Thing 20: Prezis...and it's not even my birthday!

I was so interested in this Thing that I'd actually made my very first Prezi just last week (I might not yet have caught up with myself, but I'm also ahead of myself...does that make me Doctor Who?) It took a bit longer than the average .ppt would to put together, but to be fair, I'd never used it before! I was a good little librarian this time, taking my time to watch all the "how to" prezis, and the software, which is not exactly intuitive, does become easier to use the longer you play.

Gratuitous picture of the supremely gorgeous Tenth Doctor,
à la Library Wanderer. He would have been a Prezi user, too.
Photo from Needless Things blog

So without more ado, here is my very first effort, on the stunningly exciting topic of the in-house classification system we use at Classics:

Classical Faculty Library: Classification System on Prezi

I hope you enjoyed that! I loved being able to mess around with the bookshelves, and zooming around to different bits of the library to illustrate how it's all divided up. The presentation which really inspired me was this incredibly creative effort by Ned Potter, which also happened to be the first Prezi I'd ever seen, at the CILIP New Professionals Day in October 2010. Watch and learn...

Everything you need to know about technology and working in libraries on Prezi
Thanks to theREALwikiman for letting me pass it on!

However, there are a couple of issues with Prezi. As the lovely Andrew pointed out, I think it's important sometimes to rein yourself in because, just like a glut of .ppt effects which leave the audience cold, it's possible to make them feel seasick with Prezi if you go overboard on the zooming.

Also, as Prezi is still developing as a product, there's a few things that it doesn't deal with very well yet. It's more-than-a-bit-of-a-faff trying to attach sound to Prezis (watch this space...) at present, but hopefully they'll find a way to incorporate the common types of sound file into the software soon.

Overall, I'm quite a fan! I won't cast off all allegiance to .ppt, as its simplicity is still a virtue when it's used properly, but there's something fun about Prezi without being too frivolous, and who wouldn't want a little more fun in some of the meetings and conferences we all have to go to?