Steve Jobs is known for giving presentations that keep his audience engaged. He has a natural talent for public speaking and he has honed it to an art form. Some would say it is nothing more than a salesman’s pitch, but are not a lot of presentations just that?
While we may not have the gift for presentation that Steve Jobs has, we can learn a lot about giving good presentations by listening to the flow and watching the body language of Steve Jobs. Below you will find a video of one on his presentations that will show you how he does it so well.
There are several things you will note.
- Setting the theme for the presentation that is clear and consistent.
- Creating a headline that makes it memorable and sets the direction for the presentation.
- Always has an outline for his presentation. He opens and closes each point before transitioning to the next. This makes it easy for the audience to follow the story.
- Steve Jobs demonstrates enthusiasm. In this speech he uses words such as extraordinary, amazing and cool. Your audience will be more engaged and accepting of what you present if you are passionate about it. If you are not passionate about the presentation, neither will the audience.
- Most presentations contain numbers and statistics. They can be dull and boring. Jobs puts the numbers and statistics into context so the audience can relate and easily understand them.
- Slides are often used in presentations. Dull boring charts and graphs. Jobs uses very little text in his slides. He makes them more visually appealing helping him tell the story. You do not want to overwhelm your audience with charts, numbers and difficult to read slides.
- Jobs creates a memorable moment for his presentation. This is the one piece the audience will remember. When preparing your presentation consider what you want them to walk away remembering about it and build that into a memorable moment.
- Rehearse, rehearse, rehearse. Jobs makes it look easy because he spends hours rehearsing. The greatest presenters do the same thing and so should you. Over and over again until the presentation flows from you without effort.
Steve Jobs approaches each presentation as an event. Take a look at one of his presentations below where the narrator breaks down all of these points.