One of the first things we noticed about Todd Wheatland’s “Social Content Marketing on SlideShare” deck is his interesting choice of imagery, which includes lots of visual metaphors. It’s clear that Wheatland put a good amount of thought into how to best show the concept of each slide without being overtly obvious or cliché. And while the imagery isn’t always the highest quality, it’s always selected with good intentions. The images are humorous and unexpected, which is a great way to keep viewers engaged.
We also love the sideshow/circus theme Wheatland uses. It’s a really fun, irreverent theme, and it’s memorable. We especially love Slide 3 with its varying typefaces and storytelling spin (“Let’s start with a story…”) because all great presentations include, at the very least, the framework of a story. Wheatland also does a good job of keeping text to a minimum on his slides, which we always encourage.
Because we love the sideshow/circus theme so much, we would have liked to see it carried through the deck more consistently. Overall, the presentation looks like a few different decks put together. There’s consistency across different sections, but when a new style is introduced with a new section, it’s somewhat jarring to the viewer (this is especially true in the final “Next Steps” section). A consistent design is one of the most important elements of a presentation. It brings cohesion to a deck, and delivers one unified message, one distinct feeling rather than a jumble of varied impressions.
Overall, Wheatland’s presentation is eye-catching and highly entertaining. Though the design could benefit from a higher level of consistency, ultimately it succeeds in getting the content across in an engaging way. We’re certainly intrigued enough to check out Wheatland’s recently released book The Marketer’s Guide to SlideShare.