# Slide outline skill Human Guide

## What This Is For
Use this skill whenever a user wants to create a presentation outline, slide deck structure, storyboard slides, or plan a deck for any context (talk, boardroom, email report). It gives the agent a clearer input/output frame for slide outline skill: what context to ask for, what decisions to make, and what usable artifact to return.

Use this as a human-readable version of the Slide outline skill agent skill. It is meant for marketers, operators, founders, and other non-coders who want the workflow without reading agent-specific implementation instructions.

## When To Use This
- Use this when you need a repeatable process for slide outline skill.
- Use this when the task needs judgment, examples, constraints, or a clear output format rather than a one-off prompt.
- Use this when you want to hand an AI assistant enough context to produce a usable marketing artifact.

## When Not To Use This
- Do not use this when you only need a quick factual answer.
- Do not use this when the work depends on private data you cannot share with the assistant.
- Do not use this as a replacement for legal, compliance, financial, or medical review.

## What You Need Before Starting
- The goal or business outcome you want.
- The audience, customer segment, or market context.
- Any source material the assistant should respect, such as notes, briefs, examples, URLs, or brand guidance.
- Constraints such as tone, length, channel, deadline, region, or approval requirements.
- A clear definition of what a good final answer should look like.

## Step-By-Step Workflow
1. State the job clearly: "Use the Slide outline skill guide to help me with..."
2. Add context: audience, goal, offer, channel, source material, and constraints.
3. Ask the assistant to identify missing inputs before producing the final output.
4. Have the assistant follow the skill-specific guidance below.
5. Review the result against the final checklist and ask for revisions where needed.

## Skill-Specific Guidance
- Phase 1 — Storyboard** (Steps 1–3): Establish the setup, key message, and slide-by-slide outline. Output: **`slide-outline.md`
- **Phase 2 — Copy** (Steps 4–5): Draft and polish the copy of each slide interactively. Output: **`slide-copy.md`** (linked from `slide-outline.md`)
- **Context** — What is the format?
- Talk / Conference presentation
- Boardroom / Executive presentation
- Email report / Async deck (read without presenter)
- **Audience** — Who will receive this?
- What is their existing perspective on this topic?
- What do they need from you? (Decision? Awareness? Alignment?)
- **Goal** — What do you want the audience to *do or feel* after this presentation?
- Provoke reaction / create urgency
- Create a common view / alignment

## Decision Points And Nuance
The original skill emphasizes: Workspace Context, Operating Contract, PHASE 1 — STORYBOARD, STEP 1 — Identify Setup, STEP 2 — Refine the Key Message (Interactive Tree), STEP 3 — Storyboard the Slides → Save `slide-outline.md`, Setup, Key Message Tree, Framework, Slides.

Use these questions to steer the work:
- What is the intended audience or buyer?
- What source material must be preserved?
- What should the assistant optimize for: clarity, persuasion, accuracy, speed, creativity, or conversion?
- What examples represent the desired quality bar?
- What should the assistant avoid?

## Common Mistakes
- The key message is the single most important thing the audience should walk away with. Help the user build it as a **3-level tree**:
- **Detail** — Contains more supporting content (data, breakdown). Avoid in talks. Use sparingly in boardroom. OK in email/async reports.
- Help the user write each slide one at a time — **do not draft all slides in one shot**. This is a conversation, not a document dump.
- **Title** — Must carry all four qualities:
- **"So what"** — the implication or takeaway for the audience (most important)
- Every slide must have one
- Incorrect uses — avoid these:
- Content must be sufficient to find the source document

## Copy-And-Paste Prompt
```text
Use the Slide outline skill human guide.

My goal:
[Describe the business outcome]

Audience:
[Describe who this is for]

Context and source material:
[Paste notes, examples, links, or existing copy]

Constraints:
[Tone, length, channel, timeline, must-include items, must-avoid items]

Before producing the final output, ask me for any missing information that would materially improve the result.
```

## Final Checklist
- [ ] The output matches the original goal.
- [ ] The audience and context are reflected in the answer.
- [ ] Important constraints and source material were preserved.
- [ ] The assistant made the relevant decisions explicit.
- [ ] The final artifact is ready to use, review, or hand to the next person.

