Steve Jobs (36 page)

is the common thread among all individuals who excel at a par-

ticular task. Neuroscientist and musician Daniel Levitin believes

that the magic number is ten thousand.

“The emerging picture of such studies is that ten thousand

hours of practice is required to achieve the level of mastery

associated with being a world-class expert—in anything . . . In

study after study, of composers, basketball players, fiction writ-

ers, ice-skaters, concert pianists, chess players, master criminals,

and what have you, this number comes up again and again. Of

course, this doesn’t address why some people don’t seem to get

anywhere when they practice, and why some people seem to get

more out of their practice sessions than others, but no one has

yet found a case in which true world-class expertise was accom-

plished in less time. It seems that it takes the brain this long to

assimilate all that it needs to know to achieve true mastery.
”10

The ten-thousand-hours theory is consistent with what we

know about how the brain learns, according to Levitin and

Gladwell. They say that learning requires consolidation in neu-

ral tissue; the more experiences we have with a particular action,

the stronger those connections become.

Now let’s do the math. Ten thousand hours is equivalent to

roughly three hours a day, or twenty hours a week, over a period

of ten years. To substantiate this theory, Gladwell tells the story

of the Beatles, who performed together in Hamburg over a long

period before they hit it big. According to Gladwell, before the

Beatles enjoyed their first success in 1964, they had performed

live together some twelve hundred times, sometimes for eight

hours at a stretch. This is an extraordinary feat, because most

groups don’t perform that often in their entire careers. The

band members became better and more confident the longer

they played together. “Incidentally,” writes Gladwell, “the time

that elapsed between their founding and their arguably greatest

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artistic achievements—
Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band
and
The Beatles
[White Album]—is ten years.
”11

With the ten-thousand-hours theory in mind, let’s turn our

attention once again to Jobs. Although Apple was founded in

1976, Jobs and friend-cofounder Steve Wozniak started attending

meetings of the Homebrew Computer Club in 1974. Homebrew

was an early computer-hobbyist club in Silicon Valley, California.

It was at Homebrew that Jobs began tinkering and talking about

how computers could change the world. Exactly ten years later,

Jobs gave an outstanding presentation—the introduction of the

Macintosh in 1984. Most people who saw that presentation con-

sider it to be a magnificent achievement, packed with suspense,

drama, and excitement. But remarkably, Jobs continued to prac-

tice, refine, and improve his presentation style.

A decade later, in 1997, Jobs had returned to Apple and was

onstage at Boston’s Macworld to discuss the steps he had taken to

restore Apple to health. Everything about his performance that

day was more polished and natural than it had been in previous

years. He had lost the lectern, walking comfortably across the

stage, and had started creating more visually engaging slides.

Flash forward another ten years to Macworld 2007, which,

in my opinion, is Jobs’s greatest presentation to date if you take

into account every element of the keynote from start to finish.

He hits home runs in every presentation, but he hit a bases-

loaded homer in 2007. Everything clicked. Several sections of

the presentation have been discussed throughout this book. The

overall presentation was smooth and polished, with dramatic

highs and lows, confident body language, captivating verbal

delivery, and gorgeous slides. The iPhone announcement had

even overshadowed every product at the vastly larger Consumer

Electronics Show, held the same week in Las Vegas.

The chief misconception about Jobs is that he is a natural

presenter, that he was born with the charisma that he exhibits

onstage. Not true. As research has shown, nobody is a natural.

You can achieve the same level of proficiency of the world’s

greatest communicators if you work at it much,
much
harder

than everyone else.

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Flushing Away $25,000

I once saw the executive of a major publicly traded company

give a keynote presentation to a large audience of customers,

press, and analysts. I later learned that the company had spent

upwards of $25,000 for professional designers to create slick,

animated slides. That figure did not account for the lighting,

audio, and venue. The most creative slides will fail to impress

your audience unless you practice your delivery; this guy

did not practice, and it showed. Since he had not practiced

coordinating his words to the animation, the slides were off,

and he lost his place numerous times. He stumbled through

most of the presentation and at one point threw up his hands

in exasperation! If you spend money and time on a presenta-

tion—and time is money—you owe it to yourself to practice,

practice, and practice some more!

Make Video Your Best Friend

Nearly every year, I’m asked to work with CEOs who give major

presentations at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. The

conference is usually scheduled for the first full week in January,

which means we’re rehearsing over the holidays, often while the

rest of the company’s employees are off. Regardless, CEOs will

show up for practice, because they know how important it is.

In one particular year, after several days of rehearsals, one

of my CEO clients took the stage in Vegas but had trouble

with the slides. The clicker had failed, and the slides were not

advancing. Most amateur speakers who don’t spend enough

time practicing would have frozen, calling even more atten-

tion to the problem. Not this guy. He was so well prepared that

he casually motioned to an assistant to advance the slides for

him (we rehearse contingency plans). He didn’t miss a step and

kept talking. It didn’t end there: something was wrong with the

computer; it had locked and would have to be rebooted for the

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slide show to continue. The assistant simply shook his head,

but the CEO stayed the course. He continued to deliver the rest

of the presentation with no slides. He did so effortlessly and

confidently.

He later told me that without practice (which I had urged

him to do), he would have lost his confidence and floundered

in front of employees, analysts, investors, customers, and the

media. When I asked employees after the presentation what

they had thought, none of them realized that anything had

gone wrong.

VIDEO TRAINING TIPS

We had used a video camera during rehearsals. Very few pre-

senters watch themselves on camera, even though perfectly

appropriate camcorders are available for less than $300. I know

that watching yourself on TV, especially a wide-screen, is not the most pleasant experience, but take my word for it: it’s essential. Record your presentation and play it back. If possible, find

objective friends and colleagues who will offer honest feedback.

Use an external, clip-on microphone instead of the built-in

microphone standard on all camcorders. Your voice will sound

louder, clearer, and more resonant.

As you watch the video, pay close attention to these five

areas:


Eye contact.
Commit most of your presentation to memory to

avoid reading from notes. Your slides should act as your cue.

Public-speaking expert Andrew Carnegie observed that notes

destroy the intimacy between speaker and audience and make

the speaker appear less powerful and confident. Notice that I

didn’t tell you to give the presentation “completely” without

notes. Steve Jobs keeps notes out of his audience’s sight. Only a

careful observer would spot him glancing at them. He refers to

notes during demonstrations, but since the audience’s atten-

tion is on the demo itself, his notes do not detract from the

presentation. The notes he does keep onstage are also unob-

trusive and simple. He just needs to glance at them to find his

place. Although it’s easier in Keynote than PowerPoint to have

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a notes page for the speaker’s view, you should still strive to

deliver most of your presentation with no notes at all.


Body language.
Is your body language strong, confident, and

commanding? Are your arms crossed or open? Are you keep-

ing your hands in your pockets instead of keeping an open

posture? Do you fidget, rock, or have other distracting habits?

Are your gestures natural and purposeful or stiff and wooden?

Remember that body language and verbal delivery account for

the majority of the impression you leave on your listeners. Your

body language should reflect the confidence of your words.


Filler words.
Are you constantly using “um,” “ah,” and

“you know” to fill the space between thoughts? Just as text

shouldn’t fill every inch of your slide, your words shouldn’t fill

every pause between sentences. Reviewing your performance

is the best way to eliminate these often distracting fillers. Once

you catch yourself a few times, you will be more aware of the

habit next time. Awareness is more than 90 percent of the

solution!


Vocal delivery.
Vary the volume and inflection of your voice

to keep the attention of your audience riveted on your words.

Raise and lower your volume at different points in your pre-

sentation. Change your cadence. Varying the speed at which

you talk will keep your presentation from sounding monotone.

Speed up at certain points and then slow down. Pause for

impact. Again, nothing is as dramatic as a well-placed pause.

Don’t sound rushed. Let the presentation breathe.


Energy.
Do you look as if you rolled out of bed on a Sunday

morning, or do you appear vibrant, enthusiastic, and genuinely

thrilled to be sharing your story with the audience? We all enjoy

being around people with energy. They inspire us. They are

stimulating, fun, and uplifting. An energetic person has pas-

sion in his voice, a bounce in his step, and a smile on his face.

Energy makes a person likable, and likability is a key ingredient

in persuasive communications. Many business professionals

underestimate the energy level required to generate enthusi-

asm among their listeners. Electrifying speakers such as Jobs

bring it. Jobs always has more energy than most other speakers

who share the stage with him.

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LEAVE YOUR COMFORT ZONE

Most business professionals could use an energy boost. But how

do you project the right level of vigor without seeming over the

top? By weighing yourself on an energy scale. And on this scale,

more is better.