Updated: October 2011, Julie Anne Kent, Thompson Rivers University

Comparison Chart: Prezi & PowerPoint

Prezi PowerPoint

Ease of use

Easy to use the single dashboard, shallow learning curve; a short process to create a good presentation; 6 simple features: write, show, colours & fonts, path, frame, and insert. Fun.

Complicated to use, steep and long learning curve; a long process to create a good presentation: 8 different tabs which open ribbons with too many features and options to count. Not so much fun.

Fonts

Styles

Themes

Colours

Limited choices offered. While some may think too limited, these are excellent colour and style combinations ensuring each presentation is appealing, legible and professional. You can spend your efforts and energy creating content rather than choosing the font, background, and colour combinations.

Large number of choices offered. While it may be appealing to have a near infinite number of colour and style combinations the results can be disastrous if fonts, scripts, and colours are difficult to read on any chosen background design. Unless your graphic design skills are well-honed, PowerPoint can thwart your efforts to communicate clearly.

Transitions

The zooming feature when used appropriately can emphasize connections between ideas and processes.

For some material the linear design of PowerPoint is perfect. You can create the idea of zooming and rotating images and text boxes in PowerPoint however it does require concerted effort and critical design technique.

Inserting Media

This can be problematic in Prezi. You have to ensure you are choosing the optimum image resolution before importing it. Tools to change images once inserted are fixed. Video files are limited. You can insert Youtube using PC’s an MAC’s. Audio files are varied. You can insert PDF, XLS, or PPT. Animation used Flash SWF.

There are many choices on how you can display a presentation. Inserting an image, audio, or video file is simple. However, you cannot paste-in web images. Youtube videos are easy to insert; however, only Flash SWF or FLV audio files work. You cannot insert a PDF, XLS, or PPT file. There are several animation options within PowerPoint.

Spellchecking Nope. Not available in Prezi.

Yep. PowerPoint spellchecks your work.

Updated: October 2011, Julie Anne Kent, Thompson Rivers University

Comparison Chart: Prezi & PowerPoint

Presentation

The results are clean and uncluttered when you have mapped your work interestingly and thoughtfully.

It is too easy to get messy, cluttered, and disjointed when using PowerPoint.

Presentation foundation

Software model

Pricing

Web-based: requires internet connection unless you purchase a subscription allowing downloads to desktop (inexpensive yearly cost).

Purchase program (expensive) or pre-packaged with Microsoft Office and sometimes is pre-loaded with the purchase of a laptop or desktop computer.

Saving

Printing Can print, embed on Web-page, distribute on Twitter or Facebook, create an elink, save to PEZ file on Web (downloadable)

Options include notes, handouts, # of slides per page, save to PPT file on desktop, sky drive, or USB drive; PDF compatible, embed with 3

rd

party program (SlideShare).