CodeCon ZA Presentation Structure
Topic: Nie prompt, ale kontext prináša výsledok Duration: 20 min + 10 min Q&A Audience: ~1000 (developers, managers, HR, CEOs) Speaker: Oliver Kriska
QUICK REFERENCE CARD
THE STORY IN ONE SENTENCE:
"You're giving AI little context and expecting great results -
here are 10 practical ways to fix that, starting today."
KEY QUOTES TO REMEMBER:
• "Giving little, expecting much" (the problem)
• "AI is like a colleague who knows nothing but can learn everything"
• "Iteration is not failure - it's refinement"
• "AI won't replace you - it helps you surpass yourself"
THE 10 ADVICES:
BEFORE: 1.WHY 2.Atomic 3.Examples 4.Exclude 5.Done
AFTER: 6.2-min rule 7.Explain why wrong 8.Start fresh 9.Opinion not validation 10.Junior test
THE HOOK: Double Punch (2 minutes)
Part 1: The Image Reveal (45 seconds)
Slide 1: Show a cropped/zoomed photo that looks scary:
- Close-up of sharp teeth, dark background
- Looks like a dangerous, aggressive animal
- Audience feels tension
Say: "What do you see?" (pause 3 seconds, let audience assume the worst)
Slide 2: Zoom out - reveal full image:
- It's a happy dog mid-yawn
- Tail wagging, playful setting
- Completely harmless
Say: "Same image. Without context, your brain saw danger. With context, it's just a sleepy puppy."
Visual suggestion: Search stock photos for "dog yawning close up teeth" - crop to show only teeth/mouth first, then reveal the full adorable dog.
Part 2: The Text Message Panic (45 seconds)
Slide 3: Show messages appearing one by one (animation):
Boss: We need to talk.
(pause 2 seconds)
Boss: Come to my office when you can.
(pause 2 seconds)
Boss: It's about your future here.
Say: "Recognize this feeling?" (let the dread sink in)
Slide 4: Final message appears:
Boss: We're promoting you! 🎉
(audience laughs/relieves)
Say: "Three messages without context - your heart stopped. One message with context - you celebrate."
Part 3: The Bridge to AI (30 seconds)
Slide 5: Simple text on dark background:
This is what you're doing to AI.
Every. Single. Day.
Say: "Your brain just made two wrong assumptions in 30 seconds because of missing context. AI does this with every prompt you send. The difference? AI doesn't ask follow-up questions. It just... guesses. And then you blame the AI."
Transition: "In the next 18 minutes, I'll show you how to fix this."
SECTION 1: THE PROBLEM (2.5 minutes)
Slide 1.1: The Universal Mistake
Title: "Giving little, expecting much"
Visual: Scale/balance image - tiny input on one side, massive expectation on other
Say: "When I started with AI, I was giving large tasks, wasn't specific, provided little context, and expected a lot. Sound familiar? This is the #1 reason people give up on AI."
Slide 1.2: Prompt vs Context
Title: "Prompt ≠ Context"
Visual: Simple diagram:
┌─────────────────────────────────┐
│ YOUR INPUT │
├─────────────────────────────────┤
│ PROMPT = What you want │
│ (task, question, instruction) │
├─────────────────────────────────┤
│ CONTEXT = Everything else │
│ (data, examples, constraints, │
│ priorities, format, style) │
└─────────────────────────────────┘
Say: "Most people focus on the perfect prompt and ignore context. That's like giving a junior developer a task title and expecting perfect production code."
Slide 1.3: The Mindset Shift
Title: Your Core Philosophy
Visual: Large quote on screen:
"AI is like a person who knows nothing about your project,
but can learn everything to extreme depth -
if you explain what you need."
Say: " AI already has the knowledge, you just need to guide it to YOUR specific needs. AI already knows how atoms split. It can generate a picture for your kid's birthday. The knowledge is there. But it knows nothing about YOUR project, YOUR problem, YOUR context. You don't teach it - you guide it. You explain what you're expecting. And that requires context."
Slide 1.4: Industry Confirmation
Visual: Andrej Karpathy photo + quote:
"Context engineering is the delicate art and science
of filling the context window with just the right
information for the next step."
— Andrej Karpathy
(ex-Tesla AI Director, OpenAI founding member)
Also mention: Tobi Lutke (Shopify CEO), Harrison Chase (LangChain CEO) use this term
Say: "This isn't just my opinion. The best minds in AI are moving from 'prompt engineering' to 'context engineering'."
