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Check out our exciting news story featuring our winning collaboration for SXSW!

AUSTIN, Texas, March 24, 2016:

Those who have experienced the chaos of SXSW Interactive know the challenge of standing out among the hundreds of companies, speakers and attendees that descend on Austin for the five-day festival.

When Austin startup PopUp Play was selected as one of the finalists for the “Entertainment and Content” Accelerator pitch competition, cofounder Bryan Thomas turned to local presentation design firm Puffingston to help him optimize his content and make the most of the two minutes he was allotted for the first round presentation.

Thomas’s pitch detailed how PopUp Play enables kids to design custom playhouses through an iPad app and then order life-sized versions for delivery to their door a few days later—ready to be colored and decorated. Puffingston transformed his slides into a dynamic Prezi that illustrated the “From imagination to reality” concept of the presentation.

“The Prezi was supportive of our theme, purpose and was full of engaging visuals,” said Thomas. “It did exactly what you want from a seamless presentation.”

Armed with a visual aid that supported his message, Thomas delivered a compelling presentation that vaulted PopUp Play to the Sunday finals. The next day, he presented the five-minute version and PopUp Play was ultimately crowned winner of the category and recipients of the $4,000 prize—the only Austin winner of the five area companies competing amid 48 startups in the competition.

Screenshot from PopUp Play’s SXSW Accelerator presentation

“We’re excited about PopUp Play’s big win and feel honored to have played a role in their SXSW experience,” said Luke Goetting, president at Puffingston. “Of course, we’re also thrilled this award gets to stay right here in Austin.”

Despite having a presence in Austin for just over one year, Puffingston is no stranger to successful collaborations at SXSW. The company designed two speaker session presentations and two Accelerator pitches for SXSW 2015—including one for Wearables category winner Tinitell, a manufacturer of a wearable phone and GPS tracker for kids to move freely while staying connected with their parents.

This year in addition to PopUp Play, Puffingston collaborated with “Enterprise and Smart Data” Accelerator finalist HYP3R— a location-based engagement platform that allows businesses to better engage with customers—and LaunchEdu finalist Paragon One— a video coaching marketplace and adaptive learning platform which guides international students to career success in the U.S. and abroad.

Puffingston opened its downtown Austin office in January at the historic Robinson-Macken house—giving them a central location for client meetings and easy access to the Austin tech community for events like SXSW. Puffingston specializes in Prezi, a presentation platform that allows presenters to navigate content spatially through zooming instead of clicking through linear slides. As a certified Prezi Expert company, Puffingston offers presentation design services and Prezi training courses locally and nationally.

“Being based in Austin, we feel fortunate having this gathering of amazing tech minds right in our backyard,” said Goetting. “Companies like PopUp Play are bringing exciting new technologies and capabilities to the world and we enjoy helping them create engaging visuals that better communicate their message.”

Want to check out more of our exciting “Presentation in Action” success stories? Check out our Portfolio page!