Communication standard
A presentation is an argument moving through time. It is not an article divided into screens. The audience, decision, evidence, and ending determine the form.
Build this sequence before choosing layouts. A beautiful deck without a decision path is still unfinished.
01 / Audience
Name who is in the room, what they already believe, and what authority they hold.
02 / Decision
Write the decision, behavior, or understanding the presentation must change. “Inform” is not a decision.
03 / Answer
State the bounded answer in one sentence before building slides. The opening earns attention by giving direction.
04 / Tension
Explain why the answer is not obvious. Use the real disagreement, constraint, or tradeoff.
05 / Proof
Sequence three to five evidence beats. Each screen advances one claim and carries its own receipt.
06 / Turn
Give the strongest counter-read its own beat. Resolve it honestly or narrow the conclusion.
07 / Landing
Restate the decision in the audience’s terms, name the next action, and say what would change the answer.
08 / Notes
Write the spoken connective tissue, source detail, timing, and transitions outside the audience canvas.
Format follows how the audience will use the work. A stage deck and a read-ahead may share an argument, but they are separate artifacts.
01
Move a room through an argument with a speaker present.
arcOne beat per 16:9 screen. The voice supplies connective tissue; the canvas carries the claim and proof.
rule18px floor, 28px body, at most 60 visible words, one focal object, up to three support elements.
02
Help a decision-maker reach the answer without a presenter.
arcAnswer and recommendations first, then evidence pages, risks, and an appendix that survives forwarding.
ruleLetter or A4. 12px floor, 16px body, rigid hierarchy. Split a page before shrinking the type.
03
Make a consequential claim inspectable, not merely persuasive.
arcQuestion → units and baseline → evidence beats → mechanism → counter-read → bounded decision.
ruleClaims sit beside receipts. Charts carry direct annotations, source dates, and the evidence state.
04
Help a group produce a choice, artifact, or commitment in the room.
arcFrame → prompt → shared artifact → options → decision → owner. The deck is an instrument, not the meeting.
ruleInstructions are visible, timers are optional, and the output is captured somewhere durable outside the slides.
The middle earns the conclusion. Spend half the running time on proof, not on setup or a prolonged recap.
10% / Open
Stakes, question, answer
20% / Orient
Units, baseline, shared facts
50% / Prove
Three to five evidence beats
10% / Turn
Strongest counter-read
10% / Land
Decision, action, falsifier
A claim title, one focal proof, an annotation that explains why it matters, and a source. The speaker handles transitions.
Evidence beat 03
The annotation lives on the evidence.
Source · measure · unit · observed-through date
Stage and read-ahead typography solve different viewing problems. Never shrink a stage canvas into a document or project a dense document as a slide.
Title
60–72 / 64–76
36–48 / 40–52
Slide claim
48–60 / 52–64
24–30 / 30–36
Body
28 / 38
16 / 26
Label / source
18 / 24
12 / 16
Values are font size / line height in pixels. Regular and semibold only. Stage floor: 18px. Read-ahead floor: 12px.
× don't
Paste a chart and narrate around it.
A topic title, distant legend, tiny source, and five colored series make the audience decode the evidence while the speaker keeps moving.
✓ do
Put the takeaway on the evidence.
Use a claim title, direct labels, one highlighted series, visible units and dates, and an annotation at the inflection that matters.
Known deviation
Use them as story references only. Their custom palette, tiny labels, bold weights, and decorative motion are not presentation-brand exemplars.
The audience, decision, answer, and next action are explicit.
Every screen has one job; every evidence screen maps a claim to a receipt.
Numbers carry units, baselines, dates, and population or run count where relevant.
The strongest counter-read and material evidence gaps are visible.
Audience-view text meets the format floor; nothing is clipped or scaled down to fit.
Charts are direct-labeled, source-complete, and legible from the back of the intended room.
Keyboard, reduced motion, mobile reading order, links, and presenter notes have been tested.
The exported PDF and live route were inspected page by page at their delivery dimensions.
