---
name: sc-presentations
description: Create Small Council PowerPoint presentations with the supplied Pandoc reference and PDF slides directly from Markdown with XeLaTeX and Beamer.
---

# Small Council presentations

Use independently. Pandoc 3.x creates PPTX. Direct PDF slides also need XeLaTeX, Beamer, and supporting LaTeX packages. Install the supplied DejaVu Sans regular/bold desktop fonts. Code uses separately available DejaVu Sans Mono.

## Narrative and brand

Small Council supports individual AI advisor conversations, council meetings, spaces, and memory. Write **Small Council**, **Many minds. Clearer thinking.**, and **Give every perspective a seat.** exactly when using these brand lines. Use calm, concrete language. State the decision and the evidence the audience needs.

Identify advisors as AI. Preserve disagreement and uncertainty. Distinguish a recommendation from verified facts and explicit participant agreement. Do not invent customer stories, statistics, pricing, security guarantees, perfect recall, or product behavior. Mark fictional examples clearly.

Give each slide one point. Put detail and caveats in presenter notes while keeping essential facts on audience slides. Shorten or split slides before reducing text size.

## Slide system

The reference is 16:9. Cobalt #3155D9 covers use white text. Canvas #F5F7FA content slides use ink #172229 text, cobalt headings, and slate #52616B secondary text. DejaVu Sans sizes: 32pt cover/section title, 26pt content heading, 20pt body, 16pt cover support, and 9pt footer. Use the supplied logo assets without distortion. Neutral content surfaces keep attention on the argument.

Use directly labeled diagrams and sparse tables. Tiny web-interface text is unsuitable for slide body text. Use static PNG/JPEG images with alternative text; export interactive diagrams before conversion.

## Resources

Use local `templates/`, `examples/`, and `brand/` from a checkout/toolkit root, or download these files. Absolute production links let this skill work alone; preview copies substitute the configured preview address.

- [PowerPoint reference](https://brand.small-council.com/downloads/templates/presentations/sc-presentation-reference.pptx)
- [PDF slide styling](https://brand.small-council.com/downloads/templates/presentations/sc-presentation.tex)
- [Example Markdown](https://brand.small-council.com/downloads/examples/deck.md)
- [Example PNG](https://brand.small-council.com/downloads/examples/sc-workflow.png) and [SVG source](https://brand.small-council.com/downloads/examples/sc-workflow.svg)
- [DejaVu Sans regular](https://brand.small-council.com/brand/assets/fonts/DejaVuSans.ttf), [bold](https://brand.small-council.com/brand/assets/fonts/DejaVuSans-Bold.ttf), and [license](https://brand.small-council.com/brand/assets/fonts/LICENSE.txt)

Save sc-workflow.png beside deck.md when using the example.

## Write Markdown

```markdown
---
title: Many minds. Clearer thinking.
subtitle: Give every perspective a seat.
author: Small Council
---

# Compare before deciding

## Keep the person in control

- Name the question.
- Invite different AI perspectives.
- Review the evidence yourself.

::: notes
This illustrates a review pattern, not a guarantee of factual correctness.
:::
```

With `--slide-level=2`, # creates section slides and ## creates content slides. Metadata creates the cover; `::: notes` adds presenter notes. Two column divs inside a columns div create comparisons. Markdown structure determines Pandoc's layout selection; an arbitrary written layout name is not a selector.

## Create PPTX

Save the reference beside deck.md, then run:

```sh
pandoc "deck.md" --from=markdown --standalone --slide-level=2 \
  --reference-doc="sc-presentation-reference.pptx" --resource-path=. \
  --output="sc-deck.pptx"
```

Edit reusable styles through PowerPoint Slide Master. Preserve Pandoc's layout names/placeholders, content bounds, and supplied artwork. No unconditional Confidential label is required.

## Create PDF slides directly

Save sc-presentation.tex beside deck.md. Check that the required TeX tools and fonts are available before running:

```sh
pandoc "deck.md" --standalone -t beamer --slide-level=2 \
  --pdf-engine=xelatex -V aspectratio=169 -V fontsize=20pt \
  -V geometry:paperwidth=10in -V geometry:paperheight=5.625in \
  -V mainfont="DejaVu Sans" -V sansfont="DejaVu Sans" -V monofont="DejaVu Sans Mono" \
  --include-in-header="sc-presentation.tex" --resource-path=. \
  --output="sc-deck.pdf"
```

The PDF uses independent Beamer styling and contains audience slides rather than presenter notes. It does not use the PPTX reference. The checkout also offers `make presentation INPUT=deck.md OUTPUT=build/deck.pdf`, which generates PPTX then renders it with LibreOffice. These PDF paths can have different line wrapping and layout.

## Inspect and deliver

Inspect all slides for clipping, wrapping, font substitution, diagram/table readability, contrast, source claims, and footer placement. Check PPTX notes and representative cover, section, columns, table, and next-step slides. PDF and PowerPoint need separate review. Report unavailable Microsoft PowerPoint validation rather than treating ZIP/XML checks as visual proof. Deliver requested editable/PDF outputs and useful Markdown/artwork; name missing prerequisites if export is blocked.