Ready to create your first presentation with Prezi? We have outlined the key steps you can take to make a great presentation so that you can follow along with your own ideas. Then, learn even more with the rest of our help articles or follow this guide on importing existing presentations into Prezi from slide based softwares. 

Step 1: Outlining your ideas

Start by deciding on the main message and story for your presentation. This is the most important step, as it guides the rest of the process. It’s worthwhile to invest extra time here to get your idea buttoned up and well-understood.

If you’re creating the presentation for a class or work, you likely have a rubric or clear goal in mind already. It’s a good idea to review these so you know what to include. Then, format your ideas into a simple story—establish context, rise into challenges and highlights, peak with the main point, and bring your audience home with something to look forward to. Let’s use an example:

Katherine is creating a presentation on her companies’ recent sales goals and performance. She knows that she wants to show the goals first, explain some of the challenges and highlights of the last quarter, and end with the good news that they exceeded their sales goals. The tone and design should feel professional, but she’s not tied to any specifics yet.

This is a great place to start. Katherine has a clear goal in mind while allowing room for the presentation to grow and change while she creates it. She’s also formatted her outline to follow a story structure so her audience can follow along easily. 

Step 2: Bring your idea to life in Prezi

With your outline ready to go, it’s time to bring the work into Prezi. Prezi AI, included in your Prezi license, is a great way to get a draft of your presentation ready in just a few minutes. You can even take the outline you created and put it directly into Prezi AI for great results.

To get started, click the Create with AI button from your dashboard. If you have a specific template you’d like to use with Prezi AI, you can also select it from the template chooser and click Use with AI. 

When you’ve entered Prezi AI, you’ll be asked to give your presentation a title and a description. Prezi AI will use this to create a first draft of your presentation, so provide as much information as you can. If you created an outline or have your idea ready, you can input this in the description area.

Remember that it’s OK if you change your mind or don’t have any specifics yet. Prezi AI does the design work for you, so your presentation will look and feel great even if you change your mind. 

Alternatively, upload a PDF and Prezi AI will extract the most important information from your file and create a presentation for you.

Once you’ve entered your prompt, outline or file, click the Create button. Prezi AI will create the first draft of your presentation—now it’s time to refine it.

Step 3: Tweak your presentation

Now that Prezi AI has made your presentation, you can explore it before moving into the full Prezi Present editor. You can tweak major parts of your presentation like the background, colors, and design easily, as well as explore each frame of your presentation.

You’ll start at the Overview of your presentation. Here, you can see the entire presentation and each frame. In the sidebar, you can change things like the Color palette, Background, and Design. You can revert any changes you make easily, so test out new ideas!

Once the design looks good, you can check your content and make sure it fits your goals for this presentation. Navigate through the frames of your presentation using the arrow buttons in the bottom middle of the screen or click next to it on the Home button to go back to the Overview. 

Aim to get as close as possible to your desired content—once in the editor, you’ll have full control to adjust visuals, text, order and content.

Step 4: Finalize your presentation

When you’re happy with the design and feel, click on Go to editor to move to the full Prezi Present experience for total control of your editing flow. This is where you can really get into the details and make sure you’re telling the story you want to tell.

We recommend going through your presentation again using the arrow buttons in the bottom middle of your screen. This way, you’ll revisit every frame and be able to edit as much as you want. If you're new to Prezi, learn how to navigate the Editor here.

While reviewing your presentation, consider the following:

• Does this frame have enough visual support?
• Can I add an image, storyblock, chart, or visual to help prove this point?
• Is this content easy to understand and read? Can I make it shorter?
• Do I need to add or remove a frame?

Prezi AI can help with altering any content you want to change at this point, too. With text selected, click the Ask AI button in the context menu that appears. From here, you can get great help with changing the format of your text, expanding or shortening it, or even turning a paragraph into a full visual story that works with Prezi’s frames. 

Any other edits you need to make can easily be done using the tools in the Top bar or Context menu that appears when you select an object in Prezi Present. Just left-click anything on the canvas to select it so you can begin editing or moving things around.

To learn more about specific editing actions you can take in Prezi Present, check out our guide on Getting to know the Prezi Present editor.

Step 5: Present and refine

When you’re done editing your presentation and all your content looks good, it’s time to practice presenting. Click the Present button in the top right of your screen to open your presentation. From here, you’ll see your presentation as your audience will see it. Go through and make sure it flows well, covers your main message, and is tailored to your audience.

This is a great opportunity to make sure that your presentation looks the way you want it to. Note down any areas that you stumble over or think could be improved; you’ll be able to change them when you get back to the editor. 

With any Prezi subscription, you can use Presenter view for a detailed look at your presentation. Add speaker notes, track time, and more. When using multiple screens, keep Presenter view on one and the main presentation on another to keep your audience focused.

After you’ve test-driven your presentation, you’re all set to go for the real thing! Follow these links to learn about all the ways you can present and share.

Happy presenting! We know that you're going to wow your audience.