Story Framework

Reveal

Insight-driven keynote arc inspired by Amy Cuddy's 2012 talk on body language: connect through personal story, ground in research, illustrate with anecdote, summarize, break stereotypes, advise, demonstrate authenticity, close with impact. For talks that aim to change how the audience sees something they thought they understood.

Beat Diagram

1Personal Storytext-1x / text
2Research Expositiontext-1x / text
3Real-Life Anecdotetext-1x / text
4Critical Insightstext-1x / text
5Break Stereotypestext-1x / text
6Empowering Advicetext-1x / text
7Authenticitytext-1x / text
8Close With Impacttitle / text

Use Reveal in your next deck — for free

STORYD writes a presentation around your topic and applies Reveal across every slide. No template hunting, no copy-paste.

Build a deck with Reveal →

Free, no card. Exports to PPTX.

OPF Config

narratives:reveal

Open Presentation Format

{
  "$schema": "https://openpresentation.org/schema/opf/v1",
  "name": "PPTX.gallery — narratives/reveal",
  "narrative": "reveal",
  "tags": [
    "gallery:narratives/reveal"
  ],
  "slides": [
    {
      "id": "gallery-preview-1",
      "layout": "title-slide",
      "title": "Narrative preview",
      "subtitle": "Storyline scaffolded by the \"reveal\" narrative.",
      "design": {
        "contentBox": false,
        "contentAlignment": "center",
        "titleAlignment": "center"
      }
    }
  ]
}

Open in OPF Playground Open in visual editor

Preview this config live at pptx.dev/playground, or load it in the gallery visual editor.

View registry.json

Pace

15-25 minutes

8 beats

Audience Fit

general-audienceacademicsprofessionals

Beat-by-Beat Guide

Personal Story

Open with a personal experience that establishes why the topic matters to you. Specificity earns intimacy; intimacy earns the audience's permission to be moved.

Instruction: Share personal experiences to connect with the audience

Research Exposition

Lay out the scientific or empirical data that backs the premise. Be rigorous but not academic — the audience needs to understand the evidence well enough to defend it later.

Instruction: Unravel scientific data backing the premise

Real-Life Anecdote

Illustrate the research with a story from the field. Make the abstract finding feel like something that happens to people the audience could imagine being.

Instruction: Illustrate with stories to make the point relatable

Critical Insights

Summarize the two or three findings the audience must walk away with. Distill them into language a non-specialist could repeat without distortion.

Instruction: Summarize key points

Break Stereotypes

Question redundant norms or beliefs the research undermines. Be specific about what's being challenged so the audience knows what to update.

Instruction: Question redundant norms and belief systems

Empowering Advice

Translate the insights into a small, actionable practice. The advice should be doable today, not only next quarter — the goal is movement, not aspiration.

Instruction: Motivational message to act upon

Authenticity

Speak honestly about your own struggle with the topic. Vulnerability, used with restraint, is what turns research into a felt truth.

Instruction: Honest and real communication to demonstrate authenticity

Close With Impact

End on a motivational high — the line, image, or invitation you want to follow the audience out of the room. Close the talk where it began, transformed.

Instruction: End on a motivational high