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Prezi  - What is Prezi?

Prezi  -, what is prezi, prezi what is prezi.

Prezi: What is Prezi?

Lesson 1: what is prezi.

Prezi is a web-based tool for creating presentations (called prezis for short). It's similar to other presentation software like Microsoft PowerPoint, but it offers some unique features that make it a good alternative. In recent years, it has become popular in schools and businesses. If you're looking to create a presentation that's a bit more eye-catching and engaging, Prezi may be for you.

How does a prezi work?

Most types of presentation software use a slide-based approach, where you move back and forth between individual slides, kind of like pages in a book. Prezi, however, uses a canvas-based approach. Instead of using slides, Prezi has one very large canvas that your presentation moves around on, zooming in and out to view various frames .

This concept is much easier to describe with a visual aid, so we've embedded a sample prezi below. Simply select Start Prezi , then use the arrows at the bottom to navigate through the presentation.

Why use Prezi?

You might be wondering what makes Prezi different from other presentation software, like PowerPoint or Keynote . For one thing, Prezi is completely free to use. There are upgrades you can pay for to unlock additional features, but everything you need to create and share a dynamic prezi is available free of cost.

Another great reason to use Prezi is that it is run entirely through your web browser, meaning there will be fewer compatibility issues than with other programs like PowerPoint. Your prezi will always look the same , no matter what computer you're viewing it on.

Because of its unique presentation style, Prezi can use movement and metaphor to help communicate a point you're trying to make. If you want your audience to really feel a sense of space and distance between locations, you could use a map template , like in the prezi below.

Or maybe you want to illustrate how there's more to a certain topic or viewpoint than there appears to be. In this case, perhaps an iceberg template would be more effective.

In the next lesson, we'll show you how to create and edit prezis of your own!

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30+ presentation themes to help you create your best presentation yet

Get your team on prezi – watch this on demand video.

Anete Ezera July 14, 2023

When it comes to creating impactful presentations, an often overlooked but essential element is the presentation theme . A well-chosen theme can transform a mundane presentation into a visually stunning and cohesive experience for your audience. In this article, we’ll explore why opting for a presentation theme is beneficial, provide insights on how to choose the right theme and outline the characteristics of a great presentation theme.

Additionally, you’ll find a list of 30+ visually appealing and engaging Prezi presentation themes that’ll help you find the perfect design for your next presentation. Prezi offers a great range of templates and presentation examples that you can reuse for making your own presentation. This selection of presentation templates and examples come together to offer a wide range of presentation themes, ensuring that you find the ideal theme that aligns with your content and resonates with your audience. Whether you’re giving a business pitch, delivering an educational lecture, or presenting a creative project, we have presentation themes that’ll enhance your message and captivate your viewers. So, let’s dive in and discover some cool and fun presentation themes!

Why choose a presentation theme?

When it comes to creating a presentation, choosing the right theme can make all the difference. A presentation theme is essentially a pre-designed template that includes various design elements such as fonts, colors, and images that work well together. Using a theme can save you time and effort in designing the presentation from scratch. Plus, it can also help to create a cohesive and visually appealing presentation that engages your audience. In this section, we’ll explore the benefits of choosing a presentation theme and how it can enhance the impact of your presentation.

Visual appeal

If you have a clear presentation design in mind then you’re probably good with starting your presentation from scratch. However, if you’re still finding your way in designing a presentation and don’t have a clear vision of how you want it to look, it might be better to opt for a pre-designed presentation theme. A theme brings consistency and visual harmony to your slides, making them more appealing and engaging for your audience. Also, aesthetically pleasing presentations are more likely to capture attention and leave a lasting impression. 

Branding and professionalism

A well-selected slide presentation theme allows you to seamlessly incorporate your company’s branding elements, such as colors, logos, and fonts. Consistent branding adds a professional touch to your presentation, reinforcing your credibility and brand identity.

What’s more – your brand’s colors, fonts, and imagery have the power to evoke emotions and create a connection with your audience. By aligning your presentation’s theme with your brand’s visual identity, you can tap into these emotional associations and establish a deeper connection with your stakeholders.

Focus and organization

A presentation theme serves as a visual guide for structuring your content, acting as a roadmap that helps you maintain a logical flow and ensure that information is presented in a coherent and organized manner. When you have a well-selected theme, it provides a framework that informs the arrangement of your slides, the placement of key elements, and the overall visual hierarchy of your presentation.

With a coherent structure in place, your audience can more easily follow along and understand your key messages. The consistent visual cues provided by the theme guide their eyes and attention, directing them to the most important information and helping them grasp the main points you’re conveying. As a result, your audience can engage with your content more effectively, retaining information and insights with greater clarity.

Moreover, a well-structured presentation theme allows for effective storytelling. By arranging your content in a logical sequence, you can build anticipation, create suspense, and deliver information in a way that captivates your audience. Whether you’re presenting data, telling a story, or sharing insights, the theme helps you present information in a sequential and compelling manner, enhancing the overall impact of your message.

Time efficiency

By utilizing a slide presentation theme, you can save valuable time and effort that would otherwise be spent starting your presentation from scratch. Templates offer a ready-made foundation that you can build upon, providing you with a structured starting point and freeing up your resources to concentrate on content creation and delivery.

Creating a presentation from scratch can be a time-consuming process, requiring meticulous attention to detail in designing layouts, selecting color schemes, and aligning various visual elements. However, when you leverage a pre-designed theme, these foundational aspects are already established, allowing you to bypass the initial setup and dive straight into the heart of your presentation.

In addition, pre-designed themes offer customization options, allowing you to tailor them to suit your specific needs. This flexibility allows you to strike a balance between efficiency and customization, ensuring that your presentation reflects your brand while still benefiting from the time-saving advantages of a presentation theme.

