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Mastering Prezi for Business Presentations (Update)

Chapter 1. Understanding the Prezi Frame of Mind

Although it is certainly possible to use Prezi in a similar way to other presentation tools, such as Microsoft PowerPoint, Prezi opens up new ways of presenting that simply aren't possible with the other tools. While teaching others how to use Prezi, we have discovered that the biggest learning curve is not usually the technical aspect of how to use the tool itself, but rather how to understand and start thinking in what we call the Prezi frame of mind. Many of us have become so accustomed to the slides made prominent by PowerPoint that it's difficult to think outside of the box—literally outside of the box that makes up the slide. Prezi opens up our presentational possibilities in new and exciting ways. Just as important as learning how to use the technical aspect of Prezi is learning how to think Prezi. As we work through the technical elements, we will also reinforce how these elements can help us think differently about how to present.

In this first chapter, we will get an overview of what these different types of presentations look like, covering the following topics:

Thinking about nonlinear presentations
Planning your Prezi
Mind mapping
Deciding the BIG picture
Common Prezi mistakes

Thinking about nonlinear presentations

As Prezi is so different to other presentation tools both technically and aesthetically, we need to ensure that we approach it in a very different way compared to how we might go about designing a PowerPoint presentation.

It goes without saying that a presentation designed in any media should have a good degree of planning first, but even more so in Prezi. The reason is that Prezi's infinite canvas gives you such a huge expanse of space that it is very easy to lose elements of your design within it.

By simply planning your Prezi in the right way, you can save lots of time in the design stage and really take advantage of this space.

Tip

Forget Slides

It's easy to keep using the term slides when building a Prezi, but slides don't exist in this software, and this kind of thinking will keep you stuck in the old way of presenting. Force yourself and your colleagues to use Prezi terms such as canvas and frames to break the mold and get yourself focused on the right type of approach.

You probably moved over to Prezi because you were getting tired and fed up with the rigid nature of PowerPoint or some other slide-based tool. You felt trapped and confined by the slides that only allowed you to deliver your presentations in one way, that is, in a linear fashion from beginning to end. Then, you saw Prezi and were blown away by the fact that it is a completely open canvas that doesn't have any walls or restrictions like slides do. In other words, it has a three-dimensional canvas as opposed to the traditional two-dimensional slide.

For some though, this fact can be very difficult to embrace and they very quickly return to the comfort of their slide-walled prisons because too much freedom scares them. They simply don't know how to use the space well to deliver their message. If you watch them closely, you will see that they try to build a slideshow in Prezi, and the way they think just doesn't match up with the way Prezi works.

These prisoners can easily be freed if they learn how to think and plan for Prezi, and we believe there are three key steps to master your Prezi designs, which we will explore later in this chapter.

If you ask any Prezi master why they love it so much, you might hear the words "nonlinear presenting" quite a lot. In order to master Prezi, it's important to know what a nonlinear presentation exactly means.

Linear presentations

If we want a presentation that teaches someone how to drive, then we will need to start with the absolute basics and build from there. This type of presentation will have to be linear and might have a flow similar to the following:

Unlock the driver's side door.
Get in and put your seat belt on.
Put your foot down on the clutch to check whether you are in gear.
Put the keys into the ignition.
Start the car.

The instructions would follow in a similar manner so that the task is carried out in the right way. This is a linear path, and any presentation built to visually represent it would have to start at step one and then move on to step two, and so on.

Information of this kind always needs to be presented in a linear fashion, so you can use PowerPoint's slide-based design or build a Prezi that uses a series of paths. Both will have clear start and end points.

Nonlinear presentations

What if your subject matter had several different areas or modules that didn't have to be presented in a certain order? Who decides where the start and end should be? You? Your manager? The CEO? We'll give you a clue. They're going to be sitting right in front of you during your presentation.

One of the main reasons why presentations don't hit the mark is because they don't consider which elements of the content are most important to their audiences. So why not ask them where they'd like to start? Or at least start your presentation with some friendly introductions; start a conversation and then find out what is the most important part of the topic to them. If enough people agree on the same area, then zoom straight into that area and get going.

This is a nonlinear and more conversational approach to presenting, and it is extremely easy to implement with Prezi.

