Thing 17 - Prezi and Slideshare

I have been looking forward to this thing, as I have seen Prezi presentations in the past and liked them but never got round to looking at Prezi for my own use, so this is the perfect excuse. It's common knowledge that using presentation software such as Powerpoint is not the key to a good presentation - the technology is just an aid to the main event. I have definitely fallen into the Powerpoint trap of too many slides and too many bullet points in the past, though I am conscious of this danger, and try to avoid it.

Prezi is very different to Powerpoint, full of whizzy graphics that can shoot round the screen. But I would think that there is still the same danger of relying too much on what the technology lets you do, rather than creating a great presentation that's enhanced by, rather than taken over by, the graphics. I have seen Prezi presentations that have the same effect on me as some 3D cinema - a slight feeling of dizziness and the beginnings of a migraine, from all those images and objects zooming in and out, and jumping around the screen while my eyes and brain try to keep up. I think there is probably an art to doing it well, and I love the idea of being able to 'dance around your subject' as the CPD blog suggests. I think that the style of the presentations can really capture the presenter's enthusiasm and the audience's interest much more than a linear Powerpoint might.
I spent quite a lot of time in the 'learn' section of Prezi trying to figure it out, and have started to have a go putting together a very short presentation for use at work. But I think it's going to take some getting used to - the basics seem easy to master, but I have a feeling that anything more sophisticated might be a lot harder! The added benefit of reading around other blog posts on Prezi was the list of other useful tools that I found - Zamzar for free file conversion, Picnik for free photo editing, Photofunia for special effects for photos and Stock.xchng for images.

A brief mention too of Slideshare - I've heard of this before, and used it to take a look at presentations from others. It seems useful, but I don't think I really have enough presentations to make it worthwhile. But was interesting to consider it in terms of being a good place to 'advertise' yourself and your presentations - I loved the visual CV example.