MCPInstall

presenting-conference-talks

Generates conference presentation slides (Beamer LaTeX PDF and editable PPTX) from a compiled paper with speaker notes and talk script. Use when preparing oral talks, spotlight presentations, or invited talks for ML and systems conferences.

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Install

Works with every agent the skills CLI supports.

npx skills add https://github.com/orchestra-research/ai-research-skills --skill presenting-conference-talks
  1. 01

    Install

    Run the command in your project. The CLI asks which agents to install for.

  2. 02

    Describe the task

    Ask your agent for something this skill covers. It loads presenting-conference-talks automatically when relevant.

  3. 03

    Review the result

    The agent follows the SKILL.md steps, scripts and references bundled with the skill.

SKILL.md

The instructions your agent reads when the skill is triggered.

Presenting Conference Talks: From Paper to Slides

Generate conference presentation slides from a compiled research paper. Produces both Beamer LaTeX PDF (for polished typesetting) and editable PPTX (for last-minute adjustments), with speaker notes and an optional talk script.

When to Use This Skill

ScenarioUse This SkillUse Other Skills Instead
Preparing oral/spotlight/poster-talk slides✅
Generating Beamer PDF + PPTX from paper✅
Speaker notes and talk script✅
Writing the paper itselfml-paper-writing
Structuring a systems papersystems-paper-writing
Creating publication-quality plotsacademic-plotting

Attribution: This skill's structure draws inspiration from the ARIS paper-slides skill (570 lines, supporting poster/spotlight/oral/invited with Beamer+PPTX). This is an independent implementation for the AI-Research-SKILLs ecosystem.


Talk Types and Slide Counts

Talk TypeDurationSlidesContent Depth
poster-talk3–5 min5–8Problem + key result only
spotlight5–8 min8–12Problem + approach + key results
oral15–20 min15–22Full story with evaluation highlights
invited30–45 min25–40Deep dive with context and demos

Rule of thumb: ~1 slide per minute for oral, ~1.5 slides per minute for spotlight.


Slide Structure Templates

Poster-Talk (5–8 slides)

Slide 1: Title + Authors + Affiliation
Slide 2: Problem — Why this matters (1 motivating figure)
Slide 3: Key Insight — One-sentence thesis
Slide 4: Approach Overview — Architecture diagram
Slide 5: Main Result — Headline numbers (1 figure)
Slide 6: Takeaway + QR code to paper/code

Spotlight (8–12 slides)

Slide 1:  Title + Authors
Slide 2:  Problem Statement — Concrete, quantified
Slide 3:  Motivation — Why existing solutions fall short
Slide 4:  Key Insight — Thesis statement
Slide 5:  System Overview — Architecture diagram
Slide 6:  Design Highlight 1 — Core mechanism
Slide 7:  Design Highlight 2 — Key innovation
Slide 8:  Evaluation Setup — Baselines and workloads (brief)
Slide 9:  Main Results — Headline performance figure
Slide 10: Ablation / Breakdown — What contributes most
Slide 11: Summary + Contributions
Slide 12: Thank You + Links

Oral (15–22 slides)

Slide 1:  Title + Authors + Venue
Slide 2:  Outline (optional — "roadmap" slide)
Slide 3:  Problem Context — Domain importance
Slide 4:  Problem Statement — Specific challenge
Slide 5:  Motivation — Gaps in existing systems
Slide 6:  Key Insight — Thesis
Slide 7:  System Overview — Architecture diagram
Slide 8:  Design Component 1 — Detailed walkthrough
Slide 9:  Design Component 2 — Detailed walkthrough
Slide 10: Design Component 3 — Detailed walkthrough
Slide 11: Design Alternatives — Why not other approaches
Slide 12: Implementation — Key engineering highlights
Slide 13: Evaluation Setup — Testbed, baselines, metrics
Slide 14: End-to-End Results — Main performance
Slide 15: Result Deep Dive — Breakdown or per-workload
Slide 16: Ablation Study — Component contributions
Slide 17: Scalability — Scaling behavior
Slide 18: Demo Slide (systems talks) — Screenshot or recording
Slide 19: Related Work — Positioning (brief)
Slide 20: Summary — Contributions restated
Slide 21: Future Work — Open questions
Slide 22: Thank You + Paper Link + QR Code

Invited Talk (25–40 slides)

Extends the oral structure with:

  • Additional context slides (field overview, historical progression)
  • Multiple demo/walkthrough slides
  • Deeper evaluation analysis
  • Broader implications and future directions
  • Q&A preparation slides (hidden, for backup)

Systems Talk Specifics

Systems conference talks have unique requirements compared to ML talks:

Demo Slide

  • Include a live demo or pre-recorded screencast of the system in action
  • Always have a recorded backup — live demos fail at the worst times
  • Show the system under realistic load, not toy examples

Architecture Walkthrough

  • Animate the architecture diagram: highlight components as you explain them
  • Use Beamer \only<N> or \onslide<N> for progressive reveal
  • Walk through a concrete request end-to-end through the system

Evaluation Highlights

  • Select 2–3 strongest figures from the paper
  • Annotate figures on slides (arrows, circles highlighting key points)
  • State the takeaway before showing the figure ("Our system is 2x faster — here's the data")

Speaker Notes Guidelines

Structure per Slide

[Timing: X minutes]
[Key point to convey]
[Transition sentence to next slide]

Mike Dahlin's Layered Approach

Apply "Say what you're going to say, say it, then say what you said" at three levels:

  1. Talk level: Outline slide → body → summary slide
  2. Section level: Section heading → content slides → section takeaway
  3. Slide level: Headline statement → supporting evidence → transition

Timing Guidelines

  • Poster-talk: 30–60 sec per slide
  • Spotlight: 30–45 sec per slide
  • Oral: 45–90 sec per slide
  • Invited: 60–120 sec per slide

Output Formats

Beamer LaTeX → PDF

Advantages: Professional typesetting, math support, version control friendly.

