The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs Book Summary - The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs Book explained in key points

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The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs summary

Name: The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs
Rating: 4.7 (155 reviews)
Author: Carmine Gallo

Carmine Gallo

Master the gold standard for presentations

4.7 (155 ratings)

16 mins

Brief summary

The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs by Carmine Gallo is a guide on how to deliver compelling and memorable presentations. Gallo shares tips on storytelling, design, and performance based on Jobs' iconic presentations, allowing readers to improve their own presentation skills.

Topics

Presentations & Public Speaking Persuasion Manipulation

Table of Contents

The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs
Summary of 11 key ideas

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Key idea 1 of 11

To make your presentation successful, plan your storyline and your key message meticulously.

The audience is captured by the story you tell, not the slides it’s told on.

Forget your computer and draft the presentation storyline on paper first. Only when you are satisfied with the narrative should you move to the slides.

Nancy Duarte, the writer and graphic designer behind Al Gore’s blockbuster global warming documentary An Inconvenient Truth, says presenters should use twice as much time planning their presentation on paper as they do creating the actual slides.

Start your planning by deciding on one key message you want to leave your audience with, and make that the headline of your presentation. It should be like a Twitter message: short, memorable and attention-grabbing.

If you are launching a new product or service, your key message should describe how it will benefit your customers. Repeat your key message multiple times during the presentation to make it stick.

If you are holding a big presentation, the audience and press might well be searching for the right words to describe what they saw afterwards. With the key message, you can give them a memorable phrase of your choosing.

For example, when Steve Jobs unveiled the iPhone, he gave the media a ready-to-use headline: “Today, Apple reinvents the phone.”

To make your presentation successful, plan your storyline and your key message meticulously.

To make your presentation great, you must practice relentlessly.

As in all things, practice makes perfect.

Relentless practice can make anyone into a “naturally charismatic” presenter. Steve Jobs practiced his presentations for hours, even days, to make everything look effortless and smooth.

Don’t let the unexpected ruin your presentation; be prepared for trouble.

Even the most seasoned presenters run into trouble occasionally: a demonstration might not work, your computer could crash or a slide might be skipped.

If your presentation does hit a glitch, don’t get flustered. Unless the problem is highly obvious, don’t call attention to it or apologize, just keep moving. If you can’t ignore the problem, just laugh it off and move on. Audiences are eager to forgive minor glitches so you can continue with the story, but only if you don‘t collapse into a sobbing wreck at the first sign of trouble.

To get your audience’s attention, tell them how you will solve their problems.

Whether it’s a presentation, press release or an advertisement, every communiqué you craft should always answer the one key question every recipient is thinking: “Why should I care about this?”

They should care because you are giving them a solution to their problems.

Don’t overwhelm your audience; simplify your slides and language.

The brain is fundamentally a lazy organ, so you need to make things easy for your audience.

Make your slides as simple as possible, introducing only one topic per slide. Remember that you want people to pay attention to what you are saying, not trying to read what is written. Hence avoid using bullet points or long sentences.

Use data sparingly and make it easy for the audience to comprehend.

Data can be useful to back up the key theme of your presentation, but nothing puts an audience to sleep faster than an overload of numbers. To avoid this, you should be highly selective with what data you use.

Simplify your data with analogies and metaphors. This is especially important for big numbers, which can be hard to comprehend on their own.

Use the rule of three.

The rule of three is a powerful concept in communications theory. It states that lists of three are inherently more effective because they feel more natural than lists of other lengths.

Steve Jobs said the iPhone combines three devices (a touch screen iPod, a phone and an internet communicator), John F. Kennedy listed three main investments needed for the US to win the space race and you’re probably expecting a third example because lists of three come so naturally.

Make your presentation stick by including emotional details.

If you want to make your presentation truly memorable, give your audience a “Holy Shit” Moment. Plan and rehearse a revelation which will elicit an emotional response.

People might forget your slides, your product and even you yourself, but they will never forget the way you made them feel. Emotionally charged events stick in your memory like mental Post-It notes.

How you speak and look can be more important than what you say.

According to some studies, nonverbal cues and tones of voice are more important than the actual words spoken. They are the reason Steve Jobs’ stage presence exudes the authority and confidence it does.

Act like the leader you want to be. Forget standing behind a podium, reading monotonously from note-cards with your arms stiffly by your side.

Liven up your show with props, demonstrations and video clips.

Using many different kinds of media makes your message stick. By using live demonstrations, video clips and props to hand out, you can help every type of learner in the audience understand your message.

People learn in different ways: some respond best to visual information, others to auditory stimulus, and others still to kinesthetic experiences (touching, moving and doing things). Studies have shown that using multiple media in your presentation can dramatically increase how well the audience remembers your presentation.

Share the stage and the glory.

There are three important reasons why you should share the stage with other people during your presentation.

First of all, your audience craves variety. Listening to even the most charismatic speaker in the world grows dull after a while. Introducing partners, celebrities or members from your team often livens up the show.

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What is The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs about?

The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs (2009) explains how any presenter can be as convincing and inspiring as the legendary Steve Jobs. From planning to rehearsal and delivery, Carmine Gallo details the anatomy of a great presentation.

Who should read The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs?

Anyone who holds presentations at work, school or in their free time
Communication professionals who want to engage their audiences more fully
Anyone who is interested in Steve Jobs’s presentation techniques

About the Author

Carmine Gallo is a former vice president of a major global public relations firm who coaches some of the world’s most respected brands in presentations and communications. He has appeared on CNBC, NBC, CBS, as well as in the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times.

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