The first time I ever saw a Prezi presentation, I immediately saw the potential for the site. With its swooping movement and its ability to drill down further and further into the details of something, I saw that Prezi was perfect when you had connecting ideas that didn't fit on a PowerPoint presentation. It was just right for showing off complex relationships, especially when there were varying levels of detail.
Unfortunately, I've rarely seen that kind of Prezi. What I mostly see are presentations that could just as easily have been a PowerPoint but that were placed into a Prezi so that people in the audience could be ooh'ed and awed by the dizzying movement. And I guess it must have worked to that effect, because the site has caught on and now it seems like everyone is using the site, whether it makes any sense or not, and whether the ideas in the presentation are connected in a visual way or not.
And as a result, I'm about as frustrated by a Prezi presentation as I am by a boring PowerPoint presentation.
Over the weekend though, I stumbled upon the website below, which shows EXACTLY the kind of information for which the Prezi tool works best. It's absolutely worth your time to check it out, especially if you're a science teacher.
Before I post the link, though, a disclaimer--the site isn't constructed solely using Prezi. It does look like it's a Prezi that's been modified by people with a working knowledge of Flash, but it's not something that a typical user could create on his/her own. It's not THAT much more advanced, though, and--as I said--at least it demonstrates the kind of subject that really works with a Prezi.
Visit the site.
Cool resource. I've shared.
ReplyDeleteI heard the phrase "death by Prezi" at KySTE. If done correctly, it can make a presentation more entertaining especially if you can use the motion to make a point in the presentation. On the flip side, a poorly done Prezi might require everyone to take Dramamine before it starts.
Great Scale site Bryan! I agree in full, and am guilty as charged at times. I've been over the novelty for some time now. But For me, it's not about the final product - it's about the process, the design, or the build of shared ideas. I'm absolutely over, offline builds, send to someone, they add a slide, then the chain continues. We rarely have or get the time to really build on other peoples ideas, and go beyond as a group, where individually we stop. I'm over co-operative work and am trying to push hard on collaborative work.
ReplyDeleteI held out on Prezi for a short while... but for me, more times than not, I need to collaborate with other people on a presentation or idea share. I also need a quick and easy way to share that idea. And being able to do that in a one stop shop (with a link) is better for me sometimes, than emailing out a PPT or uploading a PPT to Skydrive, getting a link and sharing that out.
For me, It's not the "swooping to stuff" as much as it is about getting everybody in the Prezi together - firing up Skype or whatever and talking through ideas. It's a tool that has figured out the "at the same time" and "at different times" shared work. The technology is available, it's interesting to me how there are only a few really doing it well (Google Docs, and a dash of Skydrive - Office Web Apps show some promise).
Just some thoughts by a guilty as charged "death by Prezi" presenter.