presentation steve jobs style

Presenting like Steve Jobs: Using 6 of His Proven Techniques – Here’s How It Works!

The art of presenting has gained transformative significance in today’s business world. A presentation is no longer just a sequence of slides; it’s a way to communicate ideas, establish connections, and inspire the audience.

When discussing inspiring presentations, the name Steve Jobs inevitably comes up. He elevated the art of presenting to a new level. Today, we’ll showcase the techniques Steve Jobs utilized and how you can apply them to your own presentations.

Who is Steve Jobs?

Born in 1955 in California, Steve Jobs is renowned as one of the co-founders of Apple. He is considered one of the m ost prominent figures in the computer industry.

Steve Jobs is equally renowned for his exceptional presentation skills . His presentations are enduringly memorable. They were not only informative but also captivating events that held the audience spellbound. His charismatic presence, persuasive rhetoric, and minimalist design fundamentally transformed the way we present.

Why Steve Jobs Is a Model for Successful Presentations

As the presenter of Apple’s products, Steve Jobs amassed a wealth of experience. Over time, he established a reputation as a master of presentation . Through specific techniques, he managed to do more than convey information; he left an impression, stirred emotions, and enthused the audience . His presentations were more than mere business demonstrations; they were powerful performances that captivated the audience.

Behind every “One more thing” by Steve Jobs lies an array of techniques with the potential to elevate presentations to a new level. His charismatic presence, storytelling prowess, and distinctive presentation style have set a benchmark for modern presenting. The way he engaged the audience and conveyed his messages has made him an exemplar from which presenters worldwide can learn.

The Impact of Steve Jobs’ Presentations on the Technology and Business World

The influence of Steve Jobs’ presentations extends far beyond the technology industry. The styles he used revolutionized entire presentation formats. His innovative approaches and techniques set standards that go well beyond the stage. His charisma, storytelling abilities, and captivating audience engagement transformed the understanding of what makes a compelling presentation, ushering in a new era of presenting.

Jobs’ presentation philosophy demonstrated that a well-crafted presentation is not just about conveying information; it’s an opportunity to captivate, inspire, and persuade the audience.

6 Techniques from Steve Jobs for Captivating and Convincing Presentations

Steve Jobs employed the following techniques to his advantage:

1. Simplicity and Clarity

Simplicity and clarity are crucial factors for all types of presentations. Nobody wants to hear complex content delivered in the most convoluted way. Steve Jobs had the ability to transcend complexity through simplicity.

He understood that cluttered slides and confusing information overwhelm the audience and blur the messages. Instead, Steve Jobs embraced minimalism and clarity by reducing his presentations to the essentials.

This minimalism was reflected in his slides, often composed of just a few words or an image that illustrated the central message . Focusing on the essentials also helps your audience understand your key points better and faster. Simplicity doesn’t equate to shallowness. Skillfully direct your listeners’ attention by operating in a minimalist manner and projecting only the most important messages to reinforce.

2. Storytelling

To keep your audience engaged, you should always use storytelling. Incorporating your content into a story using this technique helps maintain attention spans and convey your message more effectively. More in-depth tips can be found in the article “ Storytelling in Presentations .”

Steve Jobs also knew how to use storytelling. He was a true master of storytelling, taking his audience on an emotional journey . In his presentations, he built suspense by following a clear structure resembling a classic narrative: introduction, plot development, and a captivating conclusion . He also integrated personal stories, authentically conveying his passions and beliefs. This created a common ground with his audience and lent a human touch to his presentation.

He understood that compelling presentations should rely not only on facts and logic but also on emotions. Jobs appealed not only to the minds but also to the hearts of his audience.

If you also use storytelling, your audience is more likely to identify with the ideas you present . This means that you have a higher chance of generating sales or new customers. At the same time, storytelling creates an unforgettable presentation experience for your audience. And staying in their minds for a long time also leaves a good impression.

3. Visual Presentation Aids

Nobody enjoys reading text-heavy PowerPoint slides. Therefore, like Steve Jobs, you should always rely on supportive visual presentation aids. When used skillfully, these aids are not only visually appealing but also reinforce your messages and better reach your audience.

Such presentation aids can include images, videos, or graphics . Steve Jobs used these primarily to illustrate abstract concepts, demonstrate products in action, and evoke emotions. These visual presentation aids weren’t just for decoration; they were integral parts of the story he told.

4. The Art of Staging

Many presenters overlook this: a presentation is not just about compelling slides and a good delivery, but also about effective staging . One of the most captivating aspects of Steve Jobs’ presentation style was his masterful staging. Jobs understood that a presentation is not only about content but also about how it is presented.

His appearances were meticulously choreographed , from his stage entrance to the sequence of slides. Every step, movement, and pause was intentionally planned to captivate the audience and convey messages with maximum impact. He utilized silence and pauses to build tension, employed gestures and facial expressions to convey emotions, and mastered perfect timing to direct the audience’s attention.

You don’t necessarily need to be as meticulously planned as Steve Jobs, as that requires intense preparation and practice . Nonetheless, strive to be conscious of what you radiate, how you behave, and what reactions your actions evoke in your audience. A test audience is an excellent way to practice.

Tips for exuding confidence, appropriate body language, and conscious use of language can be found in the following articles:

• Body Language in Presentations
• Speech Techniques in Presentations

5. Innovation and “One More Thing”

You’ve probably heard of Steve Jobs’ “One More Thing.” It’s the hallmark of Steve Jobs’ presentation style. He managed to spice up his presentations with a touch of innovation and surprise . This distinctive technique, known as the “One More Thing,” was a masterpiece in building suspense and last-minute revelations.

Steve Jobs’ audience was familiar with this effect, and Jobs intentionally created expectations by leading his audience through the main presentation, only to deliver an unexpected bombshell at the end. In his case, the surprises were groundbreaking product announcements or innovative features that captivated the audience. With the “One More Thing” technique, Jobs adeptly engaged his audience and held their attention until the very end.

Like Steve Jobs, strategically place well-timed surprises to harness the potential to make a presentation unforgettable and leave a lasting impact.

6. The Right Conclusion

A convincing conclusion is crucial for any type of presentation. Avoid the usual “Thank you for your attention” phrase and aim for memorable presentation endings.

Steve Jobs’ conclusions were often powerful and unforgettable, leaving a lasting impression on the audience. He also employed the “One More Thing” technique to end with a surprising revelation that left the audience in awe. This technique not only generated excitement but also left the audience with a sense of wonder and enthusiasm.

Furthermore, Jobs’ conclusions always had a clear connection to his message or main theme . He summarized the key points of his presentation and emphasized the core messages once again. This technique helps your audience internalize and remember the most important key points as the presentation concludes.

For more helpful tips on a successful conclusion, refer to the article “ 20 Ideas for Your Presentation Ending .”

If you want to see a speech of Steve Jobs please have a look here . Use the english subtitles if needed.

Conclusion: Applying Steve Jobs’ Techniques Strategically and Convincingly

Follow the example of Steve Jobs and enhance your future presentations to be more engaging and persuasive. Apply the techniques we’ve presented and captivate your audience.

Do you have questions about this article? Feel free to reach out to us via email at [email protected] . We are here to assist you!

If you are looking for visually supportive and professionally designed slide templates, explore our shop. We offer a wide range of slides prepared for various (business) topics available for download. Visit our shop today! ► Shop

You might also find these articles interesting:

• Storytelling in Presentations
• Preparing Presentations: 11 Tips
• 20 Ideas for Your Presentation Ending
• Learning from Hitchcock: How to Deliver Captivating Presentations

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Book Insights • 15 min read

The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs: How to Be Insanely Great In Front of Any Audience

Carmine gallo.

By the Mind Tools Content Team

Welcome to the latest episode of Book Insights from Mind Tools.

In today's podcast we're looking at The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs, subtitled How to Be Insanely Great In Front of Any Audience, by Carmine Gallo. It explores what makes Apple's CEO and co-founder such a captivating speaker – and how we can learn from his techniques.

When it comes to presentations, most people who've seen him speak agree that Steve Jobs is a legend. His talks do much more than just give information. They're events. They inspire, excite, spark imagination, and build a following.

Seeing Jobs speak is like spending an evening watching a high-quality theater production. And this is a big reason why people will spend all night, in freezing temperatures, waiting in line just so they can get a good seat.

So, how does he do it? How does Jobs manage to turn a relatively dry subject like computers into a seductive experience that everyone wants tickets to go see?

Well, that's what this book sets out to explain. The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs passes on the tips, techniques, and tricks that make the legendary leader's presentations so inspiring and effective. Reading this book is like getting coaching sessions from the master himself.

Here, you learn how Jobs crafts his messages, presents his ideas, generates excitement, and creates a memorable experience for his audience. And, it's all laid out in an easy-to-digest format that allows you to quickly find what you need.

The author highlights dozens of relevant examples from speeches that Jobs made as early as 1984. We get to read in detail what he said, what he did, and how it relates to the lesson or technique the author is focusing on. These examples make it easy to see how these strategies would work in real life.

The book is fun, highly readable, and chock full of useful information. There are plenty of insightful tips in here, and even if you consider yourself a master presenter, you're sure to learn something new.

What's so helpful about this book is that it applies to more than just presentations. The author points out that these strategies can be used in closing a deal, creating an ad campaign, and even interviewing for a job.

The best news? This book reads incredibly fast. The author wrote the book like Steve Jobs presents. He keeps your attention, gives compelling information, and wraps it all up into a story that's so interesting you really can't put the book down.

