From oct 2010 my educational posts are published only on Pip

22 sep. 2010

Prezi still for early adopters

Now when I've run my presentation at Disruptive Code I can ventilate my thoughts from the hours I've spent with the Prezi tool.

You find and work with this web based tool online on Prezi.com since 1,5 years now. For me who is a really lousy Power Pointer, and who is working on a PC and therefore can't access Keynote, this Prezi tool was a fun option. The presentations look different, more narrative, less bullits, and more fun. Suits me.



You more or less through all the information you've got on one big sheet, more like a mind map, and then place them in the order you want to display them. The effect is as if a camera is screening from one info piece to the next. Makes you kind of sea sick, but is visually different from the power point view which offers an entirely different experience. I'm not completely convinced that it's better, but I had to try it out.

The thing that striked me the most when working with the tool is how poor it is though. There is no functionality, no options. The least you could ask for to not get dizzy yourself is 'align', different fonts or send to the very back/front, or at least 50 templates, or even better - any template shared by any user. It took me a second to learn how to build a presentation, it took me hours to create it.

Then I remembered - I'm still an early adopter, spreading the word, making the hype. The feature is visually fun, it's innovative, surprising, and for free. They can afford to release it with small bugs, and shortages. I can't upload 10 4 kb illustrations without the pres being too big, and yet I will try the tool out for the effect and alternative.

And then they can add and add and add the features that the users ask for, one by one, and live on this for a long time. If they put in all the functionality that Power Point offers, they have a chance to be the best tool for some time... until something new arrives. Then they will have to do some innovations again.

Geoffrey A.Moore 1991 - Crossing the Chasm - from early adopters to slaggers.

In fashion I go for version 1, in tech for version 2

5 kommentarer:

  1. I looked at Prezi once but too me it seemed like it would take too much time to make the presentation. I like the Prezi-presentations I have seen since they are, as you mention, more narrative and fun, but since I did not have much time to make the presentation I did not think Prezi was an option. So is there any easy way for me to test Prezi?

    SvaraRadera
  2. Hmm... the thing is that there are very few features to learn, so it's easy to get started - just double click the canvas and write your info, upload images, size it and set the path. The problem is that there are so many features missing that making a presentation does take time. The only tips I can offer is to plan the presentation well in advance, sketch it up on a paper and know what you want to do with it before you begin.

    SvaraRadera
  3. Also got a good comment on Facebook on this post, thinking that this might be a good way to present for example instructions, maps etc and it seems as a good idea to have 1 big image to zoom in and out in - maybe the best way to use it.

    SvaraRadera
  4. I love Prezi, but haven't used it that much as I probably should. I feel that the interface is very intuitive and when you do your presentation it's more friendly to fast -forward/Backwards than Powerpoint or equal softwares.

    SvaraRadera
  5. if only you could manage the sea sickness :-S

    SvaraRadera