Prezi is breaking through into some of the most ‘corporate’ names in Global business. It’s no longer the quirky, creaky geeks tool that it was. It’s more stable, easier to use, and more reliable with every update. That means that big, grown-up firms will consider using it now, to help them stand out from the crowd. How do we know? Because our phone hasn’t stopped ringing. This year we’ve worked with investment banks, pharmaceutical companies, law firms, insurance companies and major manufacturing companies- helping them understand and use Prezi as a mainstream presentation tool that will add to their impact, whatever the message.
Prezi isn’t perfect
Prezi has many strengths, and a few key weakness that we’ve talked about many times before. Prezi’s key weakness being-
A crap presentation with Prezi will still be worse than a crap presentation in PowerPoint (Or other slide-based software like keynote)
Why? Because Prezi offers very little structure to a user, and all of the ‘freedom’ to use the canvas, and add all sorts of images, text, video and clutter, demands more of the designer/presenter in Prezi than in other presentation programme.
In PowerPoint you get structure galore. Pre-ordained slides, of a particular size, with slide templates, place-holders, firmed-up fonts sizes, image frames, colour schemes, output ratios to fit on any projector or TV. In Prezi you get very little of that. Just look at some of the example presentations on Prezi and notice how busy, cluttered and confusing most of them are. Yes there are some nice examples of imagery and design, but as a tool to help the presenter make the point they want to make, they’re often very poor.
Making a presentation is about the speaker making the point and using the ‘slides’ for a bit of emphasis. All presentations have a visual and verbal ‘channel’ and the best speakers use one to aid the other. The worst speakers get confused between the 2 channels and lose their audience to this distracting conflict between the spoken word and projected images. So what’s the answer with Prezi?
Add Structure
In the absence of any given structure in Prezi you just have to add it for yourself. You have to think about the visual messages that you’ll create and show, to help your crowd ‘get the point’. Quick tips-
- Write the story first, before you even think about the visuals – We know you should really do that in PowerPoint too, but you can get away with it because there’s that structure we’ve talked about to help you organise, sharpen and edit your message.
- Sketch out a picture of what you could use to help you tell your story– Think about the ‘blank canvas’ you’ll be presented with when you switch Prezi on, and use the paper to help you organise your thoughts logically in pictures.
- Switch on Prezi and recreate the structure you’ve drawn- either by using the (much improved) templates, or shape drawing tools; or by using an ‘infographics’ approach as demonstrated below.
- Use some of the reusable templates that people create on Prezi– Because there are some really talented people who’ve already gone through the learning process.
Whatever you do think structure. Here are the ‘blank’ templates that we’ve created to help you add flair and order to your ideas. If you want to use one of the templates here just email us and we can design one just for you, or buy a set of our templates from www.jim-harvey.com/jh-staging. Also there’s or really simple FREE books on how to use Prezi like a professional. Whatever you choose to do, good luck in the trying.