What does a great presentation theme look like?

A great presentation theme possesses the following characteristics:

Clean and cohesive

The theme should have a clean design with consistent visual elements, such as font styles, color palettes, and graphical elements. This coherence creates a sense of professionalism and aids in visual comprehension.

Engaging and eye-catching

An effective theme captures attention and maintains engagement throughout the presentation. Consider using visually appealing graphics, appropriate animations, and well-placed images to enhance your presentations’ impact.

Customizable and versatile

While utilizing pre-designed themes can save time, ensure that the theme allows for customization and flexibility. This allows you to tailor the visuals to suit your specific content and adapt the theme to your branding needs.

Minimalistic yet impactful

Strive for a balance between simplicity and impact. Avoid cluttered or overly complex designs that can distract or overwhelm your audience. Opt for a minimalist approach that highlights the most crucial information and visuals. If you want to learn more about presentation design , watch the following video:

Presentation themes

Choosing a presentation theme isn’t easy. That’s why we created a list of presentation themes, based on their use cases or characteristics. From modern designs to interactive slides, our themes cater to a variety of topics and styles. Find the ideal theme that aligns with your content and captivates your audience!

Business presentation themes

This business proposal theme on Prezi offers a visually engaging and professional approach to presenting your business ideas, strategies, and solutions. The theme provides a visually stunning design that stands out from traditional slide-based presentations. Prezi’s zooming and panning effects create a dynamic flow, enabling you to present your ideas in a captivating manner, zooming in and out of topics. Also, the theme incorporates eye-catching graphics, charts, icons, and images, enhancing the overall aesthetic appeal of your proposal.

The Quarterly Business Review (QBR) is a critical milestone for organizations to assess their progress, identify growth opportunities, and align strategies for the upcoming quarter. To make your QBR presentation engaging and impactful, consider utilizing a traffic-themed business template on Prezi. This theme leverages the metaphor of traffic to symbolize the various factors that drive growth within your business. By leveraging this theme’s vivid colors and attention-grabbing design, we ensure that your QBR presentation will captivate and maintain the audience’s focus from beginning to end.

For small business owners, it’s crucial to comprehend the aspects that proved a success and those that fell short, especially during quarterly business reviews. By utilizing the office layout in this small business presentation theme , you’ll enhance your ability to visualize and contextualize your outcomes for your upcoming QBR. The thoughtful placement of elements and strategic use of negative space ensures that the content stands out and remains the focal point throughout the presentation.

The Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Prezi presentation offers a stunning example of how visual appeal and effective structure can create an engaging and informative experience. This presentation theme is designed to captivate the audience while conveying the importance of CSR in today’s business landscape. Through its creative visuals, dynamic transitions, and organized structure, it effectively communicates key concepts and encourages viewers to embrace social responsibility within their own organizations.

The 3 Types of Business Stories Prezi presentation is an exemplary showcase of how storytelling elements and visually engaging animations can elevate a presentation to new heights. This captivating presentation aims to explore the power of storytelling in the business world, highlighting three distinct types of business stories. Through its masterful use of storytelling techniques and visually stunning animations, it immerses the audience in a compelling narrative that brings the concepts to life.

Introducing new employees to the team is made memorable with Prezi’s employee onboarding presentation theme . Designed to ensure a smooth onboarding process, this theme is divided into four main sections that’ll help you structure your presentation seamlessly. From the warm welcome to discussing payroll and benefits, communication strategies, and fostering a sense of teamwork – this theme covers it all. 

Ensure that your team is aligned and well-prepared for a successful product launch using Prezi’s customizable product launch theme . Tailor this theme to include specific details about your product, development deadlines, and key milestones. It serves as a powerful visual aid to guide you during your presentation as you walk your team through the product launch schedule. With this presentation theme, you can effectively communicate the necessary information and foster a shared understanding among your team. This sets the stage for a coordinated and impactful product launch.

Experience seamless organization in your work life with Prezi’s sleek business presentation theme . Designed to streamline your professional presentations, this theme offers a polished and captivating visual aesthetic that’s sure to leave a lasting impression. With its user-friendly features, you can swiftly create a professional-grade presentation that stands out from the crowd. 

Your hard work in building a successful business model every quarter deserves an equally impressive presentation theme to showcase your achievements. With our vibrant and polished business model theme , you can create a visually captivating presentation for your upcoming business review. The colorful and clean design of this theme adds a touch of elegance, while its user-friendly features ensure a seamless presentation-building experience. Get ready to impress your audience with a professionally designed presentation that effectively communicates the strengths and accomplishments of your business model.

Deliver an engaging SWOT analysis presentation using Prezi’s dynamic SWOT analysis presentation theme . With an intuitive layout, this theme enables you to effortlessly highlight key areas, zoom in on important details, and zoom out to present the bigger picture. The straightforward design ensures that your audience can easily grasp the essential elements of your SWOT analysis.

Discover more business presentation templates and create your own in a matter of minutes!

Sales presentation themes

What makes a good sales kickoff? The presentation by Igor Lacerdino answers this question in a highly engaging and interactive format. The combination of visual metaphors and compelling presentation structure makes this the perfect presentation theme for those who want to illustrate a process or a step-by-step guide. By reusing the structure of this sales kickoff presentation, you can create a highly captivating and engaging presentation for your sales team.

Unleash the winning spirit of your sales team with our football-inspired sales plan presentation theme . This theme not only fosters a sense of team unity but also incorporates a relatable metaphor that resonates with everyone. With a clear focus on thoughtful strategy, it empowers you to deliver a compelling presentation that connects with your audience on a deeper level. Get ready to kick off your sales plan with style and captivate your audience with this dynamic and customizable theme.

