Using Prezi for an Important Speech- A client speaks
In this series of posts, clients that we’ve worked with will give you their viewpoint on switching to Prezi for a major speech, and give you an insight into their motivations, experience and learning from that ‘step into the unknown’. The words are the clients’ own, and we give them full editorial control. In this post, Adrian Wakefield, Business Services Director of James Walker, a global engineering firm, explains the reasons he chose to use Prezi for his major keynote speech to his senior colleagues at a recent conference.
Why Prezi?
Adrian says- ‘ I’d seen Prezi, read a few articles about it and was intrigued to try it because it seemed to offer more creativity and freedom than PowerPoint to help me give a speech that was different in style and content to any I’d given before… My speech was about leading change and innovation in our business, and I felt that I should model change and innovation in support of that idea. That’s why I chose Prezi.’’
Were you taking a risk?
‘’Yes I was, and I was nervous about it. I’m a pretty experienced speaker, I’ve spoken at many conferences and meetings in my career, but this was an important message to my friends and colleagues in our business, and messing up was not an option. Still I thought that I should take the risk, and make sure that the risks were controlled, because that’s what I was asking the room to do. Change and move away from the usual in order to create more and better opportunities for our customers and us. I needed to be comfortable that I could build a speech, then a Prezi presentation that would work. That meant finding help, rehearsing and testing the tool before deciding whether I could trust it to do what I wanted it to do.’’
So what did you do?
‘’It started with more research. I searched the web and read around the subject. I found a few blogs and websites and found a couple that I liked, that weren’t evangelical or one-sided in saying that Prezi was the right tool for every occasion, and then I made some calls.
What made you choose who you did?
The bottom line was combination of service & relationship. I simply found someone at the end of the phone who I seemed to click with very quickly and who inspired confidence, so in this increasingly virtual age, this gave me a lot of confidence in moving ahead. Jim and I quickly agreed to meet, found our styles and approach to things lined up pretty well and we got down to business.
What did they help you with?
Jim and his team helped with the storyboarding, replaying my own ideas and helping me collect them, and together we managed to come up with a compelling tale. Reflecting on this process I guess the metaphorical content was very powerful and Jim didn’t force this on me, it kind of came about by exploring our interests and ideas, but the end result was pretty powerful.
They also organized the graphics, the theme and built the Prezi itself.
Finally I used Jim to help replay and rehearse the story which was great, in that it allowed me to feel both confident in what we had, but also to fine tune things….
How did the Presentation go?
Really well, thanks. It was a real team effort. My team supported me brilliantly, their expo really worked well, and the Prezi helped me to engage, interest and explain the points that I wanted to make.
What did you learn about Prezi through the process?
Mostly about its limitations, it’s not a panacea, and certainly won’t make up for any lack of a compelling story, but if you have that then it can add a lot to the overall experience for your audience.
I also think there could be a propensity for people to go over-board with some of the zooming effects, but that said, whilst it is still a fresh and innovative approach for a lot of people, it will simply be that, something new to help you get people’s attention.
Would you use Prezi again?
Yes… in the right circumstances… all I need to know is to learn how to build with it, as Jim and his team did all the work this time around…
Thanks Adrian, and for more information on Adrian and James Walker see here, and for more information on Prezi and how to use it well see here.