The beauty of using this approach in Prezi is that it engages your audience more and lets the conversation you have with them unfold very naturally. Following is an example template of how you can structure your nonlinear presentation to cover five separate modules:

All of the modules are contained inside one giant circular frame, and each module's content is contained inside its own frame within that.

The best of both worlds

Even though a nonlinear approach is much more creative, there may be elements to your presentation that are best explained in a linear order for your audience to make sense of them.

If this is the case, you can join the different elements of your Prezi together with paths. This gives you the benefit of allowing your audience to decide the direction of your presentation (nonlinear), but also the opportunity to break down key points into a logical order (linear).

Using Prezi's paths tool with this method, your presentation might look similar to the one shown in the following screenshot:

If your audience decides that they would like to start on Module 3, simply zoom in to that frame using your mouse. This can be done quickly by clicking on the desired frame or title. After this, you can let the paths take over so that you flow through the content of Module 3 in a linear manner if needed.

Think for Prezi

We already mentioned previously that Prezi can (and should) be used in a nonlinear way, but most of us are so used to the linear method of PowerPoint and other slide-based tools that we find it very hard to break out of that mold and use this crazy nonlinear concept.

By thinking in the old linear slide-by-slide way, you can end up with what looks like a PowerPoint presentation, but with some fancy transitions in between slides. If you end up with a presentation like this, then you might as well have continued using PowerPoint because you're not taking full advantage of what Prezi has to offer. Realizing that your presentation's movement doesn't just have to go from left (slide 1) to right (slide 2), but that it can also zoom in to detail and back out to show an overview of everything, will unlock a whole new world of presentation mastery to you.

There's no doubt that to master Prezi you need to learn two things:

The Prezi software
The Prezi mindset

Simply knowing what all the buttons do isn't enough to become a Prezi master. You must ensure that you take the time to train your brain to think differently as well. Failing to do so will kill a Prezi design.

Planning your Prezi

If your boss asks you to build a presentation on that new business idea you mentioned to them at the Christmas party, you are bound to get very excited indeed. Then, if they ask whether you can present the idea to the board in an hour's time, you slowly start to melt in your chair.

Most people would grab a strong coffee, open up their copy of Prezi, insert images, text, video, and anything else they can find to help explain their idea. They would then link the key elements together with paths and be happy that their Prezi will really communicate their idea enough to get a good result.

A Prezi master, on the other hand, would not even dream of touching the Prezi software until they knew exactly how their Prezi was going to deliver their idea, which imagery to use, and what the key messages are. In fact, if they had one hour to build a Prezi, they would probably spend the first 15-20 minutes planning and the rest of the time actually building their Prezi. This is because they've taken the time to learn the three design steps to build a Prezi presentation.

One of these employees will get booted out of the boardroom for giving their senior management team motion sickness, and the other gets commended for delivering a wonderfully clear picture of their business idea. We're pretty sure you know who belongs to which category.

Tip

Ensure that you master the design steps explained in the following section. It is one thing to know the software, but to build really great presentations, you must go about the design in the right way.

The three Prezi design steps

The three-step approach explained over the next few pages is aimed at helping you get the most out of Prezi. By ensuring that you follow the three steps, you'll start to think in the right way, understand the key messages in your design, and also build the Prezi in a sensible and time-efficient way.

The three steps are:

Planning your Prezi.
Getting the style right.
Building in layers.

Failure to use this approach can get you frustrated during the design process and will make you lose track of everything on your canvas, waste valuable time, and/or you end up creating something that's sure to deliver motion sickness to your audience.

To master Prezi, you must master these steps.

Step 1 – planning your Prezi

The first design step is without a doubt the most important of all. Taking the time to plan your Prezi will give you a clear vision of exactly what it is that you need to say or show to your audience in order to deliver your message.

Things you need to know

There are some questions you should always ask yourself at the start of any Prezi design:

What's the overall message I'm trying to get across?
What must people know by the end of my Prezi?
Are there any smaller key messages along the way that will help to make my point?
Will my Prezi be led by a presenter such as myself, or will it be accessed by people online?

Answering these questions before you start can give you a really good understanding of what your Prezi needs to say and how it can be said.