The author, Carmine Gallo, is a presentation and communication-skills coach for some of the world's top brands. He's a regular contributor to several major networks, including NBC, CBS, and MSNBC, and is a columnist for businessweek.com. In fact, this book is based on an article Gallo wrote for that website, analyzing why Steve Jobs' presentation style is so successful. Gallo watched hours of Jobs' keynote speeches to identify the elements that made them great.

So, keep listening to find out why bullet points will kill your presentation, why your speech really needs a villain, and why it's so important to put intermissions into your talks.

The author has divided this book into three acts, much like a stage play. Why? Well, that's how Steve Jobs views his speeches: as plays.

Act one has seven chapters, and is all about creating your story. Act two has six chapters, and covers how to deliver an experience to your audience. The last act, with five chapters, is on refining and rehearsing your presentation.

When it comes time to map out a presentation, the author says that most people make a big mistake right off the bat. They don't plan their story.

What sets Steve Jobs apart is that when he gives a presentation, he doesn't just lay out facts. He tells a story.

Think about this for a minute. When Jobs unveiled the iPod, he wasn't just unveiling a new device that carried music. He unveiled an entirely new way for us to listen to and enjoy music. He made us realize how the music we experienced would enrich our lives.

Yes, he talked about the iPod's small size and amazing hard drive. But he wove this information into a story about how much better our lives were going to be with this product.

It's a subtle, but very important point.

If we want to give a compelling presentation, we have to spend a lot of time really crafting a story. And this is what the first seven chapters help us do. We learn how to create a "passion statement" that identifies the heart of our message, how to write killer headlines that will start our presentation off with some serious buzz, and how to draw a roadmap for our audience, so they know what's coming.

And that's just the tip of the iceberg of what's in this first section.

Now, one big mistake most of us have made is stuffing our presentation full of bullet points. The author says bullet points will kill a presentation faster than anything.

Why? Because they do nothing to engage the audience. If you want to improve your presentations, then avoid the crutch of bullet points at all costs.

Another great tip in this first act is about villains. And what do villains have to do with presentations? Well, according to Steve Jobs, they're essential. Remember, Jobs looks at his presentations as plays, or stories. And, few stories are complete without a villain, right?

The author says your message is your hero. And, a hero needs an enemy. So your villain's going to be an opposing message, problem, or product. When your audience sees the problem, or villain, they're going to rally more around your hero.

For instance, when Jobs unveiled the iPhone he presented his villains in dozens of subtle ways. Of course, his villains were the current phones on the market. But by bringing up the problems most people had with these phones, and the solutions the iPhone offered to these problems, the audience could clearly see why it was so much better. And, they got emotionally involved.

If you want to know how to create your own villain for your presentation, you'll have to read the book. But don't worry. It can take as little as thirty seconds to create one, and it's well worth the effort.

Now when it comes to pacing your presentation, it's important to keep in the mind the ten-minute rule. Research has shown that audiences basically check out after ten minutes. Not nine minutes, or eleven, but ten.

Jobs understands this rule, which is why he puts intermissions into his presentations every ten minutes. These aren't intermissions where people get up and walk around. These are intermissions that give the brain a break. They're videos, demonstrations, or even another speaker.

These little breaks change the pace of the presentation and let the audience experience a new stimulus. This keeps their interest for the next ten minutes.

Now, when it comes to actually delivering an experience to your audience, there's a lot to keep in mind. And the author keeps the pace going in this second act, as he shows us how to keep our audience engaged while we're talking.

One thing that Steve Jobs does really well is keep things simple. The author says this simplicity is part of why Jobs, and Apple itself, is so successful. Simple is beautiful.

So, we need to keep our slides as simple as possible. The author says that a major mistake many people make with their PowerPoint slides is to add lots of words. What does Jobs do? He subtracts, and subtracts some more.

The author gives us some really helpful tables here that illustrate how Jobs' words correspond with what his slides say. And, these have been taken directly from some of his keynote speeches.

On the left hand side of these tables we get to see exactly what Steve Jobs said. On the right, we get to see what his slide, for that section of the speech, actually said.

This layout enables us to see instantly how concise Jobs' slides really are. Many only contain one word, one picture, or one piece of information, like a statistic. There are no bullet points, ever. And zero sentences.

The slides are used simply to reinforce the story coming out of his mouth. That's it. They don't attempt to pass on important information. That's what Jobs is there to do.

When we're presenting, the focus should be on us, not our slides. And if we've created what the author calls lazy slides, or slides with too much information, then we've succeeded in splitting our audience's attention. Should they read the slides, or pay attention to what we're saying?

Don't make them choose. Keep your slides short and relevant.

Now, if you're giving a presentation, you probably have some numbers to pass along. It could be revenue stats, employee turnover percentages, or the number of complaint calls over the past six months.

Whatever they are, numbers are often pretty essential to a presentation. The problem with numbers is that they're boring. And, people often have a hard time making them mean anything.

For instance, when Jobs introduced the iPod, he told everyone that it had five gigabytes of space.

Well, that's great, but that number didn't mean much to his audience. After all, how big is five gigabytes? Most people aren't really sure.

Jobs knew he couldn't leave it at that. So, he immediately put that number into a context the audience could understand. He told them that with five gigabytes of space, they could hold 1,000 songs in their pocket.

The audience went wild.

The author says that numbers rarely resonate with people, so it's vital that we put them into a context that people can relate to. Fortunately, we get plenty of strategies for how to do this.

One thing to keep in mind when dressing up your numbers, as the author calls it, is to keep things specific. For instance, in a later speech Jobs could have said the newest version of the iPod holds thousands of songs. But thousands is so, generic. Instead, he told the audience that the thirty gigabyte iPod will hold 7,500 songs, 25,000 photos, or up to 75 hours of video.

Those numbers are very specific. Because of this, they impact the audience more.

This section is crammed with useful information. We get to learn the importance of using zippy, emotional words. We learn why Jobs always gives credit where credit is due, and why doing this gets his audience more involved. And, we get to learn everything we ever wanted to know about props, and how to use them effectively.

The last section, act three, is all about refining and rehearsing your presentation. And according to the author, this is the most crucial part of giving a great talk.

One important point the author highlights is body language. What you say is not nearly as important as how you say it.

Here, we get three important tips for improving our body language on stage.

The first thing we have to do is maintain eye contact. Yes, this one is probably in every presentation book out there, but it's repeated for a good reason. Eye contact is essential for keeping your audience engaged and connected with you. Jobs is a master at maintaining eye contact.

Another thing we have to do is to keep our posture open. This means not standing behind a lectern or crossing our arms. Jobs never puts anything between him and his audience. Even when he's doing a demo, he tries to face the audience as much as possible.

The last tip for improving our body language is to use hand gestures. In his speeches, Jobs emphasizes nearly every sentence with a gesture that compliments what he's saying.

According to the author, research shows that hand gestures not only keep the audience engaged, but they actually help presenters speak better, by clearing up their thought processes.

We get more helpful tables in this chapter. Here, the author breaks down a speech Jobs made in two-thousand seven. We get to see exactly what he said, and how it was delivered.

It was a brilliant move for the author to pepper the text with these tables throughout the book. This one could really help readers with their own delivery and pacing.

Now, Jobs is legendary for prepping for his speeches. He makes it look effortless, but a lot of time and effort goes into his events to make it look that way. In fact, before he gives a speech, he practices for hours a day, over the course of several days. His fun, informal style only comes after some serious effort on his part.

How much effort? Well, the author describes it as "grueling." When was the last time you put in grueling hours of practice to prepare for a speech?

For most of us, the answer is probably never. But practicing again and again is vital to looking natural on stage.

What else is in here? Well, the author teaches us five strategies for rehearsing off-the-cuff remarks. We learn how to handle nerves, what we should be wearing on stage, and five steps for tossing our script and speaking from memory.

Like all the sections in this book, this is one you won't want to miss.

If you haven't been able to tell by now, we really loved this book. There's so much information in here, and there's no way we could come close to covering it all.

When it comes to what readers will like best about The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs, it's hard to pick. There's no doubt the information is top-notch, and we were impressed by the sheer volume of tips and techniques here. We also loved the fun style and fast pace of the book. You really don't feel like you're reading a book on giving speeches. This is definitely a book that you'll burn through quickly.

The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs, by Carmine Gallo, is published by McGraw Hill.

That's the end of this episode of Book Insights. If you'd like a transcript, log on to www.mindtools.com. And thanks for listening.

Article image by Matthew Yohe at en.wikipedia

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How to present like Steve Jobs during online webinars

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Very few brands are as recognisable as the Apple Brand. Since its inception, especially with the introduction of the iPhone, the company has firmly implanted itself into the fabric of popular culture. But Apple is not just a popular brand; it is also one of the biggest and most marketable brands on the planet, with customers and enthusiasts in every part of the world. The brand is so well-positioned that it now practically sells itself; there are people worldwide who would buy the next iPhone or Apple Watch, regardless of its features.

The success of Apple is not a fluke or a product of chance. On careful observation, you can trace a significant part of its initial success to the charisma and presentation prowess of its founder, Steve Jobs. Everyone old enough will surely remember when Jobs introduced the first iPhone during the 2007 Macworld Conference & Expo and how the audience went wild.

Today, despite the sad departure of Jobs, Apple continues the tradition of giving exceptional presentations—a tradition that has served them spectacularly well.

What makes Steve Jobs presentation skills spectacular

Good presentations do more than dish out information; the ultimate goal is to change how people view the subject or product you, and if possible, take the actions that you wish them to take, whether it be starting a healthy routine or purchasing your product. To do that, you need to captivate the audience with your body language and make an emotional connection; this is where Steve Jobs public speaking skills excels. This article will show you some tips to help you improve your online presentation by analyzing the presentation style of Steve Jobs.

