Back to: Steve Jobs

Page 256

Steve Jobs

At the beginning of this chapter, we talked about how Steve Jobs’s careful preparation and intimate knowledge of his projects enabled him to be a powerful public speaker on behalf of his company. Let’s take a look at his presentation skills in light of what we’ve learned in this chapter.

  • Clearly, Steve Jobs enjoyed technology. But he also knew the importance of preparation and practice. If he relied entirely on presentation aids, he would have fallen flat during inevitable technical glitches. His research and preparation shined brighter than his presentation technology.
  • Jobs also knew his audience. His audience of Apple fans was always eager to hear what he had to say and see what he had to show. He didn’t bother talking about competing products because he knew the crowd was more interested in hearing about Apple products.
  • Prior exposure played a role in the way Jobs presented his products. The original iPod, launched in 2001 along with the iTunes Store, was a revolutionary device, and Jobs’s presentation was full of surprises for his audience. When introducing later iterations of the device, Jobs focused only on new features and options.
  • The company also limits prior exposure by maintaining a high level of secrecy about products in development. When Jobs introduced a new product, there was little chance that the crowd had already heard anything more than rumors about it beforehand, which affected how Jobs presented information to the audience.