# Presentations

> Markdown twin of [danielshanklin.com/brand/presentations](/brand/presentations).

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.

## The fixed story order

Build this sequence before choosing layouts. A beautiful deck without a
decision path is still unfinished.

1. **Audience.** Name who is in the room, what they already believe, and what
   authority they hold.
2. **Decision.** Write the decision, behavior, or understanding the
   presentation must change. “Inform” is not a decision.
3. **Answer.** State the bounded answer in one sentence before building slides.
   The opening earns attention by giving direction.
4. **Tension.** Explain why the answer is not obvious. Use the real
   disagreement, constraint, or tradeoff.
5. **Proof.** Sequence three to five evidence beats. Each screen advances one
   claim and carries its own receipt.
6. **Turn.** Give the strongest counter-read its own beat. Resolve it honestly
   or narrow the conclusion.
7. **Landing.** Restate the decision in the audience's terms, name the next
   action, and say what would change the answer.
8. **Notes.** Write the spoken connective tissue, source detail, timing, and
   transitions outside the audience canvas.

## Choose the room

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 / Stage talk

- **Job:** Move a room through an argument with a speaker present.
- **Arc:** One beat per 16:9 screen. The voice supplies connective tissue; the
  canvas carries the claim and proof.
- **Rule:** 18px floor, 28px body, at most 60 visible words, one focal object,
  up to three support elements.

### 02 / Executive briefing

- **Job:** Help a decision-maker reach the answer without a presenter.
- **Arc:** Answer and recommendations first, then evidence pages, risks, and an
  appendix that survives forwarding.
- **Rule:** Letter or A4. 12px floor, 16px body, rigid hierarchy. Split a page
  before shrinking the type.

### 03 / Evidence walkthrough

- **Job:** Make a consequential claim inspectable, not merely persuasive.
- **Arc:** Question → units and baseline → evidence beats → mechanism →
  counter-read → bounded decision.
- **Rule:** Claims sit beside receipts. Charts carry direct annotations,
  source dates, and the evidence state.

### 04 / Working session

- **Job:** Help a group produce a choice, artifact, or commitment in the room.
- **Arc:** Frame → prompt → shared artifact → options → decision → owner. The
  deck is an instrument, not the meeting.
- **Rule:** Instructions are visible, timers are optional, and the output is
  captured somewhere durable outside the slides.

## Pace the argument

The middle earns the conclusion. Spend half the running time on proof, not on
setup or a prolonged recap.

- **Open — 10%:** Stakes, question, answer.
- **Orient — 20%:** Units, baseline, shared facts.
- **Prove — 50%:** Three to five evidence beats.
- **Turn — 10%:** Strongest counter-read.
- **Land — 10%:** Decision, action, falsifier.

## One screen, one job

A claim title, one focal proof, an annotation that explains why it matters,
and a source. The speaker handles transitions.

Every evidence beat shows:

- Beat number or short orientation label.
- A title that states the claim.
- One focal chart, diagram, quotation, or object.
- An annotation on the evidence at the point that matters.
- Source, measure, unit, and observed-through date.

## Type for distance

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.

Values are font size / line height in pixels.

| role | stage | read-ahead |
|---|---|---|
| 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 |

Regular and semibold only. Stage floor: 18px. Read-ahead floor: 12px.

## Put proof in sequence

**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.

## Delivery behavior

### Audience view

- Arrow keys, space, Home, and End work without stealing browser shortcuts.
- No auto-advance, scroll-jacking, bouncing prompts, or decorative parallax.
- At most two meaningful reveals per screen; reduced motion preserves the same
  argument.
- Mobile becomes a single-column reading order. It never scales the stage
  canvas down.

### Operator view

- Every beat has speaker notes, time intent, source detail, and the transition
  into the next beat.
- Presenter controls never appear in the audience capture or exported PDF.
- The live route, PDF, notes, and source package share a stable title and
  version date.
- A rehearsal verifies pacing, links, videos, room contrast, and the fallback
  path.

## Known deviation

Existing web decks predate this standard. Use them as story references only.
Their custom palette, tiny labels, bold weights, and decorative motion are not
presentation-brand exemplars. Visual conformance is pending.

- [AI Is Becoming a Utility](/presentations/ai-is-a-utility)
- [Teaching Fishing](/presentations/teaching-fishing)

## Final check before publishing

- 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.