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The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs: How to Be Insanely Great in Front of Any Audience
Whether he was introducing the latest iPad or delivering a keynote presentation, Steve Jobs electrified audiences with his incomparable style and showmanship. He didn’t just convey information in his presentations; he told a story, painted a picture, and shared a vision. He gave his audience a transformative experience that was unique, inspiring, and unforgettable.
Now you can do it too, by learning the specific techniques that made Jobs the most captivating communicator on the world stage. Using Jobs’s legendary presentations as a blueprint, communication-skills coach Carmine Gallo has mapped out a ready-to-use framework of presentation secrets to help you plan, deliver, and refine the best presentation of your life. You’ll learn how to:
• Create an inspiring brand story
• Answer the one question that matters most
• Paint a specific, memorable, and consistent vision
• Make numbers meaningful
• Deliver unforgettable moments
• Build visually engaging slides
• Master stage presence
• Make it look effortless
• Rehearse effectively
• Have fun
Every chapter provides tools and strategies for you to implement in your next presentation. Using actual presentations from Steve Jobs, Gallo helps you identify and adopt Jobs’s techniques to keep your audience on the edge of their seats, giving customers, clients, and coworkers alike an exciting experience.
With The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs, you can take charge of any room, deliver your message concisely and clearly, convey the value of your products and services, and sell your ideas more persuasively than you ever imagined possible. Best of all, you’ll blow away the competition, turning prospects into clients and clients into evangelists for your brand.
Steve Jobs was a hard act to follow but once you start using his techniques in your own presentations, you’ll be hard to forget.
Now you can do it too, by learning the specific techniques that made Jobs the most captivating communicator on the world stage. Using Jobs’s legendary presentations as a blueprint, communication-skills coach Carmine Gallo has mapped out a ready-to-use framework of presentation secrets to help you plan, deliver, and refine the best presentation of your life. You’ll learn how to:
• Create an inspiring brand story
• Answer the one question that matters most
• Paint a specific, memorable, and consistent vision
• Make numbers meaningful
• Deliver unforgettable moments
• Build visually engaging slides
• Master stage presence
• Make it look effortless
• Rehearse effectively
• Have fun
Every chapter provides tools and strategies for you to implement in your next presentation. Using actual presentations from Steve Jobs, Gallo helps you identify and adopt Jobs’s techniques to keep your audience on the edge of their seats, giving customers, clients, and coworkers alike an exciting experience.
With The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs, you can take charge of any room, deliver your message concisely and clearly, convey the value of your products and services, and sell your ideas more persuasively than you ever imagined possible. Best of all, you’ll blow away the competition, turning prospects into clients and clients into evangelists for your brand.
Steve Jobs was a hard act to follow but once you start using his techniques in your own presentations, you’ll be hard to forget.
Audiobook
First published January 1, 2009
803 people are currently reading
9354 people want to read
About the author
Carmine Gallo
86 books352 followersCarmine Gallo is an American author, columnist, keynote speaker, and former journalist and news anchor. Now currently based in Pleasanton, California, he is President of Gallo Communications Group and works as a communications coach and speaker
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 385 reviews
April 23, 2018
This is one of my favorite books on communication. If you want to improve at communicating your ideas (and who doesn’t?), this book can help. Here are a few of my take-aways:
* Create simple, memorable bottom lines: "The iPod: One thousand songs in your pocket."
" Though he was a computer-guy, he wrote his talks in pen and paper. "There's just something about paper and pen and sketching out rough ideas in the 'analog world' in the early stages that seem to lead to more clarity and better, more creative results."
* Steve Jobs presentations follow Aristotle's five-point plan:
1. Deliver a story that arouses interest.
2. Pose a problem or question that has to be solved or answered.
3. Offer a solution to a problem you raised.
4. Describe specific benefits for adopting the course of action set forth in your solution.
5. State a call to action.
* Ask yourself the question the listeners are asking: "Why should I care?"
* Your audience checks out after 10 minutes.
* Jargon rarely creeps into Steve Jobs' presentations.
* "If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough." Albert Einstein.
* Have fun.
* Create simple, memorable bottom lines: "The iPod: One thousand songs in your pocket."
" Though he was a computer-guy, he wrote his talks in pen and paper. "There's just something about paper and pen and sketching out rough ideas in the 'analog world' in the early stages that seem to lead to more clarity and better, more creative results."
* Steve Jobs presentations follow Aristotle's five-point plan:
1. Deliver a story that arouses interest.
2. Pose a problem or question that has to be solved or answered.
3. Offer a solution to a problem you raised.
4. Describe specific benefits for adopting the course of action set forth in your solution.
5. State a call to action.
* Ask yourself the question the listeners are asking: "Why should I care?"
* Your audience checks out after 10 minutes.
* Jargon rarely creeps into Steve Jobs' presentations.
* "If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough." Albert Einstein.
* Have fun.
June 24, 2013
The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs is a book that a speechwriter can love. Gallo quotes from sources such as Nancy Duarte's slide:ology: The Art and Science of Creating Great Presentations and Garr Reynolds' Presentation Zen: Simple Ideas on Presentation Design and Delivery. He even has a sidebar on JFK speechwriter Ted Sorensen's influence on Barack Obama titled, "What the World's Greatest Speechwriters Know."
The message of this book is that Jobs' extraordinary impact is based on his authenticity and his passion for his company's people and products. Most presenters can't claim to be the CEO of an archetypically cool Silicon Valley company.
Neither can they get away with wearing faded jeans, sneakers and a turtleneck onstage. But simply everyone with a product or service that improves people's lives has a story to tell. Gallo's book explains in detail how Jobs presents his story so that his passion shines through and ignites the audience. It's Gallo's claim that anyone can learn how to deliver an "insanely great" presentations.
The "secrets" that make Jobs so effective onstage include the usual stage tips taught by presentation coaches: Make eye contact with the audience, use vocal variety and know the power of a well-timed pause. But the majority of the book analyzes the structure, rather than the delivery techniques, of major keynotes Jobs has given at Macworld and elsewhere over the years. This makes the book of inestimable value for anyone who needs to understand the nuts and bolts of writing a speech.
Performance piece
When Steve Jobs takes to the stage he often tells dramatic stories, so it's appropriate that the book itself is structured as a three-act play. Act 1 tells how to create the story, Act 2 tells how to deliver it, and Act 3 stresses the importance of rehearsal. Gallo adds "Director's Notes" that summarize each chapter (or scene), and he introduces a cast of supporting characters.
Organizing the book in this way also reinforces the importance of telling a story in three parts; of delivering a speech with three messages. In fact, Gallo concedes, the chapter on the effectiveness of breaking a speech into three "could easily have become the longest in the book."
Speechwriters' playbook
The book is a playbook for writing a great speech. Jobs and his team start scripting a speech long before firing up PowerPoint or, in their case, Keynote software. They settle on an attention-grabbing headline ("The world's thinnest notebook"); then they decide on the three key messages; develop analogies and metaphors; and scope out demonstrations, video clips and cameo guest appearances.
Next they develop the "plot" of the speech, setting up an antagonist (Microsoft or IBM in the early days), dressing up numbers and including plenty of "amazingly zippy" words. Finally, they script a memorable "holy smokes" moment that people will talk about long after the event ends. The slides they eventually create are heavy on images and light on text and bullet points.
Live action video
A book alone will go only so far. If you've never actually seen Jobs present in person, then you haven't experienced the "reality-distortion field" his charisma and eloquence creates in the auditorium. Gallo has this covered.
The book's end notes provide URLs for some of the 47,000 [...] video clips showcasing Jobs and clearly demonstrating the techniques discussed. Viewing the videos compensates for the poor-quality monochrome photos of Jobs onstage-the one disappointment in the book.
Learning from his mistakes
To counteract any feelings of inadequacy you might have after watching Jobs deliver a flawless keynote, do a quick search on YouTube for "Apple Bloopers" and you'll see that, even for Steve Jobs, things don't always go well onstage. Demos fail, screens freeze, and he stumbles over words. But as with any masterful presenter, Jobs remains calm.
Even if the speeches you write or deliver are not destined for "insane" greatness, they'll be much, much, better for having read Carmine Gallo's insanely great book.
The message of this book is that Jobs' extraordinary impact is based on his authenticity and his passion for his company's people and products. Most presenters can't claim to be the CEO of an archetypically cool Silicon Valley company.
Neither can they get away with wearing faded jeans, sneakers and a turtleneck onstage. But simply everyone with a product or service that improves people's lives has a story to tell. Gallo's book explains in detail how Jobs presents his story so that his passion shines through and ignites the audience. It's Gallo's claim that anyone can learn how to deliver an "insanely great" presentations.
The "secrets" that make Jobs so effective onstage include the usual stage tips taught by presentation coaches: Make eye contact with the audience, use vocal variety and know the power of a well-timed pause. But the majority of the book analyzes the structure, rather than the delivery techniques, of major keynotes Jobs has given at Macworld and elsewhere over the years. This makes the book of inestimable value for anyone who needs to understand the nuts and bolts of writing a speech.
Performance piece
When Steve Jobs takes to the stage he often tells dramatic stories, so it's appropriate that the book itself is structured as a three-act play. Act 1 tells how to create the story, Act 2 tells how to deliver it, and Act 3 stresses the importance of rehearsal. Gallo adds "Director's Notes" that summarize each chapter (or scene), and he introduces a cast of supporting characters.
Organizing the book in this way also reinforces the importance of telling a story in three parts; of delivering a speech with three messages. In fact, Gallo concedes, the chapter on the effectiveness of breaking a speech into three "could easily have become the longest in the book."
Speechwriters' playbook
The book is a playbook for writing a great speech. Jobs and his team start scripting a speech long before firing up PowerPoint or, in their case, Keynote software. They settle on an attention-grabbing headline ("The world's thinnest notebook"); then they decide on the three key messages; develop analogies and metaphors; and scope out demonstrations, video clips and cameo guest appearances.
Next they develop the "plot" of the speech, setting up an antagonist (Microsoft or IBM in the early days), dressing up numbers and including plenty of "amazingly zippy" words. Finally, they script a memorable "holy smokes" moment that people will talk about long after the event ends. The slides they eventually create are heavy on images and light on text and bullet points.
Live action video
A book alone will go only so far. If you've never actually seen Jobs present in person, then you haven't experienced the "reality-distortion field" his charisma and eloquence creates in the auditorium. Gallo has this covered.
The book's end notes provide URLs for some of the 47,000 [...] video clips showcasing Jobs and clearly demonstrating the techniques discussed. Viewing the videos compensates for the poor-quality monochrome photos of Jobs onstage-the one disappointment in the book.
Learning from his mistakes
To counteract any feelings of inadequacy you might have after watching Jobs deliver a flawless keynote, do a quick search on YouTube for "Apple Bloopers" and you'll see that, even for Steve Jobs, things don't always go well onstage. Demos fail, screens freeze, and he stumbles over words. But as with any masterful presenter, Jobs remains calm.
Even if the speeches you write or deliver are not destined for "insane" greatness, they'll be much, much, better for having read Carmine Gallo's insanely great book.
August 17, 2018
“The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs” is one of the smartest books I read lately (which something because I read a lot). Author Carmino Gallo goes through the usual, explaining Jobs’ style
(1) Create the Story
(2) Deliver the Experience
(3) Refine and rehearse
So far so good, all of this is well-known. What sets this book apart is that Gallo shows the actual “improvement Jobs created.” For example Jobs is well-known for using minimal content one his presentation slides, ideally: One word as big as possible (so it sticks), even better – no word at all.
Example 1:
Jobs said, “What we are going to do is get rid of all these buttons (e.g. old Blackberry) and just make a giant screen.”
On the slide: Imagine of an iPhone.
Example 2:
“This is one device, and we are calling it iPhone.”
One the slide: Text only, centered on the slide: “iPhone.”
I picked these two examples because they are short, but it is in this way that Gallo takes apart ALL of Jobs’ speeches and analyzes them for the reader.
Gallo also adds director’s notes and a lot of explanations, but even if readers who do not have time to read the entire book word for word will be please with the book demonstrating the segmentation process and a clear showing how to emphasize the important element of any presentation.
5 stars,
Gisela Hausmann, author & blogger
(1) Create the Story
(2) Deliver the Experience
(3) Refine and rehearse
So far so good, all of this is well-known. What sets this book apart is that Gallo shows the actual “improvement Jobs created.” For example Jobs is well-known for using minimal content one his presentation slides, ideally: One word as big as possible (so it sticks), even better – no word at all.
Example 1:
Jobs said, “What we are going to do is get rid of all these buttons (e.g. old Blackberry) and just make a giant screen.”
On the slide: Imagine of an iPhone.
Example 2:
“This is one device, and we are calling it iPhone.”
One the slide: Text only, centered on the slide: “iPhone.”
I picked these two examples because they are short, but it is in this way that Gallo takes apart ALL of Jobs’ speeches and analyzes them for the reader.
Gallo also adds director’s notes and a lot of explanations, but even if readers who do not have time to read the entire book word for word will be please with the book demonstrating the segmentation process and a clear showing how to emphasize the important element of any presentation.
5 stars,
Gisela Hausmann, author & blogger
January 31, 2010
ممتع . تعلمت منه الكثير . منه أن كل عرض تقديمي
(presentation)
يكون كأفضل ما يكون إن نظرنا إليه كقصة ذات ثلاثة فصول . أسس التقديم التي تعلمتها :
1. العرض يجب أن يكون مهيئ حول فكرة "لمَ على المشاهد أن يكترث ؟ " .. بمعنى الحاجة لصياغة المعلومات بطريقة تتواصل مع المشاهد ، بشكل شخصي .
2. في بداية العرض / القصة ، تقديم المشكلة بشكل مفهوم قبل تقديم المعلومات التي ستكون حلا للمشكلة .
3. الالتزام بقانون "الثلاث" . ليكن العرض متمحورا حول 3 نقاط أساسية . كل نقطة لها 3 أفكار مساندة .
4. تجنب الـ bullet points بشكل تام
و الاستعانة بالصور و الكلمات القليلة .
5. إعطاء الجمهور شيء يقطع الملل كل عشر دقائق .
ينفع بشكل أو بآخر في طرق التدريس أيضا .
-
Liked how he described a presentation's "story" as a "theatrical event" with "all of the elements of great plays or movies: conflict, resolution, villains, and heroes." Presentations can be very interesting if structured in a similar manner.
Ten minutes rule. Break your presentation into ten-min segments.
Elements of great presentations
-Headline: 140 characters or less + memorable. (Should be constant and repeated throughout the presentation in a way or another)
-Passion statement: fill in: "I'm excited about this product/idea/etc. because it ......."
-Three key points in your presentation, each with its supporting points. (The rule of threes)
-Create a metaphore and/or an analogy of your points
-Demonstration: Don't tell. Show.
-Include videos
-Address all types of learners (visual, auditory, and kinesthetic).
Quotes:
"Effective communicators plan effectively, develop compelling messages and headlines, make it easy for their listeners to follow the narrative, and introduce a common enemy to build the drama."
"Aristotle’s classic five-point plan to create a persuasive argument:
1. Deliver a story or statement that arouses the audience’s interest.
2. Pose a problem or question that has to be solved or answered.
3. Offer a solution to the problem you raised.
4. Describe specific benefits for adopting the course of action set forth in your solution.
5. State a call to action. "
"During the planning phase of your presentation, always remember that it’s not about you. It’s about them. The listeners in your audience are asking themselves one question—'Why should I care?' "
"Make the brain work too hard, and you’ll lose your audience."
"Headlines are what persuade you to read particular stories in newspapers, magazines, or blogs. Headlines matter."
"He outlines three or four points, returns to the first point, explains each one in more depth, and then summarizes each point. This is a simple recipe for ensuring your audience will retain the information you are sharing."
"Introducing the antagonist (the problem) rallies the audience around the hero (the solution)."
"Simply create a one-sentence answer for the following four questions: (1) What do you do? (2) What problem do you solve? (3) How are you different? (4) Why should I care? "
"New research into cognitive functioning—how the brain works—proves that bullet points are the least effective way to deliver important information. Neuroscientists are finding that what passes as a typical presentation is usually the worst way to engage your audience."
"Empirical studies based on hard data, not opinions, prove that keeping your slides simple and free of extraneous information is the best way to engage your audience."
"Your ideas are much more likely to be remembered if they are presented as pictures instead of words."
"Whether you’re presenting the data behind a new technology or a particular medical condition, comparing the number to something your listeners can relate to will make your message far more interesting, impactful, and ultimately persuasive."
(presentation)
يكون كأفضل ما يكون إن نظرنا إليه كقصة ذات ثلاثة فصول . أسس التقديم التي تعلمتها :
1. العرض يجب أن يكون مهيئ حول فكرة "لمَ على المشاهد أن يكترث ؟ " .. بمعنى الحاجة لصياغة المعلومات بطريقة تتواصل مع المشاهد ، بشكل شخصي .
2. في بداية العرض / القصة ، تقديم المشكلة بشكل مفهوم قبل تقديم المعلومات التي ستكون حلا للمشكلة .
3. الالتزام بقانون "الثلاث" . ليكن العرض متمحورا حول 3 نقاط أساسية . كل نقطة لها 3 أفكار مساندة .
4. تجنب الـ bullet points بشكل تام
و الاستعانة بالصور و الكلمات القليلة .
5. إعطاء الجمهور شيء يقطع الملل كل عشر دقائق .
ينفع بشكل أو بآخر في طرق التدريس أيضا .
-
Liked how he described a presentation's "story" as a "theatrical event" with "all of the elements of great plays or movies: conflict, resolution, villains, and heroes." Presentations can be very interesting if structured in a similar manner.
Ten minutes rule. Break your presentation into ten-min segments.
Elements of great presentations
-Headline: 140 characters or less + memorable. (Should be constant and repeated throughout the presentation in a way or another)
-Passion statement: fill in: "I'm excited about this product/idea/etc. because it ......."
-Three key points in your presentation, each with its supporting points. (The rule of threes)
-Create a metaphore and/or an analogy of your points
-Demonstration: Don't tell. Show.
-Include videos
-Address all types of learners (visual, auditory, and kinesthetic).
Quotes:
"Effective communicators plan effectively, develop compelling messages and headlines, make it easy for their listeners to follow the narrative, and introduce a common enemy to build the drama."
"Aristotle’s classic five-point plan to create a persuasive argument:
1. Deliver a story or statement that arouses the audience’s interest.
2. Pose a problem or question that has to be solved or answered.
3. Offer a solution to the problem you raised.
4. Describe specific benefits for adopting the course of action set forth in your solution.
5. State a call to action. "
"During the planning phase of your presentation, always remember that it’s not about you. It’s about them. The listeners in your audience are asking themselves one question—'Why should I care?' "
"Make the brain work too hard, and you’ll lose your audience."
"Headlines are what persuade you to read particular stories in newspapers, magazines, or blogs. Headlines matter."
"He outlines three or four points, returns to the first point, explains each one in more depth, and then summarizes each point. This is a simple recipe for ensuring your audience will retain the information you are sharing."
"Introducing the antagonist (the problem) rallies the audience around the hero (the solution)."
"Simply create a one-sentence answer for the following four questions: (1) What do you do? (2) What problem do you solve? (3) How are you different? (4) Why should I care? "
"New research into cognitive functioning—how the brain works—proves that bullet points are the least effective way to deliver important information. Neuroscientists are finding that what passes as a typical presentation is usually the worst way to engage your audience."
"Empirical studies based on hard data, not opinions, prove that keeping your slides simple and free of extraneous information is the best way to engage your audience."
"Your ideas are much more likely to be remembered if they are presented as pictures instead of words."
"Whether you’re presenting the data behind a new technology or a particular medical condition, comparing the number to something your listeners can relate to will make your message far more interesting, impactful, and ultimately persuasive."
February 17, 2019
If you are expecting to learn how to create Powerpoints using Steve Jobs' methods for presentation, you're probably going to not be happy. Jobs' wasn't known for his Powerpoints, and many of his best speeches used very few slides with no bullet points. Instead, Jobs used images, usually pictures, or simple text, like a word or number, to represent the topic. This book is about the presentations he gave, but also about the process behind his presentations, the efforts to create messages that started early in a product's life cycle, the constant practice, the checking of the venue before the presentation, the props, the pacing, and more. You do learn a lot about how Jobs did presentations. But you also learn that his methods consumed a lot of time that a normal employee might not be allowed to spend, and it required control over the marketing message, the venue, other presenters, etc. that only a CEO could pull off. You learn that most of Jobs' method is not replicable by normal employees. Sure, there are useful hints here and there, but overall, this is more of an appreciation of Jobs than a how-to book. Strangely for this kind of book, there are also sections that are purely motivational. It is as if the author determined that his readers would predominately be amateur presenters that would never approach the major league skills exhibited by Jobs, so he resorted to a motivational message. No matter, I found the detailed review of some of Jobs' big presentations, breaking down the messages, dissecting the length of different parts, and other insight into Jobs' process to be very interesting. I'll never be known as a presenter, but I can appreciate Job's level of expertise and professionalism in his work.
I listened to the audiobook version of this book. While you might think that a book on presentations would benefit with a lot of pictures of slides, speakers, and venues, this is not one of those kinds of books. The descriptions are so well done that you don't need to see pictures, and you don't miss them. An unexpected very good job on audio.
I listened to the audiobook version of this book. While you might think that a book on presentations would benefit with a lot of pictures of slides, speakers, and venues, this is not one of those kinds of books. The descriptions are so well done that you don't need to see pictures, and you don't miss them. An unexpected very good job on audio.
November 25, 2016
9 Elements:
- Headline (Twitter)
- Passion statement..."I'm excited about this initiative because it____"
- 3 key messages
- metaphors and analogies
- demonstrations
- partners
- customer evidence and 3rd party endorsements
Create an integrated experience of visual (most people), audio and touch & feel
"In that craziness, we see genius"
Draw a road-map: the rule of 3. Three bears, three stooges.
Create the story > deliver the experience > package the material
* our brains need a container (context) for the info to give. We need meaning before details
"People can't follow your vision or share your enthusiasm if they get lost in the fog"
Create an antagonist
- Find a 'classic' tale to compare your story
- Make it heroic! A Disney tale
- ask rhetorical questions to advance the story
- us vs. them strategy
** 8 minutes is the golden time for a presentation
Have a one sentence pitch to answer:
- What you do
- what problem you solve
- how you are different
- why the customer should care
[ simply. clearly. confidently ]
Dress up your numbers - give comparisons to show how 'big' or 'efficient' they are
Simplify everything. Leave the jargon at home.
Why people buy:
- saving your customers' money
- making your customers' money
- providing tools to make more efficient use of the money they have
* People should have FUN watching you. Thank people to show your humility and integrity
- Headline (Twitter)
- Passion statement..."I'm excited about this initiative because it____"
- 3 key messages
- metaphors and analogies
- demonstrations
- partners
- customer evidence and 3rd party endorsements
Create an integrated experience of visual (most people), audio and touch & feel
"In that craziness, we see genius"
Draw a road-map: the rule of 3. Three bears, three stooges.
Create the story > deliver the experience > package the material
* our brains need a container (context) for the info to give. We need meaning before details
"People can't follow your vision or share your enthusiasm if they get lost in the fog"
Create an antagonist
- Find a 'classic' tale to compare your story
- Make it heroic! A Disney tale
- ask rhetorical questions to advance the story
- us vs. them strategy
** 8 minutes is the golden time for a presentation
Have a one sentence pitch to answer:
- What you do
- what problem you solve
- how you are different
- why the customer should care
[ simply. clearly. confidently ]
Dress up your numbers - give comparisons to show how 'big' or 'efficient' they are
Simplify everything. Leave the jargon at home.
Why people buy:
- saving your customers' money
- making your customers' money
- providing tools to make more efficient use of the money they have
* People should have FUN watching you. Thank people to show your humility and integrity
September 20, 2025
The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs delivers a sleek, digestible breakdown of how the Apple icon turned product launches into theatrical experiences. Carmine Gallo’s writing is punchy and accessible, peppered with examples from Jobs’ keynotes that make you want to rewatch every iPhone reveal with fresh eyes.
The book shines when it dives into storytelling, simplicity, and the “Rule of Three” core principles that Jobs mastered. It’s especially helpful for beginners looking to zhuzh up their slides or add charisma to their delivery. Gallo’s enthusiasm is contagious, and the layout makes it easy to skim and apply.
That said, it leans a bit too hard on hero worship. Some sections feel repetitive, and the advice while solid isn’t always groundbreaking. If you’re already familiar with TED talks or modern presentation hacks, you might crave deeper nuance or more diverse examples.
Still, for anyone chasing main character energy in the boardroom or classroom, this book offers a solid starting point. Just don’t expect to become Steve overnight.
The book shines when it dives into storytelling, simplicity, and the “Rule of Three” core principles that Jobs mastered. It’s especially helpful for beginners looking to zhuzh up their slides or add charisma to their delivery. Gallo’s enthusiasm is contagious, and the layout makes it easy to skim and apply.
That said, it leans a bit too hard on hero worship. Some sections feel repetitive, and the advice while solid isn’t always groundbreaking. If you’re already familiar with TED talks or modern presentation hacks, you might crave deeper nuance or more diverse examples.
Still, for anyone chasing main character energy in the boardroom or classroom, this book offers a solid starting point. Just don’t expect to become Steve overnight.
May 26, 2024
i read this for a course at work pls don't hold this against me
August 18, 2020
It is an amazing book. A lot to learn about presentations as well as why Apple as company is one of the greatest.
February 21, 2017
I loved this book.
It gives you clear insights on how Steve Jobs went about with his presentations. But more importantly, it gleans out the doable bits, puts them in bullet points for you to follow. Can this make you as good as Steve Jobs? I doubt it but at least one can try. It's almost like a textbook on creating better presentations. I know I will keep referring to it time and again!
It gives you clear insights on how Steve Jobs went about with his presentations. But more importantly, it gleans out the doable bits, puts them in bullet points for you to follow. Can this make you as good as Steve Jobs? I doubt it but at least one can try. It's almost like a textbook on creating better presentations. I know I will keep referring to it time and again!
January 11, 2018
Mastery guidelines!
November 24, 2024
I love the way this book ends with the best speech of Steve
April 5, 2017
a great book for anyone that is teaching or presenting.
June 17, 2017
nice post like your post
December 13, 2012
Просто замечательный пример того факта, что нельзя о книге судить по обложке. Или по описанию на веб-сайте издательства. Всё полезное, что есть в этой книге можно изложить на 15-20 страницах из немногим более 200. Если вы, так же как и я до прочтения книги, ждете какого-то глубоко анализа презентаций Джобса, то вы его в ней не найдете. Выдержки из наиболее нашумевших выступлений повторяются и перемежаются дифирамбами автора Стиву Джобсу, которые к теме книги, в общем-то отношения не имеют. Время, которое вы потратите на эту книгу лучше потратить на просмотр записей выступлений Джобса, а ещё лучше на практику перед коллегой, который может указать на недочеты.
Впрочем, кому-то эта книга определенно принесет пользу. Кому-то, кто не имеет хотя бы начальных знаний и опыта по работе с аудиторией. Хотелось бы, чтобы такой фактор, как степень подготовки читателя был бы отмечен в описании на веб-сайте издательства. В данном случае я бы поставил 2 из 5.
И кстати, еще несколько комментариев, касающихся перевода и редактуры. Во-первых, название книги. Каким образом "The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs" превратилась в "iПрезентацию"? Или это влияние российского кинопроката, когда название одно, а кинофильм совсем о другом? Во-вторых, разрывающий все на свете перевод простого английского слова bullet. Вот, к примеру: "Буллиты (пули) убивают". Знаете ли, буллиты — они в хоккее, как бы. По крайней мере в русском языке, если верить Большому толковому словарю русского языка под редакцией С.А. Кузнецова, у этого слова 1 значение. В типографике, если не ошибаюсь, этот символ называют маркером списка. В-третьих, оригинальные монологи лучше дублировать на языке оригинала. В противном случае тереятся форма подачи презентации, стиль речи, её звучность.
Впрочем, кому-то эта книга определенно принесет пользу. Кому-то, кто не имеет хотя бы начальных знаний и опыта по работе с аудиторией. Хотелось бы, чтобы такой фактор, как степень подготовки читателя был бы отмечен в описании на веб-сайте издательства. В данном случае я бы поставил 2 из 5.
И кстати, еще несколько комментариев, касающихся перевода и редактуры. Во-первых, название книги. Каким образом "The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs" превратилась в "iПрезентацию"? Или это влияние российского кинопроката, когда название одно, а кинофильм совсем о другом? Во-вторых, разрывающий все на свете перевод простого английского слова bullet. Вот, к примеру: "Буллиты (пули) убивают". Знаете ли, буллиты — они в хоккее, как бы. По крайней мере в русском языке, если верить Большому толковому словарю русского языка под редакцией С.А. Кузнецова, у этого слова 1 значение. В типографике, если не ошибаюсь, этот символ называют маркером списка. В-третьих, оригинальные монологи лучше дублировать на языке оригинала. В противном случае тереятся форма подачи презентации, стиль речи, её звучность.
February 1, 2024
A great book revealing the unique presentation style of Steve Jobs.
Here are some helpful quotes
- The presentation should be inform, educate, and entertain.
1. Create the story
1.1. Plan in analog
- Sketch your ideas on paper.
- It's the story, not the slides, that will capture the imagination of your audience.
- 9 elements of a alive presentation: short & memorable headline, passion statement, 3 key messages, analogies, demo, partner showcase, customer evidence (word of mouth), video clips, and props.
1.2. Answer the most important question
- Ask yourself: Why should they care?
- Make it as clear as possible, repeating it at least twice.
- Eliminate buzzwords and jargon.
- Make sure the one thing is consistent across all of your marketing material collateral.
1.3. Develop a messianic sense of purpose
- You are a leader, and only if, you are restless for change, impatient for progress, and deeply satisfied with the status quo.
1.4. Create Twitter-like headlines
- Apple's headline was memorable because it meets three criteria: concise, specific, personal benefit.
1.5. Draw a road map
- Create a list of all the key points you want your audience to know.
- Categorize the list until you are left with only 3 major message points.
- Under each of your three key messages, add rhetorical devices to enhance the narrative.
1.6. Introduce the antagonist
- The idea of conquering a shared enemy.
- Your brain craves meaning before details.
- Don't start with the details. Start with the key ideas and, in a hierarchical fashion, form the details around these larger notions.
- The problem should not take long to establish. Simply create a one-sentence answer for the following 4 questions: (1) What do you do? (2) What problem do you solve (3) How are you different? (4) Why should I care?
1.7. Reveal the conquering hero
- Jobs doesn't sell computers, he sells an experience
1.8. Obey the 10-minute rule
- Your audience checks out after 10 minutes.
2. Deliver the experience
2.1. Channel their inner zen
- Avoid bullet points on presentation slides. Pictures are superior.
- Focus on 1 theme per slide, and complement that theme with a photograph or image.
- Learn to create visually aesthetic slides.
2.2. Dress up your numbers
- Make your data specific, relevant, and contextual.
- