I regularly visit the Prezi Facebook page, and am so encouraged to see dozens of daily posts from new users saying how much they love Prezi, and describing how it helped them win a sales pitch or give the best presentation in their class.
For those like me who are starting to make a living from the wonderful exploits of this great new software it’s fantastic to see that so many people are using it. And how many of the people who comment on Facebook then go on to tell their friends, and who do they tell, and so on….
I am so optimistic about Prezi’s future that I can see it being used by every school, university lecturer, and sales professional who wants to stand above the rest. However I’m also a little bit nervous, and slightly worried….let me explain.
Many years ago when good old Powerpoint came onto the scene the whole world jumped for joy because they now had a way of communicating their ideas to large audiences in a way that was visually stimulating, easy to build, and could be shared just as easy.
I can just see Doug the 1980’s sales champion going into his pitch now and firing up his presentation. His first clicks reveal a barrage of animations and funky graphics, and his audience drooling all over it and then signing on the dotted line. Well done Doug, you’re my hero!
Thirty million a day!
The problem was that as the years went on Doug’s Ppt onslaught of the visual senses became less and less effective. ‘Why isn’t this working anymore’ he’d ask himself’. ‘Is it because I’m old and grey and not the feisty young buck I once was?’. No Doug it’s not you my friend; Your drop in sales performance is because your audience has been subjected to 20 years of Ppt presentations that are very very dull, to text heavy, impossible to read, full of pixelated imagery, and well quite frankly they are tired of them!
According to various sources there are over 30 million powerPoint presentations created every day. That’s a staggering amount. But I wonder how many of the 30 million creators have read Presentation Xen, or even bothered to consider how their audience will feel when they get to slide 75 at 4pm on a Friday afternoon!
Perfect Opportunity
The reason for my nerves towards Prezi, and how fast it’s taking off is simply because I love it so much and can’t stand the thought of 30 million people throwing up each day because the Prezi they’ve been presented with has given them motion sickness!
As well as damaging productivity of the global work force this will also damage the credibility of Prezi, and again we’ll be back at square one looking for a new toy to present with.
We have a great opportunity with Prezi, and if we love it enough to say so on Facebook then we should do all we can to preserve it’s qualities by making beautiful Prezi’s that really inspire.
But how I here you ask….
The first thing we need to do is make a promise. I’m laughing to myself as I write this but I want everyone to say it out loud. Don’t worry if your work colleagues look at you strangely….
“As long as I’m a Prezi user I (state your name) promise to continually learn and improve upon my presentation skills. I promise to never give my audience motion sickness, to use clip art, or to have screens full of text. I will do my best to wow my audience with great use of Prezi, and spread the love”
We have to share ideas, tips, tricks, and continually learn how to leverage this great new tool. For the good of humanity itself – Okay I’m going to far now I admit, but I think you get how serious I am.
If you love Prezi as much as I do please do it the justice it deserves, and make sure it stays around much longer than slide based presentation tools.
Please honour me by commenting below and simply stating ‘I Promise’