Presentation secrets of Steve Jobs

Steve Jobs used many techniques to get his audience on the edge of their seats. His method stemmed from his belief that people didn't just buy what was valuable but also what they liked; he understood presentation makes all the difference. So he wanted to show them the importance and beauty of his product. Every presenter can learn valuable tips by considering some of these techniques. Here are some ways he went about it.

Build momentum before your online webinar or keynote

Many speakers make one mistake when they try to address a topic in the webinar session; they often deliver their speech at a straight, unchanging pace. While you may not necessarily be delivering your talk in a flat, monotonous drawl, this is still the worst way of presentation as you can still lose your audience.

This is because humans, especially now, can get increasingly bored if they are not excited about the presentation or feel the talk is going nowhere. One way of combating this problem is by building momentum. There are two ways you can do this:

• Set the theme
• Create a road map.
• Instil Anticipation

Steve Jobs did this perfectly when he unveiled the iPhone and even the macbook air. He did not allow his audience to wonder what the presentation would be about nor did he ramble on carelessly from one unrelated point to another. Rather, he structured his talk in a way that allowed him to link one point to another. He had a roadmap and it went something like this.

• He started with an announcement– he would launch three devices at the end of the day. Now, the audience was curious to see the devices.
• He went on to outline the logical and emotional value of these devices.
• Finally the big reveal. The three devices are, in fact, one device with multi-purpose value; it was a satisfying twist.

By giving his audience something to look forward to and ensuring he didn't spend much time discussing each of the most logically and emotionally appealing features, and by revealing something surprising, Jobs hooked the audience. From the beginning of the presentation, everyone was curious about the end, and he did not disappoint. You can use this technique to take your presentation to new, riveting levels. 

Dish out information in small bites and sell the benefit

People struggle to remember bulky information, and you will never be as influential as you wish if your audience doesn't remember the information in the first place. Steve Jobs understood this concept well, so he boiled down his presentations to their core details. He used a principle called The Rule of Three- a vital concept in communication theory.

The rule of three principle suggests that when a group of topics, products, or characters are three in number, it gives the audience the most psychological satisfaction while also helping them retain the information. You can apply this principle by arranging your presentation in three parts; do this in the following three ways:

• Break up your presentation into tiny chunks, preferably arranging them to fit three sessions. The length of each segment should ideally be 10-15 minutes because that is the limit of most people's attention span.
• Input suitable relief material in between each session. It should be something lighter than what you are presenting. If possible, you can play a video or interview a satisfied customer. Steve Jobs used this technique when he made his first call using an iPhone during one of his presentation intervals.
• Highlight only the core values of the product, this way you don't include details that distract your audience from the main points.

Use story techniques

Every human on earth is easily affected by stories; they are how we learn lessons about the world. Good stories are not only entertaining but also memorable. You probably remember the plot of your favourite movie or the lyrics of your favourite song. Conversely, arranging your presentation using a story format can make your presentation engaging, relatable, and unforgettable. Here are some ways you can do this:

Introduce an antagonist (or a bad guy)

The Bad guy could be anything from a rival product that is not fulfilling the audience's needs, a gap in the industry that is highly inconvenient, or a terrible habit that is preventing the audience from reaching their goals. Emphasise how terrible it is and how the bad guy reduces the quality of their life.

Show your concerns and efforts

Next, briefly recount your desire to provide a solution or weapon they can use to combat this enemy that seeks to make their lives miserable. This part will show you as emphatic to their plight and bind you to them. But be careful not to dwell too much on this segment so you don't start sounding too sanctimonious.

Reveal the hero

Show how your products succeed in addressing the problems that you have outlined earlier. Ensure you imprint the necessity of making changes as the only solution to the audience’s problems (which usually requires purchasing the product). This empowers them through using your product - it is important to make the customer the hero of the story.

Make the presentation people-centered

An important thing to remember when making your presentation is that it isn't all about you. Your audience is not listening to you out of compassion; it is because there is a problem that needs solving, and they are interested in knowing how beneficial your presentation will be. Hence, the presentation should be audience-focused, not speaker-focused. There are some unique ways you can do this:

Capture audience imagination

You will have better success engaging and possibly influencing your audience when you capture their imagination. For example, Steve Jobs did not say "we have built a better phone"; instead, he said "we are putting 1000 music tracks into your hands". The second statement was better because it instantly made the audience think of a specific need the phone would solve.

Make numbers and figures relatable

We often take for granted that many people are blind to measurable parameters. We may know what a kilometre or a pound is, but until we compare it to something else, we cannot really sense the impact. Use this principle when you make your presentation; if there is any raw data, make sure to present it in a way that your audience can feel. For example, instead of saying the company uses a 128-bit encryption network, try saying: We use the same security used by the National Bank. This way, your audience can relate to your data and picture it in a way that holds meaning to them.

Create a sense of higher purpose

This part is essential especially in sales because people often hesitate to make purchases, possibly feeling guilty or scared at having to indulge themselves. You can overcome this feeling by giving the thought of buying the product a sense of nobility. When Steve Jobs presented the iphone, he offered his future customers the chance to be part of the phone reinvention. Suddenly they were not mere consumers but part of something extraordinary. You can apply that principle during your presentation. Only be careful not to lay it too heavily, or else you risk coming off as pretentious! 

Keep the audience focused on you

You don't want the audience getting distracted by anything, not even the presenting aids you're using to get your points across. Some presenters often prepare such elaborate slides that they end up hugging all the audience's attention. Slides, pictures and audio-visual materials are a crucial part of your presentation. Still, you want to ensure you draw attention to yourself and what you're saying occasionally. Steve Jobs had an incredible stage presence, but he often included a blank slide that subconsciously made the audience focus back on him. Some presenters use a prop such as a laser pointer to grab attention. You have to look for effective but discreet ways to do this during your presentation.

Prepare properly

Although it often doesn't seem like it, Steve Jobs always knew to sweat the small stuff. He agonised over every product detail, ensuring he knew every facet of his story. When preparing for a presentation, Steve Jobs rehearsed and scripted every part of his presentation so as not to deviate from his outlined structure.

Even if scripting every word of your presentation isn't your style, you want to know what you're about to say. One way to do this is by writing your main points in a single sentence or as bullets, so that as you carry out your presentation, those points will remind you of what you should be talking about. This technique gives you the freedom of spontaneity while guiding you against derailing off-topic.

Finally, be sure to bring some humanity into your presentation. In todays world where AI is used in an increasing amount of communications, it's important to remember, as human beings we are capable of emotion and humour, engaging in our own unique way. You don't need to bring the house down with hilarious stories (although a good story always helps!), but in reality remembering to pause and smile at certain moments will bring warmth and help your audience build belief and trust in you and what you are presenting, even if it's not as exciting as a new iPhone! ‍

Frequently Asked Question

How do you make a presentation like Steve Jobs?

Craft a narrative with a clear structure, use minimalistic slides, and prioritize visuals over text. Practice and master your delivery, focus on audience engagement, and infuse passion and enthusiasm into your presentation for a compelling and impactful style, akin to Steve Jobs.

How can I be confident on a webinar?

Prepare thoroughly, practice your content, and familiarize yourself with the best webinar platform . Maintain a positive mindset, engage with your audience, and remember that expertise and enthusiasm will boost your confidence during the presentation.

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The business benefits of online meetings attract many companies to spend money in this space. The interesting point is that online virtual meetings have so many benefits worth exploring today. But if you have been sitting on the attendee side for so long, this ultimate guide is for you.

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It's Earth Day, and we're all in with Tree-Nation 

Earth Day is an annual event held on the 22nd of April to demonstrate support for environmental protection. It was originally initiated by the US Senator and Environmentalist Gaylord Nelson in 1969 following a terrible oil spill in Santa Barbara, California.  Senator Nelson chose the date to promote activities that celebrate the beauty and diversity of the natural world while motivating us to care for our planet and work for a better future for everyone on it. 

Best video conferencing platforms in 2024

Whether you are working for a 100% remote company or running a hybrid operation, modern-day video meetings have become the norm across many industries and niche markets. And that’s part of why many people like you are actively looking for the best video conferencing platform that supports 100 participants or more. Though it’s hard to pick one and call it the best option, we have made this short list of video conferencing tools based on our experiences at Cloudpresenter and other relevant professional roles.

Virtual fundraising ideas for nonprofits to reach donors

Trying to raise money for a nonprofit from a limited social circle is extremely challenging. It often limits the impact your organization can make as envisioned by the stakeholders involved. However, the interesting part is that the people who care about your cause are usually not limited to a particular location – country, state, city, or county.

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The 10 things steve jobs can teach every public speaker.

Steve Jobs was one of the greatest and most influential businessmen of his generation. He took an idea from a humble garage and turned it into Apple, one of the most recognizable and iconic brands in the world. He was a pioneer in the modern corporate world.

Much has been written about Steve Jobs’ presentation style. He was famous for his rigorous attention to every detail whenever he presented, from the style of the fonts on his slides to the colour of the stage background. When launching a new product, he would rehearse over and over until his delivery was fluid. The benefits of this preparation were seen in the quality of his presentations , which are widely regarded as a standard to which many companies aspire.

In this post, I don’t want to focus on Jobs’ presentation skills per se ; instead, I would like to draw on his wisdom and insights into business and life and see what lessons we can apply when it comes to speaking in public.

Steve Jobs’ memorable quotes

As part of his legacy, Jobs left a small trove of memorable quotes. Sometimes humorous, frequently trenchant, always thought provoking, they are worth reading and thinking about. Below are ten good ones for public speakers to ponder:

“Design is a funny word. Some people think design means how it looks. But of course, if you dig deeper, it’s really how it works. The design of the Mac wasn’t what it looked like, although that was part of it. Primarily, it was how it worked. To design something really well, you have to get it. You have to really grok [understand intuitively] what it’s all about. It takes a passionate commitment to really thoroughly understand something, chew it up, not just quickly swallow it. Most people don’t take the time to do that.”

