beamer-presentation

Beamer Presentation Creator

Purpose

This skill helps economists create professional academic presentations using LaTeX Beamer. It provides templates for conference talks, job market presentations, and seminar presentations with proper structure and clean aesthetics.

When to Use

Preparing conference presentations
Creating job market talk slides
Making seminar/workshop presentations
Converting a paper into presentation slides

Instructions

Step 1: Understand the Context

Ask the user:

What type of presentation? (20-min conference, 90-min seminar, job market)
What's the paper/project about?
What's the target audience expertise level?
Do they have specific style preferences?

Step 2: Structure by Time

Duration Structure

15-20 min Motivation (2) → Question (1) → Method (2) → Results (3-4) → Conclusion (1)

45-60 min Add literature review, more results detail, robustness

90 min Full seminar with theoretical framework, extensive empirics

Step 3: Follow Presentation Best Practices

One idea per slide
Minimal text - use bullets of 3-6 words
Big fonts - minimum 20pt for content
Consistent colors - use a limited palette
Reveal incrementally using \pause or <+-> for complex slides

Example Output

\documentclass[aspectratio=169, 11pt]{beamer}

% ============================================ % THEME AND APPEARANCE % ============================================

% Clean minimal theme \usetheme{metropolis} \usecolortheme{default}

% Or for a more traditional look: % \usetheme{Madrid} % \usecolortheme{whale}

% Custom colors \definecolor{darkblue}{RGB}{0, 51, 102} \definecolor{lightgray}{RGB}{245, 245, 245}

\setbeamercolor{frametitle}{bg=darkblue, fg=white} \setbeamercolor{title}{fg=darkblue} \setbeamercolor{structure}{fg=darkblue}

% Remove navigation symbols \setbeamertemplate{navigation symbols}{}

% Frame numbers \setbeamertemplate{footline}[frame number]

% ============================================ % PACKAGES % ============================================

\usepackage{graphicx} \usepackage{booktabs} \usepackage{tikz} \usepackage{pgfplots} \pgfplotsset{compat=1.17}

% ============================================ % TITLE PAGE % ============================================

\title{The Effect of X on Y: \Evidence from Z} \subtitle{Short and Descriptive} \author{Your Name} \institute{Your University} \date{Conference Name \ Month Year}

\begin{document}

% Title slide \begin{frame}[plain] \titlepage \end{frame}

% ============================================ % MOTIVATION (2-3 slides) % ============================================

\begin{frame}{Motivation: Why This Matters} \begin{itemize} \item<1-> \textbf{Big picture:} [One sentence on broad relevance] \item<2-> \textbf{Specific puzzle:} [What we don't know] \item<3-> \textbf{Stakes:} [Why should we care?] \end{itemize}

\vspace{1em}

\only&#x3C;4>{
\begin{block}{Key Statistic}
    \Large \textbf{X\%} of [outcome] can be explained by [factor]
\end{block}
}

\end{frame}

\begin{frame}{What We Know (and Don't Know)} \textbf{Previous literature:} \begin{itemize} \item Author et al. (2020): Finding 1 \item Other Author (2019): Finding 2 \end{itemize}

\vspace{1em}

\textbf{Gap we fill:}
\begin{itemize}
    \item[\textcolor{red}{?}] [Open question our paper addresses]
\end{itemize}

\end{frame}

% ============================================ % RESEARCH QUESTION (1 slide) % ============================================

\begin{frame}{This Paper} \begin{center} \Large \textbf{Research Question:} \[1em] Does [X] cause [Y]? \[2em] \end{center}

\textbf{Preview of findings:}
\begin{itemize}
    \item Main result in plain language
    \item Key magnitude: [Quantitative summary]
\end{itemize}

\end{frame}

% ============================================ % EMPIRICAL STRATEGY (2-3 slides) % ============================================

\begin{frame}{Data} \textbf{Sources:} \begin{itemize} \item Dataset 1: [Description, years, N] \item Dataset 2: [Description, matching method] \end{itemize}

\vspace{1em}

\textbf{Sample:}
\begin{itemize}
    \item Unit of observation: [What is an observation?]
    \item Final sample: [N] observations, [Time period]
\end{itemize}

\end{frame}

\begin{frame}{Identification Strategy} \textbf{Challenge:} [Endogeneity concern in one sentence]

\vspace{1em}

\textbf{Solution:} We exploit [natural experiment / instrument / RDD]

\vspace{1em}

\textbf{Key assumption:} [Identification assumption in plain language]

\begin{equation*}
    Y_{it} = \alpha + \beta \cdot \text{Treatment}_{it} + \gamma X_{it} + \mu_i + \delta_t + \varepsilon_{it}
\end{equation*}

\end{frame}

% ============================================ % RESULTS (3-5 slides) % ============================================

\begin{frame}{Main Result} \begin{center} \includegraphics[width=0.8\textwidth]{figures/main_result.pdf} \end{center}

\vspace{0.5em}

\textbf{Takeaway:} [One sentence interpretation]

\end{frame}

\begin{frame}{Main Result: Regression Table} \begin{table} \centering \small \begin{tabular}{lccc} \toprule & (1) & (2) & (3) \ & OLS & + Controls & + FE \ \midrule Treatment & 0.052*** & 0.048*** & 0.041** \ & (0.012) & (0.011) & (0.015) \ \midrule Controls & No & Yes & Yes \ Fixed Effects & No & No & Yes \ N & 10,000 & 9,850 & 9,850 \ \bottomrule \end{tabular} \end{table}

\textbf{Economic magnitude:} 1 SD increase in X $\rightarrow$ Y\% increase in outcome

\end{frame}

\begin{frame}{Robustness Checks} \begin{itemize} \item[\checkmark] Alternative specifications \item[\checkmark] Placebo tests \item[\checkmark] Different sample cuts \item[\checkmark] [Other relevant checks] \end{itemize}

\vspace{1em}

$\rightarrow$ Results robust across specifications

\end{frame}

% ============================================ % CONCLUSION (1 slide) % ============================================

\begin{frame}{Takeaways} \begin{enumerate} \item \textbf{Finding 1:} [Main result] \item \textbf{Finding 2:} [Secondary result] \item \textbf{Implication:} [Policy/theory takeaway] \end{enumerate}

\vspace{2em}

\begin{center}
    \Large Thank you! \\[0.5em]
    \normalsize your.email@university.edu
\end{center}

\end{frame}

% ============================================ % APPENDIX % ============================================

\appendix

\begin{frame}[noframenumbering]{Appendix: Additional Results} [Backup slides for Q&A] \end{frame}

\end{document}

Theme Recommendations

Audience Theme Notes

Academic metropolis

Clean, modern, minimal

Conference Madrid

Traditional, professional

Job market default with custom colors Safe, customizable

Policy CambridgeUS

Authoritative look

Best Practices

One message per slide - if you need more, split it
Use figures over tables when possible
Highlight key numbers in results tables
Build complex slides incrementally with \pause
Prepare backup slides for anticipated questions
Practice timing - 1-2 minutes per slide max

Common Pitfalls

❌ Too much text on slides
❌ Reading slides word-for-word
❌ Tables with too many columns
❌ Skipping the roadmap/preview
❌ Ending with "Questions?" instead of takeaways

References

Shapiro (2019) How to Give Applied Micro Talk
Beamer User Guide
Metropolis Theme

Changelog

v1.0.0

Initial release with conference talk template

beamer-presentation

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