Steve Jobs is a master presenter and corporate communicator with an uncanny ability to capture the attention of his audience.  How many other corporate presentations do people want to watch?

In a world of boring and confusing Fortune 500 Powerpoint corporate presentations, he stands out.  Read on to find out how you can use Steve Jobs’ presentation approach for yourself.

Avoid another boring presentation

Firstly, Steve Jobs sets a theme for the presentation.  He presents other items too, but there is one main message that these support.  For example in the iPhone OS 4.0 release, he initially mentions iPads, but in connection to the theme of mobile computing – he didn’t go off on a tangent and talk about the Mac Pro line.

Despite working in technology, Steve Jobs doesn’t focus on technology, or bare facts.  He always presents the visceral side, or the benefit, or the exciting part.  An iPad is not a box full of new chips, a display and some software, it is a “magical” device that lets you read books, watch movies and send email.  A number of units shipped is not a boring number, it is a milestone or achievement.  He is genuinely excited about what he has to say, and this rubs off on his listeners.

When you are presenting something, you need to be passionate about it.  Your job is not to present numbers – an email can do that far more effectively than you can.  Your job is to motivate and persuade and even entertain.

Steve Jobs uses his presentation tool (in this case Keynote rather than Powerpoint) effectively.  How many presentations have you sat through where the entire presentation is of dozens of slides, each with tiny illegible text that the presenter reads out?  Probably far too many.  They are boring, and soon lose the attention of the audience.

Well Steve Jobs doesn’t do that.  He uses a few simple slides, generally with one message per slide, in large figures.  He keeps the focus on what he is saying, not on the slides.  The slides reinforce what he is saying, rather than Steve standing there and passively reading them out.  The backgrounds are simple to focus on the message.

For example, if he says that they have sold 450,000 iPads in the first week, then the slide will present the figure 450,000 in large numbers with sold through today underneath in smaller letters, and nothing else.  If there is a chart of market share, then it is just a simple pie chart, easy to read.

One feature that I have found quite effective is a basic animation showing the numbers or key points “landing” on the slide.  This is used only for the points that are particularly emphasised.

The bulk of each presentation is actually focused on user benefits.  Steve Jobs never stands there and reads the slides.  They are in the background to underline what he is already saying.  Where possible, the product is actually demonstrated.  He shows the benefits and shows it in use, not in a static or boring way.

His style is relaxed and casual.  This comfort is only achieved through deep intimacy with the subject.

Lastly, Steve Jobs recognises that a presentation is a performance – corporate theatre.  He wears his jeans, turtle neck and sneakers onto the stage which is his recognised “costume”.  He carefully rehearses and scripts his presentation and uses the stage and demonstrations of what the new item can do and how it is used.  He uses emotionally evocative terms to persuade the audience.  Steve Jobs is a true show-man, especially with his use of “one more thing” to present a final, memorable idea.

There is only one Steve Jobs, but we can learn a lot from how he effectively communicates.

Tags: Business tools, presentation

This entry was posted on Friday, April 9th, 2010 at 11:52 am and is filed under Business tools. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.