The Prezi presentation created by NOBL Collective provides a comprehensive guide to developing a clear and impactful organizational framework . It illustrates the importance and benefits of defining purpose, vision, mission, values, and key measures. Prezi’s interactive elements encourage active participation and engagement and guide viewers through the presentation with ease. 

The presentation by Cindy McGovern provides a visually appealing and engaging experience. With its seamless blend of professional-looking visuals and a well-structured layout, this sales presentation theme ensures that your presentation leaves a lasting impression on your audience. It offers a wide array of visually appealing elements such as high-quality images, sleek graphics, and vibrant colors. These elements are strategically incorporated to enhance the visual experience and reinforce key messages. The visuals come to life with smooth transitions and animations, creating a dynamic and engaging experience for your audience.

Ignite the enthusiasm of your sales team with an engaging sales strategy presentation . Designed with a compelling football image, this presentation theme is guaranteed to captivate your audience from start to finish. With its dynamic visuals and interactive elements, this theme creates a memorable experience that leaves a lasting impact.

Discover a range of sales presentation templates and create your own today!

Marketing presentation themes

To ensure that your marketing efforts are successful, use the Flow marketing strategy theme from Prezi. This theme is specifically designed to help marketers tell their stories in a quick, yet memorable way. By utilizing the high-energy design of the Flow theme, you can make sure that your marketing efforts are eye-catching and engaging.

The social media presentation features an engaging and visually rich theme aimed at providing tips to help individuals or businesses increase their social media following and build loyalty among their audience. With the use of visual cues and icons related to social media, this theme is perfect for showcasing tips, resources, and social media data. 

By using Prezi’s visually appealing marketing proposal theme , you can easily capture the attention of your audience. With its sleek visuals and intuitive user interface, this theme is sure to impress both clients and colleagues alike. Additionally, the template’s flexibility allows for easy customization to fit the specific needs and branding of your company, ensuring that your proposal stands out from the competition.

Are you looking to showcase your social media reach? Now you can easily do that by using this map-themed social media marketing template . The global map theme allows you to highlight specific regions and numbers in a visually stunning way. As with all Prezi presentation templates, it’s customizable to fit your brand and message.

Explore other marketing presentation templates and start creating your own! 

Education presentation themes

Prezi offers a wide range of presentation themes for students and educators , perfect for presenting projects and lessons, just like the following presentation theme. 

This versatile and vibrant lesson plan presentation theme simplifies the creation and sharing of lesson plans. With its customizable features and vivid colors, this theme guarantees a clear and engaging representation of lessons. Drawing inspiration from friendly board games, the presentation theme offers a structured approach to organizing subjects, assignments, exams, and other educational elements.

For education professionals, having a well-structured training presentation theme is essential. Whether you’re creating roadmaps or conducting reviews, this theme is designed to elevate your next EDU training presentation to the forefront. With its user-friendly features and comprehensive layout, it ensures your training session stands out as exemplary.

You can impress your classmates by presenting your research findings using this captivating research project theme . Featuring stylish purple accents and a clean layout, this theme allows you to showcase your approach and research methodology in a clear and understandable format.

Enhance your science project with this user-friendly presentation theme that incorporates lively imagery. Designed to be easy to use, this theme is ideal for showcasing your project’s findings. Simply update the content with your research results and captivate your class with impressive research findings.

Utilize this book report theme to demonstrate your understanding of the topics and characters within any book. With its vibrant orange background and soothing color scheme, it’s the ideal choice for presenting your book report.

Bring your history lesson to life with this captivating history timeline theme . Featuring a black-and-white image of the Colosseum in the background, the vibrant red features of this template truly stand out. Engage your audience and make your historical content shine with this visually striking presentation theme!

Utilize this pre-designed presentation theme from Prezi to effortlessly create captivating and informative content about Black History Month . Designed to be visually stunning and engaging, this theme will captivate your students and ensure their active participation.

The Prezi presentation on the Civil Rights Movement is a great example of how multimedia can make a presentation more engaging and captivating. This education presentation theme hosts a variety of multimedia elements. It includes images, videos, and animations that provide a comprehensive overview of the movement. The use of multimedia makes the presentation more interesting and helps to better convey the historical significance of the Civil Rights Movement. 

The “Understanding the teenage brain” presentation makes use of a variety of visual aids. It includes images, videos, and icons to illustrate key concepts and engage the audience. It’s also structured in a way that makes it easy to follow and understand. With that in mind, this education presentation theme is perfect for conveying complex topics while engaging the audience.

The Earth Day history & timeline presentation theme is a great visual tool for displaying the progression of events related to Earth Day. The theme allows you to showcase important milestones and historical moments in an engaging and interactive way. This makes it easier for your audience to follow along with the story of how Earth Day came to be. By using this theme, you can create a more compelling presentation that’ll help your audience understand the importance of Earth Day and the ongoing efforts to protect our planet.

Explore other great education-themed presentation templates and design your own today! 

Online meeting presentation themes

The All Hands Meeting template is a highly professional Prezi Video theme designed for conducting effective online meetings within a company. It provides a comprehensive structure to share important news, updates, and announcements. Plus, just like any other Prezi Video template, it allows you to share your content right next to you on-screen. 

Maintain synchronization with your team by using the daily standup meeting theme . This comprehensive template incorporates essential elements to foster productive discussions, such as an overview of the topics to be covered and a review of yesterday’s accomplishments. Additionally, it provides prompts for discussing today’s plans, key takeaways, and actionable items to ensure effective collaboration.

Deliver a concise and impactful company update using Prezi Video’s dynamic newscast theme . This template is specifically designed to streamline the process of sharing important information with your organization. Seamlessly navigate through the top headlines, delve into company-wide news, and allocate time for team leads to discuss future initiatives and next steps, all within the framework of this template.

