name: narrative-temperature description: Five temperatures a deck can run at — Inform, Align, Recommend, Persuade, Inspire — each with different rhythm, evidence, and emotional load.
Narrative temperature
Every deck runs at one of five temperatures. The temperature determines how much tension the deck builds, how heavy the evidence load is, and what the closing ask sounds like.
| Temperature | Goal | Audience after | Evidence load | Emotional load |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Inform | Transmit fact. | "I now know." | Heavy, neutral | Low |
| Align | Reach shared understanding. | "We see it the same." | Medium, balanced | Low–medium |
| Recommend | Land a proposal. | "I have a clear option." | Heavy, comparative | Medium |
| Persuade | Change a position. | "I am convinced." | Heavy, adversarial | High |
| Inspire | Move to action / belief. | "I want to act." | Lighter, vivid | Very high |
Why it matters
Most failed decks are at the wrong temperature. A board pitch run as Inform feels weak. A status update run as Persuade feels manipulative. The classic mistake: building a Recommend deck and delivering it Inform-style — burying the recommendation in pages of context.
How to pick
Start from the audience's needed-state-after.
- They will act → Inspire or Persuade.
- They will decide → Recommend.
- They will agree → Align.
- They will update their model → Inform.
The Big Idea's verb tells you the temperature. "Understand" → Inform. "Choose" → Recommend. "Believe" → Persuade.
Calibrating evidence
- Inform can sustain dense data with low narrative scaffolding. The audience wants the data.
- Recommend needs comparative evidence — pros / cons / alternatives ruled out — to land the choice.
- Persuade needs adversarial evidence — the case you would have to defeat to disagree.
- Inspire uses less data, more vivid example. Too much evidence kills the emotion.
Failure modes
- Temperature drift. Starts Recommend, ends Inform. The audience walks out without the ask.
- Temperature mismatch. Slack channel update written as a board persuade-deck. Energy is wasted.
- Hot opener, cold middle. Strong tension in the opener, then 30 slides of charts, then a weak close.
Canonical phrasing
Pick the temperature first. Then build everything to that temperature, including the silences.