When Techcrunch wrote an article on Prezi the “Coolest Online Presentation Tool I’ve Ever Seen” I had my doubts. The de facto standard for presentations has always been the standard Microsoft Powerpoint, and no one has really expanded past that. Prezi pushes past the standard, mostly boring slides we usually see and they are simply eliminating them. Changing the way we view and build presentations complete with a *gasp* business model.

Viewing Prezi Presentations

Powerpoints are not all that interactive or “cool”. Sure you can have the occasional neat transition and some awesome image but other than that it really isn’t a satisfying experience. Prezi on the other hand adds a whole new dimension with their zooming feature. Basically whatever element is specified is zoomed in on adding a neat visual effect. Test it out with the embedded presentation here (currently no embed option).

Pros

1. Focus

Slides are there for two reasons. To give you, the presenter, a guideline as to what you are going to talk about and the viewer to get a general idea of where you are headed with your speech. While this has been a proven and effective method you might want to focus on something specific with nothing else to detract the attention. Prezi does this greatly allowing you to zoom on a specified word, phrase or image and keep that in focus.

2. Relaying Different Information

With Prezi you can relay different types of information to your audience. A commenter from Techcrunch Kevin says this.

I build detailed (and huge) process flowcharts as part of my deliverables to my clients – displaying these flows is always problematic and usually means printing them out. Put them in the presentation? Forget it. PowerPoint just can’t handle a 200″ wide flowchart such that the text is actually legible. BUT – with Prezi, I stick the flowcharts right in the presentation and zoom in on them as questions arise.

Cons

1. To MUCH Focus

Some presentations I viewed went a bit over board with the zooming feature, and instead of using it too enhance the presentation it just proved to be annoying and made me severely impatient.

2. The Power Of Effects

One thing that has always plagued powerpoint presentations is the endless options of transitions, effects, crappy MIDI music and shapes you can embed. Which besides looking unprofessional distracts the viewer from what you are saying. The presentation should always be one step behind you not one step ahead. The same applies to Prezi presentations.

Building Presentations

Building presentations with the zooming feature is to say the least, different. Instead of the standard task bars that many presentation applications use, Prezi completely reworks the way you navigate and implements features to accommodate for the non-standard way Prezi handles presentations.

Levels

Each circle is in essence a level. Each time you click on a circle Prezi will zoom in on the clicked circle showing you your options. A nifty feature is that all the cirlces are hot keyed for quick access.

Text

Inserting text is simple, so simple I would venture to say it is crippled.There are virtually no formatting options that I am currently aware of. You basically are stuck with changing the text size and that is it. An epic fail in my book for this specific feature

Paths

Paths in Prezi is how you zoom from one object to another, or from one “slide” to another. This is the driving force behind your presentation and you will put it together. Unlike slides which you can easily move around in case you need to adjust something paths are a bit harder to change. Changing the path of one certain item could possibly mean you have to change all of your other paths too. A tedious chore that can be avoided if you plan out and organize your Prezi presentation.

Frames

Frames is a simple way to see multiple items in one zoom. It also gives your text a bit of background, though it would be nice if you could change the color of these frames for branding purposes.

Lines and Media

You three options for lines, an arrow, free draw and a bold line (looks more like a highlighting option), you can have these lines follow along your paths. You also can add pictures and videos to your Prezi presentations as long as you are within your file limits of your account.

Business Model

Prezi uses the freemium model. Their prices are below plus all the other features they offer.

Final Thought

Prezi is an interesting, well thought out application that I wager will be serious contender to the de facto standard Microsoft Powerpoint. While in some aspects it is not nearly as powerful as MS Powerpoint (changing font styles and color anyone?) it definitely brings something new to the table of presentations and moves away from the standard. While it still has its quirks you can bet on the fact you will start seeing Prezi more often than not.