Giving a good presentation – a truly good presentation – takes time and effort. You must understand the material thoroughly; you must understand how it relates to your audience ; you must understand what is most important and why. And then you have to design the presentation –  with or without slides – so that it hangs together and conveys the message with impact.

“This is what customers pay us for – to sweat all these details so it’s easy and pleasant for them to use our computers. We’re supposed to be really good at this.”

You have to sweat all of the details so that it is easy for your audience to follow your presentation (and enjoy it). Don’t make your audience work to understand your points. You should do that work before you present so that the audience doesn’t have to.

“People think focus means saying yes to the thing you’ve got to focus on. But that’s not what it means at all. It means saying no to the hundred other good ideas that there are. You have to pick carefully. I’m actually as proud of the things we haven’t done as the things we have done. Innovation is saying no to 1,000 things.”

Too many presentations become bogged down when speakers try to do too much. You have a limited amount of time and your audience has a limited amount of attention. Choose your key points carefully and ruthlessly cut out everything else. If the subject matter is vast and there is more for your audience to know, prepare a detailed handout or direct people to where they can go for more information. War and Peace makes for a good novel but a lousy presentation.

“That’s been one of my mantras: Focus and simplicity. Simple can be harder than complex. You have to work hard to get your thinking clean to make it simple. But it’s worth it in the end because once you get there, you can move mountains.”

As a presenter you must cut through the details and complexity and distill your message to its essence . Taking the time to think carefully about your subject and your audience beforehand will help you design a simple, effective presentation. When you prepare a presentation , you have to think like a sculptor; the beauty of the statue is revealed by what is taken away.

“I would trade all of my technology for an afternoon with Socrates.”

Technology is great but it is not the most important thing. Far more important is being able to think clearly, strategically, creatively. Whatever your field, expand your horizons. Read widely and extensively. Read the classics, read modern fiction, read non-fiction, read industry periodicals that are not related to your industry. You will become a better thinker and more creative. Those qualities can only help when it comes to communicating ideas to others.

“Good artists copy; great artists steal.”

Jobs was very fond of this quote which, in fact, he got from Pablo Picasso . Good speakers never try to copy other speakers. Good speakers know that they can only be themselves. However, good speakers are willing to “steal” from others in the sense of trying out something that they have learned from another speaker or read in a book or learned in a course. Nobody knows everything and we should be open to learning from others. But we should never try to be like others.

“I think if you do something and it turns out pretty good, then you should go do something else wonderful, not dwell on it for too long. Just figure out what’s next.”

When a presentation goes well, don’t waste the opportunity to deconstruct it soon afterwards. Make notes. What worked well? Why? What could be improved? How? Take what you have learned and build on it for your next presentation. Don’t rest on your laurels, especially if you have to give the same presentation over and over. There is always room for improvement: better images; a better story; an exercise for the audience; cutting material; adding material. Figure out what’s next.

“I’m the only person I know who’s lost a quarter of a billion dollars in one year. It’s very character building.”

Things don’t always go well. Mistakes happen and if you give enough presentations or speeches, the odds are that you will stumble at some point. Don’t let the stumbles get you down. They are part of the process of all public speakers and very few of them are fatal. Learn from them and move on.

“We’re here to put a dent in the universe. Otherwise why else even be here?”

When you finish a speech or presentation, your audience should be changed in some way, even if that change is simply learning something new. If you do not change your audience, why bother speaking at all?

“Be a yardstick of quality. Some people aren’t used to an environment where excellence is expected.”

Many presentations are still, unfortunately, mediocre or worse. You might even be able to get away with a mediocre presentation yourself. Don’t. Hold yourself to a higher standard; your audience deserves it and the benefits that will come your way — personal and professional — will be well worth the effort.

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• The Power of the Pause - 6th March 2019
• Five Resolutions to Make You a Better Speaker in 2019 - 21st December 2018

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THE PRESENTATION SECRETS OF STEVE JOBS

Steve Jobs transformed business presentations into an art form. Ask business professionals anywhere in the world to describe the “Steve Jobs style” and most will have an answer. It’s irresistible, entertaining, and engaging.

Today Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk, Marc Benioff, Former Ford CEO Alan Mulally, Alibaba founder Jack Ma, and many other leaders around the world emulate the presentation style Steve Jobs made famous, and the one Carmine Gallo popularized in his Wall Street Journal bestseller, The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs—one of the most popular public-speaking books in the world and recently classified as “a business classic.”

Now you can learn the exact techniques that made Jobs the most captivating storyteller on the business stage. In The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs Carmine Gallo maps out a ready-to-use framework to help you plan, deliver and refine the best presentation of your life. One major construction company scored an $875 million contract after converting its boring old presentation into a dynamic one that copied every technique revealed in the book.

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Learning Presentation Skills From Steve Jobs Speech and Keynotes

Theme meant a lot to Jobs.He always started with a headline which can be easily remembered and is short and comprehensive. The headings were short enough to be posted on twitter. In iPhone 2007 launch, one heading was “Your life in your pocket”. This meant that iPhone has so many features that it almost covers all aspects of your social requirements. But instead of putting up never ending slides. He just put up “Your life in your pocket”.

2. Interesting stories

Jobs always did that. He knew how to interact with audience. He presented himself from audience point of view. He told stories that are commonly experienced by users regarding Apple’s products. Once he said in a presentation “I was sitting in this cafe using iPad and noticed this girl totally checking me out”. His slide consisted of just these few words. While he explained the story himself about Apple’s products getting you girls and absolutely had everyone laughing.

3. His style Was Fewer Words

No matter how long the topic was. Jobs always managed to cover in fewer words.

“Music, calls and internet.” – introducing iPhone

“Thousand songs in your pocket.” – introducing iPod.

“Touch your music.” – introducing iPod touch.

“The world’s thinnest notebook.” – introducing MacBook Air.

He summed up the product in few minimal words and had the audience completely persuaded.

“Music, calls and internet.” – Jobs introducing iPhone

4. Give The Remember-able Statistics

He always had the numbers simplified. In his presentation when he wanted to tell the progress of iTunes, instead of saying that 25 billion songs have been downloaded from iTunes. He said that 15,000 songs are downloaded from iTunes every minute and that’s pretty huge and memorable.

He had incredible images in his presentation. There wasn’t too much media. It was just focused on one or two images which were enough and represented the whole point.

6. Fewer Text

The Steve Jobs presentation didn’t had too much text. Every point contained minimum 1 and maximum 4 words.

His whole presentation was kind of joy because he always continued smiling the whole time. Just have a look at the headshot photo of Steve Jobs.

8. Put on a show

Steve got an envelope from his team during presentation. He showed it to audience and pulled out a sleek Macintosh . The audience were engaged, interested and entertained.

How Jobs Gave Incredible Presentation?

That’s the kind of presentation you’d want to give. Don’t you wonder how someone can give such a presentation? Steve jobs was a pro at presentation. Following points will help you understand how he pulled off such an amazing presentation.

• Steve Jobs was passionate about Apple.
• He loved his brand and had total confidence in it.
• People who worked along him said that Jobs used to rehearse his presentation 200 times before presenting them.
• He used to be up all night with butterflies in his stomach, excited and nervous about his presentation.
• Steve Jobs presentation skills were result of constant effort and passion.

Quick tips to presentation skills

Presentation skills are developed with experience and practice but there are few tips which can help you polish your presentation skills.

1. Show Enthusiasm

It is very important aspect of presentation. Your presentation must reflect your passion. Enthusiastic presentations have the ability to reflect well on audience. When you are enthusiastic about your presentation, audience is likely to share that enthusiasm.

2. Follow Other Presenters

It is quite important to polish your own skills. You can judge better when you are in the audience. You’ll be able to identify the techniques used by others and learn new trends. You can identify what engages audience and what interests them.

3. Get Comfortable With Surroundings

It is quite important that you familiarize yourself with the surroundings. You can do that by arriving early. Get to know the environment so you don’t discover new things while presenting. You know where to step at what time. You would also know if there are any distractions like noisy road nearby so you can take additional measures.

4. Give Exceptional Start

For a successful presentation it is important that you give a rocking start. It’ll influence the audience to listen through the whole presentation. Never tell other people that this part is quite easy or you are going to skip this one. Just do it because you have to and let people listen through it.

5. Stress On Important Points

You can do all the required formatting but it is also important that you repeat and stress on important points by explaining. If you want audience to understand something it is important that you stress on it.

6. Plan Your Body Language Beforehand

It is highly dissatisfying if your body language and your words don’t get along. Therefore, plan beforehand and polish it via practice. Hand movements along with other gestures are quite important for effective presentation. People are more impressed when your body language communicates what you are communicating.

7. Interact With Audience

There is no specific way to do so. You can do it in multiple ways. You can do it via asking questions during or after presentation. You can simply arrange a meet and greet at start or end of a presentation. It gives you all the required confidence and you’ll be able to deliver it more effectively.

8. Use Little Humor

Humor is a great tool when presenting. Use little jokes when presenting as they enhance your confidence and engage more audience.

Never let go of confidence, enthusiasm and positive energy.

Was he always this good at presentations? , question people ask about oneself when getting ready for a presentation, pitch or a public appearance.

What made Steve Jobs best in not only presentation but anything else he did was the consistency and never settling on anything but perfect.

It’s been 32 years since the first best presentation of Steve Jobs in 1984, and after that what follows, people are still writing books and articles about it.

