Your presentation looks stunning, but that’s just the tip of the iceberg. With Prezi Present you can structure your content with topics and subtopics to create memorable presentations that captivate your audience. Topics show your big ideas, while subtopics organize details and reveal content at just the right moment to keep your audience engaged. Structure your content, then deliver it with conversational presenting. It’s the recipe for a great presentation.

 

Elements of a presentation’s structure

The first thing you see when you enter a presentation is the overview. The overview contains topics, and each topic can include subtopics. Templates come with a predesigned structure to get you started, and can be edited to fit your content.

Your overview shows the main level of your presentation canvas. Topic covers are visible on this layer, while content and subtopics within them remain hidden until you zoom deeper into the structure. You can also adjust the size of the overview as you wish. 

Types of topics and subtopics

Topics organize key information and structure your presentation into meaningful sections to convey your message. There are two types of topics: planet and stack. Each topic type helps you present content in a distinct way.

Subtopics organize content by showing the relationship between details and information in your topics. A subtopic can be either a planet or a stack, however, your options for adding additional subtopics change depending on the type you use.

Planet

Planets have subtopics that orbit the main idea and are best used to separate related content. Use this type if you want to break your topic up into subtopics or advanced subtopics, jump to different areas of your content, or give your audience a preview of your main ideas for better orientation.

Stack

Stacks contain pages of content that display in a linear fashion. Use this type if you want to reveal content to your audience step by step. When you present with a stack topic, each page will display separately and in order. The left sidebar shows the number of pages in the stack and the order they will appear.

Story blocks

Storyblocks are topics/subtopics that come with pre-designed content layouts and placeholders to make building presentations easier and more efficient. To learn more about adding and editing story blocks, check this article.

Advanced subtopics

Add depth to your structure by connecting multiple layers of subtopics that reveal when zooming in to your content. You can add planet structures to existing planet subtopics anywhere on your canvas, but cannot add planets to a stack. To expand your subtopic structure, enter a planet subtopic and click +Subtopic. Then, choose a planet as your topic type.

Topic and subtopic covers

You can customize the appearance of topics and subtopics by editing their covers, or by adjusting their size and color. Topic and subtopic covers are the customizable layers of text and visuals that hide the content within them. To learn about editing covers, check out this article.

Adding and deleting topics and subtopics

Adding topics to the overview

You can add more topics from the overview. To add another topic, simply click the drop-down next to the +Topic button in the left sidebar and choose a topic type. The new topic will be added to the end of the presentation’s path.

When adding a new topic, the style and format of the topic cover will copy the previously edited or selected topic.

Adding subtopics to planets

Planets allow you to add planet or stack subtopics to its orbit. To add a subtopic, enter the planet topic or subtopic and click +Subtopic in the left sidebar.

Adding pages to a stack

You can add additional pages to a stack, however, cannot add further subtopics. To add a page, enter the stack topic or subtopic and simply click +Page in the left sidebar. The new page will be added to your path.

Deleting topics and subtopics

You can delete a topic or subtopic by selecting it and pressing BACKSPACE/DELETE on your keyboard, or by using right-click (CTRL/CMD+click) and selecting “delete” from the context menu.

Organizing and structuring your topics

To change a topic’s position, click and drag it to a new place on the canvas. You can also click to select a topic and move it with the arrow keys on your keyboard. This will not change the order the topics are presented in.

To reorder topics, simply switch up their order in the left sidebar. This will not change the position of the topics, only the order they are presented in.

You can easily restructure your presentation by making your topic a subtopic or dragging a subtopic out to the overview to turn it into a topic in just a few seconds.

From the overview, simply drag the topic you’d like to make a subtopic onto the topic you want to merge it into.

To make your subtopic a main topic, click on the subtopic and drag it to the area indicated at the edge of the canvas to move it out to the overview. This works similarly with advanced subtopics as well - dragging them to this area moves them one level up in the topic hierarchy.

Organizing and structuring your subtopics

There are two ways for you to arrange the structure and layout of your subtopics. 

Subtopic layouts

Save time and quickly create a beautifully aligned structure by selecting a pre-designed subtopic layout.

To choose a subtopic layout:

1. Click the Style button at the top of your screen.
   
   
2. Click the three dots (...) next to Shape & Layout to open the sidebar.
   
   
3. From the sidebar, click to select a layout. Choose from the recommended layouts on the top, or scroll through to find one that fits your needs. 
   
   
4. Sit back and watch as the subtopics automatically rearrange right on the canvas.

The order of subtopics appears in the left sidebar. When you click to enter a topic or subtopic, the left sidebar changes to show the order of the current view.

To reorder subtopics, simply switch up their order in the left sidebar. This will not change the position of the topics, only the order they are presented in.

Setting a path for topics and subtopics

You can set a default path for your topics and subtopics and determine whether you zoom out to the overview between topics or go straight to the next topic and whether you return to the main topic between subtopics or zoom into the next subtopic immediately. To learn more, please check this article.