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Advanced Search » Home Internal PR Social Media Writing & Editing Speechwriting Events Training Awards Videos Lessons from Steve Jobs on giving an unforgettable speech Steve Jobs turned product launches into an art form. These five speeches in particular provide valuable lessons every speaker should heed. By Carmine Gallo | Posted: April 16, 2015 A Steve Jobs keynote was a tightly choreographed and relentlessly prepared presentation, according to the new book "Becoming Steve Jobs" by Brent Schlender. Jobs turned the product launch into an art form. He also leaves a legacy by which entrepreneurs can learn to dazzle their audiences. The following five keynotes will help anyone give the presentation of a lifetime. 1. The Mac launch Every Steve Jobs presentation had one moment that people would be talking about the next day. These "moments" were tightly scripted and relentlessly rehearsed. Remarkably, Jobs' flair for the dramatic started before PowerPoint or Apple Keynote were available as slide design tools, which proves you don't need slides to leave your audience breathless. Related: Former Apple CEO John Sculley: This Is What Made Steve Jobs a Genius On Jan. 24, 1984, Steve Jobs introduced the first Macintosh with a magician's flair for the big reveal. He showed a series of images and said, "Everything you just saw was created by what's in that bag." And with that Jobs walked to the center of a darkened stage that had a table and a canvas bag sitting on top it. He slowly pulled the Mac from the bag, inserted a floppy disk, and walked away as the theme from Chariots of Fire began to play as images filled the screen. The lesson: A presentation doesn't always need slides to wow an audience. 2. The iPhone The rule of three is one of most powerful concepts in writing. The human mind can only retain three or four "chunks" of information. Jobs was well aware of this principle and divided much of his presentations into three parts. Sometimes he even had fun with it. For example, on Feb. 16, 2007, Jobs told the audience to expect three new products: a new iPod, a phone and an "Internet communication device." After repeating the three products several times, he made the big reveal—all three products were wrapped in one new device, the iPhone. The lesson: Introduce three benefits or features of a product, not 23. 3. The first MacBook Air When Jobs introduced the "world's thinnest notebook," the MacBook Air, he walked to the side of the stage, pulled out a manila envelope hiding behind the podium and said, "It's so thin it even fits inside one of those envelopes you see floating around the office." With a beaming smile, he slowly pulled it out of the envelope for all to see. Most presenters would have shown photographs of the product. Jobs took it one step further. He knew what would grab people's attention. This did. Most of the blogs, magazines and newspapers that covered the launch ran a photograph of Steve Jobs pulling the computer out of the envelope. The lesson: Don't just tell us about a product, show it to us, and do it with pizzazz. Related: 5 Things I Learned About Successful Startups From Steve Jobs Related Articles By Category News Feed Breaking News Speechwriting 1 14 Share Share 3 Like Like Tweet 13 | | | Log In using Facebook | Log In | Cart | Store Lessons from Steve Jobs on giving an unforgettable speech | Articles |... http://www.ragan.com/Main/Articles/49575.aspx?utm_medium=email... 1 of 3 17/04/2015 12:19

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on Giving an Unforgettable Speech . This is very important, despite the fact that the most important aspect is to live for today, because there is no certainty of tomorrow, or like the beatles said, tomorrow never knows

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AdvancedSearch »Home Internal PR Social Media Writing & Editing Speechwriting Events Training Awards Videos

Lessons from Steve Jobs on giving anunforgettable speechSteve Jobs turned product launches into an art form. These five speeches in

particular provide valuable lessons every speaker should heed.

By Carmine Gallo | Posted: April 16, 2015

A Steve Jobs keynote was a tightlychoreographed and relentlessly preparedpresentation, according to the new book"Becoming Steve Jobs" by Brent Schlender.

Jobs turned the product launch into an artform. He also leaves a legacy by whichentrepreneurs can learn to dazzle theiraudiences. The following five keynotes willhelp anyone give the presentation of a lifetime.

1. The Mac launch

Every Steve Jobs presentation had one moment that people would be talking about the next day.These "moments" were tightly scripted and relentlessly rehearsed. Remarkably, Jobs' flair for thedramatic started before PowerPoint or Apple Keynote were available as slide design tools, whichproves you don't need slides to leave your audience breathless.

