Prezi is an amazing tool and with some care it can add some SUPER features to a presentation. The “zooming editor” is neat aesthetically and is essentially what makes it stand out from other bits of gear. The ability for a user to interact and “chose their own adventure” make it really powerful. That said, it is not unusual to see really BAD prezi presentations.
The most important point!
A bad presentation is a bad presentation whatever tool is used “Death by PowerPoint” .. .. “Neck injury by Prezi” use your tool well! Don’t distract from your content but aim to make it special! The right tool can help you to nail your presentation! Work at the comment being well that really worked hey!!
Good Presentations:
There are a number of great presentations about making great presentations and it does not take long to find great ones. Key points though are to not have too much detail on your slides, use great graphics well, keep it simple and clean but most of all, put the effort into it that is required.
What is Prezi?
Prezi is a web based tool, allowing sharing, real time collaboration and embedding! Used well, a presentation can be linear for one user but have the ability to delve in more deeply for other users. As a teacher I have access to the “EDUenjoy” subscription but all of the options are at prezi.com/pricing/ Basically the free version only has 100Mb of space and you cannot make your prezi private. If you will use it a lot and would like your content to be private then the best option is $60US a year for the “Enjoy” subscription.
Creating with Prezi:
There are superb tutorials on the Prezi site!! Did I say superb! Check them at prezi.com/support
The secret is thinking about the “Path” that you add to your Prezi. This means the order that your content is viewed in presentation mode (Users can move and explore as well and then return to the path you have set!) Prezi’s can have a wide range of content added and the starting templates are superb.
There are lots of great options in Prezi for grouping, arranging, 3D backgrounds, importing from powerpoint etc etc etc.
A good starting point is to try right click as you move around in edit mode!
Prezi on an iPad:
There is a Prezi app which is great for working with precreated themes with paths already added. Also you can edit your existing presentations but creating outside of these two types of presentation is limited. That said, presenting a prezi presentation with an iPad is very neat as it saves an offline verion of the prezi and subsequently works seamlessly.
Tutorials, help and fun!
The tutorials and help guides on their site are SUPERB – check them at prezi.com/support!!! They step users through their guides as they master tools and techniques and they also have on screen help as you are working on your Prezi. There are now great pre-created templates of awesomeness to get you started at a running pace!
– Check out the stepped through Tutorials here http://prezi.com/learn/
– Explore and remember to right click for a whole heap of awesomeness!
NOTE: I never use a mouse with my laptop but it makes all the difference with Prezi! Do it!
A Prezi By Rolfe Kolbe to show some Prezi options.
http://prezi.com/iukwwzyzj2py
Here is a prezi that has been created using one of the 3D templates (they are pretty special!!) It highlights quite a few new features.
NOTE: Education sector users can create an “eduENJOY” account for free!!