Since then each of his presentation is better than other. His skill became more mature over time. Hours and hours of practice made Jobs look polished, casual, and effortless.

Jobs and his team work on weeks on the presentation before the keynote. Steve often asked managers and employees and other team members their feedback and changed the presentation. He actually spent full two days before the presentation just to practice. That was what made him look cool and his presentations look effortless.

The people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do. — Steve Jobs

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5 Presentation lessons you can learn from Steve Jobs

Become a storyteller.

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Steve Jobs was a master of public speaking, and although it may seem like he had all the secrets to a successful presentation, he used some rather basic ideas about how to do it that… ... read more Steve Jobs was a master of public speaking, and although it may seem like he had all the secrets to a successful presentation, he used some rather basic ideas about how to do it that you can use today. Here are five presentations from his keynote speeches that you can learn from. close

Steve Jobs was one of the most innovative leaders of our time. Among other things, there is a lot that can be learned from him when it comes to presentation design and what aspects of his presentations made them so memorable and entertaining. Some would argue that he was the one person who completely changed our minds about what makes a presentation great—in a world of long, boring, and unimaginative slides, he used presentation techniques that followed a completely different approach.

In this piece, we thought it would be a good idea to go over the five principles that Steve Jobs followed when it came to presentation design and delivery. So let’s jump right into it.

How did Jobs give incredible presentations? 

Steve Jobs was known for the friendly and open demeanor he had while presenting. He avoided technical vernacular and kept his ideas straightforward with quick, memorable titles. Jobs was a showman. He was enthusiastic and told stories, he had confident body language and told jokes, which made him appear more approachable. What can we learn from him as we practice and prepare our own presentations?

01 Use a compelling theme & title

Come up with a headline and general theme for your presentation that run through the entire deck as an underlying message. This headline should be short enough to be easily memorable and tweetable. Think back to Steve Jobs’ iPhone launch in 2007, when his headline was “Your life in Your Pocket.” This quick slogan summed up his whole message and was memorable enough for the audience to carry with them even after the presentation. Think about the theme of your presentation. What do you want the audience to walk away remembering? Now simplify it into one, all-encompassing catchphrase.

02 Engage the audience by telling a story

Tell a story that hits people at an emotional level. It’s a well-known fact that stories are one of the most powerful tools that leaders use to inspire, motivate, and educate. This is because stories are far easier to remember than facts and figures. And research, according to psychologist J erome Bruner, points to the fact that facts are 20 times more likely to be remembered if they are embedded in or contextualized with a story .

Like Steve Jobs, you could frame your narrative around defeating an antagonist—the problem at hand. Introduce yourself or your company as the hero. Paint a picture of how your product or service defeated this problem and emerged victorious.

03 Simplify bigger numbers

Simplify large numbers. This ensures that people can grasp the facts better. For instance, Steve Jobs would say, “We sold 2 million iPods in the first 59 days.” And then he would give context by adding, “That’s nearly 34 thousand iPods sold every single day.” In February 2013, Apple reached 25 billion songs downloaded from iTunes, and he simplified the number so it was easier to understand. For instance, he’d say, “On average, that’s 15,000 songs every minute.” His whole approach was about simplifying big ideas. Don’t leave the audience confused, connect the dots and explain the relevance these numbers have to them.

04 Use compelling visuals

Studies find that using images boosts information retention. Since most people are visual learners, they can pick up on the information shared in a presentation when shared as an image.

Jobs used big, bold, and clear pictures and rarely used more than two images on a presentation slide. In the 2007 launch of the iPhone, he used three images to highlight that the iPhone could do all three things—be a phone, a music player, and give you internet access. Then he quickly moved on to his normal procedure of using one striking image.

05 When it comes to words, less is more

Use fewer words. If you want a presentation like Steve’s, you will have to edit and re-edit your words. Leave only the most important phrases and cut out everything else. The idea is to communicate your message in the most impactful and memorable way possible, rather than having your audience read slides full of text. So he would use words like “magic” instead of the full, grammatically correct sentence “it works like magic,” and similarly, he would use “no stylus” instead of “it has no stylus.” You get the idea!

Jeff Black, the founder of the leadership development company Black Sheep, says that Steve’s presentations boiled down to three key factors: powerful storytelling, emotional connection, and obsessive preparation. Black says the late Steve Jobs was a masterful storyteller. “He was the messenger, he was the star of the show — not the PowerPoint slide.”

And one more thing… the average PowerPoint slide has on average forty words. Steve Jobs would use an average of nineteen words across 10–12 slides. That’s the presentation zen.

If you are interested in learning more about designing a presentation like Steve Jobs, we recommend the book “The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs: How to Be Insanely Great in Front of Any Audience.” Or you can just reach out to   professional presentation design services in Dubai and across the GCC—we specialize in not only delivering your message but also helping you tell your story and push your brand forward.

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How To Be A Master Presenter?: 5 Lessons from Steve Jobs

Steve Jobs as the cofounder of Apple, completely changed the way we use computers and technology.

But, besides being a genius entrepreneur, he was also known as a master presenter.

Steve Jobs’ speech at Stanford Commencement Address is one of the most watched speeches on the internet.

People would wait for the presentation from Steve Jobs as much as for a new product from Apple.

In this blog, you’ll learn 05 techniques and practices Steve Jobs used to deliver memorable presentations. We’ll be looking at the things he did to make his talks engaging, interesting, and persuasive.

So, let’s jump right in and learn how to present like Steve Jobs!

• Simplify the Message
• Use Visuals Effectively
• A Compelling Story
• Engage the Audience

Final Thoughts

1. simplify the message.

In 2001, when Apple launched iPod, Steve Jobs did not begin with its technical specifications, storage capacity, or battery life in his presentation.

Instead, he conveyed a simple message, “A thousand songs in your pocket.”

Steve Jobs had a great ability to simplify complex messages.

He used straightforward language to break down complex ideas into bite-sized pieces, making them more accessible to the audience.

Your audience will tune out of your presentation if they find your ideas difficult to follow.

Clarity is the most important aspect of any effective presentation.

Now, simplifying your core message may take many iterations.

• First, identify your main idea and distill it into its essence.
• Consider what your audience needs to know.
• Avoid technical jargon or complex vocabulary.
• Use analogies or metaphors to explain ideas.

For example, let’s say you’re delivering a presentation to your company’s executives about the importance of cybersecurity.

The message you want to convey is that cybersecurity is critical for protecting the company’s sensitive information and reputation.

You could phrase it like, “Our company’s security and reputation are at risk without strong cybersecurity measures in place.”

When you distill your message down to its essence, you will communicate what’s most important to the audience. So your speech becomes clear, concise, and memorable.

2. Use Visuals Effectively

Steve Jobs was a master at using visuals to enhance his message. His keynotes always included clever slides that grabbed his audience’s attention.

To create powerful visuals for your own presentations, start by focusing on simplicity.

Avoid cluttering your slides with too much text or unnecessary details.

Remember that your visuals should complement your message, not detract from it.

Jobs understood that the average PowerPoint slide has too much text. He always used minimal text and instead relied on images and diagrams.

For example, in his iPhone presentation, Steve Jobs’ PPT used a total of nineteen words in the first three minutes.

These words were spread across about twelve slides, each of which had a single image or a simple diagram.

During the presentation of Apple’s new phone, Steve Jobs declared with great enthusiasm,

“Today, we are going to reinvent the phone.”

This statement was highlighted in a slide with the headline, “Apple reinvents the phone.”

Additionally, in his famous iPod launch presentation , he used a series of slides that showed the evolution of music players over time, leading up to the unveiling of the iPod.

Overall, the use of clever slides was a key factor in Jobs’ success as a presenter.

By keeping your slides simple, visual, and engaging, you will capture the audience’s attention.

3. A Compelling Story

Steve Jobs always worked hard on how he would convey the content in his presentation.

He was a master storyteller. Jobs often used elements of storytelling to keep his audience engaged.

In every great story, there is a hero and a villain.

Steve Jobs’ 2007 presentation had both. Jobs explained why the world needed another mobile phone from Apple.

He first introduced a villain —  the problem of regular cell phones being hard to use.

Then, Jobs explained the iPhone would be super easy to use. The hero was the new multi-touch user interface that worked like magic. It was super smart, and users could perform multi-finger gestures.

All Steve Job presentations would have a narrative arc with a distinct beginning, middle, and end. This approach helped him keep his audience hooked.

To tell a compelling story in your own presentation,

• Use specific details and vivid language.
• Build suspense through foreshadowing or withholding information.
• Add unexpected twists or turns to your story.
• Use humor to break up the monotony.
• Use visuals or props to illustrate your story.
• Share a personal experience or anecdote.

Remember, telling a compelling story is all about making a connection with your audience. So, be yourself, have fun, and let your personality shine through!

4. Engage the Audience

Steve Jobs was a master at engaging his audience. He knew how to use humor , suspense, and surprise to make his presentations memorable.

Steve Jobs would engage the audience in three ways.

• Create curiosity about a product at the beginning.
• Reveal the product.
• Inspire the audience at the end.

Before revealing a product, Jobs would create immense curiosity among the audience right from the opening statement.

For example, he started his 2007 iPhone launch with,

“This is a day I have been looking forward to for two and a half years.”

Just before revealing the product, he piqued the curiosity with his humor. He teased the audience by showing a picture of an iPod with a rotary dial attached. This created excitement and anticipation among the audience.

Humor can help you connect with your audience and break the ice. Use it strategically to lighten the mood and keep your audience engaged.

And at the end, he shared a quote to leave the audience uplifted and inspired. He said, “I skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been.”

