Powerpoint Vs Prezi

So... PowerPoint or Prezi. This question of superiority is not unlike the arguments about Windows Vs Mac, or Starbucks Vs Costa, Tesco Vs Asda, United Vs City, or my opinion Vs your wrong one. Some people prefer Prezi, others prefer PowerPoint. I opened by getting that roundup out of the way because this post isn't about which one is better. After seeing a presentation deliver using each one its quite clear that they're designed for different audiences: Prezi for the flashy eye-catching here's-my-idea person, and PowerPoint for the workhorse of the here's-a-ton-of-information person.

To start with, lets get links to the software out of the way. Prezi can be found Here and PowerPoint can be found Here (This is the online version of PowerPoint, and installable version is available by purchasing the MSOffice suite).

Unlike previous blog posts, I quite like both of these pieces of software and will use both of them interchangeably; the decision will be based upon what I am presenting - whether I am being a here's-my-idea person or a here's-a-ton-of-information person*. Each has their owns pros and cons, and I feel that this is the best way to compare these two softwares.
                                                         *I would like to point out that I, personally, am not a serial death-by-PowerPoint-er but occasionally need to throw a lot of information onto walls.

PowerPoint

Pros

• Easy to use (after basic learning)
• Unlimited number of slides
• Comes with many templates
• Varying from these templates is simple
• Creating a template is simple
• Available in most institutions with or without internet
• All required software is in-built
• Reliable

Cons

• Predictable presentations
• limited embedding of digital media (must use links)

Prezi

Pros

• Lots of great looking templates
• Simple to fill-in a template
• Seamless links with digital media
• Available anywhere with internet access
• First use engages a tutorial

Cons

• Templates are complicated to modify (such as adding another slide)
• Extremely time-consuming and complex to create an original presentation
• Requires Flash player

From this list it becomes quite obvious that these two pieces of software contrast each others pros and cons. This further reinforces my point that using each piece of software depends on what you plan to use it for.

As an example to aid this comparison I created a similar presentation on both softwares. I say similar because the difference in their designs and layouts would have made it somewhat pointless to attempt to recreate one within the other. For each version I used a template that was supplied, and made some modifications such as adding new slides and altering the design slightly.



Pasting this Prezi into this blog was extremely simple. Once the Prezi was completed it offered up the embed code on the final page, alongside the options to download it and/or share it through e-mails, social media sites etc.


It took a rather large amount of googling to find out how to embed the PowerPoint version of the presentation into my blog, perhaps a bit more that the average user would bother going through (and I also had to upload my presentation to the online version of PowerPoint), but now that I know how to do it it'll take a few seconds next time.

I've copied the explanation into this blog for the reference of anyone who may be looking to do the same.

When you want to share a presentation or a picture slide show with your friends, family, or colleagues, you can embed it in a web page or blog.

1. After you create your presentation in PowerPoint Online, on the File tab, click Share, and then click Embed.
   
2. To create the HTML code to embed your file in the web page, click Generate .
3. In the Embed box, under Dimensions, select the correct dimensions for the blog or web page.
   
4. Under Embed Code, right-click the code, click Copy, and then click Close.
   NOTE    The HTML embed code you copied is an iframe tag supported in many web authoring environments and blog services.
5. Go to your web page or blog editor, write your post, and then switch to HTML editing.
   TIP    Make sure the embed code you copied is still the most recent item in your clipboard.
6. Press Ctrl + V.
   
   *Taken from support.office.com

For the Prezi version, the modification I made were to add the College of Art logo and add a new slide (in this case it was adding another yellow circle and moving the camera to zoom into it). I was honestly quite surprised at how long this took to do: It took about 20 minutes to add all of the information to the presentation, and then 35 minutes to create the new slide.

For the powerboat version I made the same addition of the College of Art logo to the front page and created the image placeholder in slide 3 from scratch. This whole presentation, including all of the modifications too about 20 minutes.

I would consider myself moderately competent at using both pieces of software so the time taken to create each one is what I would consider to be average for most users. With the PowerPoint taking 20 minutes and the Prezi taking nearly an hour, its not hard to see why most teachers still prefer to use powerpoint - I wouldn't want to be nearly trebling the time I take to create the presentation for every lecture just for the sake of flashy transitions. However, if I were doing a one-off presentation that I wanted to impress people with, I think I would opt to spend the extra time making a Prezi presentation.

So in conclusion - they both make presentations, but not all presentations are the same, and so it's a case of choosing the right tool for the job at hand.