Jim Szafranski by no means actually wished to develop into a CEO; it was one thing that appeared to occur to him, moderately than one thing he intentionally made occur. But because it seems, he has a knack for it.
Szafranski took over at visible communications firm Prezi roughly eighteen months in the past to preside over a change of route, changing founder Peter Arvai. Previously, the agency had specialised in design and presentation software program, however has now turned its consideration to video shows.
Prezi had already begun to put the foundations for this shift earlier than the pandemic, however distant working noticed demand skyrocket for a service that would assist folks create and ship skilled digital shows. The firm put its foot on the gasoline and Prezi Video is now its flagship product.
As one of many fundamental architects of the Prezi Video undertaking, and as somebody who had labored with the video conferencing titans (reminiscent of Microsoft and Google) in a earlier life, Szafranski discovered himself subsequent in line for the throne.
The proper particular person for the job
Although he has now acclimatized to the extent and breadth of duty that falls on the shoulders of a chief govt, Szafranski advised SociallyKeeda Pro he generally discovered himself doubting his suitability for the position.
While he had all the time been a scholar of each enterprise and expertise, and had racked up a few years of expertise at an govt stage, he was to some extent blindsided by the chance when it introduced itself.
“I love to learn, so I always tried to put myself in a position where I could learn from my environment and the people around me. And I kind of let the growth take care of itself,” he defined.
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“But when I joined Prezi, the plan wasn’t that I would someday take over from Peter [Arvai] - that wasn’t even a discussion. The focus was on scaling the business and building out functions like sales and marketing.”
After some consideration, Szafranski agreed to tackle the submit, giving himself and Arvai three months to place the mandatory measures in place. The finest piece of recommendation Szafranski acquired throughout this time, he says, was merely to be himself, and to not emulate the archetypal CEO of the flicks.
“Obviously, the board of directors and previous CEO thought about this carefully and chose to elect me for the role. This advice was an important reminder to approach situations in the same way I have always done; to do what felt natural.”
Mercifully, moving into the CEO position at Prezi has not required Szafranski to tear all of it up and begin once more, as a result of he had inherited the foundations of a wholesome enterprise. His process is just to steer in a barely totally different route.
Virtual shows, however totally different
Szafranski is usually quizzed about what makes Prezi Video totally different from common digital presentation providers. With phrases alone, this query could be a little troublesome to reply, however the distinction turns into instantly obvious whenever you see the product in motion.
Prezi Video sits like a veneer on high of video conferencing providers (Zoom, Teams, Meet and so on.), including a layer of gloss and interactivity that makes shows way more enticing to the attention.
Unlike with conventional screen-sharing, which conceals the presenter’s video feed, customers can deliver content material onto the display screen alongside them within the type of a information anchor. In flip, the presenter is ready to see extra of the opposite attendees, which is meant to assist them learn the room in the identical approach they could in-person.
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Prezi Video additionally permits customers to work together with on-screen content material in real-time, which makes shows really feel slick and polished. There’s no extra “next slide, please”; the presenter turns into extra like a conductor.
According to Szafranksi, these attributes go a protracted strategy to fixing the varied points staff have encountered because the transition to distant working, from video conferencing fatigue to a sense of disconnect with coworkers.
“Ultimately, Prezi Video is about creating a greater level of engagement,” he advised us. “People are talking a lot about Zoom fatigue at the moment, but will still log off in the evening to watch a couple of hours of Netflix. Prezi brings TV-like engagement into your business.”
Szafranski additionally sees merchandise like Prezi Video taking part in a elementary position as companies emerge from the pandemic, by making a stronger feeling of connection between assembly attendees unfold throughout a number of areas.
“The office was the great productivity hack, because it forced everyone into the same space at the same time. But we’re not going back to that,” he mentioned.
“What has permanently changed is that there will be somebody outside the room at all times, and we’re all going to have to figure out how to hold effective meetings under these conditions.”
Further down the road, Szafranksi envisions Prezi shifting into areas like digital actuality, which might open up a brand new realm of alternative for interactivity, in addition to bringing everybody into the identical area as soon as once more.
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Looking to the longer term
As the world climbs out from beneath the pandemic, which caused a interval of maximum and surprising progress for Prezi, Szafranski is pondering intently about how he can carry momentum ahead.
His first step, he defined, has been to encompass himself with an govt staff able to placing his imaginative and prescient into motion. For instance, his new CTO is an professional in content material ingestion, having lower his enamel at picture library Shutterstock, and Szafranski just lately introduced onboard a brand new SVP for Product Management to discover alternatives in immersive video and 3D.
These appointments have been designed to organize the corporate for a shift in gear. In addition to focusing on SMBs and design departments, Szafranski says the aim is now to take Prezi organization-wide at among the largest firms on the planet.
However, an vital query hangs over these ambitions: why don’t the video conferencing giants, with all their cash and sources, exit and develop similar performance? The early warning indicators are there; Microsoft just lately rolled out a brand new reporter mode for Teams that enables customers to look in entrance of shared content material.
But Szafranksi says copying Prezi is much harder than it might sound. He describes the corporate’s mental property as way more like a game engine (reminiscent of Unity) than a bit of software program.
“What Prezi does that’s special is serve up content in very spacial ways, which creates much more interactive and layered experiences. And these qualities are certainly not trivial to recreate.”
The various for the video conferencing giants, in fact, could be an acquisition. Asked whether or not he thought Microsoft or Zoom may swoop in for Prezi, Szafranski performed it cool. It could be his duty to subject all such gives, he advised us, however for now his efforts are centered wholly on taking Prezi in the fitting route.
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