Prezi - Zooming Presentations

Prezi is a web-based application that allows you to make pretty stunning presentations.  What makes Prezi somewhat unique is that there are no slides.  You essentially have one big canvas on which to place your text, images, video, and more.  However, that is just the start of it.  Where Prezi gets interesting is that you "zoom" from piece of content to piece of content.  Hmm, not sure if that make sense, so take a look at this Prezi below.

Get to Know Prezi on Prezi

Pretty neat, right? I haven't used Prezi in quite a while (probably 18 months or so).  However, I recently had an occasion to use it again.  I was quite pleased with the changes they had made.  It certainly is a much better tool than it was before.  Now, the gritty details

Perceived Ease of Use

Given the basic tool set, I think that Prezi is pretty easy to use and that people that are comfortable with something like PowerPoint should have no problems picking it up quickly.  The only tricky part is learning how to navigate around, once you get that, you will be good to go. I think it is important not to be deceived by the ease of use, it can take a long time to create a really well-crafted Prezi (much longer than it would take in PowerPoint).

They make some nice tutorials to get you started, but, I would wager you can figure out 90% of it by yourself.

Perceived Usefulness
This is a tough one for me.  I really like Prezi and you will create stunning presentations with it. It's web-based so I have easy access to all my Prezis and the tool to create more from just about anywhere.  I can share them in all the usual ways.  You can play your Prezis on an iPad (this works surprisingly well, although not perfectly).  Oh, did I mention the stunning presentations?

Unfortunately, I remain unconvinced of its overall usefulness. There is no way it becomes my "go to" presentation tool.  Not yet, anyway.  It still takes too long to create even a basic presentation and the lack of an expanded tool set really limits the overall usefulness (drawing tools, specifically).  So, in the end, Prezi becomes a bit of a one-trick pony.  However, I think for special occasions it can blow away the competition.  Therefore, I guess it is the Filet Mignon and Lobster of presentation tools... best reserved for special occasions...

Pros

• Free for basic use (teachers and students get upgraded for free)
• Web-based creation and viewing for widespread access
• Download option for offline viewing (for Enjoy and eduEnjoy users)
• Works on iPad
• Can embed into webpages
• Guidelines to help you align and center your objects (I really liked this one)
• Plenty of wow factor (at least until it becomes ubiquitous)

Cons

• Can be time-consuming (especially if add images) 
• Can be difficult to use until navigation is mastered
• You will constantly be zooming in/out to find your bearings
• Not as many drawing options available as in other programs (ex. PowerPoint)
• Too much motion may turn people off
• Web-based (if you don't have Internet, it can be a problem)
• You can't print (although, this could be a pro)
• It's easy to get caught up in the zooming enough to stop focusing on the purpose of your presentation... which is the content.
• My computer starts to heat up when I use it... I think it uses quite a bit of processing power

Final Thoughts

You should certainly try Prezi out.  I don't think you will be disappointed.

Prezi has a free, public license that will be fine for most people.  There are two premium licenses that allow for increased functionality, including a Pro one which includes the Prezi Desktop for creating Prezis offline.  They are pretty expensive, but if you use it a lot, or it helps you make that big sale, it might be worth it to you.  

If you are a teacher or student, Prezi has you covered.  You can get the EDUenjoy option for free (a $60 value).  This EDUenjoy account lets you download your Prezis so you can use them without being connected to the Internet (pretty nice).

Tips & Tricks

• Have a central theme or concept (possibly an image) that everything centers around
• Hold down SHIFT to select multiple items.  You can make the selection box appear with SHIFT + CLICK + DRAG 
• Import PNG for better looking images
• You don't have infinate "zoom in" or "zoom out", so plan accordingly
• Master the FRAME tool
• Create basic drawings in PowerPoint.  Save them as PNGs and use them in Prezi
• minimize motion, too much can be a bad thing
• PDFs imported as individual pages... so plan accordingly if importing a 40 page PDF