\documentclass[aspectratio=169]{beamer}
\usetheme{metropolis}  % Clean, modern theme
\usepackage{appendixnumberbeamer}

\title{Your Paper Title}
\subtitle{Venue Year}
\author{Author 1 \and Author 2}
\institute{Institution}
\date{}

\begin{document}
\maketitle

\begin{frame}{Problem}
  \begin{itemize}
    \item Key problem statement
    \item Concrete motivation with numbers
  \end{itemize}
  \note{Speaker note: Start with the big picture...}
\end{frame}

% ... more frames ...
\end{document}

python-pptx → Editable PPTX

Advantages: Easy last-minute edits, corporate template compatibility, animations.

from pptx import Presentation
from pptx.util import Inches, Pt
from pptx.enum.text import PP_ALIGN

prs = Presentation()
prs.slide_width = Inches(13.333)  # 16:9
prs.slide_height = Inches(7.5)

# Title slide
slide = prs.slides.add_slide(prs.slide_layouts[0])
slide.shapes.title.text = "Your Paper Title"
slide.placeholders[1].text = "Author 1, Author 2\nVenue Year"

# Content slide
slide = prs.slides.add_slide(prs.slide_layouts[1])
slide.shapes.title.text = "Problem Statement"
body = slide.placeholders[1]
body.text = "Key point 1\nKey point 2"

# Add speaker notes
notes_slide = slide.notes_slide
notes_slide.notes_text_frame.text = "Speaker note: explain the motivation..."

prs.save("talk.pptx")

Color Scheme Suggestions

These are aesthetic suggestions, not official venue requirements. Adjust freely.

Venue TypePrimaryAccentBackground
USENIX (OSDI/NSDI)Dark Blue (#003366)Red (#CC0000)White
ACM (SOSP/ASPLOS)ACM Blue (#0071BC)Dark Gray (#333333)White
NeurIPSPurple (#7B2D8E)Gold (#F0AD00)White
ICMLTeal (#008080)Orange (#FF6600)White
GenericDark Gray (#333333)Blue (#0066CC)White

Workflow

Step 1: Content Extraction

- Read the compiled paper (PDF or LaTeX source)
- Identify: thesis, contributions, architecture figure, key eval figures
- Note the talk type and duration

Step 2: Outline Generation

- Select the appropriate slide structure template (above)
- Map paper sections to slide groups
- Allocate time per slide group

Step 3: Slide-by-Slide Generation

- Generate Beamer source slide by slide
- Add speaker notes per slide
- Include figures from paper (copy to slides/ directory)
- Generate python-pptx script for PPTX version

Step 4: Review and Polish

- Check total slide count matches talk duration
- Verify all figures are readable at presentation resolution
- Run Beamer compilation: latexmk -pdf slides.tex
- Run PPTX generation: python3 generate_slides.py
- Review speaker notes for timing and transitions

Quick Checklist

  • Slide count appropriate for talk type/duration
  • Title slide has correct authors, affiliations, venue
  • Architecture diagram included and clearly labeled
  • Key eval figures annotated with takeaways
  • Speaker notes include timing markers
  • Transitions between sections are smooth
  • Demo slide has recorded backup
  • Thank-you slide includes paper link / QR code
  • Font sizes ≥ 24pt for readability from back of room
  • Consistent color scheme throughout

Common Issues and Solutions

IssueSolution
Too many slides for time limitCut details, keep one figure per point
Slides feel like paper paragraphsUse bullet points (≤ 6 per slide), let figures tell the story
Audience lost during design sectionAdd architecture walkthrough with progressive reveal
Evaluation slides overwhelmingShow 2–3 strongest figures, put rest in backup slides
Speaker notes too longTarget 3–4 sentences per slide, focus on transitions
Beamer compilation failsCheck figure paths, use \graphicspath{{figures/}}
PPTX looks different from BeamerAdjust python-pptx font sizes and margins manually

References

FAQ

What does the presenting-conference-talks skill do?

Generates conference presentation slides (Beamer LaTeX PDF and editable PPTX) from a compiled paper with speaker notes and talk script. Use when preparing oral talks, spotlight presentations, or invited talks for ML and systems conferences.

How do I install presenting-conference-talks?

Run npx skills add https://github.com/orchestra-research/ai-research-skills --skill presenting-conference-talks in your project. The skills CLI detects the agents you use and copies the skill into the right folder. For Claude Code you can also place the skill folder at ~/.claude/skills/presenting-conference-talks/ (personal) or .claude/skills/presenting-conference-talks/ (project).

Which AI agents can use presenting-conference-talks?

Any agent that supports the open Agent Skills format (a folder with a SKILL.md file), including Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, GitHub Copilot, Gemini CLI, Windsurf, Cline, OpenCode and more.

Is presenting-conference-talks safe to install?

No partner security audit is available yet. Skills can run commands and scripts, so read the SKILL.md and any bundled files before installing.

Who maintains presenting-conference-talks?

It is published by orchestra-research in orchestra-research/ai-research-skills. It has 920 recorded installs.

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