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Generate a Slide Deck from a Topic

A first-draft deck usually takes an afternoon. OpenCode can produce a structured outline and per-slide copy in minutes, leaving you to refine the story and visuals.

When to use this recipe

  • You have a topic and an audience but no time to start from a blank slide.
  • You need a consistent structure (intro, problem, solution, demo, next steps) every time.
  • You’re preparing an internal update, conference talk, or sales brief.

Prerequisites

  • OpenCode installed.
  • A target tool to render the deck (PptxGenJS, reveal.js, MDX-deck, etc.).
  • One sentence describing the audience and goal of the deck.

Steps

  1. Define the brief

    In one paragraph, give OpenCode the audience, the goal, and the key takeaways.

    I’m preparing a 12-slide internal update for our engineering team. Audience: 30 engineers, mixed experience. Goal: get buy-in to adopt OpenCode for refactor work. Key takeaways: (1) it cuts PR cycle time in our last 3 projects, (2) it works with our existing LLM gateway, (3) it has zero new infra cost.

  2. Generate the outline

    Ask for a 10-15 slide outline with a single sentence per slide.

    Produce a 12-slide outline for this deck. Use the structure: hook → context → 3 main points → demo → ask. For each slide, give a one-sentence description and the visual you’d suggest (chart, screenshot, bullet list, quote).

  3. Expand each slide into copy

    Pick your slide format and ask OpenCode to fill in copy per slide.

    For each slide in the outline, write 3-5 bullet points of copy. Each bullet must be one line, declarative, and under 15 words. Avoid buzzwords.

  4. Choose a rendering tool and scaffold it

    Pick a tool (e.g. PptxGenJS for PPTX, reveal.js for HTML) and ask OpenCode to scaffold the deck file.

    Scaffold a PptxGenJS script at decks/opencode-internal-update.js that produces opencode-internal-update.pptx. Use the outline and copy we just wrote. Use a consistent theme: dark background, accent color, monospace font for code.

  5. Run and inspect the output

    Generate the deck and open it. Don’t accept the first version — read it as your audience.

    node decks/opencode-internal-update.js
open decks/opencode-internal-update.pptx

  6. Iterate on the weakest slides

    Identify the 2-3 slides that feel weakest and ask OpenCode to rewrite them with a different angle.

    Slides 5 and 8 are weak — they’re too generic. Rewrite them with a specific example from one of our last 3 refactor projects (use the data from the internal wiki page).

Key prompt

I need a [N]-slide deck on [topic] for [audience]. Goal: [single sentence]. Key takeaways: [list]. Produce: (1) an outline using a hook → context → 3 points → demo → ask structure, (2) one-sentence description and visual suggestion per slide, (3) 3-5 bullet copy per slide, each under 15 words and declarative.

Verify

  • The deck opens cleanly in your target tool (PPTX, HTML).
  • Total runtime is under 5 minutes including iteration.
  • A teammate who didn’t see the brief can read the deck and understand the ask.

Common pitfalls

  • Accepting the first draft: The first outline is generic. Always do one rewrite pass.
  • Buzzword copy: “Leverage synergies to empower stakeholders” is the default. Require concrete, declarative language.
  • Too many slides: 12 good slides beat 25 mediocre ones. Cap aggressively.

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