Toolkit – Prezi
I’m a sucker for new stuff. Give me something that’s “new and improved” and I’m most likely to be your beta tester. My work colleagues know me for giving Outlook or Word tips, not to mention Internet, Facebook or other utilities.
That’s how I ended up using Prezi. Sure, it’s not your average presentation tool, like Powerpoint for the rest of us mortals. But it’s cool, new, and to me, it goes into that category of “nice, white and simple” stuff, together with Ipod, Iphone, Mac and white bedsheets.
So here’s why you should try it:
1. It’s (relatively) simple to use. You create a free account with your email, and ta-da! you’re ready to go. Unless you’re very intuitive with new Internet stuff, try looking at the 2 min Prezi that explains “how to use it”. I’ve tried going directly into creating, and failed miserably.
The scroll-to-zoom reminded me of Corel Draw. And after you get the hang of it, you’re set to go.
2. It’s less hassle, but with more enjoyment to the eye. You can put only text in your prezi, and still the movement of the Flash when presenting will create that “swoosh” and “slide” that Powerpoint users needed with animations. With Prezi, the animation is already there. You don’t need to edit slides, embed pictures or work with colors. It’s built in.
3. It’s online. This can be both an advantage and a disadvantage. Sure, it lets you download your Prezi so that you can show it. But to Internet addicts (like me) who don’t like carrying their laptop around, having the presentation online is a welcome help.
Some drawbacks of the tool:
- it needs to be learned. Sure, after the first/second Prezi, it’s already easy to create something remarkable. But it took me around 4 hours to tweak around my first presentation. That’s not really effective, is it? (the second one took me 30 min)
- you can only add PDF, images and videos to your Prezi. Ok, you can make screenshots with your Excel and embed it as an image, but it’s not nearly as useful as with a PPT.
These being said, I recommend you to start using Prezi. Here’s what I did to exercise: click here!
Check out Ahead http://www.ahead.com as an alternative to Prezi. Ahead actually lets you present all Office formats and Adobe formats and the UI is more tradtional than Prezi, which makes it easier to learn (at least it was for me).
Lotte Andersen
October 4, 2009 at 2:14 pm
Thanks! Looks nice, but I’m not good with layers (one of the reasons I dropped Photoshop). Still, looks like a useful tool! Thanks for sharing!
effectivenesscoach
October 5, 2009 at 12:04 pm
Hey,
thanks for the great post! .pdf import solves your issues with Excel and PPt import. You can export your files to pdf (don’t need to create a screenshot) and upload them to your prezi easily. Here is how it goes: http://prezi.com/manual/#insertpowerpoint
Prezi also has an offline editor, and the unique UI really worth the time you spend to learn. Every new and cool thing is different than old boring stuff out there – that is the point isn’t it?
Zoli Radnai
October 5, 2009 at 1:58 pm
[...] Presentations and webinars. I only got as far as this with presentations (see my previous post on Prezi) but I know there are other tools as well to building online presentations and sharing [...]
Personal Branding Part 2 – Channels « Coaching Tips on Effectiveness
October 17, 2009 at 6:52 am
You can also try Slide Rocket http://www.sliderocket.com/. It’s not so cool as prezi, but also not as common as PowerPoint.
HR Perspective
October 19, 2009 at 7:59 am
Thanks! Looks interesting and pretty easy to use. I especially like the visual clarity.
effectivenesscoach
October 19, 2009 at 12:05 pm