How to Make Stunning Presentations with Prezi

Are you longing for a way to present ideas in a visual way that doesn't rely on Microsoft Powerpoint? Prezi is a revolutionary new way to organise information, letting anyone create visually stunning and dynamic presentations that leave Powerpoint's options in the dust. I wish I'd known about Prezi a few months ago, when I had to deliver an hour-long talk to 200 people!

Even the free public version has all the features you II need. It allows you to arrange content on a large canvas consisting of a number of frames. You then plot a path through these frames so every time you click your mouse, the software pans and zooms in.

When you're happy with your presentation, Prezi allows you to share it with others, create a custom URL so people can log in and watch it together, and even download the presentation and take it with you to a meeting or a friend's house to watch together.

Creating a presentation

#1 Sign up
To begin using Prezi, you'll need to sign up for an account so you can use the online application. Open your web browser, then go to www.prezi.com and click/Sign up'. There are three options on the resulting page. To try Prezi, click on the grey 'Public' option on the left. This costs nothing and gives you enough facilities to amaze people with very little effort.

#2 Create a Prezi
Everything is done online, so there's no need to install any software. Click the 'Sign in' link at the top left of the home page and enter your credentials. To create a new presentation, click the big blue 'New Prezit button. Enter a title (My Slideshow, for example) and then type a description. Now click 'Create new Prez'', select the blank template and click 'Choose'.

#3 Add a title
Your new Prez' opens to show you a large circle, which we'll use to represent your year. There's a default text box in the centre of the circle. Click this and enter a suitable title for the presentation. You can also resize the text box using the button at the bottom right, and along its right-hand edge. When you're done, click the background to finish editing.

#4 Add an image
Click the 'Images' button at the top of the interface and select a file from the pictures stored on your computer. The image appears with a repositioning tool covering it.The hand icon allows you reposition the image. The '+' and '-' buttons allow you to increase and decrease the image's size. The trashcan icon allows you to delete the image from the presentation.

#5 Extra detail
If you want to hide some detail from view until you zoom in on a particular picture, all you have to do is make it smaller. Left-click and drag to centre your picture, and use the magnifier tool at the right to zoom in. Now click the area underneath the image and a text box appears. Enter a suitable title for the frame and click the background when you've finished.

#6 Group within frames
Now let's group our image and its description into a frame. Click 'Add frame' and then 'Draw invisible frame'. Drag out a rectangle around both the image and its description. Release the button and a second frame appears in the left-hand column of the interface. Clicking between these shows the animation that will happen when you play the presentation.

#7 Rearrange frames
If you click each frame down the left-hand side, the focus of the main pane moves to each one in turn. You may later decide that you want the frames in another order, but that's not a problem - you can reorder the frames here by simply left-clicking on the one you want to move and then dragging it to where you want it to go. What could be easier?

#8 Edit path
Prezi has a tendency to create a messy default path through the presentation. To create your own path, first click 'Edit path', then click'Clear all' at the bottom left of the screen. Now click on the frame you want to be first in the presentation and then on the second frame, and so on. As you go, a path is left behind, showing where you've been. Click 'Done when you've finished.

#9 Change the theme
Once everything is looking good and the path is how you want it, you can change the theme to give everything a really snazzy style. To do so, click 'Themes' at the top of the screen. In the window that appears, click a theme.The background, fonts and other details change accordingly. If you want to return to the original blue and white theme, select /Sailor'.

#10 Download your creation
It's time to export the presentation to run offline. To do so, click 'Save and close' at the top right then click Download'. Select Export to Portable Prezi' and click/Download again'. When everything is packed up, click the download link and open the ZIP file. Drag the resulting folder to Documents and open it. Double-click the Prezi executable and the presentation runs.