Michael Lee
December 14, 2022
The 2022 Prezi Staff Picks are here! We selected our favorite videos of the year — all created with Prezi Video — from business professionals, speakers, and educators. We specifically looked for a variety of factors, including presentation design, quality of content, and how well they used the medium.
Before we showcase each video, Prezi’s Content Editor, Naba Ahmed, has a few words to share about why each video was selected:
Without further ado, here are our Staff Picks for 2022!
Videos with moving visuals that get your attention
With so many things competing for your audience’s attention these days, you want to make sure you can keep them focused on your presentation. And when many presentations are happening virtually now, using moving visuals like GIFs and videos is one of the most effective ways of capturing attention and keeping it.
Just look at this Prezi video from Paula Rizzo, a best-selling author, LinkedIn Learning Instructor, and speaker, on how to get your message across quickly in the hybrid workplace:
In it, she stresses the importance of “soundbites” when sharing your message, and she does the same thing visually with her fun GIF usage, which complements her points while drawing your eye to the video content. She also used the Quick Record functionality in Prezi Video to create her presentation, so she was able to create her tips on using quick soundbites…quickly!
“It’s hard to keep people’s attention with so many distractions around us, so it’s important that my videos have interesting visuals, text, and some fun too,” explains Paula. “Prezi makes that easy to do in a snap.”
Similarly, Salina Yeung, a LinkedIn personal branding expert and coach, as well as a LinkedIn Learning Instructor, also used GIFs in her video about using LinkedIn videos to drive sales:
In her case, she used Prezi Present to create a clear structure and strong imagery to tell her story, and chooses to use GIFs more sparingly. As a result, whenever an animated visual pops up on screen, it really stands out and she can use it to point your attention to a particularly important point.
“Having an interactive visual presentation tool like Prezi really helps me connect with clients and keep them engaged throughout my video content,” adds Salina. “Prezi cuts through the sea of video content out there because it looks polished, professional, and sophisticated, all while managing to be FUN.”
Paul Teske, Prezi’s Teacher in Residence, takes a slightly different approach. His video is about how to work with visuals, and the importance of relevance, meaning, and focus. To convey his point, he expands his visual usage over the course of the video:
He starts with images, then moves on to animated GIFs, and then finally video to bring his concepts to life in an easily understandable way.
These videos show off the power of moving visuals (in addition to staying on screen next to your content).
Videos with story-driven imagery
Not every video needs moving visuals to be compelling. With the right images, you can tell a captivating story from start to finish.
Let’s start with Nikhil Paul, the founder and Leadership Team Coach at We R Human, who shares tips on navigating office politics in the remote workplace in his Prezi video:
This is a complex topic to broach, but Nikhil does an exceptional job thanks in part to the imagery he uses. He uses text to keep his main point on the screen, but then cleverly swaps out images to illustrate each aspect of remote office politics as he speaks.
“As a leadership team coach, I’m always looking for ways to engage and delight my audiences with my content,” says Nikhil. “Prezi’s video recording tool is a very unique way to capture the visual flow of a PowerPoint while also having the feeling of a professional video editor.”
Brittany Hodak, a keynote speaker and author, uses a different (but equally clever) style of visuals to get her point across. Take a look at her video on creating superfans:
She introduces her “SUPER” model, which outlines five key ways to turn customers into fans. Notably, she color codes each section and uses unique icons, resulting in a subtle but impactful way of helping viewers remember the information.
“I speak on customer experience, so I’m always looking for ways to make the experience of virtual events more engaging,” says Brittany. “I LOVE using Prezi because I’ve found it to be unrivaled in keeping attendees’ attention in virtual meetings. Plus, the end results always look elegant and beautiful with minimal effort.”
When conveying a new concept, it’s also helpful to use visuals in a step-by-step manner. Elizabeth Knox, the Principal at MatchPace, exemplifies this in her video on the PaceSync scheduling method:
To illustrate this concept, she starts with an initial suggestion to block out your time, along with an image next to her on screen. Then, she layers on more time blocks in the image to help you better understand PaceSync at a glance.
“I made the video because I wanted to verbally and visually communicate how organizations can bring clarity to hybrid scheduling — something that is often pretty murky,” added Elizabeth. “Prezi allowed my personality and IP to be evident to potential customers!”
With the right visuals, you can make your videos even clearer to follow and help bring your story to life.
Videos that bring in real-life examples
One of the benefits of using Prezi Video is you don’t have to switch away from your content to your camera. Academic coach Jennifer Luarca shows off this benefit in her video on time management:
Instead of sharing her screen and then switching back and forth, Jennifer shows off her actual calendar on screen to exemplify the content that’s being displayed. In this way, she helps solidify her advice with a real-life example that feels seamless and natural.
“I was excited to be able to use Prezi to show my personality and my face during the presentation, hopefully setting students at ease with the fun formatting,” says Jennifer. “The videos have been so well received that we are still hosting them on our web page though we have returned to on-campus learning.”
Even without real-life items, you can still bring examples into your video for clarity. In his Prezi video about designing surveys, Professor Dan Richard uses screenshots of survey questions as he shares his tips:
By using actual questions and zooming in to focus in on them, Dan gives his students something concrete to look at while they try to absorb the information. “Prezi has exceptional templates that allow me to quickly pull together ideas and present them in an organized way,” Dan states. “Prezi takes care of the formatting, and I can focus on the ideas.”
Videos that make a human connection
Ultimately, video — especially in a virtual-first world — is all about making a human connection. If you’re talking behind a shared screen the entire time, your audience is going to miss out on crucial eye contact, facial expressions, and gestures, which are all key for keeping them engaged.
Vincent D’Ettorre, an Adult Education Supervisor at Michigan Works! Southeast, demonstrates this in his vision of learning statement video, which he created using a Prezi template:
In going over topics like attendance and engagement goals and the shared process he hopes to achieve, he maintains eye contact with the camera (aka the audience) and stays on screen the entire time. This ensures that his audience can see his sincerity as he explains his reasoning behind each point.
On the other hand, librarian Kacey Reynolds takes a slightly different approach in her video highlighting her book picks of the month:
While she doesn’t stay on screen the entire time — she devotes the bulk of her video to featuring each book cover as she discusses them — she wisely bookends her video with her on the screen. Instead of providing a simple list of books for kids to read, they can now see Kacey and connect with her as the librarian before she dives into the book summaries.
Share your story with Prezi
No matter what kind of content you’re looking to share, Prezi makes it easy to create memorable presentations and videos that help you connect with and engage your audience. We hope you found some inspiration and helpful tips for your own presentations by watching our Staff Picks of 2022 — we can’t wait to see what you create!
