I know a lot of people like and use Prezi, though I created an account back in 2009 or thereabouts, I have not yet managed to create even a single presentation until now.
I am delivering some training this week and wanted to include Prezi, so I thought I ought to create at least one presentation. Having planned the presentation on “paper” well using a Word Processor, I then created the presentation using Prezi.
It was quite simple to create, though I would recommend going through the tutorial. Designing the presentation takes a little more thought than the standard slides you find in Powerpoint or Keynote. But you can add images and video quite easily.
I am still a little unsure of the real benefits of Prezi, in some ways it reminds me of Powerpoint with vomit-inducing transitions. Though I do like the fact that it is possible to see the whole presentation on the screen at once and go to where you want to go in a non-linear fashion. In many ways I think Prezi works better allowing individuals to explore the presentation at their own pace, over showing the presentation to a large group. Of course if you show it first and then allow exploration later, it does work better than Powerpoint in that way.
Yes, I’ve been wrestling with this point:
“in some ways it reminds me of Powerpoint with vomit-inducing transitions.”
I tried to explore some of the issues here:http://classroom201x.wordpress.com/2010/07/18/prezi-vs-powerpoint/
I think the key is how it could be used as a self-access resource – I recently tried to put one together for a training session on Moodle – I hoped that this could be a useful resource for people to come to at a later date: http://classroom201x.wordpress.com/2012/02/10/getting-creative-with-moodle-for-esol-learners/
The holy grail I guess would be a totally non-linear presentation – a huge(ish) Prezi and you go in and say – “So, what do you want to look at today?” and then go to the useful bit on the Prezi…. Could that be useful?