Steve Jobs (39 page)

words “Magnetic latch” on left

side of screen

“It’s a got a full-size, 13.3-inch wide-

Photo of computer with the

screen display.”

words “13.3 inch widescreen” in

the middle of a black display

“The display is gorgeous. It has an

Photo of computer with the

LED-backlit display. It saves power, it’s

words “LED backlight “ on left

bright, and it’s instant on the minute

side of screen

you open it.”

“On top of the display is a built-in

Photo of computer fades,

iSight camera for videoconferencing

revealing iSight camera on top

right out of the box.”

of display

“Flip it down and there is a full-size

Photo of keyboard with the

keyboard. This is perhaps the best

words “Full size keyboard” on

notebook keyboard we’ve ever

left side of screen

shipped. It’s a phenomenal keyboard.”

“We’ve got a very generous track pad,

Photo of computer’s track pad

which is great. We’ve also built in

with the words “Multi-touch

multi-touch gesture support.”

gestures” on left side of screen

“Again, you can see how beautiful and

Photo of computer from its side

thin this product is. Now, how did we fit

with the words “How did we fit

a Mac in here? I’m still stunned that our

a Mac in here?”

engineering team could pull this off.”

“The real magic is in the electronics. This

Photo of motherboard with

is a complete Mac on a board. What’s so

image of a pencil alongside

special about that? This is how big the

it—the board is smaller than the

board is [does not mention pencil; let’s

length of the pencil

the visual speak for itself]. It’s really tiny.

To fit an entire Mac on this thing was an

amazing feat of engineering.”

TOSS THE SCRIPT
201

STEVE’S WORDS

STEVE’S SLIDES

“We didn’t compromise on performance.

Photo of Intel Core 2 Duo

MacBook Air has the Intel Core 2 Duo.

microprocessor

This is a really speedy processor . . . a

‘screamer.’ ”

creating a chip with the same power but in a package that was

60 percent smaller. Jobs then introduced Intel CEO Paul Otellini,

who gave Jobs a sample processor. The chip was barely visible to

anyone sitting past the front row, but Jobs lit up the auditorium

with his smile. “This is awesome technology,” he said, making

no attempt to conceal his enthusiasm. See Figure 17.1.

Figure 17.1 Jobs shows genuine enthusiasm as he holds up the tiny Intel processor from the MacBook Air.

TONY AVELAR/AFP/Getty Images

202
REFINE AND REHEARSE

Five Steps to Tossing the Script

Great actors rehearse for months before opening night. The audi-

ence would walk out if an actor appeared onstage with a script

in hand. We expect actors to speak naturally, not as though they

had memorized lines, even though that is exactly what they did.

Your audience expects the same—a conversational speaker who,

instead of rambling, hits each mark precisely. Following are five

steps that will help you memorize your script while making you

appear as natural as a gifted actor or a gifted presenter such as

Steve Jobs:

1. Write your script in full sentences in the “notes” section

of PowerPoint.
This is not the time for extensive editing.

Simply write your ideas in complete sentences. Do try,

however, to keep your ideas to no more than four or five

sentences.

2. Highlight or underline the key word from each sen-

tence, and practice your presentation.
Run through your

script without worrying about stumbling or forgetting a

point. Glance at the key words to jog your memory.

3. Delete extraneous words from your scripted sentences,

leaving only the key words.
Practice your presentation

again, this time using only the key words as reminders.

4. Memorize the one key idea per slide.
Ask yourself, “What

is the one thing I want my audience to take away from the

slide?” The visual on the slide should complement the one

theme. In this case, the visual becomes your prompter. For

example, when Jobs talked about the Intel Core 2 Duo as

the standard processor built into the MacBook Air, his slide

showed only a photo of the processor. The “one thing” he

wanted the audience to know was that Apple had built an

ultrathin computer with no compromise in performance.

5. Practice the entire presentation without notes, sim-

ply using the slides as your prompter.
By the time you

execute these five steps, you will have rehearsed each slide

four times, which is much more time than the average

speaker commits to practicing a presentation.

