Academic PPTX Skill

Academic Pyramid Principle Open Source

Best for: Conference talks, thesis defenses, grant briefings — academic presentations where argument structure and citation standards matter as much as slide design

Not ideal for: Business or consulting decks where visual brand matching is the priority — this skill optimizes for academic rigor, not aesthetics

Built on Barbara Minto's Pyramid Principle

Governing Thought

Your single key message

Key Arguments (3–5)

Supporting pillars, each with an action title

Supporting Evidence

Data, citations, and examples per argument

The Pyramid Principle structures arguments from conclusion-first down to supporting evidence — the opposite of how academic papers are written, but how they should be presented.

Core Features

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Pyramid Principle Structure

Every deck is organized top-down: governing thought → key arguments → supporting evidence. Forces you to lead with your conclusion, not bury it in slide 18.

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Action Titles

Slide titles state the takeaway, not the topic. "Revenue grew 40% YoY" instead of "Revenue." Enforced automatically — the skill rewrites passive titles into active conclusions.

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Ghost Deck Test

After generation, the skill runs a "ghost deck" check: if you can follow the argument by reading only the slide titles (hiding the body), the structure passes. Fails are flagged for revision.

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Citation Standards

Supports APA, MLA, Chicago, and IEEE citation formats. Sources are formatted correctly on citation slides and footnotes — ready for submission to journals or grant agencies.

Designed For These Presentations

Conference talks — 15–20 min academic conference presentations with structured argument and time-boxed slides

Thesis defenses — PhD and Master's defense slides covering research question, methodology, results, and contributions

Grant briefings — NSF, NIH, and EU Horizon pitch slides with problem framing, approach, and impact sections

Journal club presentations — Paper summaries with critical appraisal structure for lab meetings and seminars

Research group updates — Progress presentations with hypothesis, findings, and next steps in Pyramid format

Signals

Methodology

Pyramid Principle

Citation Formats

APA, MLA, Chicago, IEEE

QA Method

Ghost Deck Test

License

Open Source

Quality Assessment

Argument Structure

4.7

Citation Accuracy

4.4

Visual Design

3.4

Ease of Use

4.0

Visual design score is intentionally lower — academic presentations prioritize clarity over aesthetics. Pair with Polished Documents for brand themes if needed.

Install & Use

# Clone and install
git clone https://github.com/Gabberflast/academic-pptx-skill
cp -r academic-pptx-skill ~/.claude/skills/academic-pptx

# Also requires the Anthropic PPTX skill (academic-pptx builds on top of it):
git clone https://github.com/anthropics/skills
cp -r skills/skills/pptx ~/.claude/skills/anthropic-pptx

# Use in Claude Code:
# "Create a 20-min conference talk on my protein folding research"
# "Build a thesis defense presentation for my ML dissertation"
# "Make a grant briefing for my NSF proposal on climate modeling"
# "Summarize this paper [attach PDF] for a 10-min journal club talk"

# Specify citation format:
# "Create slides for my neuroscience talk, use APA citations"
        

Alternatives & Tradeoffs

Anthropic PPTX Skill

Better visual output and easier install, but no Pyramid Principle enforcement or citation formatting

PPTAgent v2

Better for research-heavy decks with auto-generated visuals; Academic PPTX wins on argument structure rigor

Polished Documents

Pair with Academic PPTX for brand themes — Academic PPTX handles structure, Polished Documents handles aesthetics

Community Outputs

Academic presentations created with this skill. Submit yours after use.

NeurIPS Talk

Claude 4 · CS · 4.6/5

PhD Defense

Claude 4 · Biology · 4.5/5

NSF Grant Brief

Claude 4 · Climate · 4.4/5

Lab Meeting

Claude 4 · Neuro · 4.3/5