SECTION 2: THE 10 ADVICES (10 minutes)
Format for each slide:
- Advice title (large, memorable)
- Tech example (green background or icon)
- Non-tech example (blue background or icon)
- ~1 minute per advice
PART A: BEFORE YOU PROMPT (5 advices, 5 min)
Slide intro for Part A:
PART A: Before You Prompt
These 5 advices help you PREPARE
better context before you hit enter.
Visual: Planning/preparation icon (clipboard, checklist)
Advice #1: Give the WHY, not just WHAT
Visual:
💻 TECH:
❌ "Fix this bug"
✅ "Fix this bug because users can't save forms.
Here's the error log and the file where it occurs."
📝 NON-TECH:
❌ "Write me an email"
✅ "Write an email to decline a meeting politely.
I'm overloaded this week and this meeting isn't priority."
Say: "AI doesn't know your priorities. Tell it WHY you need something, and it can make better decisions."
Advice #2: Break into atomic parts
Visual:
💻 TECH:
❌ "Build me an expense tracking app"
✅ "Create HTML table with 3 columns: amount, category, date.
Users can add rows. Store in localStorage."
📝 NON-TECH:
❌ "Plan my vacation"
✅ "Find 3 hotels in Rome under 100€/night with breakfast.
Must be within walking distance to Colosseum."
Say: "Big task = random output. Small task = precise output. Break it down like you would for a new team member."
Advice #3: One example beats 1000 words
Stop explaining, start showing
Visual:
💻 TECH:
❌ "Write tests like we do"
✅ "Here's our test file [attached]. Write similar tests
for this new function, same structure and naming."
📝 NON-TECH:
❌ "Write in my style"
✅ "Here are 2 of my previous LinkedIn posts [attached].
Match this tone - direct, no fluff, practical examples."
Say: "One example is worth 1000 words of description. Show AI what you want."
Advice #4: Say what to EXCLUDE
Visual:
💻 TECH:
❌ "Find authentication libraries"
✅ "Find auth libraries for Node.js. Exclude deprecated ones,
must have TypeScript support and active maintenance (2024+)."
📝 NON-TECH:
❌ "Find me a car seat"
✅ "Find car seat for 120cm child. Exclude Amazon sellers.
Only ADAC safety-tested. Removable washable cover."
Say: "AI will include everything unless you tell it not to. Define your boundaries."
Advice #5: Define what DONE looks like
Visual:
💻 TECH:
❌ "Optimize this query"
✅ "Optimize to under 2 seconds response time.
Current EXPLAIN output attached. Can't change schema."
📝 NON-TECH:
❌ "Write product description"
✅ "Max 100 words. Include 3 key benefits.
No superlatives. Tone: professional but friendly."
Say: "If you don't define success, AI will guess. And it usually guesses wrong."
PART B: DURING & AFTER (5 advices, 5 min)
Slide intro for Part B:
PART B: During & After
You sent the prompt. Now what?
These 5 advices help you ITERATE effectively.
Visual: Cycle/loop icon
Key message to say:
"Iteration is not failure. With good context, iteration is FASTER and results are BETTER. You're refining, not fixing."
Advice #6: The 2-Minute Rule
Visual: Large stopwatch icon
If AI takes more than 1-2 minutes for first useful output:
→ Task might be too big — break it down
→ Context might need adjustment
→ This is a SIGNAL, not a failure
Stop. Adjust. Continue.
Say: "When I see AI doing many operations I didn't ask for, or taking too long - I take it as a signal. Maybe the task is too big, maybe context needs adjustment. I stop, adjust, and continue. It's not failure - it's navigation."
Advice #7: Explain WHY it's wrong
Visual:
💻 TECH:
❌ "This is wrong, try again"
✅ "This is wrong because we use PostgreSQL, not MySQL.
The syntax for UPSERT is different. Here's the correct format."
📝 NON-TECH:
❌ "The tone is off"
✅ "The tone is too formal. I need casual language
because this is for Instagram, not a business report."
Say: "AI can't learn from 'wrong'. It learns from 'wrong because X'. Give it the lesson."
Advice #8: Start fresh when context is contaminated
Visual: Trash bin icon + "New Chat" button
Signs of contaminated context:
• AI keeps suggesting solutions you already rejected
• It includes things you explicitly excluded
• Corrections don't stick after 2-3 attempts
Solution: New session with clean, correct context from start
Say: "Bad output stays in context and misleads future responses. Sometimes it's faster to start fresh than to fix a broken conversation."
