 You can have a fabulous prezi and still fall on your face if you don't present it well. Here are a couple of recommendations for presenting your prezi successfully. Number one, incorporate storytelling. It's far more entertaining and easier to listen to a story than a report or a proposal. When we listen to words explaining something, we process this as language. When we hear a story, we respond to what we hear on many different levels. We process stories in multiple areas of the brain compared to how we process language in just a single area. Storytelling gets your audience involved as active participants. They're reliving the moment, responding emotionally in the way they would if it were actually happening. People make decisions and form opinions based on emotion, not fact. Appeal to their emotions through story. Storytelling also arouses curiosity. It makes your listener pay attention in order to find out how things turn out in the end of your story. Have you ever kept watching a movie knowing that you didn't like it? But you stayed with it anyway? Because you just had to see how it turned out. We crave completion. When we've invested our emotions into the beginning and middle of a story, we feel compelled to stick with it till the end. It's a physiological reaction. We actually get a rush of dopamine that gives us a feeling of completion and satisfaction when the story's conflict is finally resolved in the end. My second recommendation is to focus on the audience. Place your audience in the scene of your story. You can do this by using statements like, oh, if you could have been there, or picture yourself in this situation. Use descriptive details like dates and locations that remind them of where they were when. If you start your story with something like kindness is contagious, it just doesn't have the impact of something more like this. It was my first job, the summer of 1972. I was working at the only movie theater in my hometown. It was one of our busiest nights when I learned firsthand how kindness is contagious. See what I mean? When you hear specific details, it's natural to compare it to your own experience. As you listen, you're reminiscing about where you were in the summer of 1972. You're picturing the movie theater in your own hometown and you're remembering what your first job experience was like. The best stories stem from your own personal experience, but don't make it about you. Make it about them. Encourage the audience to put themselves into your narrative. Ask questions like, have you ever found yourself wondering what it would be like? Or maybe has that ever happened to you? Or how many of you can relate to that? Use stories about yourself, but make your focus all about them. My final recommendation is the old adage, expect the best, but prepare for the worst. You should never try to present without being fully prepared. I recommend rehearsing the presentation out loud, multiple times, straight through from beginning to end. As you rehearse, you'll find sections where you stumble and that you need to smooth out. You'll test your timing and find out if there's areas that you need to trim down or expand. You'll identify where it's natural to pause or gesture. Rehearsing might also catch technology issues. I'm sure you've noticed that irritating message about Prezi now being in full screen mode. You always get that when you enter the present mode. There's nothing Prezi can do about that. That's part of the flash plugin in your internet browser. The only way around it is to get a pro license from Prezi and use the desktop app instead. If you need to switch between your Prezi and another application, practice it so it becomes very smooth. I use Alt-Tab to switch between Prezi and another app. I press Alt-Tab again to switch right back to where I was in the Prezi. If I'm using my MacBook, I use the forefinger swipe gesture on the trackpad. Relying on a wireless internet connection can be dicey. A bad connection could slow down your loading time and make your transitions between the frames appear real jerky. If you lose your internet connection altogether, your Prezi is gone. So for high stakes presentations, I recommend that you use the desktop Prezi app. You'll need the pro license to download either Prezi for Mac or Prezi for Windows. With the desktop app, the Prezi runs locally on your own laptop and you're not dependent on the internet connection. If you have to present on a machine other than your own, you can still run it offline. This works even if the desktop Prezi app isn't installed on this other computer. Pro account users can create what's called a portable Prezi and put it on a flash drive. This includes your Prezi and it also includes the Prezi player for both Mac and Windows. Plug your flash drive in and unzip the files onto the desktop. Then be sure to open the Prezi and test it out before presenting it live. When you unzip the files onto the desktop, it'll unzip both your Prezi and the software that's needed to present it. Just be sure to open the Prezi and test it before you present it live. If you rehearse thoroughly and are prepared for unexpected disasters, your presentation will be more polished and you'll feel less anxiety when the time comes for you to present.