In 2008, a presentation called “Meet Henry” placed 2nd in SlideShare.net’s “The World’s Best Presentation Contest.” Although founder and CEO Scott Schwertly didn’t know it at the time, this single presentation would be the start of Ethos3. It would also be the catalyst for a brand new kind of presentation: that which is story driven and outrageously atypical from the normal chart-heavy, bullet point style. A revolution was born.
Since then, we have consistently created presentations that win awards and earn clicks. But let’s focus on the place it all began to give you an idea of what we mean:
Fun, right?
So, how can you learn to create an award winning presentation for yourself? Here are a few techniques inspired by our SlideShare channel success and other award-winning victories.
Storytelling First
Did you know that 92% of surveyed consumers want brands to make ads that feel like a story? It’s one of the most effective way to grab an audience’s attention and ensure they remember crucial information.
Storytelling is what makes “Meet Henry” different. It’s not about how many proof points we can fit into a presentation, it’s not about cool data visualizations, and it’s not about bullet points. It’s just a story. A charming, fictional story that gives you a peek into Henry and Erica’s world while simultaneously making a compelling point. If you want to make a presentation that wins awards, trust our experience: people want to hear a story.
Refresh Your Look
A brain processes images 60x faster than it processes text, which is why we also believe a presentation like “Meet Henry” is so effective. Where are the bullet points? Where are the charts? The presentation goes straight into the images that show you, visually, what we mean.
Take a look at another one of our gorgeous SlideShare designs, which currently has over 231,250 views:
What makes this so effective? Vibrant colors, relevant illustration, minimal text, and eye-popping stats, of course. It doesn’t look like it was created in PowerPoint, and it wasn’t; our designers use every tool in their box to design outside of the presentation software. They thought far outside of the box, in fact. That’s why this deck doesn’t look like anything else you’ve seen.
Know The Need
We always try to create presentations for our SlideShare that are mindful of what the audience is looking for. For example, we know a lot of presenters use the site as a resource to improve their marketing and sales skills. We created a whole piece just for them about “5 Proven Methods of Persuasion,” which currently has over 86,200 views:
If you’re not spending time to research your audience and cater to the kind of content they want to see, you’re not going to create an award winning presentation. You’re just going to be forgotten in the sea of other irrelevant pieces of content. The truth hurts!
Take our advice and learn from the experiences that Ethos3 has accrued since its birth in 2008: make your presentations story-driven, make them beautiful, and make them relevant to your audience’s needs. It’s the best way to create a presentation that takes the prize, and it has been the key to our long term success.
