Saturday, April 27, 2013

The next big thing in presentation software.

I hate PowerPoint.  To be fair, I hate MS Office all together.  But that is something I will rant about another time.  What I'm talking about is PowerPoint presentations.  I hate them.  It seems PP has taken over the learning format for almost anything.  Every conference, lecture, classroom session, or even TED talk seems to involve a PP presentation.  I get it.  They are easy to make and edit, and, in theory, make a lecture more interesting.  But that is also part of the problem.  If you don't put much time or thought into your PP, it doesn't bring anything to the table.  I was discussing with my wife a couple weeks ago about how we have become desensitized, in a way, to PP presentations.  If I sit down for a lecture, as soon as a screen turns on with some basic cheesy PowerPoint fonts, I immediately start to loose interest.  Last week I listened to a presentation that blew the old stand-by out of the water.

The presenter used a program called Prezi.  I had never heard or seen it before, but it made a huge difference in how I viewed the presentation.  In fact, the presenter wasn't particularly good and the content was novel or interesting, but the Prezi presentation added enough variety to keep it fresh. I think too many presenters rely on PP to present their information in outline form.  Prezi makes a presentation into a much more effective visual aid; an accompaniment to a presentation, rather than the main body of it.  Check out their website here.  They have free and paid subscriptions.  You can also explore public Prezis that people have made.  Embedded below is a TED talk inspired Prezi about identity.

2 comments:

  1. I use both Prezi and PP. they both have their place. Prezi is great for when you are trying to catch attention, dazzle and impress an audience that is not familiar with your material, but sometimes it is too much. PP is a great wham bam get your point across and get out tool, which is often required in business.

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  2. When I was at the univeristy you were banned from using PP until you could show that you could present without it. I don't know how many hours of my life I have wasted by having someone read to me. I mentioned to a presenter during a recent course of study if the entire semester was going to be like this. Because if it was I don't need to be read to and I will read the PP at home. He was not happy with my question. Well like many others, he needed to look in the mirror and see what he was bringing to the table with regards to actually teaching. We are all adults, we can all read. Don't waste your time with doing up some BS PP presentation then just read it. Note form people note form....ahhhhhhhh excuse me now as I have to go and read a PP. lol

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