7 Presentation Skills to learn from Steve Jobs
Steve Jobs was probably the greatest corporate storyteller of all time. His ability to inform, educate, entertain and inspire his audiences was what made him stand out from the rest. No wonder many Managers try to imitate Steve Jobs. I will try and decode his delivery style and highlight the lessons we can learn on how to better deliver our presentations.
Practice
“The difference between ordinary and extra-ordinary is practice.” — Vladimir Horowitz
Steve Jobs wasn’t a natural/born communicator. He worked hard to be one. He used to practice not for hours but for days or even weeks before his final presentation. Jobs used to conditioned himself with the actual/final setup by rehearsing on stage at the actual venue with lights, projectors, cameras etc. It’s that kind of insane practice that made him look so polished and effortless.
Rule of three
“In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities, in the expert’s mind there are few” — Shunryu Suzuki
Rule of three states that things that come in threes are easier to remember than in any other number and Jobs had almost imbibed it. That’s the reason while introducing the first iphone back in 2007, he mentioned Today we are introducing three revolutionary products. The first, a widescreen iPod with touch controls. The second, is a revolutionary mobile phone. And the third is a breakthrough Internet communications device.” As the audience applauded, Jobs repeated the three ‘products’ several times. Finally revealing that these are not three separate devices, they are one device and we are calling it iPhone!”
Make it stick
As a presenter, you got to be very clear about what is the main message you want your audience to take home. A message that conveys everything and sticks with your audience. Longer the message, less likely it is to stick for the simple reason that it’s that much harder to remember. Key here is — Less is More. Do a quick check of the news headlines after the first iphone launch and you are likely to see “Apple reinvents the phone” and that’s exactly the message Jobs wanted them to take back home. That’s the reason why “Apple reinvents the phone” was the only message on the slide while introducing the iphone. And he repeated it several times during the presentation to reinforce it.
Tell a story
We all love stories and Jobs was a master at telling them. He started off the iphone launch with Apple’s story “In 1984, Apple introduced the first Macintosh. It didn’t just change Apple. It changed the whole computer industry. In 2001, we introduced the first iPod. It didn’t just change the way we all listen to music. It changed the entire music industry.”
And then linked it to iphone launch with the three revolutionary products thing.
Build suspense
An essential part of an engaging story is the suspense which brings the audience to the edge of their seats in anticipation and they eagerly look forward to what’s in store. And Jobs created that wonderfully with his famous “One more thing” jibe.
Don’t Panic
Expert presenters understand that even after so much of planning and practice, things might not go as planned. And they didn’t for Jobs as well when his clicker failed to advance the slides. After fiddling with it for a few secs, instead of panicking, Jobs quickly turned that “probable dull moment” into “a lighter and enjoyable one” as he started telling a funny short story of how he and Steve Wozniak used to pull pranks on students at Wozniak’s college dorm while his team backstage fixed the problem.
Have fun
Jobs first introduced the iphone and said “here it is”. Instead of revealing the iphone, the slide displayed a picture of an ipod with an old fashioned rotary dial which had the audience in splits. Also, while demonstrating the maps feature, he found a Starbucks nearby and called it. A lady answered and Steve said “I’d like to order 4,000 lattes to go, please. No, just kidding. Wrong number. Bye bye.” Good humor never harms, so just have fun.