Step 2 – getting the style right

Have you ever been in a presentation and spent too much time trying to figure out what the image on screen means rather than what the actual message from the presenter is? Anything visual in your presentation can be extremely powerful for the audience, or it can be extremely distracting and can cloud the importance of your message.

Let's briefly look at some of the unique features of Prezi that can help us start planning from a Prezi perspective.

Zooming

Prezi's zooming feature can help you deliver your message in a powerful way when it's used correctly. It's simple to create such a zooming effect technically, and we'll look at how to do that. However, first, it's even more important to think about why you're zooming. You don't want to simply zoom in and out just because you can easily do so. What will your zoom communicate? Let's take a look at an intentionally strong use of zoom to understand how this can be done:

Screenshot from Putting Time into Perspective by Prezi Jedi

In this Prezi, the viewer starts by seeing the events that have shaped the life of a contemporary American who is 30 years old. The Prezi then zooms out further through each step of the presentation, revealing a larger time frame with each step. It finally ends with the time frame of the Behaviorally Modern Humans:

Screenshot from Putting Time into Perspective by Prezi Jedi

The original frame from Prezi is way up at the very top right corner now, way past the tip of the gray arrow—so small that you can't even see it. Here zoom is used intentionally to demonstrate how difficult it is for humans to conceive of time. You can see this effect in action and get the full impact at https://prezi.com/veychlhwrdgz/putting-time-in-perspective/.

Obviously, not every Prezi will be able to use the zoom feature in this way, but this style of zooming reflects the Prezi frame of mind that is so important to the design process. As part of your design process, ensure that you ask, "How will I use zooming in my Prezi?"

Frames

In Chapter 3, Consistent Branding for Business, we will look at how we can create templates that will allow us to reuse elements of the design we create for our Prezi. For now, though, the important thing is to start thinking in terms of Frames rather than slides. Although there are a lot of similarities, Prezi has decided to use the name frames to help emphasize the 3D nature of their canvas.

Prezi offers a few different ways to create frames. If you are looking to completely custom design your frame, you can use the frame menu option near the top-left corner of the Prezi window:

Prezi offers four different default frame styles: Bracket, Circle, Rectangle, and Invisible. The Invisible frames can be used to help determine the path layout of a presentation, but won't be seen by when the Prezi is used in presentation mode. All of the others will be visible at all times. You can see grey circle frames used in the preceding example of Prezi.

If you're looking for a bit more direction, Prezi offers the option to insert a layout, which is a frame with predefined areas to insert elements such as text and images. To access this, go to the top tool bar menu and navigate to Insert | Layouts…. This brings up a tool bar on the right that allows you to insert either single or multi-frame layouts.

Multi-frame layouts offer a wide range of options that have been used in popular Prezi templates. These include layouts that can be used either as part of a larger Prezi, or even as an entire presentation in itself, such as the timeline frame or the tip of the iceberg frame pictured here:

This template actually makes great use of both the frame and zooming features because the presentation can start as zoomed in at the very top, showing a more straightforward understanding of an issue, and then zoom out to the entire iceberg to reveal that there's actually much more complexity to an issue below the surface.

The key to your planning process is to realize that frames are liberated on a 3D canvas in a way that slides in PowerPoint are not.

Note

In a PowerPoint presentation, slides are sequential and always have to be just to the right or left of one another. However, frames can be placed anywhere, and their actual positions relative to one another can help create meaning in your presentation, as with the tip of the iceberg shown earlier. Making use of this new space can be challenging but it's also an opportunity to allow your creativity to flourish.

Step 3 – building in layers

Now comes the easy part. Taking the Prezi design, you've designed in step 1 – Planning your Prezi, add all of the imagery and styles from step 2 – Getting the style right, and put it all together on the Prezi canvas. It's a piece of cake right?

We're pretty sure that every Prezi user comes unstuck now, and this is again because they rush into the canvas and try to add everything at once. This can lead to certain elements getting lost because you zoomed in too far and then back out again, or you might find that your Prezi doesn't end up looking quite like you'd planned.

A piece of cake

In order to help you in this final step, we want you to think of making your Prezi in the same way that you'd make a delicious Victoria sponge cake like the one shown in the following image:

Once you've got all of your ingredients from step 1 – Planning your Prezi, and step 2 – Getting the style right, you should build your Prezi in the layers listed here.

