Make Academic Slides Argue: a Communication-First Claude Skill

Ask a default-configured Claude for conference slides and you get a design-forward deck — visual polish first, argument second. gabberflast/academic-pptx-skill is a 1k-star Claude Skill that reverses that priority for academic and analytical contexts: every slide states its takeaway, the deck reads as one argument, and the last slide is a Conclusions slide that stays on screen through Q&A.

Why This Skill Matters

The skill overrides Claude's default presentation style with communication-first standards. When it is active, Claude writes every slide title as a complete sentence stating the takeaway (an "action title"), not a topic label; structures the deck as a logical argument — situation → complication → resolution — rather than a collection of independent slides; and applies the ghost deck test: the action titles alone, read in sequence, should tell the full story. On results slides it places one exhibit and annotates the key finding directly on the chart. Citation standards apply to every borrowed figure, with a References slide at the end. The deck ends on a Conclusions slide that stays on screen during Q&A — never on "Thank You" or a blank. Design stays minimal on purpose: white backgrounds, a single sans-serif font, three colours maximum, no decorative icons.

Installation

The documented install path is a zip upload to claude.ai:

1. Download the repository as a zip file (Code → Download ZIP).
2. In claude.ai, go to Customize → Skills.
3. Upload the zip file.
4. Confirm the skill appears in your skills list and is toggled on.

Code execution and file creation must be enabled in Settings → Capabilities first. The README documents no CLI or plugin install path — this skill targets claude.ai.

Real Workflow: Build a Thesis-Defense Deck

1. Enable the skill, then ask naturally. The README's examples:

Make slides for my conference paper on X
Build a deck for my thesis defense
Create a seminar presentation about my research on Y

2. Claude detects the academic context, loads the skill automatically, and applies all guidelines before generating any slides — you do not need to give special instructions.
3. Check the result with the skill's own criteria before presenting: read only the slide titles in sequence. If they don't tell the full story, the deck fails the ghost deck test and the argument structure needs rework. (The test is the README's; running it yourself is the natural way to use it.)
4. For technical generation, the skill works alongside Anthropic's built-in PPTX skill — that one handles file generation, this one handles content, argument structure, and design standards.

Tips

• The repo ships the standards as three files: SKILL.md (entry point: routing logic and design standards), content_guidelines.md (argument structure, action titles, citations, deck architecture), and slide_patterns.md (per-slide-type implementation patterns with PptxGenJS code).
• The guidance has named sources: Barbara Minto's Pyramid Principle (structured argument, action titles) and Naegle (2021), "Ten simple rules for effective presentation slides," in PLOS Computational Biology, plus standard consulting and academic practice.
• You don't need Claude to use the advice: the repo also includes a PDF which summarizes the advice and does not require Claude.
• When a borrowed chart has no in-text citation, that's a violation of the skill's own citation standard — send it back.

When Not to Use This

This skill exists to override the design-forward default, so decks where visual polish is the point — sales, marketing, product launches — are outside its intent; the default style it disables is likely what you want there. And it is claude.ai-bound: the documented install path is a zip upload with code execution and file creation enabled, so terminal-based Claude Code sessions have no documented way to load it.

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