Uncovering Steve
Jobs' Presentation Secrets
For his new book,
communications coach Carmine Gallo watched hours of Jobs' keynotes.
Here he identifies the five elements of every presentation by the
Apple CEO
By
Carmine
Gallo
The Apple music
event of Sept. 9, 2009, marked the return of the world's greatest
corporate storyteller. For more than three decades, Apple
(
AAPL) co-founder and CEO Steve Jobs has raised product launches
to an art form. In my new book,
The Presentation
Secrets of Steve Jobs: How to Be Insanely Great in Front of Any
Audience, I reveal the techniques that Jobs uses to
create and deliver mind-blowing keynote presentations.
Steve Jobs does not
sell computers; he sells an experience. The same holds true for his
presentations that are meant to inform, educate, and entertain. An
Apple presentation has all the elements of a great theatrical
production—a great script, heroes and villains, stage props,
breathtaking visuals, and one moment that makes the price of
admission well worth it. Here are the five elements of every Steve
Jobs presentation. Incorporate these elements into your own
presentations to sell your product or ideas the Steve Jobs way.
1. A
headline. Steve Jobs positions every product with a
headline that fits well within a 140-character
Twitter post. For example, Jobs described the MacBook Air as
"the world's thinnest notebook." That phrase appeared on his
presentation slides, the Apple Web site, and Apple's press releases
at the same time. What is the one thing you want people to know
about your product? This headline must be consistent in all of your
marketing and presentation material.
2. A
villain. In every classic story, the hero fights the
villain. In 1984, the villain, according to Apple, was IBM
(
IBM). Before Jobs introduced the famous 1984 television ad to
the Apple sales team for the first time, he told a story of how IBM
was bent on dominating the computer industry. "IBM wants it all and
is aiming its guns on its last obstacle to industry control:
Apple." Today, the "villain" in Apple's narrative is played by
Microsoft (
MSFT). One can argue that the popular "I'm a Mac" television
ads are hero/villain vignettes. This idea of conquering a shared
enemy is a powerful motivator and turns customers into
evangelists.
3. A simple
slide. Apple products are easy to use because of the
elimination of clutter. The same approach applies to the slides in
a Steve Jobs presentation. They are strikingly simple, visual, and
yes, devoid of bullet points. Pictures are dominant. When Jobs
introduced the MacBook Air, no words could replace a photo of a
hand pulling the notebook computer out of an interoffice manila
envelope. Think about it this way—the average PowerPoint slide has
40 words. In some presentations, Steve Jobs has a total of seven
words in 10 slides. And why are you cluttering up your slides with
too many words?
4. A
demo. Neuroscientists have discovered that the brain gets
bored easily. Steve Jobs doesn't give you time to lose interest.
Ten minutes into a presentation he's often demonstrating a new
product or feature and having fun doing it. When he introduced the
iPhone at Macworld 2007, Jobs demonstrated how Google Maps
(
GOOG) worked on the device. He pulled up a list of Starbucks
(
SBUX) stores in the local area and said, "Let's call one." When
someone answered, Jobs said: "I'd like to order 4,000 lattes to go,
please. No, just kidding."
5. A holy
smokes moment. Every Steve Jobs presentation has one
moment that neuroscientists call an "emotionally charged event."
The emotionally charged event is the equivalent of a mental post-it
note that tells the brain, Remember this! For example, at Macworld
2007, Jobs could have opened the presentation by telling the
audience that Apple was unveiling a new mobile phone that also
played music, games, and video. Instead he built up the drama.
"Today, we are introducing three revolutionary products. The first
one is a widescreen iPod with touch controls. The second is a
revolutionary mobile phone. And the third is a breakthrough
Internet communications device…an iPod, a phone, an Internet
communicator…an iPod, a phone, are you getting it? These are not
three devices. This is one device!" The audience erupted in cheers
because it was so unexpected, and very entertaining. By the way,
the holy smokes moment on Sept. 9 had nothing to do with a product.
It was Steve Jobs himself appearing onstage for the first time
after undergoing a liver transplant.
One more
thing…sell dreams. Charismatic speakers like Steve Jobs
are driven by a nearly messianic zeal to create new experiences.
When he launched the iPod in 2001, Jobs said, "In our own small way
we're going to make the world a better place." Where most people
saw the iPod as a music player, Jobs recognized its potential as a
tool to enrich people's lives. Cultivate a sense of mission.
Passion, emotion, and enthusiasm are grossly underestimated
ingredients in professional business communications, and yet,
passion and emotion will motivate others. Steve Jobs once said that
his goal was not to die the richest man in the cemetery. It was to
go to bed at night thinking that he and his team had done something
wonderful. Do something wonderful. Make your brand stand for
something meaningful.
For more of Job's
techniques, flip through this
slide show. Then catch a
video interview with Carmine Gallo about how he researched his
book.