The bottom layer of sponge

If you're going to have some kind of background image that sits behind everything in your Prezi, then you must insert this onto your canvas before anything else. You may want to start your Prezi by zooming in to a small part of a much larger image that will be revealed at the end. In this case, ensure that it's the first thing you insert.

In the example shown in the following image, the Prezi starts in the top-left corner of the iPad screen at path points 1 and 2. The audience is then taken through the Prezi path, which is all contained inside the screen of the iPad. It is only when the audience reaches path point 12 that the Prezi zooms out to reveal the background image:

This example can be viewed online at http://prezi.com/yl9_u5si57pp/prezi-ipad-freedom/.

Note

The technique of revealing an eye-catching background image at the end of your Prezi is known as the BIG picture technique and is explained further at the end of this chapter.

Cream and jam

Now that you have your first layer of sponge in place, you can start to add those tasty ingredients and spread them right across your Prezi canvas. Yummy!

The cream and jam of your Prezi might include some or all of the following items:

Text
Images
Graphs
Video files (including sound)
YouTube clips
Flash animations
Frames

If you've planned your Prezi well enough in step 1 – Plan your Prezi, then you should have a good idea of where to place each of these elements on your canvas.

We'd encourage you to place the separate elements at slightly different angles from one another so that the canvas turns a little during transition. Again, try not to overcook this as too much spinning can make people feel ill.

If you do need to adjust the position of any object at this stage, just right-click on it and use the Send Backward or Bring Forward options, as shown in the following screenshot:

The top layer of sponge

Once you have your background imagery (bottom layer) and your different elements (cream and jam) on the same canvas, the only thing left to do is join them all together with paths so that your Prezi flows in the correct order.

Note

As we already mentioned, your Prezi design might not need a path if you're using a conversational presentation method. So, for some, this step might be optional.

It can be extremely difficult and frustrating to try to adjust paths when things need to be moved around on your canvas, so ensure that you are totally happy with the position of your cream and jam before adding this top layer of sponge.

Once you've added your paths, we strongly recommend that you take your Prezi into show mode and test that everything looks and tastes great.

The steps, again

We highly recommend that you master these three design steps as they will really help you to achieve great results and visualize the design before you even touch the Prezi software.

Knowing what you want to achieve from your Prezi at the start is crucial. It's extremely easy to get lost in the Prezi canvas and waste time looking for missing objects, so adding this very structured and logical approach will really help.

As a reminder, the three Prezi design steps are as follows:

Planning your Prezi.
Getting the style right.
Building in layers.

Once you master these steps, building any Prezi will be a piece of cake.

Tip

Don't get caught out

When building a Prezi for your business, you'll no doubt be under serious time constraints, have other work that needs your attention, and probably have a number of distractions around you. Don't allow yourself to skip over these steps because you think there isn't time. They'll actually save you time in the long run if used correctly.

What you will learn

Insert sounds into your Prezis for narration or for use in online delivery

Differentiate between Raster and Vector imagery to optimize your Prezi design

Develop consistent branding in your Prezi

Design Prezis for use online without a presenter guiding the audience

Collaborate with colleagues overseas using Prezi

Turn company slides into nonlinear Prezi presentations

Create custom menus for embedded Prezis

What do you get with Print?

Instant access to your digital copy whilst your Print order is Shipped

Paperback book shipped to your preferred address

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Access this title in our online reader with advanced features

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€36.99

Mastering Prezi for Business Presentations (Update)

