalone PDF summary of the advice for human use without Claude

Verdict

Academics, researchers, and grant writers who want structured, argument-driven slides without fighting Claude’s default decorative instincts will find this useful. If you just need a quick pretty deck, Anthropic’s built-in skill already has you covered.