Empower your students with a comprehensive preview of upcoming classwork using this vibrant video theme designed specifically for introducing new assignments and projects. Infused with captivating blue, yellow, and orange details, this template is thoughtfully organized into five sections, allowing you to structure your content effectively while clearly articulating your expectations for the assignment.

Prezi’s Back to School theme created by Edward Quinn is crafted to captivate attention and effectively communicate school-related topics through intentional visual elements. This theme is designed to provide an engaging and dynamic experience for students, teachers, and educators alike. Whether you’re introducing a new curriculum, outlining classroom rules, or discussing exciting upcoming events, the Back to School theme ensures your message is conveyed in a visually stunning and impactful manner. 

Discover a plethora of video presentation templates and unleash your creativity by designing your very own today!

How to choose a presentation theme

When choosing a presentation theme, it’s important to consider a few aspects that can have a big impact on the effectiveness of your message with your audience. In this section, we’ll explore how to select a presentation theme that best fits your message and audience.

Understand your audience

Consider the preferences, demographics, and expectations of your audience. If your presentation is for a formal business setting, a clean and professional theme would be appropriate. For a creative or casual audience, a more vibrant and unconventional theme might be suitable.

Align with content

Ensure that the theme aligns with the content and topic of your presentation. The visuals should complement your message and help reinforce key points, rather than distract or confuse the audience.

Consistency with branding

If you’re representing a company or organization, choose a presentation theme that aligns with your brand’s visual identity. Incorporate your brand colors, logos, and fonts to maintain consistency across your presentation materials.

Accessibility and legibility

Pay attention to the legibility of your content. Select a theme that provides sufficient contrast between text and background, ensuring that your audience can easily read the information displayed on your slides.

Streamline the design process with presentation themes

Selecting the right presentation theme is a vital aspect of creating powerful and effective presentations. By opting for a theme, you can enhance the visual appeal, maintain consistency, and elevate the overall impact of your content. Plus, using Prezi’s presentation themes can streamline the design process and help you create a cohesive, professional-looking presentation quickly and easily. Remember to align the theme with your audience, content, and branding while ensuring accessibility and legibility. A great presentation theme strikes a balance between clean and cohesive design, engagement, customization, and minimalistic impact. With the right theme, you can captivate your audience and deliver a memorable presentation that leaves a lasting impression. So, embrace the power of a well-chosen presentation theme and take your presentations to new heights!

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5 Better Alternatives To Google Slides

I f you're looking to create a compelling presentation to showcase a new idea or persuade others, Google Slides may be the first option that comes to mind. But with few built-in templates, basic themes, and a limited graphics collection, you'll likely have a hard time making your presentation stand out against others.

If you want to make your presentation truly stand out, there are several alternatives to Google Slides that offer extra perks and features to give your presentations an edge. While Google focuses on integrating Slides with its other work-based apps like Sheets and Docs, other presentation apps focus more on design elements, transitions, and themes to help you convey your brand or personal image throughout your presentation.

We've tested these Google Slide alternatives to give you an idea of other available options to deliver impactful presentations. If you're looking for a way to make boring information more fun and engaging, here are the best presentation apps to replace Google Slides.

Read more: Major Graphics Card Brands Ranked Worst To Best

Microsoft PowerPoint

There's a reason so many businesses around the globe use Microsoft PowerPoint. Building its reputation as the go-to option for delivering high-quality presentations, the software generated $100 million in annual sales only three years after its initial release in 1990.

Microsoft PowerPoint may be Google Slides' largest competitor, but there are plenty of unique features that can add an extra flourish to your slides. PowerPoint excels in its impressive library of custom animations and slide transitions, which are fairly limited in Google Slides. Another unique feature is its AI-powered Designer tool. This provides professional design schemes that mirror the words used in your slides. For instance, if your title slide is named "Basketball Team 2024," Designer will automatically suggest pictures and slide layouts associated with basketball.

As PowerPoint has been in development longer than Google Slides, it naturally offers more nuanced features if you're looking for something specific. For example, you can save individual slides as an image file (using .png or .jpeg formats) or as a separate presentation file. There's also a large library of free PowerPoint templates designed to speed up your workflow. Moreover, PowerPoint integrates seamlessly with Microsoft Teams with its PowerPoint Live function, allowing you to easily share your presentation with your co-workers.

Prezi offers an innovative approach to showing presentations with its unique canvas feature. Unlike traditional presentation software, Prezi lets you zoom and pan around a flexible canvas. The canvas may feel distant to something of a presentation program, but there is still some linear order provided thanks to the Timeline view.

Finding ways to visualize data is one of the biggest challenges when dealing with presentation software. Prezi resolves this struggle with the help of its Story Blocks: a series of infographics available in multiple designs to visually represent data. You can easily edit infographics and even add animations to individual shapes. This can help add a story to your presentation and help you emphasize key points.

To further enhance your presentation visually, Prezi offers several topic path settings, which let you change how Prezi transitions from one topic to another. These options include subtopics, which are super helpful for breaking large chunks of information down. If you're looking for a unique, modern approach to presenting information, Prezi is a top pick.

If you're looking to create a professional presentation to convince potential clients about your business idea, Slidebean is a popular choice among professionals with plenty of customization options. One of the issues with Google Slides is its fairly limited template library, which is filled mostly with basic designs. Slidebean offers a better alternative with a broad selection of innovative templates split into categories for convenience.

The app's user interface is easy to navigate so that you can create slides in less time. Each slide has a dedicated Design and Outline tab. You can use the Outline tab to quickly edit the information on each slide without being distracted by all the visual elements. Another productivity-enhancing feature is the ability to generate a presentation theme from your website. Simply enter your URL, and Slidebean will automatically apply the theming to your presentation.

