TEDx conferences are independently organized TED events following the original philosophy of introducing interesting speakers and ideas worth spreading. Prezi is often used as an optional presentation tool at these conferences. Giorgio Ungania, organizer of TEDX Dubai have now decided to go even further. He wants to create the first TEDx where every speaker will have to utilize Prezi as a presentation tool. They will build their own TEDx Prezi style, and to boost the process, create a little academy where speakers will be trained on how to use Prezi.
On the top of that Giorgio plans to make every TEDxDubai prezi available for sharing & remixing, with our new Reuse feature, and on the TEDx Dubai website they will post the video recording of the talks together with the relevant Prezi. Becoming excited about all this, we asked Giorgio about hows and whys after the jump.
You have decided to organize the first TEDx event with only prezi presentations allowed. How do you think this will affect the event and the audience?
Prezi, the innovative presentation technology, will create an equal starting canvas for all TEDx Dubai 2010 speakers; following the true spirit of TED of Ideas Worth Spreading, the TEDx Dubai 2010 Prezis will be made available on the net together with YouTube recordings in order to create a seamless experience for online visitors. TED is a forward thinking event and Prezi is possibly the most forward thinking presentation tool yet.
You also want to set up an academy to teach speakers how to use Prezi. How will this work?
Because not everybody will be familiar with Prezi’s technology, we are planning to run some workshop to train the speakers in creating their own TEDx Dubai 2010 Prezi presentation. The ease of use and intuitiveness of the UI will make the workshop very easy to conduct even remotely via Voip when the speaker is not a UAE resident. Also the possibility of collaborating on line on the same file via web browser will be a great advantage over traditional presentation applications.
How do you think sharing every TEDx prezi for reuse will affect the TED philosophy and approach of knowledge sharing?
The new ” remix” feature of Prezi will allow TEDx Dubai 2010 ideas to become a starting point for many other “variations on the theme”. Every TED talk is an amazingly powerful tool per se, and it inspires, affects and motivates thousands of people all around the world. TEDx Dubai speakers will be given the option to “open source” their TED Talk making their Prezis “remixable” to anybody interested to add or remove, copy or paste elements; this way some ideas coming from the TEDx Dubai chapter can become starting points for other TEDx Talks around the world.
Hmmmm. I’m with you totally on elevating standards, and I’m sure your intentions are well placed Georgio. And clearly Prezi is a great tool.
However, it’s only that: a tool. Most presentations and presenters FAIL because they focus too much on on the visuals), and not enough on the audience and what the audience would be interested in hearing.
At the very end of the Prezi demo, the presenter says, so “you can focus on delivering your message.” In my experience this kind of focus is misplaced. Successful presenters concentrate instead on how audiences will benefit from what they have to say. Slick visual aids do not a powerful presentations make. In fact, they often detract from the presenter and from the message. Frequently the technology ends up driving the presentation and the presenter is left in the back seat…
This is great news!
I can’t wait to see all this great Prezi’s
When will this event take place?
Hey
Are you going to publish my previous comment? I’m a Dubai-based public speaking coach and trainer, and I talk directly to your end users… My website is here: http://www.strike.ae
Constructive feedback is an opportunity for companies to make positive change and get even better….
And/or maybe you want to show me how your product can help rather than hinder my clients… I think you’re missing an opportunity… But hey, that’s just my opinion…
Hi, sorry we have missed your previous comment. Thanks for your interest in prezi, I would be happy to start a conversation with you.
Hi Susan,
Thanks for your thoughts. I agree a good presentation is most importantly a matter of having a good topic and telling it well. Prezi- as a tool – helps you delivering better presentations however in 3 ways:
A. With Prezi you can see the big picture and the details easily, so you can make sure that the content of your presentation makes sense.
B. Prezi’s spatial layout help you to convey message better, since our brain is wired to think large spaces rather then slides.
C. As a presenter, you can avoid long boring monologues (death by bullet points), and encourage audience involvement by moving across the canvas.
As a presenter myself…I have to agree with Susan.
I have always kept my presentation slides to a minimum, hoping to engage my audience with my speaking style, being out there to walk amidst them and engage them by asking them questions, so on and so forth.
I do not consider myself an expert presenter…nonetheless…presentations and prezi, jazzed up and all….do play a role.
Kudos to Giorgio, for giving it a go. I have YET to attend a single presentation where PREZI was used…so don’t know how well it’ll mesh with the oral delivery and whether audience follows the stuff well…or gets distracted.
Giorgio’s …trying Prezi keeps with teh theme of trying new things, ideas..etc
Hope it pans out well.
We run a presentation with prezi, and get some feedback later about the prezi: it can be some fizzy in transitions (weird angles and rotations), but delivers a good support role.