We have all been there. You’re sitting in a conference room, or maybe a Zoom call, and the speaker starts clicking through a deck that looks like it was designed in 1998. It’s linear. It’s dry. Honestly, it’s exhausting. The phrase do better by Prezi isn't just a marketing slogan; it is a direct response to "Death by PowerPoint," a phenomenon that has plagued corporate communication for decades. People are tired of being lectured at by bullet points. They want a story.
Traditional slides force you into a box. You go from slide A to slide B to slide C. But humans don’t think in straight lines. We think in maps. We think in relationships. This is where the whole concept of doing better comes in. It’s about ditching the flip-book style of presenting for something that actually mirrors how the human brain processes information.
The Science of Why You Need to Do Better by Prezi
Standard presentations are cognitively taxing. Research from Harvard University researchers actually found that zooming user interfaces (ZUIs), like the one Prezi uses, are significantly more effective than traditional slides. Why? Because of spatial memory. When you see a "big picture" and then zoom into a detail, your brain creates a mental map of the information. You aren't just memorizing a list; you're understanding a landscape.
Most people get this wrong. They think Prezi is just about "making things move" or "the dizzy effect." If you’re just spinning your canvas for the sake of it, you aren't doing better; you’re just making your audience nauseous. True mastery of the platform involves using movement to show hierarchy. You zoom into a specific data point to show it’s a subset of a larger trend. You pan to the right to show a chronological shift. It’s cinematic, but it’s also logical.
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Breaking the Linear Habit
It’s hard to break the habit of the "next slide" mentality. We’ve been conditioned since grade school to think in terms of a stack of papers. But do better by Prezi asks you to think like a filmmaker or a cartographer.
Think about a map. You don't look at a map of a city by looking at ten separate photos of individual streets in a specific order. You look at the whole city, then you find your neighborhood, then you find your house. That context matters. In a business pitch, showing your quarterly growth within the context of the five-year company vision provides a sense of scale that a standalone bar chart simply cannot replicate.
Virtual Presence and the Prezi Video Shift
The world changed a few years ago. We aren't always in the same room anymore. This is where the do better by Prezi movement really took off with the introduction of Prezi Video. Have you ever noticed how awkward it is to share your screen on a video call? Your face disappears into a tiny thumbnail in the corner, and the audience is left staring at a static slide. You lose the connection.
Prezi Video puts your content right next to you on the screen. It’s like being a news anchor. You can point to your data, interact with your graphics, and maintain eye contact with the camera. This isn't just a "cool feature." It’s a fundamental shift in how we build trust remotely. When people can see your facial expressions while you explain a complex pivot in strategy, they are much more likely to buy into what you’re saying.
Real Examples of Doing It Right
- Sales Pitches: Instead of a 20-slide deck, a sales rep uses a single canvas. They ask the prospect, "Which part of our service are you most interested in today?" Depending on the answer, they zoom into that specific area. It’s a conversation, not a monologue.
- Education: A history teacher shows a map of Europe. Instead of switching slides to talk about the French Revolution, they zoom into Paris. The context of the surrounding countries remains "mentally present" because the audience saw where they came from.
- Internal Briefings: A CEO uses Prezi Video to deliver a monthly update. Instead of an email nobody reads, they record a three-minute video where the key KPIs float next to them. Engagement spikes because it feels personal.
Common Mistakes That Ruin the Experience
Look, Prezi has a reputation for being "too much" sometimes. We’ve all seen that one presentation that felt like a roller coaster ride gone wrong. To truly do better by Prezi, you have to practice restraint.
Don't rotate your frames more than a few degrees. Don't zoom in and out every five seconds. Use the "Home" view as your anchor. Every time you finish a point, return to that big-picture overview. This reminds the audience where they are in the journey. If you lose the "where," you lose the "why."
Another big mistake? Overcrowding the canvas. Just because you have infinite space doesn't mean you should fill it with 50,000 words. White space is your friend. In fact, white space in a zooming environment acts as a "breathing room" for the brain to transition from one thought to the next.
Accessibility and Inclusion
We have to talk about accessibility. One of the critiques of non-linear presentations is that they can be tough for screen readers or people with motion sensitivity. To do better by Prezi, you need to ensure your path is logical. Use high-contrast colors. If you’re sharing a recording, provide a transcript. Being a "better" presenter means making sure everyone in the room—physical or virtual—can follow along without a headache.
Practical Steps to Levelling Up Your Decks
If you want to actually implement this and stop boring your audience to tears, you need a plan. Don't just open a template and start typing.
- Mind Map First: Grab a piece of paper. Draw a circle in the middle with your main idea. Draw branches to your sub-points. This is your Prezi layout. If it doesn't work on paper, it won't work on a canvas.
- The 10% Rule: Use motion for only 10% of your transitions. The rest should be simple fades or zooms. Movement should signify a change in "depth" of information, not just a transition to a new topic.
- Use High-Res Imagery: Because Prezi involves zooming, low-quality images will pixelate and look unprofessional. Invest in high-quality vector graphics or high-resolution photography.
- Practice the "Reveal": One of the best ways to do better by Prezi is the "hidden" reveal. Hide a small detail inside a larger graphic. Zooming into it creates a "wow" moment that reinforces your point. It’s a storytelling device that PowerPoint can’t touch.
Why "Good Enough" Isn't Enough Anymore
The bar for professional communication has moved. In a world of TikTok and high-production YouTube essays, people have a very low tolerance for boring content. Whether you are a student, a mid-level manager, or a founder pitching for Series A funding, the way you package your ideas matters as much as the ideas themselves.
The goal isn't to be "flashy." The goal is to be memorable. You want people to leave the room remembering your three main points, not remembering how much they wanted to check their phones. By focusing on spatial relationships, maintaining a human presence via video, and respecting the audience's cognitive load, you aren't just making a presentation. You are actually communicating.
Transforming Your Next Presentation
Start by taking your most recent slide deck. Look at the "main" point of each slide. Now, try to see how those points connect to each other. Are they chronological? Are they parts of a whole? Are they a "problem and solution" pair? Once you find that underlying structure, you're ready to move to a canvas. Ditch the bullet points. Use icons. Use metaphors.
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Stop thinking in terms of what you want to say and start thinking about what you want them to see. That is how you truly do better by Prezi. It requires more effort than just dumping text into a template, but the results—clarity, engagement, and actual results—are worth the extra work.
Build your canvas around a central visual metaphor. If you're talking about growth, maybe it’s a tree. If you're talking about a journey, maybe it's a mountain range. This visual anchor gives the audience a "mental home base." When you zoom back out to the full tree after discussing the "roots" (infrastructure) and the "leaves" (customer-facing results), the logic is inescapable. It sticks. And sticking is the whole point.