Slidebean is another presentation app to take advantage of AI. Using the Auto-Design feature, you can generate recommended slide layouts based on your existing content. It also features AI text suggestions designed to suit different industries. Overall, Slidebean offers a quicker, more efficient method for creating stunning presentations compared to Google Slides.

Canva is a well-known app among graphic designers, but it's also capable of making stunning presentations. The app also has mobile editions, so you can easily create and edit presentations on your Android phone , iOS device, or tablet. As long as you have an internet connection, you can modify your designs wherever you are.

To get started, head to Canva's online presentation maker . Canva offers a vast range of templates categorized by topic, which easily surpasses the simple templates in Google Slides . While some of the templates are only available to Canva Pro members, there is an ample amount of free templates to help you get started. You'll also find a large selection of stock photos, shapes, and illustrations to create beautiful customized slides.

Because Canva is built for graphic designers, you can access several features to give your presentation consistent theming. These include color palettes, font sets, and even a brand kit that allows you to add your company's fonts (available to Pro members only). One time-saving feature is Canva's Uploads tab, which lets you access recently uploaded media files. This offers a convenient way to copy content between different presentations.

Visme is a powerful visual design tool able to create videos, infographics, and presentations. One of the perks of using Visme is the company's free educational content, which offers advice on how to create impactful content to boost your brand. After signing up, the company also asks whether you're using Visme for your business, education purposes, or personal use to offer personalized tips.

In terms of charts and graphs, Visme offers some of the most impressive features we've seen from a presentation app, so you can effortlessly convey important statistics. From the Data tab, you can access dozens of graph styles to visually represent your data. Then, simply double-click a chart inside your presentation to edit the values instantly in a simple table format.

Another area that Visme excels in is collaboration. You can either generate a link to publish your presentation on the web or share your presentation privately with others. For each team member, you can choose who can view, edit, and comment slides for a seamless workflow. There's also a Slack integration that lets you receive messages whenever changes are made to your presentation. Visme is free for all users, with limited features available in its premium plans.

Read the original article on SlashGear .

Victoria Police presentation on youth crime criticised for 'racist' focus on 'African gangs'

The first email landed just after 1:30pm on the final day of May last year.

"I want to provide the feedback that the language, tone, and imagery of the second presentation this morning was very racist," it read.

"I assume formal feedback will be provided to Victoria Police but wanted to flag my concerns."

The internal email from Victoria's justice department was about a recent presentation by police, which had been pitched as a "really impactful" look at the youth gang landscape in Victoria. In the aftermath, attendees complained they should have been warned beforehand they would see "someone get stabbed to death".

Warning: This story contains references to racial slurs.

The presentation followed a three-day conference on gangs which had attracted law enforcement officers from America, England, Italy and New Zealand.

Dozens of public servants from the Department of Justice and some from the premier's department had been invited to take part.

The two-and-a-half-hour session started well, with police staff outlining details of the state's 47 youth gangs and 607 known members and their approach to disrupting them.

But the second half left staff "disturbed", "upset" and "extremely affected", according to more than 200 pages of internal departmental documents obtained by the ABC under Freedom of Information laws.

Police later apologised for the presentation, but denied it was racist.

'Very graphic and violent footage'

The day before the presentation, an email went out warning that Victoria Police had advised there would be "graphic footage that some attendees may find confronting" and that people might want to "excuse themselves" if they found it distressing.

In the aftermath, multiple staff said the warning was insufficient for what was shown.

One staff member said to put it "bluntly", police "should have said, 'We are about to show you someone get stabbed to death.'"

Victoria Police told the ABC its warnings gave people "ample opportunity" to leave the presentation.

Internal emails from the justice department said "explicit videos and even CCTV footage of a murder was shown", along with "very graphic and violent footage" from a "range of serious violent incidents including stabbings and still images involving young people and adults allegedly involved both as victims and perpetrators".

On eight separate occasions in the documents, the word "gratuitous" is used to describe the graphic content shown.

In one person's handwritten notes from the session, they questioned why they were watching a murder. The attendee wrote: "Unclear purpose of showing [this] video is." 

Among the audience were people who knew both victims and offenders.

"Some of those in attendance are also members of our vibrant African and South Sudanese Australian communities, including those who personally knew the victims of serious assaults and who were shown video in the presentation of these assaults," one email said.

While several people acknowledged the "traumatic experiences" officers faced, and the need for policy makers to "understand the practical and operational realities" of frontline police work, they didn't think the presentation helped achieve this.

One person commented they were "disturbed" by "the casual way the violent imagery was discussed" and another said the commentary was "upsetting … flippant, and racist in several points."

It is unclear how many of the attendees complained based on the consolidated feedback provided in the emails, but the secretary of the department described it as "significant staff concerns".

Victoria Police says it received "a combination of both positive and negative feedback" following the presentation.

'Utterance of racial slurs' and a focus on 'African gangs'

It wasn't just the graphic videos and photos that left people "disturbed".

Department emails said the second presentation "focused almost exclusively on offending by African background Australian young people and adults", without "any explanation or evidence as to why".

Attendees contrasted that with the first presentation delivered during the same session, which also referenced Caucasian and Afghan-Australian offenders.

One attendee recalled a slide in the second presentation that featured pictures of two young men of African background handcuffed on the ground.

"The presenter went on to say that one of these men had been found to not be involved in the incident at all," they said. "I question why the image of this person's face was kept in the presentation."

Multiple attendees complained that the presenter referred to a 13-year-old as an "offender for life", laughed "inappropriately" when identifying people in prison, made comments "trivialising family violence", and used the 'n-word'.

The slur was reportedly used by the presenter when reading a social media post that wasn't on the screen, "meaning there was a deliberate decision to use that word which would otherwise not have been seen/heard by the audience," one attendee said.