Remember that your audience is there to hear what you have to say but also to be entertained and informed. Make sure you have their attention and keep it throughout your presentation.

5. Practice

What is the secret of good presentation?

Practice, practice, and practice!

Steve Jobs was known for his intense preparation for keynotes.

He would spend weeks rehearsing and refining his presentations. He knew every detail of every demo and slide, which helped him deliver a flawless presentation.

People might think Jobs was naturally smooth. It was his hours of practice that made him look polished, casual, and effortless.

During a presentation, Steve Jobs’ clicker stopped working. Even after a couple of attempts, it didn’t work. Jobs did not panic or show any awkwardness.

In fact, Steve Jobs laughed at it and quickly shared a small anecdote about his friend Steve Wozniak.

He recalled how Steve and he used to pull a prank with the TV jammer that they invented.

The problem was fixed, and he smoothly got back to the presentation.

Now, such confidence comes from intense preparation.

To practice effectively for your own presentations,

• Start by rehearsing your material multiple times until you are comfortable with it.
• Try practicing in front of a mirror or recording yourself on the video to identify flaws.
• Practice in front of a live audience to get feedback and refine your presentation.

By putting in the time and effort to perfect your presentation, you will be better equipped to deliver a powerful and memorable message to your audience.

One effective way to improve your presentation is to practice with a personal coach. If you are looking to learn from a communication expert, BBR English is the right place.

We offer live 1:1 sessions on public speaking with an expert. In these interactive sessions, you’ll discover techniques to improve your delivery, body language , vocal variety, structure, and much more. With feedback from corporate experts, you’ll master your presentation skills in no time.

Book a counseling session now and start becoming a better presenter today

Steve Jobs’ leadership and presentation style left an indelible mark on the world of business. By studying his techniques, you will become a more effective communicator.

Remember, the ability to communicate effectively is a valuable skill that can make all the difference in your career.

Whether you’re giving a sales pitch, a TED talk, or a job interview, the principles of presentation mastery that Steve Jobs embodied will help you succeed.

If you want to be a great presenter like Steve Jobs, you have to put in the work.

According to Ken Kocienda’s book Creative Selection, there is an anecdote about how Jobs readied himself for the MacWorld 2003 keynote, which marked the debut of the Safari Web browser by Apple.

I will leave you with an anecdote to inspire you.

“Three weeks or a month before the keynote itself, Steve would start rehearsing with portions of his slide deck in some venue at Apple, often in Town Hall, the auditorium on the Infinite Loop campus. Slowly, day by day, he would build the show by stepping through it as he wanted to present it at the keynote. This was one of Steve’s great secrets of success as a presenter. He practiced. A lot. He went over and over the material until he had the presentation honed, and he knew it was cold. When Steve spoke to a slide, he went fully into his keynote persona. His tone of voice, his stance, his gestures, everything was exactly as if he were presenting to a packed house. For as long as everything proceeded to his satisfaction, he kept going. As needed, he stopped, stepped out of character, reduced the volume of his voice, and asked executives seated in the front row, like Phil Schiller, the company’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing, what they thought of some turn of phrase or whether they believed ideas flowed together smoothly. Feedback received, Steve would pause quite deliberately for a second or two, go back into character, and resume his keynote persona.”

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Steve Jobs’ Fascinating Presentation Style: How to Create It Smoothly

• Published on December 1, 2021

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Steve Jobs’ fascinating presentation style to create

Did you notice how brilliant Steve Jobs optimizes every stage presence? Here’s how you can copy Steve Jobs’ engaging presentation style!

Almost no one does not know about Steve Jobs in this digital age. Steve Jobs was notably one of the most successful entrepreneurs in the last few decades with his well-known brand, Apple, which has grown into a giant tech company and dominated the related market.

You can find his product in your hands, next to you, on your nightstand, and almost everywhere. According to JakartaPost , Apple Inc on Monday became the first company to hit a US$3 trillion stock market value, before ending the day a hair below that milestone, as investors bet the iPhone maker will keep launching best-selling products as it explores new markets such as automated cars and virtual reality.

Steve Jobs became indistinguishable from the product he has been working on to the point where they symbolize each other.

For example, when someone mentions Steve Jobs, one must think “that must be Apple’s Steve Jobs,” and vice versa. 

Of course, becoming the face of his own company had become one of the proofs of the dedication and persona he presented to the public. 

Steve Jobs’ stage presence

Steve Jobs had one particular iconic image every time he came up to the people to introduce the newest update about his gadget. He showed up and immediately sparked up charisma like a tech rock star.

Standing in front of a big screen with the Apple logo on it, wearing a black long-sleeve turtleneck and blue jeans had become Steve Jobs’ trademark outfit. 

Apple is famous for its exciting and genius product presentation. According to The Daily Egg , with stripped-down content and simple advertising, they’ve gone on to sell more than 1.5 billion products .

The whole agenda and the main theme are presented almost seamlessly, making it entertaining, natural, and effective. But, more importantly, Steve Jobs’ brilliant presence on the stage made a significant impact on his company as well. 

Possessing the mentioned presentation skills, Steve Jobs could easily convince the audience of almost anything possible. His communication style even drew public press attention which also granted him free advertisement.

Even one of his colleagues claimed that he fascinatingly communicated his product. He neatly tends to alter reality and make it somewhat flexible.

Hence, he could introduce the versatility of his innovations. Most corporates must learn and adapt from Steve Jobs’ engaging presentation style which provides him and the company more benefits because the public presentation is all that matters when it comes to selling products.

See also: The Easiest Ways to Improve Your Classroom Presentation Skill

Why presentation matters

It’s because it fundamentally matters and has always been. And Steve Jobs’ fascinating presentation style is still on top of everything.

Presentation is vital for publishing a product, idea, or service to the audience. The essence of promotion itself will grant you a significant change, regardless of the variant of the purposes.

It will be the one that decides whether it builds up or lowers people’s impressions and expectations. 

On the other side, presentation is also a routine in an organization’s daily activities.

Still similar, it serves as an essential agenda where progress is reported. So, a presentation always takes a key role in day-to-day business activities.

It is as essential to deliver a proper presentation in a professional environment as a personal branding that somehow displays your qualities. How? Let me break it down for you.

1. Conveying your brand identity

As mentioned before, the presentation is one central aspect that represents either personal or a company. It concisely brings the whole image, approach, and identity of your company to the public in a way it can be seen with their eyes.

The reaction and impression they generated will follow as necessary feedback. Building a good image and decently introducing your company to your audience or your target audience is the primary goal of the presentation.

According to Havard Business Review , our ability to remember images is one of our greatest strengths. “We are incredible at remembering pictures.” Hear a piece of information, and three days later you’ll remember 10% of it. Add a picture and you’ll remember 65%.” 

2. Spreading awareness and motivation

It is also very often to be applied inside the culture of an organizational work environment, as well.

Distributing the information, connecting the colleagues, or merely displaying motivational quotes to keep your employee’s spirit on point is one of the uses we could optimize from a presentation. 

3. More engagement

The next topic to note is that presentation assists you to get or increase more audience engagement about your company.

A proper and effective presentation could balance your delivery by giving the imagery elements that complement the auditory to make the audience engaged in the process.

4. More flexible and accessible

You may view, customize, or display presentations on your laptop, tablet, or phone at any time and anywhere.

A presentation is flexible, meaning you can easily modify the substance component to various situations, audiences, or purposes.

How Steve Jobs optimizes his fascinating presentation style

Steve Jobs is known as one of the greatest storytellers in the world. This label is given to him because of his outstanding ability to present a story through presentation.

Every product launch that he has done was brilliantly performed. Every move, demo, image, and slide seems adequately calculated and perfectly executed.

Many people have been observing and analyzing how Steve Jobs did his presentation to gain information or tricks behind his successful performance.

During his presentation, Steve Jobs gave out accurate information to the audience and tried to inspire and entertain them. That is why he could capture the audience’s undivided attention.

Besides what has been mentioned above, there are still several presentation techniques you can learn and copy from Steve Jobs’ fascinating presentation style. Let’s get deeper into it.

1. Be passionate

He also never failed to show his enthusiasm for his new product.

He often used words such as “cool,” “amazing,” or “gorgeous” to describe them. He also did not hold back to show his excitement in front of the audience.

He believed that if you are not excited about your idea, then nobody else will be.

2. Solve the problem

A presentation always has or proposes a particular purpose. Be it to launch a product, advertise, or deliver some new ideas.

But, before you show the primary purpose of your presentation, you must first introduce the common problem faced by most audiences. Steve Jobs did this when he first introduced the iPhone to the public.

He did a presentation about how smartphones are hard to use. So, as a solution, he offers the iPhone, which he claimed is way more innovative and intelligent than any mobile device and super easy to use.

3. Less wordy

In the first iPhone launch presentation, Steve Jobs used a total of nineteen words that were distributed across twelve slides. This shows that to have a successful presentation.

You do not have to put many words into your slides. This might also help your audience focus on what you are trying to say rather than get distracted by your slides.

See also: Why Animated UI/UX Concept in Virtual Presentations Matters

4. Tell stories

Before revealing the new update about the brand, Steve Jobs spent a moment reviewing the story about Apple. From their first establishment to the present time.

This opened a way to introduce Apple further and release a new product. In his presentation, Steve Jobs also often told many entertaining stories and jokes to keep his audience’s attention.

5. Be natural

In the introduction of the iPhone, the presentation lasted about 80 minutes. During the 80 minutes of the presentation, not once did Steve Jobs read from a prompter or notecards.

He fluently presented the content so well. This leads to the amount of rehearsal needed to have a successful presentation.

