Random Unstructured Thoughts - PREZI
After a period or rumour, circumspect, and curiosity, presentation writing application ‘Prezi’ seems to have found traction within my company. Having used it a bit myself, and got a few ‘oohs’ and ‘aahs’, it really seems to be coming into its own across the company with colleagues chomping at the bit.
Somewhat fortuitously, about 6 months ago I tweeted about Prezi from our company’s @flamingolondon account, and they got in touch asking us to do some testing on the then beta ‘prezi meeting’. Although it was slightly chaotic - we did a brainstorm, creating a Prezi from scratch - but we learnt a lot, and the potential is clearly there for something amazing. Kindly in return, Laszlo and the peeps at Prezi have offered us a branded skin in return.
In no particular order, here are the things I really love about Prezi.
1- It cannot be co-opted like PowerPoint has into a word processing tool. It demands clearer design of qualitative work - displaying ideas/thoughts/journeys in the way they appear rather than the way they fit into a deck.
2- It is so well thought out it forces a reappraisal of PowerPoint from those those who have been tied to it’s evil ways for such a long time - finally people seem to be questioning its ubiquity and efficacy.
3- Zooming, creating structure and hierarchies of importance is a truly pleasurable way to work and looks great
4- The potential of Prezi meeting is mind boggling, for both structured and unstructured collaboration. Being able to co-scribble thoughts into the same place, in real time, from anywhere in the world adds a new dimension to brainstorming. It creates group focus, a shareable outcome and allows all to collaborate and take part, not just the dominant voices. In terms of structured presentation writing, being able to have people working together, across markets, across seniority is fantastic. How often often agency work a factory process - assembling components, production line. Think of the benefits for both mentoring and learning, if the both junior and senior team members are working on the same documents at the same time. That is exciting.
5- Perhaps most importantly, the acid test - clients seem to love it and appreciate the clear and engaging way it can deliver a message.
Here’s to those awesome people in Budapest, keep the good work coming.
