Eliminate, edit and perfect…Becoming Steve Jobs on stage
16 January 2010 | blog,Book Reviews | Comments Off
On a fairly regular basis I get the opportunity to present to large rooms of people. Whether it’s an Ignite Phoenix, a guest lecture or a large convention like the one Vemma has me preparing a presentation for there’s one man who is the basis for my slide design and half of the way I present information. That man is Steve Jobs. (For those wondering the other person I obtain inspiration from is my friend, Gary Vaynerchuk. His energy and pure passion is much closer to my natural state of being.) I’m not the first geek to be enamored by the presentation skills of Steve Jobs, nor do I expect to be the last. With that in mind, here’s my quick review of Carmine Gallo’s The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs.
Gallo has an amazing eye toward the storytelling and performance aspects of a Steve Jobs keynote and while this book is broken into three distinct sections (story, experience and rehearse) that reflect the way Jobs presents. This can be useful if you’ve never presented before and have few bad habits you have to work through but the sections could be more helpful for those of us who have quirks as eliminate, edit and perfect. While the difference between Gallo’s interpretation and my own is relatively small I think my view provides immediate actionable steps for any reader trying to improve their presentations.
Tell the story (Eliminate)
In order to create the captivation that we’re after there has to be an underlying story. Gallo describes in great and clear detail how Steve positions Apple and the markets they’re entering or involved in. The bigger point here is how much can be learned from the way these products are the obvious resolution to the issue at hand but you don’t know that until you’re presented with the solution. There are key points that most folks miss here in their presentations such as a road map and taking the time to craft pithy headlines that simply beg to be reused. The only point that I think is oddly omitted is how one can take either their corporation’s marketing or PR-speak and eliminate the heavy breathing content and create a set of facts that need to be conveyed in the most compelling way possible. Too many folks jump ahead into the the presentation layer without actually having thought of what key points they want their audience to walk away with and how best to tell that story. Gallo really begins the play by play nature of the book at the end of this first section and I find myself drawn to it each time I’m getting ready for a big presentation. It’s at this point too where I work incredibly hard to eliminate all the points that don’t specifically move the story I want to present forward.
Experience (edit)
In this section Gallo brilliantly breaks down each slide, movement and phrase and the thought process behind it that Jobs so obviously meticulously plans out. This is where slide design and storytelling meet and become best friends. Ideas regarding sharing the stage and revealing a “holy shit” moment are presented in their own chapters and I think are great points that most inexperienced or unconfident presenters ignore. I’m better now that I’ve begun to acknowledge that I’m not the only voice of experience in any given room and being open to other inputs either through questions or stepping fully aside is a great power move. Emotions become the focus of the presentation at this point and how to exactly illicit them from the audience is the core of this section and needs to be in your presentations as well. Without emotion it’s hard to keep your audience’s attention. Oh and don’t hesitate to use props to create emotions, they can be great tools. With all this in this section though I think that most folks will over look the immense amount of editing that goes on here and in the next step in Jobs’ process. It’s easy to add dynamic slides and “zippy words” but much harder to know exactly when and how to use them.
Refine and Rehearse (Perfect)
This is where it gets hard for most folks. Spending hours at a time running over your script (and yes you really should have a script to start) and then pairing away bit by bit until you barely have bullet points left as notes from time to time. From my own experience I don’t get to the point where I’m comfortable presenting until I’ve done the presentation a dozen times “nearly perfectly”. Accordingly this takes a lot of time effort and energy but my input pales in comparison to Jobs’. Gallo dissects every bit of staging and what to wear here and then finally finishes the book with simply “have fun”.
Overall Gallo’s description of the process Dear Leader puts in to each presentation is as in depth of any presentation book I’ve read. More importantly though the fact that he includes some of the psychological triggers that help make these actions stick with their audience is a great testament to his knowledge base. I would recommend this book to those who love to learn about how to integrate all the pieces of a presentation together or those simply looking to find out a little bit more about how Jobs may actually operate.