Related: Former Apple CEO John Sculley: This Is What Made Steve Jobs a Genius

On Jan. 24, 1984, Steve Jobs introduced the first Macintosh with a magician's flair for the big reveal.He showed a series of images and said, "Everything you just saw was created by what's in that bag."And with that Jobs walked to the center of a darkened stage that had a table and a canvas bag sittingon top it. He slowly pulled the Mac from the bag, inserted a floppy disk, and walked away as thetheme from Chariots of Fire began to play as images filled the screen.

The lesson: A presentation doesn't always need slides to wow an audience.

2. The iPhone

The rule of three is one of most powerful concepts in writing. The human mind can only retain three orfour "chunks" of information. Jobs was well aware of this principle and divided much of hispresentations into three parts. Sometimes he even had fun with it.

For example, on Feb. 16, 2007, Jobs told the audience to expect three new products: a new iPod, aphone and an "Internet communication device." After repeating the three products several times, hemade the big reveal—all three products were wrapped in one new device, the iPhone.

The lesson: Introduce three benefits or features of a product, not 23.

3. The first MacBook Air

When Jobs introduced the "world's thinnest notebook," the MacBook Air, he walked to the side of thestage, pulled out a manila envelope hiding behind the podium and said, "It's so thin it even fits insideone of those envelopes you see floating around the office." With a beaming smile, he slowly pulled itout of the envelope for all to see.

Most presenters would have shown photographs of the product. Jobs took it one step further. Heknew what would grab people's attention. This did. Most of the blogs, magazines and newspapersthat covered the launch ran a photograph of Steve Jobs pulling the computer out of the envelope.

The lesson: Don't just tell us about a product, show it to us, and do it with pizzazz.

Related: 5 Things I Learned About Successful Startups From Steve Jobs

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Every great drama has a hero and a villain. Steve Jobs was a master at introducing both heroes andvillains in the same presentation. On April 28, 2003, Jobs convinced consumers to pay 99 cents forsongs. Jobs began with a brief discussion of Napster and Kazaa, sites that offered "near instantgratification" and, from the user's perspective, free downloads. On the next slide he listed the "darkside." They were:

Unreliable downloads

Unreliable quality ("a lot of these songs are encoded by 7-year-olds and they don't do a greatjob.")

No previews

No album cover art

It's stealing ("It's best not to mess with karma.")

In the next section of the presentation Jobs replaced each of the drawbacks with the benefits ofpaying for music.

Fast, reliable downloads

Pristine encoding

Previews of every song

Album cover art

Good Karma

The lesson: Great presentations have an antagonist—a problem—followed by a hero—the solution.

5. The genius in their craziness

In 1997, Jobs returned to Apple after a 12-year absence. Apple was close to bankruptcy at the timeand was quickly running out of cash.

Near the end of Jobs' keynote at Macworld in August 1997, he slowed the pace, lowered his voice,and said: "I think you always had to be a little different to buy an Apple computer. I think the peoplewho do buy them are the creative spirits in the world. They are the people who are not out just to get ajob done, they're out to change the world. We make tools for those kind of people. A lot of times,people think they're crazy. But in that craziness, we see genius. And those are the people we'remaking tools for."

The lesson: Don't forget to motivate your internal audience—your team, employees and partners.Give them a purpose to rally around.

When I wrote "The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs," I argued that Jobs was the world's greatestbrand storyteller. When I watch these presentations over again, I'm convinced he's still the best rolemodel for entrepreneurs who will pitch the next generation of ideas that will change the world.

Related: Top 10 Ways to Make Your Presentations More Memorable

Carmine Gallo is the author of "TALK LIKE TED: The 9 Public Speaking Secrets of The World's TopMinds." A popular keynote speaker and communication coach for some of the world's most admiredbrands, Gallo is a former CNN journalist, and his ideas have been featured in The Wall Street Journal, 20/20 and CNBC. A version of this article originally appeared on Entrepreneur.com. Copyright ©2015 Entrepreneur Media, Inc. All rights reserved.

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