## Source
This guide was generated from the manojbajaj95/claude-gtm-plugin skill entry for `slide-outline`.

## Source Skill Notes
These notes preserve the nuance from the original skill. Use them as supporting reference when the workflow above feels too generic.

# Slide Outline Skill

## Workspace Context

Read bootstrap context before asking questions: `strategy/brand.md` for brand, audience, offer, channels, tools, constraints, and metrics; `about/me.md` for personal voice; `content/ideas.md` and `content/calendar.md` for content planning. Use legacy product-marketing context files only as fallback. Save generated drafts to `content/<platform>/drafts/YYYY-MM-DD_short-topic-slug.md`, and route durable learnings back to `strategy/brand.md`, `about/me.md`, or `content/ideas.md`.

## Operating Contract

This skill is self-contained for its frontmatter scope: use its local instructions, references, scripts, and assets as the playbook; ask only for missing task-specific inputs; hand off to adjacent skills instead of expanding scope; and return an actionable artifact, decision, plan, draft, or diagnostic.


You are a strategic communication coach helping the user build a compelling, audience-centric presentation. Guide them through an interactive process in **two phases** — don't dump everything at once, move conversationally, and confirm before proceeding.

- **Phase 1 — Storyboard** (Steps 1–3): Establish the setup, key message, and slide-by-slide outline. Output: **`slide-outline.md`**
- **Phase 2 — Copy** (Steps 4–5): Draft and polish the copy of each slide interactively. Output: **`slide-copy.md`** (linked from `slide-outline.md`)

> **Read** `references/drafting-polishing.md` when you reach Step 4 (Draft) or Step 5 (Polish). It contains detailed slide-writing principles from BCG LAB.

---

## PHASE 1 — STORYBOARD

### STEP 1 — Identify Setup

Ask the user the following (bundle into one conversational message):

1. **Context** — What is the format?
   - Talk / Conference presentation
   - Boardroom / Executive presentation
   - Email report / Async deck (read without presenter)

2. **Audience** — Who will receive this?
   - What is their role?
   - What is their existing perspective on this topic?
   - What do they need from you? (Decision? Awareness? Alignment?)

3. **Goal** — What do you want the audience to *do or feel* after this presentation?
   - Compel action
   - Provoke reaction / create urgency
   - Create a common view / alignment

Once you have their answers, summarize your understanding back to them clearly.

> **Talk / Conference check** — If the user selected **Talk / Conference presentation** as the format, ask one extra question before confirming the setup:
>
> *"Since this is a conference talk, would you like to open with an **icebreaker slide**? This is a single slide right at the start — before your main content — designed to warm up the room, establish your personality or credibility, and create a moment of human connection with the audience. It could be a provocative question, a surprising stat, a brief personal story hook, or a bold statement. Want to include one?"*
>
> Record their answer (yes / no / maybe later) as **`icebreaker: true/false`** and carry it forward to the storyboard step.

Ask: *"Does this capture it? Should we refine anything before moving on?"*

---

### STEP 2 — Refine the Key Message (Interactive Tree)

The key message is the single most important thing the audience should walk away with. Help the user build it as a **3-level tree**:

```
KEY MESSAGE (Top node)
├── Insight / Argument 1
│   ├── Supporting Fact / Data
│   └── Supporting Fact / Data
├── Insight / Argument 2
│   ├── Supporting Fact / Data
│   └── Supporting Fact / Data
└── Insight / Argument 3
    └── Supporting Fact / Data
```

**Top node types** — ask which fits their goal:
- **Recommendation** ("We should do X") — best for action-compelling situations
- **Insight** ("X is happening") — best for awareness/alignment
- **CTA** ("Here's what needs to happen next") — best for urgency

**How to guide this step:**

1. Ask: *"In one sentence, what is the core message you want to leave the audience with?"*
2. Help them strengthen it using the **"so what" test**: does it tell the audience what it means *for them*? (e.g., "iPod stores 1000 songs in your pocket" beats "iPod has 1GB storage")
3. Ask: *"What are the 2–4 key arguments or insights that support this message?"*
4. For each argument, ask: *"What facts or data back this up?"*