| name | latex-professional-presentation |
| description | Instructions on building a latex beamer presentation for a professional astronomer or software engineer audience. Use this skill when asked to create a latex beamer presentation for a professional audience. |
Skill Instructions
Follow the instructions below. See example.md for latex code for
handling figures
SKILL: LaTeX Beamer Presentation Authoring for Professional
Astronomers and Software Engineers
Purpose
This skill produces clear, accurate, and visually clean LaTeX Beamer
presentations intended for specialists in software
engineering/astronomy.
The goal is technical understanding without loss of correctness,
while providing a broader perspective.
Scope
This skill applies exclusively to presentations created using
LaTeX Beamer.
Supported use cases include:
- Astronomy workshop/conference/school talks
- Interdisciplinary seminars
- Talks to software specialists working on astrnomy software
Broad outreach talks are out of scope for this skill.
Core Output Requirements
1. Document Class and Compilation
-
The document must use:
\documentclass{beamer}
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Output must compile cleanly with pdflatex
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Unless otherwise specified, the aspect ratio of the presentation must be
16:9
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Use only standard, widely available LaTeX packages
-
Ensure:
- No LaTeX compilation errors
- Correct math mode usage
- No broken references or malformed frames
If a pdflatex error is reported, the skill must automatically fix
it and return corrected LaTeX.
2. Beamer Theme and Visual Design
- Use a clean, readable Beamer theme with no navigational icons
- Slide number should appear at bottom right, but don't put the total slide number
- Use beautiful color schemes and fonts always
- I like Serif fonts, use a Serif font always for text. For slide titles you can use wither Serif or Sans Serif fonts.
- Unless otherwise specified, text should be in light colors on a uniform black background
- Colors should be attractive but not gaudy
- Slides must be legible from the back of a large room
- Avoid visual clutter
- Include /home/yogesh/work/images/ncralogo.jpg, which is a 697x797 pixel image at the bottom right of the title page only
- Animations and overlays may be used sparingly if they improve conceptual clarity, but are not required
3. Frame Structure
Each frame must:
- Have a clear, descriptive title
- Focus on one idea or concept
- Use short bullet points or simple diagrams
- Avoid long paragraphs or dense equations
- Avoid repeating the same content except on summary slides
Slides should be self-contained and understandable.
4. Writing Style and Tone
- Clear, neutral, and explanatory
- Technically accurate but jargon-minimized
- No conversational filler or rhetorical questions
5. Scientific Accuracy and Pedagogy
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All statements must be scientifically correct
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Use analogies only when they aid understanding, and explicitly state their limitations
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Clearly separate:
- Established facts
- Models or interpretations
- Open questions
Approximations and simplifications must be acknowledged.
6. Mathematics and Quantitative Content
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Use mathematics sparingly
-
Equations should:
- Illustrate relationships, not derivations
- Be accompanied by plain-language explanations
-
Prefer proportionalities or scaling relations over full formulae
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All symbols must be defined immediately
7. Figures and Visual Explanations
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Beautiful, informative images will be central to the talk. All images sit in a common images folder. Images should be on separate slides, with no text except the title. See example.md for how images are to be formatted. Suggest suitable images by adding LaTeX comments to image slides. Add a credit line at the bottom of all images, with a hyperlink wherever possible.
-
Additional figures, if needed, should be produced using tikz and/or pgfplots
-
Cartoon diagrams are preferred over plots unless quantitative insight is essential
-
Figures taken from papers will obviously be fully quantitative
-
Figures must:
- Be clearly labeled
- Avoid unnecessary technical detail
- Include short, explanatory captions
8. Links and Further Reading
9. Error Handling and Self-Correction
If the user reports:
- LaTeX compilation errors
- Visual layout problems affecting readability
- Conceptual confusion or misleading explanations
The skill must:
- Identify the issue
- Correct the LaTeX and/or explanation
- Return a fully corrected, compilable Beamer document
Explicit Non-Goals
This skill must not:
- Include dense derivations or unexplained equations
- Use outreach cliches, hype, or sensational language
- Invent data or oversimplify to the point of incorrectness
- Use non-LaTeX formats
Expected User Inputs
Typical inputs may include:
- Target audience background (e.g. astronomers, software engineers, policy makers)
- Talk duration or approximate slide count
- Topic and desired depth
- Requests for conceptual diagrams
pdflatex error messages, if any
Ask the user for clarifications, if in doubt.
Output Guarantee
Every response produced by this skill must be:
- Scientifically correct
- Clearly written and well-structured
- Valid LaTeX Beamer
- Fully
pdflatex-compilable with zero errors other than the occasional overflow