SlideMagnet: Conversation with Scott Schwertly

Scott Schwertly is from Ethos3 Communications, an internationally renowned and award-winning presentation design and training company located in Nashville, TN. He is also the Editor-in-Chief of SlideMagnet.com - an online portal for the presentation space. Scott works with a wide spectrum of clients that includes Fortune 100 companies, Silicon Valley start-ups, and various other organizations throughout the world. 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. In this conversation, Scott discusses his new SlideMagnet site.

Geetesh: Tell us more about SlideMagnet, and what is its raison d’être?

Scott: SlideMagnet.com is an online portal/magazine for both novice and professional presenters. It provides presentation tips and advice as well as the latest presentation technology news. The site features articles to help maximize the effectiveness of presentations through improved design, content and delivery methods and includes an ask-the-expert section. There’s also a community forum that encourages discussion on related topics.

When I first started Ethos3 close to 3 years ago, I found very limited online resources to build presentation knowledge. Thus, I found myself taking lessons from classics like the works of Dale Carnegie. The unfortunate reality is that I had to rely on books written from the 1930's since I couldn't find anything on the web. Today, the resources remain limited -- there are, without doubt, some fantastic blogs and tools, but the overall resources are still lacking. My hope is that SlideMagnet will help fill that gap. With sites out there like SlideShare, SlideRocket, Presentation Zen, Slideology, and now SlideMagnet -- 2009 will surely be the year of presentations!

My dream is that SlideMagnet will empower presenters. It's a shame when people inquire with presentation design firms, but due to budget cuts or limited capital, they can't afford solid presentation design services. Hopefully, SlideMagnet will serve as an alternative by providing tips, tricks, hacks, etc for the entrepreneur with a shoestring budget or the Marketing Director who is unable to receive corporate buy-in regarding presentation services.



Geetesh: What sort of content do you plan to make available on SlideMagnet, and whom is this targeted towards?

Scott: SlideMagnet.com has lots of great features including items such as:

• Decktionary: a presentation dictionary; includes common words as well as new slang
  
• Ask the Deckspert: you can ask SlideMagnet's Deckspert any question related to building, designing, and delivering presentations
• Slide U: Webinars for presenters
• Political Speeches from the Past and Present: Relive the great speeches of yesterday and today
• The Daily Dose: Daily presentation tips and quotes; also includes a presentation site and gadget of the week
• and much more...
  

Labels: design, interviews, powerpoint

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