1. Presentation Tips
The chart below corresponds to the tips on dynamic presentations learned from Steve Jobs. You can
access the link to this slideshow here:
http://www.forbes.com/2009/10/08/steve-jobs-presentations-technology-meetings-09-tips_slide.html
What does the text say? What does it mean? Why does it matter?
Slide 2: Plan in the analog world As you can see from the
description, planning is critical. It
is important to plan out what
you need to do in your
presentation before you ever
begin to build it.
Planning matters because even
the best of ideas will fail without
a solid plan!
Slide 3: Create Twitter Friendly
Headlines
The concept of Twitter friendly
headlines means that you
understand your goal and the
information presented enough
to summarize/encapsulate it in
such a way as to capture the
attention of your audience.
This is all about audience
awareness! Your presentation
needs to deliver ideas in
immediately understandable
“chunks” of information. It
matters because communicating
your ideas to your audience is
the entire point of giving a
presentation!
Slide 4: Introduce the
Antagonist
In the business world and in the
market place, it is important to
have support. A great way to get
support is to define a common
“enemy” so that your supporters
can define whose side they are
on.
For the purposes of any
presentation, recognizing your
audience’s need for
understanding your ideas in the
form of a story is a GREAT way to
gather and maintain interest.
What ways can you add dramatic
interest to your presentation?
Slide 5: Create Visual Slides The importance of visuals has to
do with the way the human
brain processes information.
When you create your
presentation, you want to take
advantage of the way your
audience learns. So take a tip
from Steve Jobs and pair images
with LIMITED text. (Limit visual
clutter!)
Slide 6: Practice, A LOT It is impossible to understand
the importance of practice when
it comes to presentations.
Your presentation should seem
effortless to your audience and
the only way to make that
happen is to rehearse. You
wouldn’t want to watch a play or
a TV show where the actors had
not spent hours in rehearsal. If
they forgot their lines, fumbled
the punch lines, or wandered
around aimlessly, you would lose
2. patience with watching.
Slide 7: Obey the 10 minute rule This means it is important to
remember your audience!
Almost everyone loses their
ability to concentrate after about
10 minutes. Therefore, either
your presentation needs to be
short and to the point, or you
need to break up how the
audience is experiencing your
presentation. The example given
in the slide show is that Steve
Jobs changed how the audience
was receiving information every
10 minutes by alternating talking
with video, demonstrations, or
guest speakers.
Slide 8: Make numbers
meaningful
Whenever you need to show
numbers to your audience, those
numbers have to be put into a
context the audience can
understand.
This matters because most
people have no concept of huge
numbers. If I tell you that 10
trillion bottles of water are used
around the world every year,
that doesn’t mean anything to
you. But if I put that number in
context, by creating a visual for
you such as showing you a
picture of 10 trillion bottles lined
up and going around an image of
the globe repeatedly, you will
understand it better.
Slide 9: Reveal a “Holy Smokes!”
moment
A Holy Smokes! Moment is the
part of a presentation that
people will remember and be
talking about long after the
presentation is over.
A Holy Smokes moment in a
presentation matters because
this is the ONE THING that your
audience is going to really take
away from your presentation.
The Holy Smokes moment is like
the climax of a great book or
movie. It is the part that really
sticks with you over time.
Slide 10: Sell dreams, not
products
Although your presentation may
not intend to sell anything, this
idea means that YOU should be
passionate and enthusiastic
about the material you are
presenting.
Passion and enthusiasm matters
in a presentation because your
audience will not care about
your ideas or your message if
you present it with no emotion.
What would be more effective?
A robot giving a motivational
speech in monotone or a
dynamic and emotionally moving
speech from someone you care
about?
3. Slide 11: Have fun You have to be having fun to
engage your audience.
Having fun during your
presentation matters because it
will keep your audience
interested in whatever you have
to say!