One staff member's notes of the presentation said, "'n-word'… completely gratuitous" and the photos were "all POC [people of colour], no blurred faces" including one of a "bloody wound to face" and one of someone "in a pool of blood".

Police said, "with hindsight" it accepted that "reading out social media posts from gang members containing certain words may have been offensive to a number of individuals and this was not our intent."

Members of the department's South Sudanese Australian Youth Justice Expert Working Group, who were at the session, said the "utterance of racial slurs" needed to be denounced and that the focus on people of African background should be "called out as racist or, at the very least, noted that it was received as racism by many members of the audience".

The Department of Justice refused a request from the ABC to speak with the chair of the working group.

That the presentation was "solely focused on African gangs" was raised during the session, according to one person who emailed their managers.

"One person posted a question asking whether 'youth gangs is an African young people issue only or was this presentation designed to focus on one group.' This question was not answered," another attendee wrote. 

Another person's notes of the session disagreed, they said the presenter acknowledged white gang members, but said "memberships of non-Caucasians is over represented".

A third person said it "bordered on racial profiling" and lamented a lack of awareness "that ethnicity is not the true common denominator".

"We expect that the longer‐term corporate memory of Victoria Police provides ample evidence that the common denominator is poverty, marginalisation, pre‐existing trauma and/or cultural barriers," they wrote. "Accordingly, it is not a surprise that offending may be temporarily elevated amongst ethnic groups associated with recent mass migration trends."

Victoria's Crime Statistics Agency data shows the number of offenders under 24 who were born in Sudan and South Sudan has fallen in the past few years, from 508 in 2020/21 to 258 in 2022/23.

That's compared to the 13,973 youth offenders who were born in Australia.

However, nearly 18 per cent of youth offenders did not have their country of birth recorded, and data on the  ethnic identity of known offenders is not available .

The new chair of the South Sudanese Community Association in Victoria, Andrew Ohide, said he could not comment on the presentation but that it was difficult for young people who were unfairly judged by police or members of the public when they were with a group of friends, saying it was "rubbish" and "not helpful".

"For a community to be safe, we need to look to each other and see all of us as Australian," he said.

He said if people did the wrong thing, he expected police to act, but he worried the public and the media often focused on offenders from an African background.

"When they're [involved in] positive things, you call them Australian, but when they cause any minor problem, now — it's South Sudanese," he said.

Acting chief commissioner apologised to department secretary, documents show

Just after 6pm on the day of the presentation, senior justice department staff were emailed a summary of concerns and complaints regarding the presentation.

One deputy secretary replied that it was "disappointing and shocking".

Another wrote: "It seems a massive backward step by VicPol. A response is clearly warranted."

They emailed staff who had attended, "to acknowledge and apologise for the distress, anger, and disappointment that the presentation has caused" and tell them the material "did not reflect [the department's] values".

Two days after the presentation, justice department secretary Kate Houghton and then-acting police chief commissioner Neil Paterson had "a few conversations".

If the secretary stuck to the speaking notes prepared for the call, she raised concerns about gratuitous use of graphic and violent footage, unacceptable language and commentary, racial profiling, and the potential misuse of CCTV footage from correctional facilities.

A follow-up email went out to attendees that afternoon saying: "The Acting Chief Commissioner has apologised and confirmed that action will be taken to address the concerns raised. The Secretary would like to thank you for having the courage to raise that this presentation was not acceptable."

Then-acting chief commissioner Neil Paterson also made an apology to a member of the South Sudanese Australian Youth Justice Expertise Working Group, which one working group member described as "both sincere and assuring".

"He apologised on behalf of the VicPol and asked me to convey his apologies to the team," the group member wrote in an email, adding Mr Paterson "said it was inappropriate to give such a graphic presentation" particularly "to those who might know some of those young [people]".

Victoria Police declined an interview with the ABC, but did respond to a series of questions in a statement.

"While everything presented depicted the realities of the job and the youth gang situation, we understand the content may have been confronting for people who do not work in a policing environment," it said.

It said the footage was not "shown to be gratuitous but rather to demonstrate the factual reality" of what "police are confronting on a regular basis".

The statement pushed back against allegations of racism or racial profiling.

"To be clear, there was no racism in the presentation, nor did Victoria Police employees focus on any specific ethnicity or group but rather criminal offending examples."

The Chair of Criminology at the University of Melbourne, Associate Professor Diana Johns said she wasn't surprised to hear about the presentation and the concerns that were raised.

"These are not the everyday things that most of us live with, they're exceptions.

"Yet, the world of policing, very often there's a focus on violence and a normalisation of the things that police see each day, in their working day, that normalises both the violence and the violent response to violence," she said.

She claimed "every city in the world, policing is racialised" and said the community needed to listen to the experiences of young people of colour.

"Police accountability is absolutely critical — police accountability in terms of having independent oversight, in terms of having mechanisms for police to be held accountable when they do the wrong thing, but also to be accountable to their communities they're serving."

Attendees question motivation for presentation

The documents obtained by the ABC suggest some attendees interpreted the presentation as a "scare campaign" attempting to dissuade department staff from supporting a rise in the minimum age of criminal responsibility or bail reforms.

One person was typing notes while the police session was underway.

They started out detailed, but during the second presentation they had largely descended into a serious of questions, including: "What do these phrases mean?", "Rubbish family violence thing?", "Know your audience?", "Bit propaganda-ish?".

The notes finish with one final thought: "What is the purpose of your presooooo"

Another attendee said "there was no constructive discussion of what tools/levers police were lacking other than that we shouldn't be making their lives harder by changing bail, raising the age etc".

The invitation to the session was targeted at people working on raising the minimum age of criminal responsibility, which is currently 10, but is set to increase to 12 by the end of the year.

Victoria Police said the presentation was requested by some Justice Department staff who had attended the international gangs conference.

"The purpose was to give employees an insight into the youth gang environment, including some of the challenges police face, impacts on community, and the considerable efforts being made to manage, engage and divert these young people before they escalate into more serious offending," its statement said.

You can read a letter of complaint to the Acting Chief Commissioner below:

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Lawyers to Plastics Makers: Prepare for ‘Astronomical’ PFAS Lawsuits

At an industry presentation about dangerous “forever chemicals,” lawyers predicted a wave of lawsuits that could dwarf asbestos litigation, audio from the event revealed.

By Hiroko Tabuchi

The defense lawyer minced no words as he addressed a room full of plastic-industry executives. Prepare for a wave of lawsuits​ with​ potentially “astronomical” costs​. Speaking at a conference earlier this year, the lawyer, Brian Gross, said the coming litigation could “dwarf anything related to asbestos,” one of the most sprawling corporate-liability battles in United States history.

Mr. Gross was referring to PFAS, the “forever chemicals” that have emerged as one of the major pollution issues of our time. Used for decades in countless everyday objects — cosmetics, takeout containers, frying pans — PFAS have been linked to serious health risks including cancer. Last month the federal government said several types of PFAS must be removed from the drinking water of hundreds of millions of Americans .

“Do what you can, while you can, before you get sued,” Mr. Gross said at the February session, according to a recording of the event made by a participant and examined by The New York Times. “Review any marketing materials or other communications that you’ve had with your customers, with your suppliers, see whether there’s anything in those documents that’s problematic to your defense,” he said. “Weed out people and find the right witness to represent your company.”

A spokesman for Mr. Gross’s employer, MG+M The Law Firm, which defends companies in high-stakes litigation, didn’t respond to questions about Mr. Gross’s remarks and said he was unavailable to discuss them.

A wide swath of the chemicals, plastics and related industries are gearing up to fight a surge in litigation related to PFAS, or per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, a class of nearly 15,000 versatile synthetic chemicals linked to serious health problems.

PFAS chemicals have been detected almost everywhere scientists have looked: in drinking water, in rain falling over the Great Lakes , even in Antarctic snow . They are thought to be present in the blood of nearly every American . Researchers have linked exposure to PFAS to testicular and kidney cancers, developmental delays in children, decreased fertility, liver damage and thyroid disease. The man-made chemicals are so long-lasting that scientists haven’t been able to reliably identify how long it might take for them to break down.

PFAS-related lawsuits have already targeted manufacturers in the United States, including DuPont, its spinoff Chemours, and 3M. Last year, 3M agreed to pay at least $10 billion to water utilities across the United States that had sought compensation for cleanup costs. Thirty state attorneys general have also sued PFAS manufacturers, accusing the manufacturers of widespread contamination.

But experts say the legal battle is just beginning. Under increasing scrutiny are a wider universe of companies that use PFAS in their products. This month, plaintiffs filed a class-action lawsuit against Bic, accusing the razor company for failing to disclose that some of its razors contained PFAS.

Bic said it doesn’t comment on pending litigation, and said it had a longstanding commitment to safety.

The Biden administration has moved to regulate the chemicals, for the first time requiring municipal water systems to remove six types of PFAS . Last month, the Environmental Protection Agency also designated two of those PFAS chemicals as hazardous substances under the Superfund law, shifting responsibility for their cleanup at contaminated sites from taxpayers to polluters.

Both rules are expected to prompt a new round of litigation from water utilities, local communities and others suing for cleanup costs.

“To say that the floodgates are opening is an understatement,” said Emily M. Lamond, an attorney who focuses on environmental litigation at the law firm Cole Schotz. “Take tobacco, asbestos, MTBE, combine them, and I think we’re still going to see more PFAS-related litigation,” she said, referring to methyl tert-butyl ether, a former harmful gasoline additive that contaminated drinking water. Together, the trio led to claims totaling hundreds of billions of dollars.

PFAS were an industrial marvel when chemists at Dupont in the 1940s synthesized the material, a remarkably durable compound resistant to water, stains, heat and grease. It quickly became a mainstay in DuPont’s Teflon nonstick pans and 3M’s Scotchgard fabric protector. A powerful fire suppressant, it helped firefighters battle flames. Today, they are used for everyday items as varied as microwave popcorn bags, shampoos, raincoats and firefighting foam.

But the very qualities that have made PFAS so valuable have also prevented them from breaking down naturally in the environment. As PFAS entered the environment from factories, products and landfills, the chemicals have started to accumulate in water, air and soil.

Industry documents released through litigation show that manufacturers found adverse health effects from PFAS exposure as early as 1961 . But it wasn’t until the early 2000s that questions increasingly emerged in public about their safety. In 2005, the E.P.A. fined DuPont $10 million , at that time the largest administrative fine ever levied by the agency, for failing to disclose PFAS’s adverse effects.​​

All that has set the stage for a potential legal storm. Unlike tobacco, used by only a subset of the public, “pretty much every one of us in the United States is walking around with PFAS in our bodies,” said Erik Olson, senior strategic director for environmental health at the Natural Resources Defense Council. “And we’re being exposed without our knowledge or consent, often by industries that knew how dangerous the chemicals were, and failed to disclose that,” he said. “That’s a formula for really significant liability.”

Sandy Wynn-Stelt of Belmont, Mich., brought one early case. A year after she lost her husband to liver cancer in 2016, she discovered that the Christmas tree farm in front of her home, which had seemed such an idyllic setting, had been a dumping ground for PFAS-laden tannery waste from Wolverine World Wide, the maker of Hush Puppies shoes.