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Total € 111.97

Stephen Carradini Nov 02, 2015

I've presented using Prezi before, but I never really got the hang of using it effectively. I moved back to PowerPoint. The first chapter of this smart and timely book points out what I didn't catch the first time: even though I tried to use the Prezi tools, I still was thinking in a linear way about planning my presentations. Before even introducing the software, the authors dedicate a full chapter to thinking in a non-linear way. This initially surprised me, but as I read through it, their suggestions, comments, and advice started to click. Everything else in the book flows from that initial idea: to do Prezi well, you have to think non-linearly from the very beginning of content development, not as an afterthought or as a way of making it look cool. That realization alone is powerful.Chapters 2 and 3 give the basics and then a deep dive into the design features of a Prezi--I didn't know I could use CSS in this program, but now I know that and more. Dozens of helpful step-by-step tutorials with multiple images abound, whether that's for learning how to insert a line, create a path, or import slides from PowerPoint (Chapter 4). Common frustrations such as import failures, content loss, and uneven sound levels are addressed, which helps immensely. One of the biggest bonuses is the tutorials on how to use technologies outside Prezi (Inkscape, Audacity, YouTube) in conjunction with Prezi. The chapters on mobile/tablet use, remote presenting and collaboration are also thoughtful.Each chapter is impressively documented with images and text; I will return to the chapters in the future to brush up on my techniques. The book even details not just how to present a Prezi effectively (aspect ratios! they matter!), but how to create an interactive whiteboard on the cheap to make your Prezis truly remarkable. (And if you're not convinced about their thoroughness, there's some even technical code-related work you can delve into on presenting your Prezi on the web.) To cap it all off, they finish with a chapter on how to help "Prezi masters" in PowerPoint-dominated companies transition their colleagues and bosses to Prezi. This long, detailed, thoughtful book is a one-stop shop for everything you need to know about Prezi, whether you've never used it, used it a ton, or are seeking to teach others how to use it.

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Stylianos A Sep 02, 2015

I have always used Microsoft PowerPoint for presentations and I'm a newcomer to Prezi (in fact I plan to be using both, depending on the occasion). I was therefore looking for a book that can both introduce me to a new concept/way of thinking about presentations but also give me enough knowledge to create a presentation good enough for a demanding audience. Mastering Prezi for Business Presentations is a great book as it did achieve both.Things I liked:•Good for newcomers it's a "master" series but also great for beginners•Well structured and edited•Information is presented in a methodical (there's "steps" guiding throughout) way so for people with already some expertise they can use it for reference (no need to read from cover to cover).•Good balance of pictures/screenshots with content•Starts with overview and some general guidance (for beginners) and then jumps into the nitty gritty stuff•It presents additional information about a topic for those non-experts. For example when talking about Prezi and images, it also gives an overview of raster vs. vector, popular editors, description of file formats and advantages/disadvantages of each in relation to Prezi as well - for example how to find images, vectorize and insert.•Also found very useful the "summary tables" which help the reader decide on a technology or file format, feature etc.I haven't found anything negative although I must admit I haven't read it from cover to cover. I have yet to try the Prezi API, there's always the possibility of errors lurking in the JavaScript code.. ;-)Overall a well-written book, recommended for both beginners and intermediate readers. I cannot say I am necessarily a master of Prezi yet but I certainly feel confident I can do quite a lot with it.

Franklin Taggart Oct 31, 2020

I've been a Prezi user for several years and was looking for a good intro to all the features. It was recommended by one of the authors in some tutorials I saw on YouTube. While there were some helpful guides to using basic features, the book covers a version of Prezi that isn't up to date so there are some significant holes and a few changes that are different from the book. For example, paths in the old version we're much more flexible than they are in the current version. The food news is that for now, the old version is available as Prezi Classic, so the book is more relevant for that app than the latest version. I have found the book a helpful supplement to the information I've found on The Prezenter YouTube channel that is hosted by the author

Teresa C. Sep 06, 2015

A guide to Prezi for the many of us who already use that presentation tool but want to move to the next level of mastery. The book is great in suggesting what is really new in Prezi - the '3D' approach which allows to escape from the linearity of PPT and offers your audience an idea of the complexity you are talking about. This really 'hands-on' guide helps you in clarifying how to transform a presentation in a storytelling experience. I have found dozens of good tips to communicate clearly, consistently and effectively with Prezi. Not to forget, many good ideas to avoid motion sickness...I'd recommend this book to all those who don't just want to 'jazz up' their slides, but are looking for a way to get the most out of Prezi. Why not 5 stars? There is so much enthusiasm in the author's words, perhaps too much for down-to-earth people.

Mastering Prezi for Business Presentations (Update): Engage your audience visually with stunning Prezi presentation designs and be the envy of your colleagues who use PowerPoint with this book and ebook

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Think for Prezi

Step 1 – planning your Prezi

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Step 2 – getting the style right

Zooming

Frames

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Step 3 – building in layers

A piece of cake

The bottom layer of sponge

Note

Cream and jam

The top layer of sponge

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