According to several sources, Steve Jobs practiced and rehearsed his presentation for several days before the actual presentation. In conclusion, it takes a lot of time to practice and prepare yourself to be fluent during the presentation.

See also: What Is a Pitch Deck Presentation?

Present it on PowerPoint!

PowerPoint is an easy program to use and a powerful tool for presenting. It helps to create an attractive visual for your presentation.

The abundance of tools and menus on PowerPoint helps the user make their presentation more attractive. The multimedia added to the slide would also help to improve the audience’s focus.

However, using PowerPoint is tricky because you can get overboard and overly use creative tools. As a result, your presentation could be too distracting and might not deliver your message correctly.

So, Steve Jobs’ fascinating presentation style is a good start for you to impersonate.

Make sure you do not perform a boring presentation to your audience because delivery is as important as the substance!

Steve Jobs, it is better to make a simple slide and not put too many words and decorations into it. That way, your audience will focus on the message you deliver and not get distracted by the visual.

Let’s visit RRSlide to download free PowerPoint templates . But wait, don’t go anywhere and stay here with our RRGraph Design Blog to keep up-to-date on all the best pitch deck template collections and design advice from our PowerPoint experts .

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Top 10 PowerPoint Presentation tips inspired from Steve Jobs presentation

Powerpoint presentation slides, ordinary -> extraordinary, blend key ingredients from other resources like steve jobs presentation slides, captivating behavior, take care of the little big things.

• Begin your presentation with something astonishing to catch the audience attention
• Use emotional inflections in your voice to build a visceral connection with the audience
• Change the sound by varying the tone and pacing
• Interact with individuals in the audience in tricky ways, such as asking a curious question
• Make some jokes to lure the attention of the serious guy in the audience
• Skip explaining data by using infographics/ charts

Be prepared for the interactive session

Language of content, no jargon like steve jobs presentation, leverage latest technology, the location of the presentation.

• The place has a calm atmosphere that puts you at ease.
• You won’t be interrupted by anyone while making the presentation
• There won’t be any technical glitches such as internet instability
• 10 Presentation blunders
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Deliver a Presentation Like Steve Jobs: 9 Tips On How To Do It Right

• by Christian T.

Steve Jobs, the co-founder of Apple, is best remembered for giving us revolutionary products like the iPhone. He left behind a legacy that changed the computer, music, film, and wireless industries. One of the keys to Jobs’s phenomenal success lies in his storytelling. The way he presented Apple products was remarkable. But how to deliver a presentation like Steve Jobs?

Here are the main steps to master your presentation:

• Show Your Passion While You Deliver a Presentation
• Use Visual Media
• Give Meaning to Numbers
• Create a Story
• Attract the Attention Towards Yourself, Not the Presentation
• Try to Strike an Immediate Connection With the Audience
• Know the One Critical Point You Want to Drive Home
• The Essential Use of Humor
• Know Your Time Limit

Undoubtedly, he had great ideas that became a large part of our lives, but his point of view alone wasn’t why he became a success.

Everybody has ideas. You, me, and the guy sitting next to you on the train have them. We all think of how things should be or how to fix problems, but not many acts upon them. 

Those who decide to work and make something out of their ideas don’t always hit the jackpot. It’s not because they were terrible, but because they couldn’t communicate well.

Steve Jobs was a genius in public speaking. He didn’t have a complicated model for his speeches but followed some basic rules every time. He showed his passion. His unique style sparked a cult-like following for Apple products and inspired many speakers and executives to follow his style.

1) Show Your Passion While You Deliver a Presentation

Passion is the drive that pushes you. The best part about passion is that it’s contagious. If you show people why you’re passionate about your idea, they, too, will feel it and want to be a part of it. 

In a company, the passion starts from the ground up. It begins with the founder, spreading through the employees and, eventually, the customers. A company that understands and feels its leader’s passion is a successful one .

It can be challenging to keep your audience attentive while you deliver a presentation. People have a meager attention span, especially in situations that don’t interest them.

That’s why you must start by telling them why this project matters. Use data and statistics while you deliver a presentation to prove your point and develop that sense of urgency.

Apple was in danger of going bankrupt when Steve Jobs returned after an absence of 12 years. He held a meeting that brought Apple back to life. 

Dressed in his famous black turtleneck and shorts, Jobs spoke to his company about the passion behind the company and himself. He said, “People with passion can change the world for the better.”

Remember, passion isn’t just restricted to a product or service but can also be to a set of values.

2) Use Visual Media 

People respond better to images and videos than verbal communication. So when you deliver a presentation, make sure it has appropriate visuals.

A study by Social Science Research Network found that by adding an image to a presentation, retention is boosted by 65%. But passing on the information only by mouth left individuals remembering only 10% of it.

But that doesn’t mean you should plaster slides with images and no blank space. 

Steve Jobs kept it simple. He would use one or two images and minimal text. When Jobs introduced the iPad , his first slide had the word ‘iPad’ between the picture of the I-phone and the Macbook. It was followed by a slide holding only an image of the iPad and no text.

Because of his simplicity and uncluttered slides, it was easier for people to understand what he was talking about and stay focused. Large images took most of his screen space, leaving only a line or so for text and plenty of blank space.

3) Give Meaning to Numbers

Numbers need to be put into perspective if you want your audience to understand the depth of it. But how to deliver a presentation using numbers without annoying them?

Steve Jobs introduced the storage size of a 5 GB iPod as “this device has 1000 songs which fit into your pocket.” By putting numbers into words, people can better grasp what it means.

Another great technique was using clean chart images to make the message clear to the audience.

4) Create a Story

Steve Jobs enjoyed portraying his company as a hero.

When IBM decided to follow Apple into personal computers, Jobs painted his rival as the antagonist in his talks. He crafted a narrative in which Apple was the only safe space left for creative geniuses after being attacked by the evil IBM.

He delivered speeches that informed, educated, and entertained.

Inform your customers of the benefits of your product when you deliver a presentation on your products. They need to know what’s in it for them if they use their product, giving them a straight answer. Let them know what they gain from using your product and what problems it will fix or avoid.

Following this great advice will increase your chances of surprise and make you more confident in delivering a presentation as good as Jobs'.

5) Attract Attention Towards Yourself, Not the Presentation

There is little doubt about the importance of your slides. But the key to delivering a memorable presentation like Steve Jobs's lies in understanding the importance of the speaker, i.e., you.

So, avoid pointing towards the display while you deliver a presentation very often. If you are to give a robust and impactful performance, make sure the audience remembers what you say more than the slides show.

Little tricks can distract the audience from the slides. Inserting blank slides in the presentation would force your listeners’ attention back on you.

You need to be at your best during these blank sides. Not all the listeners would like the sudden blank slide. Ensure they consider listening to you standing before an empty fall worth their while.

6) Try to Strike an Immediate Connection With the Audience

That’s how Steve Jobs started most of his presentations. He was a master at establishing an immediate, personal bond with different audiences.

There can be many ways of doing it, like starting on a lighter note or beginning with a short tale that revolves around your presentation's primary purpose.

Make the audience feel you’re genuinely providing them with a solution even when you’re there to sell the idea.

First, it makes the audience listen to you with much more interest and attention. It builds a sense of empathy that any other short-cut technique cannot create.

If you want your audience to be more receptive to what you’re saying, this personal connection needs to be earned at the earliest.

7) Know the One Critical Point You Want to Drive Home

A presentation might have many points, reasoning, data, and narratives blended into it, but there’s one critical point. This is the point you want to drive home eventually. The first step would be to know what that point is.

Do your preparation and know for yourself what you want to put out there and convince the audience about it.

Everything about the presentation, from the statistics and numbers to the arguments you layout, should strengthen your claim in driving that critical point home.

If you stray out of the line, even for a few minutes, it will take the audience’s attention from that point, and you will have to build your case right from scratch.

Steve Jobs was a master at this, and you can also be great at it, given that you prepare well for the presentation and stick to the objective throughout.

8) The Essential Use of Humor

Many would downplay the importance of humor in presentations, but it can be a convenient tool for connecting with your audience. Firstly, the appropriate use of fun correctly would set the listeners at ease and prevent your presentation from turning into a boring monologue.

No matter how articulate you are with your points and how precise you are with your numbers. You won’t be able to drive the point home if your presentation isn’t entertaining in bits and pieces.

Secondly, it will calm your nerves and make you feel a more intimate, casual connection with your audience.

This goes a long way, especially in presentations that last very long. Sometimes all you need to give your presentation is a pinch of humor to stay in the listeners' memory for a longer time.

9) Know Your Time Limit

This may sound obvious, but it does deserve mention.

You have to know beforehand the amount of time you’ve been given for a presentation. Once you know your time limit, you can then plan your presentation. Make sure you put in the essential points, and you don’t have to rush toward the end.

Know whether it is a half-an-hour pitching or a lengthy presentation before you go on the stage. This will help you kill off the anxiety, and you won’t have to look over your shoulder for the buzzer always.

You can go through the presentation smoothly if you’ve planned it according to the time limit. Moreover, you will have the opportunity to conclude your presentation correctly, which is essential in rounding off the one critical point you’ve put out there.

In Conclusion

There is no big secret to doing excellent presentations. Know your stuff, be concise on the theme, use examples and numbers that captivate attention, and feel comfortable with the topic.

You certainly know that images capture more attention than text. You would catch attention with videos and good storytelling rather than a black-and-white PowerPoint textual presentation.

Show the passion you have for the subject. Even if you’re not entirely in love with it, you know more than others, so try to feel the energy about teaching others.

You probably know more about it than the vast majority, if not all the audience. So feel free to speak about your knowledge. And don’t feel shy about one or other mistakes, it can happen, and you will probably be better if you stay calm and keep the show going.