Wolverine had been among the first to license 3M’s Scotchgard for its waterproof footwear. Mrs. Wynn-Stelt got her blood tested, and found PFAS levels hundreds of times the norm. In 2020, she was diagnosed with thyroid cancer.

She sued Wolverine and 3M, and reached a settlement in 2021. Separately, nearly 2,000 local residents settled a class-action lawsuit against Wolverine. The region’s water source remains polluted with PFAS.

“Those lawyers are exactly right. This is going to be huge, now that people are starting to hold companies accountable,” Mrs. Wynn-Stelt said.

Wolverine declined to comment. 3M said it continued to “address PFAS litigation by defending itself in court or through negotiated resolutions.”

Much of the course of future litigation hinges on the evidence over PFAS’s health risks. There is broad scientific consensus that certain PFAS chemicals are harmful. “There’s a weight of evidence,” said Linda Birnbaum, a toxicologist and the former director of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. “Multiple studies by different investigators, and in different populations.”

Max Swetman, another MG+M partner who presented with Mr. Gross at the February industry conference, addressed the research in his remarks to the group. “There’s a whole lot of new science being created,” he said. “It’s not the best for us.”

Still, some of the research could be vulnerable to criticism, he said. Getting the right experts to testify was crucial, he said. “Epidemiologists, if you get the right one, is always going to be your best expert in trial.”

Mr. Swetman was unavailable to comment on his remarks, according to his law firm.

One challenge facing medical research lies in the sheer number of different PFAS chemicals that have now entered the environment, each of which can have slightly different health effects, said Steph Tai, associate dean at the University of Wisconsin’s Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies and an expert in the use of science in environmental protection and litigation.

“The other thing, too, is that it takes a long time for health effects to show up,” Dr. Tai said, so the only way that scientists have been able to assess those effects is through long-term studies. Researchers must essentially look for what is referred to as “natural experiments,” according to Dr. Tai, comparing people who are naturally less exposed to PFAS with those who are more exposed. That inevitably leads to some uncertainties.

The industry has scored some major victories. Last November, the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit tossed out a lawsuit that would have covered every Ohio citizen in a major case over exposure to PFAS, ruling that a firefighter who brought the lawsuit failed to prove that the PFAS found in his blood specifically came from the companies he sued.

3M phased out most uses of two of the most widely used PFAS chemicals, PFOS and PFOA, in the early 2000s, and DuPont in 2015 stopped using PFOA. 3M has said it will phase out the manufacturing of PFAS chemicals by the end of next year. The company will also work to discontinue their use in products, though that’s contingent on the company finding substitutes.

“As the science and technology of PFAS, societal and regulatory expectations, and our expectations of ourselves have evolved, so has how we manage PFAS,” 3M said.

DuPont referred inquiries to Chemours, the company that was spun off in 2015. Chemours declined to comment.

A long and difficult cleanup is beginning. President Biden’s 2021 infrastructure law provides $9 billion to help communities address PFAS contamination, and the E.P.A. has said $1 billion of that money would be set aside to help states with initial testing and treatment. Meantime, new kinds of PFAS are still being released into the environment. Scientists are working to learn more about them.

Hiroko Tabuchi covers the intersection of business and climate for The Times. She has been a journalist for more than 20 years in Tokyo and New York. More about Hiroko Tabuchi

The Proliferation of ‘Forever Chemicals’

Pfas, or per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, are hazardous compounds that pose a global threat to human health..

For the first time, the U.S. government is requiring municipal water systems to detect and remove PFAS from drinking water .

A global study found harmful levels of PFAS  in water samples taken far from any obvious source of contamination.

Virtually indestructible, PFAS are used in fast-food packaging and countless household items .

PFAS lurk in much of what we eat, drink and use, but scientists are only beginning to understand how they affect our health .

Though no one can avoid forever chemicals entirely, Wirecutter offers tips on how to limit your exposure .

Scientists have spent years searching for ways to destroy forever chemicals. In 2022, a team of chemists found a cheap, effective method to break them down .

City holds Downtown South Bend 2045 Plan presentations during 'Design Week'

SOUTH BEND — Residents and other stakeholders are invited to review preliminary design concepts and share their ideas for the next stage in the development of the Downtown South Bend 2045 Plan during a series of public meetings through June 6.

Design Week presentations take place at the following locations and times:

• Design Week Public Kickoff: 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. June 3 at the Howard Park Event Center, 219 S. St. Louis Blvd.

Overview of the week’s activities, review of input received during the February/March visioning workshops and through the online survey, opportunity to comment on key themes that will help form the downtown plan.

• Open House: noon to 1 p.m. Tuesday, June 4 at the Howard Park Event Center, 219 S. St. Louis Blvd.

A brief presentation of initial design ideas, opportunity to comment on initial plan direction.

• Final Presentation: 6 p.m. Thursday, June 6 at the Leighton Auditorium, St. Joseph County Public Library’s Community Learning Center, 305 S. Michigan St.

Full presentation of draft downtown plan concepts and priorities.

Downtown to the Dome: Seven ways that this new trail could unite Notre Dame, South Bend and other trails

In a press release, Mayor James Mueller asked for the public’s input in designing the future of downtown South Bend, which, he said, “is on the cusp of transformational growth” because of the multi-billion-dollar investments announced by GM-Samsung and Amazon Web Services west of the city in the Indiana Enterprise Center.

“The UDA team is excited to be back in South Bend spending the week designing with the community and stakeholders,” Megan O’Hara, principal at Urban Design Associates, said in the press release. “We look forward to building on the ideas we’ve heard through surveys, public meetings, and workshops to facilitate a collaborative vision for the future of Downtown South Bend."

For more information on the Downtown South Bend 2045 plan process, visit together.southbendin.gov/downtownplan .