> Since 2009, I wrote most of my talks using a simple vim plugin
> of mine: [...]
> when conference runners ask for slides, I write do a screenshot
> for all the slides and convert -o slides.pdf *.png which isn't
> convenient and the resulting pdf is heavy for nothing.
If you prefer to stay with vim and a monospace font, why not do
a :hardcopy to obtain Postscript and convert that to PDF?
(You could also possibly modify that via a script.)
You can even have colors if you write a syntax file for your slides.