pitch unfairly

Cheat Codes · Launches and keynotes

Abraham Lincoln, 1863. Pitched unfairly, 2026.

Two minutes, ten sentences, one idea. Same story, same numbers. Rebuilt the way we'd pitch it today.

Template: Short keynote

  • 272 words
  • 10 sentences
  • After a 2-hour oration
Play the 2026 deck Read the real story Steal the structure
1863 Short keynote

Abraham Lincoln

Two minutes, ten sentences, one idea.

Legend
Original craft
Unfair

The story→12 slides

It's a live deck. Press start, then scroll or use the arrow keys, or play it full screen.

Play the 2026 deck

Abraham Lincoln's short keynote, slide by slide

Every slide opens the live deck right where it is.

  1. Abraham Lincoln deck, slide 1: Two minutes, ten sentences, one idea that lasted. 01Two minutes, ten sentences, one idea that lasted.
  2. Abraham Lincoln deck, slide 2: Everett got two hours. Lincoln got a few appropriate remarks. 02Everett got two hours. Lincoln got a few appropriate remarks.
  3. Abraham Lincoln deck, slide 3: 13,607 words, then 272. Drawn to scale. 0313,607 words, then 272. Drawn to scale.
  4. Abraham Lincoln deck, slide 4: Ten sentences, three tenses, one idea. 04Ten sentences, three tenses, one idea.
  5. Abraham Lincoln deck, slide 5: Open where the whole field agrees: four score and seven years ago. 05Open where the whole field agrees: four score and seven years ago.
  6. Abraham Lincoln deck, slide 6: Name the stakes in one line: can it long endure? 06Name the stakes in one line: can it long endure?
  7. Abraham Lincoln deck, slide 7: Say why this room, today: a final resting place. 07Say why this room, today: a final resting place.
  8. Abraham Lincoln deck, slide 8: Then turn: say what this day can not do. 08Then turn: say what this day can not do.
  9. Abraham Lincoln deck, slide 9: Then hand the room the unfinished work. 09Then hand the room the unfinished work.
  10. Abraham Lincoln deck, slide 10: Cut it to 33 words and the idea still stands. 10Cut it to 33 words and the idea still stands.
  11. Abraham Lincoln deck, slide 11: The next day, the two-hour speaker wrote the review. 11The next day, the two-hour speaker wrote the review.
  12. Abraham Lincoln deck, slide 12: Government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth. 12Government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

Then · 1863

How it really went

Read the real storythe Library of Congress, The Gettysburg Address exhibition
  1. July 1 to 3, 1863: the Battle of Gettysburg, more than 50,000 casualties
  2. A soldiers' cemetery is planned; William Saunders lays it out in semicircles, by state
  3. Edward Everett, the great orator of the day, is engaged for the main address
  4. November 2: David Wills asks the President for "a few appropriate remarks"
  5. November 19: music, prayer, then Everett speaks for about two hours
  6. Lincoln follows, sixth on the program: ten sentences, about two minutes
  7. November 20: Everett writes that Lincoln came nearer the central idea in two minutes than he did in two hours
  8. Lincoln replies that neither of them could have traded parts
  9. March 1864: Lincoln writes out the Bliss copy, the one he signed and dated

Now · 2026 · 12 slides

What we changed

  • Drawn to scaleEverett's 13,607 words and Lincoln's 272 as squares on one grid. Flip to minutes and the ratio barely moves: 50 to 1 becomes 60 to 1.
  • The talk, beat by beatAll ten sentences of the Bliss copy, labeled past, present and future, light up one keynote beat at a time: history, stakes, why we are here, the turn, the call, the closing line.
  • Cut itA slider fades the address from 272 words to 133 to 33, every one of them Lincoln's, in his order. The idea is still standing.
  • The review came from the other speakerEverett's note the next morning and Lincoln's gracious reply, set as the proof slide, with the oration's two hours and the remarks' two minutes side by side.

Steal the structure

Build your short keynote like Abraham Lincoln did.

  1. 01 Know your slot What the program needs from you, how long you have, and who speaks before you.
  2. 02 One idea Write the idea in one sentence before you write the talk. Every line serves it.
  3. 03 Shared history Open on a past the whole room already agrees on, in words they already know.
  4. 04 The stakes Name what is being tested right now, in one sentence.
  5. 05 Why we are here Say plainly what this gathering is for, today.
  6. 06 The turn Say what this moment can't do on its own. Keep the frame, change one word, three times.
  7. 07 The call Hand the room the unfinished work, addressed to them, not to you.
  8. 08 The closing line End on the line you want quoted: rhythm, repetition, few words. Then stop.
  9. 09 The cut Before you give it, cut until the idea breaks, and keep everything just before that.

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