This is a bi monthly guest post from Scott Schwertly of Ethos 3. He will be regularly blogging on the SlideShare site. Welcome Scott!

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Most of us have had the privilege this summer to meet the most Inglorious of all Bastards, Lt. Aldo Raine. He is the hillbilly straight from the mountains of Tennessee who finds a way to bring justice back into an unjust world. In theory, the world of presentations is experiencing the same injustice – a needless death of presentations. Let’s take a few quotation cues from Lt. Adlo Raine and his Inglorious Bastards:

1. “We got a German here who wants to die for his country! Oblige him!”

Let’s face it! Some people just don’t get it when it comes to reviving the way presentations are done. They don’t like innovation. They don’t like new ideas. They don’t like change. At the end of the day, you can only do much to convince the skeptics. You can show them the way, but if they refuse to change then let them go.

2. “I’m gonna give you a little somethin’ you can’t take off.”

The whole goal of any presentation is to make it memorable. Simplify your message. Choose the right visuals. Tell a story. Pull at the heart-strings. Better yet, get a conversation started on Twitter about your presentation. Make it memorable. If it is not, then you have failed. Do something your audience will never forget.

3. “You know somethin’, Utivich? I think this might just be my masterpiece.”

The only way you will every a true presentation masterpiece is to build, design, and deliver your presentation the right way. If you build your presentation correctly, but design it incorrectly – what’s the point? If you design your presentation correctly, but delivery it incorrectly – what’s the point? If you deliver your presentation correctly, but you build it incorrectly – what’s the point? Well, you get the point. Masterpieces take time. They take patience. They take due diligence.

4. “You see, we’re in the business of killin’ Nazis, and boy, business is boomin’.”

The good news is that despite all the work that needs to be done regarding presentations, 2009 is shaping up to be the year of the presentation. There are so many great things happening in the industry right now – less bullet points, more images, better storytelling – it’s boomin’.

5. “…I think you show great talent. And I pride myself on having an eye for that kind of talent. But your status as a Nazi killer is still amateur. We all come here to see if you wanna go pro.”

Let’s admit it. The world is full of presentation amateurs. It’s time to go pro. Think different. Design different. Be different.

About the Author: Scott Schwertly is an epic storyteller. Today, he owns and operates Ethos3 Communications (http://www.ethos3.com), a Nashville, TN-based presentation boutique providing professional presentation design and training for national and international clients ranging from Fortune 100 companies to branded individuals like Guy Kawasaki.

He may live in Nashville, TN with his wife and three dogs, but he calls San Diego home – the place of his beloved San Diego Chargers. Scott has a B.A. and M.B.A. from Harding University.

This is a quick reminder that the World’s Best Presentation Contest 2009 is in its home stretch. The entries were submitted till 8th Sep, and the voting will continue till 15th Sep. So you have four more days to get votes for your presentations. This includes the weekend - ideal to spend a few hours on your computer emailing your friends, posting on Twitter, Facebook etc to get votes.

This has been a great contest so far. Here are the stats as on Saturday morning (12th).

# Entries 2997
# Votes 10847
# Participants 2495

Also want to mention that like previous contest, we are keeping a close look on any voting malpractises. Once the voting is over, we shall do a exhaustive check on voting patterns, any hints of rigging etc. Fraudulent votes & entries will be disqualified straightaway before the final shortlist is sent to the judges. We want this to be a clean & even contest, and we’ll ensure that.

Following the popularity of the Presentation Pack, we have rolled out a new widget called the SlideShare Playlist. This displays a feed of both presentations and documents (unlike the Presentation pack which showed only presentations).

You can now make a custom playlist with your documents & presentations and embed this on your blog/website. You can also choose a feed from your tags, groups or events, or from your uploaded or favorited SlideShare content. Very useful for libraries, organisations and government institutions. You can give the playlist a custom title as well. Here is a sample…

That’s not all. We have also released a fresh set of Blog Badges using which you can provide a link to your slideshare profile from your blog/website. These badges come in various sizes & shapes, so you are sure to find something that matches your taste. Check these out…

Let us know what you thought of these new releases.

The SlideShare Facebook app has lately been getting some love from business bloggers & commentators. Check these out :

BeAWealthyEntrepreneur.com in its write up How I Grew My Client Base with FaceBook says -
“…..slideshare is know as the largest community for sharing presentations. I upload my powerpoint, openoffice, Keynote or PDF files and view presentations shared by others. This is a great way to spread thought leadership and expertise through presentations you may have delivered locally.”

frenchcreekpress.com in its write up Five tips for a successful Facebook fan page says -
“Raid your archives: Content is king – so what to do if you don’t have any content to share? Don’t underestimate yourself. If you’ve got PowerPoint presentations, use slideshare.net and an RSS feed to leverage them on your FB page….” .

Then again, in a subsequent writeup, it says “….Well, this is a no brainer. Instead of using Involver’s Slides for Pages app, just use SlideShare’s own app to share your presentations on your page. Link your Facebook account with your SlideShare account and fans will see your latest presentations as well as those you’ve marked as a favorite. Don’t forget to add both a tab and a box to the page to make it easier for fans to find your presentations.”

Taragana.com in its blogpost Top 10 Facebook Apps for Business writes “…This is world’s largest community for sharing presentations where you can upload your PowerPoint, OpenOffice, PDF files or Keynote. Further you can view presentations by others. It’s provides a great way to share your presentations on your profile.”

Sitewire.net in Top 5 Apps For Your Facebook Profile has this to say “…The Slideshare app is the world’s largest community for sharing digital presentations. You can upload PowerPoint, OpenOffice or PDF files and view presentations shared by others. This is an awesome way to spread thought leadership and expertise through new or existing presentations.”

Big thanks to these folks. In case you haven’t added SlideShare to your Facebook profile, go here to do so.

Just a quick reminder- this is the last week for submission of contest entries in WBPC2009. Entries can be submitted till the 8th of Sep, while the voting will continue till 15th. We already have about 3000 entries. Let’s see how many get added in the remaining period.

If you want to participate, don’t wait for the last moment. Upload your entry now. One disadvantage for last minute entries - you are likely to get a shorter voting cycle.

We’d also like to share something that will take you down our previous contests. This is the link for the screenshot below. We have created a page from where you can browse all previous slideshare contests (and we’ve had quite a few- WBPC 2007, WBPC 2008, Credit Crisis Contest, Fuze Meeting Tell a Story Contest). All previous contests are linked from this page.

Business Week columnist Carmine Gallo writes about how to give a lousy presentation. Some of the techniques for lousy presentations include “creating distracting color combinations”, “using wild animations”.

Go here to read the whole article. Good read to remind yourself what not to do when giving presentations.

This is a great visual presentation of the social media landscape. (please watch this is full screen mode) This comes from Banner, a London based agency.

The ongoing World’s Best Presentation Contest 2009 has category prizes as well. One of the categories is “About Me” and we noticed a bunch of interesting entries here. Some that tickled our editorial team are embedded below.

Something to note- each of these entries is interesting for a different reason…

1) This is a social media resume. If you are wondering, what that is supposed to mean, take a look..

2) This is a sequel to a presentation that won a nomination in the WBPC 2008 last year. The story continues here. If you want to see the first part to this, go here.