How to Give a Speech like Steve Jobs | Public Speaking

24 Aug 2013 · 2 min

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2:14

TJ Walker explains how Steve Jobs made technical presentations effective by using simple visuals (large images rather than text-heavy slides), physical props (e.g., pulling a laptop from an envelope to dramatize thinness), extensive rehearsal, conversational stage movement, and focusing on one idea per visual. Walker contrasts Jobs’s approach with the common, ineffective practice of using dense bullet-point slides and turning away from the audience.

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So what can we learn from the speaking style of Steve Jobs? First of all, who was Steve Jobs? He was a tech guy. He was head of a big tech company. He gave technical speeches. But what does that mean? Most people when they say they give technical speeches, what they mean is they turn their back to you. They point to a really complicated graph with 29 different bullet points. That's what people think they're doing when they're giving so called technical speeches. Well, Steve Jobs gave technical speeches too, but he did it in a way that actually worked. When he used a slide, he used an image. If you wanted to talk about an iPhone, he showed a picture of an iPhone. He didn't put up text and 89 different bullet points of the specs. When he wanted to demonstrate the thinness of one of his new laptop computers, he didn't put up a bullet point slide that said thinness 0.18 inches. That's not what he did. He had someone bring out an envelope and he simply pulled this new laptop out of an envelope to dramatize how thin it was. He realizes even though he's got the best technology in the world, often there's nothing better than a simple prop of a 10 cent envelope. That made his point. The other thing he did is he rehearsed a great deal. People who worked with him said he would obsess over his major presentations for weeks. He would rehearse for days because he understood how important this was. It's not something you just dash off at the last minute because there's no time. If you're the CEO, there's nothing more important than giving a great presentation to galvanize people's attention, to motivate them to want your product, to use your product. And that's why he was very careful to walk around the stage to be conversational, to demonstrate. And when he used images that he projected, it wasn't about text. It was about one idea at a time, one visual at a time. That's what made Steve Jobs an effective communicator.