Advice #9: Ask for opinion, not validation
Visual:
❌ "Is my code good?" → AI will praise you
❌ "Is my plan good?" → AI will agree with you
✅ "How would YOU solve this problem?"
✅ "What are 3 risks in this approach?"
✅ "What am I missing?"
Say: "Current AI models are tuned to be agreeable. If you want real feedback, ask for alternatives and risks - not validation."
Advice #10: The Junior Developer Test
Visual: Simple illustration of person with question mark
Before every prompt, ask yourself:
┌─────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ "Could a colleague who started │
│ yesterday complete this task │
│ with my description?" │
├─────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ If NO → Add more context │
│ If YES → AI can handle it too │
└─────────────────────────────────────────┘
Say: "This is my universal test. Works for code, articles, emails, anything. If a new person couldn't do it with your instructions, neither can AI."
SECTION 3: WHY THIS MATTERS (2 minutes)
Slide 3.1: Scientific Proof
Title: "More context ≠ Better results"
Visual: Graph showing performance degradation (if available)
Citation box:
Chroma Research (July 2025): "Context Rot" study
• Tested 18 leading LLMs (GPT-4, Claude, Gemini...)
• Performance DEGRADES as input tokens increase
• Even on simple tasks
• Different models fail differently:
- Claude tends to abstain when unsure
- GPT tends to hallucinate confidently
Say: "This isn't intuition - it's science. Throwing more data at AI makes it worse. You need the RIGHT context, not MORE context."
Slide 3.2: Senior vs Junior
Visual: Two people icons - "Junior" and "Senior"
What's the difference between junior and senior?
Same skills. Same tools. Different CONTEXT.
Senior knows:
• What to include
• What to exclude
• What worked before
• What failed before
You can simulate years of experience
by providing proper context.
Say: "A senior developer isn't smarter - they have better context from experience. You can give AI that same context explicitly."
SECTION 4: CLOSING (2.5 minutes)
Slide 4.1: Three Takeaways
Visual: Three large icons with text
1. BREAK IT DOWN
Atomic tasks, not massive requests
2. CONTEXT > PROMPT
What you provide matters more than how you ask
3. TEST IT
"Would a new colleague understand this?"
Say: "If you remember nothing else - remember these three things."
Slide 4.2: Final Quote
Visual: Large text, dark background, centered
"AI won't replace your work.
It will help you surpass yourself."
Say: "Copywriters fear AI will take their jobs. Developers fear the same. But AI isn't here to replace you - it's here to help you do things you couldn't do alone. The key is learning to work WITH it. And that starts with context."
(pause for effect)
Slide 4.3: Call to Action
Visual: Your contact info + QR code
Start today:
1. Take your next AI prompt
2. Add WHY you need it
3. Add one example of good output
4. See the difference
Say: "Thank you. I'm happy to take questions."
VISUAL DESIGN GUIDE
Color Scheme
- Background: Dark (navy #1a1a2e or charcoal #2d2d2d)
- Text: White primary, light gray secondary
- Accent - Good: Green (#4ade80)
- Accent - Bad: Red (#f87171)
- Accent - Highlight: Purple or blue (#8b5cf6)
Typography
- Titles: 48-60pt, bold
- Body: 32-36pt, regular
- Code/Examples: 24-28pt, monospace
- Minimum readable from back: 24pt
Icons Style
- Simple, flat design
- Single color (white or accent)
- No 3D effects, no gradients
- Consistent style throughout
Slide Layout Template
┌─────────────────────────────────────┐
│ ADVICE TITLE #X │
├─────────────────────────────────────┤
│ │
│ 💻 TECH │
│ ┌─────────────────────────────┐ │
│ │ ❌ Bad example │ │
│ │ ✅ Good example │ │
│ └─────────────────────────────┘ │
│ │
│ 📝 NON-TECH │
│ ┌─────────────────────────────┐ │
│ │ ❌ Bad example │ │
│ │ ✅ Good example │ │
│ └─────────────────────────────┘ │
│ │
└─────────────────────────────────────┘
Animation Guidelines
- Preferred: Simple fade in/out
- For examples: Show ❌ first, then reveal ✅
- For hook: Messages appear one by one
- Avoid: Flying, spinning, bouncing, zooming