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Reviewing Steve Jobs’ Presentations

Over the last couple of days I have been reviewing what makes a Steve Jobs’ presentation so good. In particular I have been analysing the language he uses and when he uses key words and phrases.

Here are a list of a few things that are common throughout a Steve Jobs presentation that we can all learn from:

1. Do not begin your presentation with a list of contents.
Steve Jobs never begins a presentation with a slide of contents. A Steve Jobs presentation begins with a headline and nothing more. For example. In the October 2010 Special Event the ‘content’ slide was simply “The State Of The Mac” and that is all that was put on the slide.

You do not need to put a content slide with a list of contents. All you need is a ‘headline’ which captures the topic / subject of your presentation and then let your words do the rest. By putting a content slide into your presentation your audience are immediately going to think “oh no! Another 20th century presentation”

2. Focus only on two or three main features of a product
Apple is a technology company that develops and makes many products that contain very advanced, complicated technology. Much of this technology is so advanced that most of us, and indeed, a typical Apple customer is never going to understand or care about. When Apple talks about a new product they do not talk about all the advanced technology because they know most of their audience are not going to understand it. What Apple does is focus on two or three features that they think their audience are going to love. All the rest of the features can be read about or tried after the presentation.

When the IOS 4.1 operating system was launched it had over 100 new features. However, in the keynote presentation announcing this, Steve Jobs only listed five things (See image below) he then only showed two new things, the HDR photo and the Games Center.

3. Use superlative and positive adjectives – lots of them
The words that always stand out to me when I listen to a Steve Jobs’ presentation are all the positive adjectives and superlative adjectives he uses. Below are just a few that I heard during the September and October 2010 presentations:

“We’ve got some really cool stuff to show you this morning”
“We’ve got some fun stuff to share with you this morning”
“it’s really gorgeous“
“Isn’t it beautiful?”
“IOS is our operating system that powers our mobile devices and it’s been a revolution in terms of touch and apps

When you are presenting you need to demonstrate passion for your topic and by using these positive adjectives you help to make your presentation much more passionate.

So there are just a few things that I wanted share with you. I hope they prove useful to you in your next presentation.


2011
01/30
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What we can learn from Apple’s Antenna-gate

Steve Jobs this morning gathered interested media organisations together and held a press conference about the iPhone 4′s antenna problems.

The presentation lasted around 30 minutes and these are some lessons all presenters can learn about having to give difficult and sometimes unpleasant news about a product or a business:

1. Admit there is a problem.

Steve Jobs came clean. He admitted straight away there was a problem. He said “We’re not perfect. We know that, you know that”. He explained the problem, showed the date of the tests that Apple had carried out and admitted that Apple knew that there was a problem before the launch.

2. Accept responsibility

Unlike BP, who refused to accept blame, Steve Jobs accepted blame immediately. By admitting the blame he was able to stop the ‘rumourmongering’ essentially with one sentence.

3. Show the data – in a simple way

By showing simple data, Steve Jobs was able to communicate to all customers, not just the tech savvy customers. Too often companies try to hide behind complex data that nobody but PH.D scientists can understand. This does not clear up the problem, it adds to the problem. Focus on simple data that explains the problem.

4. Say what you are going to do about it

This is perhaps the most important part. You must state very clearly what you will do about the problem and, more importantly, when. When you come up with a solution to the problem, the solution must be customer centred and not damage limitation centred – which sadly is what most companies try to do.

5. Make it Personal

Throughout the whole presentation, there was a deep feeling that Steve Jobs was taking this issue personally. Not in the BP CEO’s “personal way” (“I just want my life back”) but in a way that it hurt him personally that his customers were not happy and that he, and his engineers, were working round the clock to solve the problem. This kind of personalisation of the problem give your customers a feeling that you are with them and on their side.

There are hundreds of examples of successes and failures when it comes to companies and problems. Two of the most recent PR disasters are Toyota and BP, but this one, in my humble opinion, will go down as a successfully handled problem.

Remember, giving bad news is something that most companies will have to do at some point or another. Being able to present bad news in a clear and understandable way is the first step. Accept responsibility and tell everyone what you are going to do about it. And above all else – tell your customers you love them.

You can view the whole presentation here

2010
07/17
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