Related posts:

Christian has over ten years of experience in marketing agencies.​ ​Currently, he has been dedicating his time to a tech startup and also writing for major publications. He loves podcasts and reading to keep up with the latest trends in marketing.

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5 Presentation Techniques From Steve Jobs

March 28, 2018 by Muhammad Noer

Jobs’ performance on a presentation is always expected and waited by many people. Through the world-class exclusive presentation technique, he performs how to deliver a presentation in a unique way, like an attractive show, successfully. Here are some techniques used by Jobs that lead him to be a successful presenter.

1. Create stories as a background to your presentation

The first secret is how you create a story behind a presentation. Everyone loves story. The presentation that has a story in it will always be remembered by the audiences.

The reason is very simple, stories are easily remembered. That is why you will always remember your childhood’s stories told by your parents. The audiences will remember your stories and forget anything else.

Steve jobs masters this technique properly. In every presentation he always delivers a story. When he introduced iPod in 2001, he did not explain iPod as a merely MP3 player. He chose to tell a story about iPod as 1000 songs in your pocket.

2. Create simple but visually strong slides

A good slide is usually not a complicated one. A good slide is a simple one, accurate, and helping the audiences to grasp quickly the idea that the presenter wants to deliver.

In every presentation, Steve Jobs always uses very simple slides. Sometimes, they contain just pictures with no words. In another time, they contain numbers, typed with big font size.

Through the appropriate pictures, he wants to evoke the audience’s imagination to imagine what he is explaining.

3. Use three parts rule

In the process of making a speech, we know a term three parts rule. It is done because people are used to understanding many things through three parts.

Jobs knows very well the strength behind this rule so that he uses this trick in many occasions. When he explained about iPhone, Jobs did not tell too many things that can lead people into confusion.

He summarized it as a revolutionary cell phone that has three function: (a) as an entertaining iPod, (b) as a smart phone, and (c) as a great internet communication media. Through these three things, the audiences could easily remember what iPhone is and they could summarize all other features.

The audiences can hardly remember more than three things. On the other side, less than 3 things are too little that makes presentation uninteresting. Use three parts of information to create strength to your presentation.

4. Help the audiences understand the statistics and data

Sometimes a presentation needs statistics and data to deliver important information to the audiences. Unfortunately, statistics and data sometimes are boring.

The question is how to make statistics and data more interesting? Remember! The audiences don’t care about the number you show in your presentation. They do pay attention to the story behind those numbers.

When he explained about the amount of songs that had been downloaded through iTunes, he delivered simple data by saying that 2 billion songs have been downloaded. It means 5 million songs have been downloaded per day.

It also means in a second, there are 58 songs downloaded. To make the audiences easy to imagine, he added, “This happens every minute in every hour every day.”

Now, notice how he could deliver an interesting story behind numbers and statistics. If the audiences were just given data that 2 billion songs had been sold or 5 million songs were sold per day, the audiences would hardly imagine the meaning of the statistics.

When Jobs helped the audiences by telling an analogy that there were 58 thousand songs were sold per second, the audiences could easily imagine that that was a huge amount of songs that had been downloaded.

5. Create extraordinary surprise momentum

A great presentation has something that surprises the audiences. If you want to perform greatly, create a surprise momentum to the audiences. This was what Jobs did in his presentation in 2008: he told that apple had made the thinnest notebook in the world. He showed a picture that showed how thin and light the notebook was.

When the audiences tried to imagine how thin this was, Jobs suddenly took an envelope and take a MacBook Air out of the envelope and showed it to the audiences. They were shocked and mesmerized. He created a surprise momentum in his presentation successfully. Actually, he could just explain about the product monotonously, but it would not give strength and emotional aspect to his presentation.

By taking out a MacBook out of the envelope, the explanation about the thinnest notebook was perfectly delivered. There was no technical explanation needed.

For you who want to be an extraordinary presenter, think and create the surprise momentum that summarized the whole presentation that will be remembered by the whole audiences.

Those are some techniques used by Jobs that make him famous and loved by many people. If you use and apply these techniques, every chance you have will be the mesmerizing presentation to the audiences.

If you want further understanding about these techniques, you can read book entitled “The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs – How to Be Insanely Great in Front of Any Audience” written by Carmine Gallo, a columnist in Businessweek.com.

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About Muhammad Noer

Muhammad Noer is a Human Resources Professional who has passion in sharing how to create and deliver a great presentation.

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The Real Leadership Lessons of Steve Jobs

• Walter Isaacson

Reprint: R1204F

The author, whose biography of Steve Jobs was an instant best seller after the Apple CEO’s death in October 2011, sets out here to correct what he perceives as an undue fixation by many commentators on the rough edges of Jobs’s personality. That personality was integral to his way of doing business, Isaacson writes, but the real lessons from Steve Jobs come from what he actually accomplished. He built the world’s most valuable company, and along the way he helped to transform a number of industries: personal computing, animated movies, music, phones, tablet computing, retail stores, and digital publishing.

In this essay Isaacson describes the 14 imperatives behind Jobs’s approach: focus; simplify; take responsibility end to end; when behind, leapfrog; put products before profits; don’t be a slave to focus groups; bend reality; impute; push for perfection; know both the big picture and the details; tolerate only “A” players; engage face-to-face; combine the humanities with the sciences; and “stay hungry, stay foolish.”

Six months after Jobs’s death, the author of his best-selling biography identifies the practices that every CEO can try to emulate.

His saga is the entrepreneurial creation myth writ large: Steve Jobs cofounded Apple in his parents’ garage in 1976, was ousted in 1985, returned to rescue it from near bankruptcy in 1997, and by the time he died, in October 2011, had built it into the world’s most valuable company. Along the way he helped to transform seven industries: personal computing, animated movies, music, phones, tablet computing, retail stores, and digital publishing. He thus belongs in the pantheon of America’s great innovators, along with Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, and Walt Disney. None of these men was a saint, but long after their personalities are forgotten, history will remember how they applied imagination to technology and business.

• WI Walter Isaacson, the CEO of the Aspen Institute, is the author of Steve Jobs and of biographies of Henry Kissinger, Benjamin Franklin, and Albert Einstein.

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Create a Presentation the Steve Jobs Way

Carmine Gallo explores nuances that will inspire you to create presentations similar to the ones used by Apple's iconic Steve Jobs. Carmine has written a book on Steve Jobs' presentation style.

Author: Carmine Gallo

Product/Version: PowerPoint

Date Created: December 1, 2009 Last Updated: September 18, 2023

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He is a sought after speaker and author of the book, The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs: How to be Insanely Great in Front of Any Audience .

How do I make my slides look like a Steve Jobs presentation?

The first thing I tell them is that they do not have to use Apple presentation software, Keynote , although it's a beautifully refined program. I've seen gorgeous PowerPoint designs as well, especially with PowerPoint 2007 . So it's not about the software; it's about the story.

Steve Jobs treats presentations like theatrical events complete with heroes and villains, a supporting cast, stage props and visually stunning backdrops–slides. I know designers who have actually worked with Steve Jobs at Apple, so I wrote an entire book on how to create and deliver a presentation the Steve Jobs way. While there are about eighteen techniques that Jobs uses, one stands out. I call it “unleashing your inner Zen” and I believe readers of Indezine would find it useful.

Picture Superiority

A Steve Jobs presentation is strikingly simple, visual and devoid of bullet points. That’s right–no bullet points. Ever. Of course, this raises the question, would a PowerPoint presentation without bullet points still be a PowerPoint presentation? The answer is yes, and a much more interesting one. New research into cognitive functioning–how the brain works–shows that bullet points are the least effective way to deliver important information. In fact, memory processing is aided by pictures. Scientists call it picture superiority: ideas are more easily recalled when presented as text and images instead of text alone.

Simplicity is the Ultimate Sophistication

When Steve Jobs introduced the MacBook Air in January, 2008, the most memorable slide showed the notebook computer being pulled from a manila inter-office envelope to show just how thin it really was. No words could equal the power and simplicity of that image. The average PowerPoint has forty words. It’s hard to find forty words in ten slides of a Steve Jobs presentation.

Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication,

said Jobs quoting from one of his heroes, Leonardo da Vinci.

Jobs keeps his slides simple by eliminating unnecessary words, charts and other eye clutter.

The influential German painter, Hans Hoffman once said,

The ability to simplify means to eliminate the unnecessary so that the necessary may speak.

By removing clutter-extraneous features and information—from his products and presentations, Jobs achieves the ultimate goal: ease of use and clarity.

To gain a fuller appreciation of Jobs' simple slide creations, watch the first few minutes of his keynote presentation at the Macworld Expo, January, 2008.

The first several slides have one or two words per slide. When Jobs reviews the new products that Apple introduced in the previous year, the slide simply reads: 2007. Jobs thanks his customers for their support and the slide reads: Thank you.

Confidence, Time and Practice

Creating simple, visual slides requires three things: confidence, time and practice. First, confidence. Slides should not take center stage. The audience's attention should be directed at you, the speaker. The slides compliment the speaker. That means you had better know your material and have the confidence to deliver your message with conviction. The second thing it requires is time. It's easy to create cluttered slides—just write everything you want to say on the slide. Thinking visually about displaying information takes more effort, but it's worth the time to stand apart. And the third thing it requires is practice. Because you're delivering information that is not on the slide, you can't read from the slide. You have to commit the information to memory and use the slide as a prompt to deliver the idea. Steve Jobs rehearses for many, many hours over many weeks to get everything just right.

Steve Jobs may be a hard act to follow, but once you start using some of his techniques in your own presentations, you'll be hard to forget.

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