I believe that PowerPoints used to be a pretty decent form of media back in the 90’s and early 2000’s as a way to teach or give information to an audience. However, PowerPoints had 2 categories that I believe killed them: the overly dull and dry ones that bore the viewers to sleep and the super animated ones with every single possible animated special effect that make it impossible to concentrate on the actual concept of what’s being presented.
For example, this presentation uploaded by Javed Iqbal onto SlideShare.net is a simple presentation uploaded from Powerpoint, and it pains me to even look at the simple template, which really dumbs things down, offering little opportunity for creativity.
I believe that the newer trend, Prezi offers an easier method of maintaining creativity while still getting the information through. The transitions are much smoother, and the opportunity to embed different links and videos into the presentation without having to stop and open each individual link. Furthermore, the ability to include multimodal layers without having to go through the trouble of adding it individually as an option to each slide makes it easier on the presenter keep an easy flow to the actual presentation.
Personally, I find Prezi to be more user friendly than Powerpoint. With Powerpoint, I always found myself fumbling for the right buttons, and the right balance between creativity and presenting the information concisely and clearly. For instance in my latest editing Prezi, I was able to easily embed the music to play in the background. The preplanned layout allows me to make minor adjustments while keeping to a general format, but the background styles allow me to spice it up a bit.
Furthermore, Prezi’s formatting encourages you to use it for a variety of purposes, not just strictly academic, but fun as well, like this one connecting Cell Regeneration to Doctor Who regenerations. Not only was it easy to embed videos and music, but the searchable Google Images make it easier than saving and uploading individual photos. Also, it has the benefit of being online, which makes it transferable via a link instead of trying to e-mail it and getting a message saying it is too big to upload!
Sources:
http://www.slideshare.net/JavedIqbal15/presentation-on-effective-teaching
http://prezi.com/fikgikx_-zfg/its-time-to-say-goodbye-to-turning-tables/
You make some excellent arguments in this post, especially considering how you worked in the topics of user-centered design and effective communication design that have come up in so many recent class discussions. The examples that you chose to include–both academic and otherwise–also helped to strengthen your argument.
The only aspects of your post that I took issue with were the lack of an antithesis and heavily reliance on personal thoughts and opinions rather than facts. Any balanced argument or attempt to persuade is made stronger by acknowledging the opposition, and by using or quoting reputable sources to back up their claims. Not to say that no personal perspectives should be in an argument; but rather, an author greatly increases their own credibility by using facts to validate their personal sentiments.
Those two minor details aside, I enjoyed reading your post. You make a very compelling argument against PowerPoint.
I think you make a strong case for Prezi being able to offer a better service than Powerpoint. The two examples you gave (one for Powerpoint and one for Prezi) clearly show the vast difference between the two platforms. Prezi enables users to create a dynamic multi-modal presentation that flows smoothly from one scene to the next. Powerpoint, on the other hand, seems clunky, and dull. Why spend time using an inferior product? The end result boils down to which format is the best tool to distribute your information. It seems clear that Powerpoint is outdated and needs to either be totally revamped or be left behind for good.