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203

Now let’s put the five-step method into practice. I came

across an ad for Vanguard no-load mutual fund
s.2
It showed two glasses of water; the glass on the left contained a small amount

of water, and the glass on the right was completely full. The

headline read: “The lower the cost, the more you keep.” Ads

such as this one provide excellent examples of how to create

compelling visual slides. Assume the ad is one slide: Table 17.2

shows what a hypothetical script written with the five steps in

TABLE 17.2
APPLYING THE FIVE-STEP METHOD TO TOSSING

THE SCRIPT

STEP

PRESENTATION SCRIPT

1

How much your investment costs is very important and could have

an impact on how much money you make over the long run. In

general, the lower the cost, the more you keep. Many investment

firms say they are low cost, but the fact is they charge six times

more than we do. This can cost you thousands of dollars. For

example, if you invest $10,000 for twenty years at an 8 percent

return, you would keep $58,000 more with our fund versus the

industry average.

2

Your investment
costs
are very important and could have an impact on how much money you make over the long run. In general, the

lower the cost, the more you keep. Many investment firms say they

are low cost, but the fact is they charge six times more than we do.

This can cost you thousands of dollars. For example, if you invest

$10,000 for twenty years at an 8 percent return, you would keep

$58,000 more with our fund versus the industry average.

3

Investment costs important

Lower the cost, the more you keep

Six times more

Keep $58,000 more

4

The lower the cost, the more you keep.

5

Rehearse presentation with no notes. The slide of two water

glasses—one empty, one full—should be enough to prompt you to

deliver the information: the four bullets in step 3.

204
REFINE AND REHEARSE

mind might look like. (I created the content based on informa-

tion in Vanguard’s marketing material.)

When you’re actually delivering the final presentation, if the

notes give you peace of mind, by all means, keep them avail-

able. A major benefit of Apple’s Keynote presentation software

is that it allows the speaker to see notes on the computer screen

while the audience sees the slide on the projector. This is harder,

but not impossible, to do with PowerPoint. However, regardless

of the software you use, if you practice enough, you will find

that you don’t need to rely on your notes at all.

How to Use Notes When

Notes Are a Must

Notes are not inherently bad. In a rare glimpse at how Jobs actu-

ally does use notes, a blogger took a photograph of Jobs’s demo

How Joel Osteen Inspires Millions

Joel Osteen is the hugely popular pastor of Houston’s

Lakewood Church. He preaches to some forty-seven thou-

sand people a week who show up to see him in person and

to millions of others on television. Osteen speaks in a natural,

conversational style and rarely misses a beat, despite creating

thirty minutes of content every week. How does he do it?

First, he commits. Osteen begins working on sermons on the

Wednesday prior to his appearance and spends the better part

of four days practicing. Second, he uses notes but glances at

them very discreetly. He places notes on a lectern but never

stands behind the lectern. This approach lets him keep eye

contact with the audience and maintain an open posture. He

never reads a full sentence from his notes. Instead, he walks

behind the lectern, glances at his notes, and keeps walk-

ing to the opposite side, delivering his messages directly to

worshippers.

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205

notes at Macworld 2007, famous for the release of the iPhone.

The notes were neatly bound, and color-coded tabs separated

the sections. The blogger’s photo showed the booklet opened

to the page where Jobs demonstrated the Internet capabilities of

iPhone. Four categories were clearly marked in bold and a larger

font: Mail, Safari, Widgets, and Maps.
3
Under each main category, there were two to five supporting points. Let’s take one in

particular, the Maps section. Here is exactly what was printed

on the page:

MAPS

 Moscone West

 Starbucks order 4,000 lattes to go

 Washington Monument

 Show satellite

 Eiffel Tower, Colosseum

That’s it. These notes were all the prompting Jobs needed to

walk his audience through a particular section of the demo.

Jobs began by telling his audience that he wanted to show

them something “truly remarkable,” Google Maps on iPhone.

First, he opened up the application and zoomed in to a street-

level view of San Francisco and Moscone West, the site of

Macworld.

The second thing he did was to type “Starbucks” to search

for a nearby coffee shop. He then called Starbucks on the iPhone

and played the prank discussed in Scene 12, ordering four thou-

sand lattes to go. (I had no idea that the lattes gag was scripted

until I saw the photograph of Jobs’s notes on the stage. He played

it off as if it was a spontaneous moment, showing, once again,

that Jobs takes nothing for granted.)

The third thing he did was visit the Washington Monument,