From time to time, I’ve scrutinized the story quality of slideshows, especially resumes in slideshow form; the most recent was last month’s exploration of a “Présumé™” (presentation resume) that was nicely crafted but not really storied.
Since then, I’ve come across a couple of more storied examples. While the above Présumé™ probably has the most sophisticated design of recent examples, these two tell more of a story:
The less successful of the two, The Story of Cory has a very sophisticated 
design. But Cory’s goals and audience are unclear as he tells the story of his career. He concludes that he is really an entrepreneur, so the resume would not seem to be aimed at getting a job. (Toward the end, the content suggests the slideshow is a promo and recruiting tool for SlideShare itself.) He also violates a number of job-search “rules:” He trashes a former employer, as in the slide above. He talks about all the schools he dropped out of. He spends a little too much time on his leisure activities. He tells his story in third-person, which makes it less personal than if it were in first-person. It’s a beautifully done presentation; I’m just not sure what Cory’s message is. At least it is authentic.
More successful — in fact, arguably the best slideshow resume I’ve seen — is that of Heidi Lilly. The foregoing link (also embedded below) is to the SlideRocket of her slideshow resume, which is specifically targeted to one employer and which has more bells and whistles than the more generic SlideShare version. [UPDATE: SlideRocket is now ClearSlide, and Heidi’s resume slideshow seems to be MIA, but the Slidshare version still exists]
Heidi most definitely tells her career story — in a much more positive way than Cory does. She integrates lots of multimedia goodies into the presentation, especially the SlideRocket version — maps, music, animated type and graphics, photos, infographics, a Wordle graphic, a Venn diagram, and a feedback form.
She tells what her story means to the employer in terms of skills and personal qualities, even noting that she uses Excel to “read stories” and PowerPoint to tell them. She conveys passion. In the SlideRocket version, she offers ideas for the targeted employer.
I’d hire her in a heartbeat.