Prezi as a company continues to grow and we remain aware how important our commitment towards environmental protection must be. We’ve reached the end of our second consecutive year in which we did our best to compensate for Prezi’s increasing carbon footprint, so we’d like to share some of the things we have learned throughout the year:

1. Inspiring your team is important. Keeping up-to-date and informed on our various projects challenges and successes throughout the year encourages us to exceed our goals and find new ways in which we can improve.
2. Routinely track your carbon usage – you can see how we have been doing in the chart below. We’re happy that Prezi’s footprint hasn’t kept pace with other aspects of the company’s rapid growth (see here) yet we know there’s more we can do in 2012! Our estimated figures show a moderate increase from last year’s 150 tons to this year’s 215 tons, with the majority impact coming from business trips.
3. We still strongly believe that the projects we work on should match the following criteria: a) the ability to easily contact the people who are running the project, b) the project should jointly create social change and economic development in addition to CO2 offsetting.
4. Based on our criteria we decided to continue to support this stove project. It’s a project we’re devoted to as it works toward long-lasting change: a) families who get a stove can benefit from dramatically improved health, b) local entrepreneurs and the families receiving the stoves are fully involved in implementing the project, and c) each stove can last for about 10 years and each stove can save about 2-3 tons of CO2 / year.
5. To put a figure on this in terms of carbon offsetting, the math is as follows: 215/(2.5*10)= about 8-9 stoves = $2,200 USD

Based on many discussions with our edu users we’ve been working to create a community site where teachers and students can talk, share and learn how to use Prezi in education, from the smallest grade school classroom to the biggest Harvard and Stanford auditoriums. We are now pleased to introduce Prezi U, a dedicated community site for all things Prezi in education.

Visit Prezi U for access to diverse content on using Prezi in education for all levels– from Kindergarten to University and beyond.
Prezi U is a hub for your prezis, ideas and experiences. A channel to submit your own content and receive feedback, engagement and new skills from other Prezi U members.

On Prezi U you can:
1. Submit your own educational prezis to the dynamically growing edu library, which covers diverse topics and subject areas categorized by schools and curriculum.
2. Engage with others in the forums, or search for answers to your questions about Prezi in education.
3. Submit articles about your experiences using Prezi in education.

Visit Prezi U today.  We look forward to meeting you in our new community, and we can’t wait to see what you create!

Last month, we ran a contest for a full-time job at Prezi designing prezis for speakers at top conferences around the world. We received over 100 great entries, and chose the following three entrants to interview at Prezi:

Thanks to all who entered, and again, congratulations to our three winners. View more Prezi jobs.

The second annual Prezi Night in Tokyo took place on Saturday, Dec 3, hosted by an awesome Japanese Prezi user community.

The fun event was a chance for Japanese users to meet each other and share experiences using Prezi. There were even Prezi quizzies and Prezi Karaoke. Check out more photos here and here.

The organizers allowed Prezi CEO Peter Arvai to show off his Japanese skills in his message to the community:

We look forward to Prezi Night Tokyo III – let us know if you’re interested in hosting your own!

Last weekend, 37 hackers, including Prezi employees and students from around the world, spent two days in the Prezi office to create fun, and (sometimes) useful projects using Prezi.

After two days, teams presented their incredible projects:

• Prezi Kinect Hack: Control your prezi using body gestures
• Prezi Wars: Use Prezi Meeting to play a third-person shooter with your friends
• WebGL Prezi: The results are in, our developers tackled creating a rough version of Prezi in WebGL!
• Prezi Usage Map: A zoomable map of prezi creations, visits, and tweets about Prezi
• Whiteboard to Prezi application: Automatically create a prezi from a photo you’ve taken
• Hipchat bot: Type in a command in hipchat, our HP bot will let the office know what’s up; break something in Prezi, sirens and lights!
• Democratic Voting in Prezi: Make life’s toughest decisions using Prezi voting
• Prezi Logo from Post-its: See the Prezi logo, made “pixel by pixel” from Post-it notes

After a colorful summer, we decided that it is about time that prezis gota facelift. So our designers have been carefully picking an entirely new set of 30 colors, 15 fonts and 10 themes that we believe can make your prezis look more awesome than ever.

In addition, you can now color your text directly from the text editor menu.

Now it’s your turn! Create your own theme and have it featured on Prezi’s upcoming theme sharing page. Choose one prezi from the list below, make a copy, design a theme, and make it reusable. The title should include the “#theme” hashtag! Submissions will not be accepted after November 13th.

prezi.com/gayqepzt7tst/prezi-theme-contest-1/
prezi.com/e3azyuiinn6z/prezi-theme-contest-2/
prezi.com/_aw-pwctfbcc/prezi-theme-contest-3/

Starting November 14th, people can vote on your theme for two weeks. The 10 most loved prezi themes will be featured on our theme sharing page on December 1st, and we will also give away exclusive Prezi T-shirts to those who made it to the “wall” of fame.

Click here to check the rules.

Thank you to everyone who submitted an educational prezi to the “Zoom Back to School” Contest!   We saw some truly inspiring prezis in diverse subjects– ranging from Astronomy to Geography, to Sociology and Chemistry!

The grand-prize winner of the Prezi “Zoom Back to School Contest” is: Mr. Adam Griffin, and his prezi “Making Difficult Choices”.

Mr. Griffin is using prezi not only to educate his students academically, but also to teach them to make good choices and solve moral dilemmas.  He will receive a new iPad 2 with Prezi Viewer for use in his classroom.

Thank you to everyone who participated.  We are blown away by the creative ways you use prezi to educate and inform, and look forward to seeing more of your Prezi creations soon.

Many thanks again- and happy zooming in your classroom!

We reached out to top Prezi Viewer users, to ask how the Prezi iPad app helps their work. Middle school teachers Ben Robinson and Mark Davis, and PR communications expert Gonzalo Adriasola agreed: Using Prezi Viewer completely changes their work routines, and opens up new horizons in their careers. Upon our request, they kindly shared their experiences with everyone:
Read the rest of this entry »

We are pleased to announce that Prezi has received the second prize “Rising Star” in the Deloitte Technology Fast 50.

This prestigious annual award honors the fastest growing technology companies in Central Europe.  ”Rising Star” companies must have been in business a minimum of 3 years and a maximum of 5.

Prezi was named the second fastest growing company in Central Europe, with only Polish Biotech firm Selvita demonstrating a faster rate of growth.

We are thrilled to represent Budapest as the only Hungarian company to be awarded!

Prezi CEO Peter Arvai accepted the award.