Critique the deck before design

Complete Create the send-ahead version first.

The best time to fix weak deck thinking is before layout makes it look finished. This lesson asks you to make a pre-design critique list, not a prettier version of scattered notes. The output should be specific enough that someone could open the deck file and see what changed.

Here is the before and after: Before, review starts after design and every change feels expensive. After, Claude critiques the argument, proof, pacing, and missing questions while the deck is still easy to change. For example, if you are preparing a sales presentation, the artifact should name the audience, slide job, proof, speaker note, or export check where that detail matters. A reviewer should be able to tell whether the deck is closer to being presented, sent, or handed off.

Now try it: Ask Claude to review the deck as the audience, a skeptical buyer, and the presenter. Make one choice before asking Claude to write: which audience, which decision, which proof, which slide job, or which delivery mode matters most right now. That choice keeps the deck from becoming a generic presentation outline.

The lesson is done when the artifact moves the deck toward a real room, reader, or file handoff.

Critique this deck before design. Review as Audience, Skeptical Decision Maker, and Presenter. Return Must Fix Before Design, Can Improve Later, Missing Proof, Reorder Suggestions, and Questions The Room Will Ask. Deck: [paste].

If any input is missing, ask me up to three questions before producing the artifact. Then return five sections: Finished Artifact, Realistic Deck Example, Assumptions To Check, What I Should Use In The Next Lesson, and One Risk If I Present Or Send This Without Fixing It. Keep the answer practical enough that I can paste it into my deck working doc.

Finished Artifact:
- a pre-design critique list
- Why it matters: it gives the deck a concrete thing to inspect instead of a vague intention.
- Use it next: paste this artifact into the next lesson before asking Claude to write, build, import, publish, or review anything.

Reality Check:
- The artifact names the user, input, decision, owner, or proof it depends on.
- The weakest assumption is visible.
- The next step can be completed in one sitting.

What good looks like

• The critique separates must-fix items from later improvements.
• Missing proof is named.
• Pacing problems are visible.
• Likely questions are captured.

Without rereading the lesson, explain why a pre-design critique list matters in three bullets. Then apply it to a second deck example: [describe a different audience, room, or topic]. Return What Changed, What Stayed The Same, What To Check Before Presenting Or Sending, and the exact next action.

Transfer Check:
- What changed: the second example has a different audience, input, or delivery context.
- What stayed the same: a pre-design critique list still needs a source, a review check, and a next step.
- Before trusting it: inspect the delivery check that would catch a wrong assumption.
- Next action: run the check once, then carry the revised artifact into the next lesson.

What good looks like

• You explained the lesson idea from memory before applying it again.
• The second example changes the artifact instead of copying the first answer.
• The delivery check names a real risk.
• The next action can be done in one sitting.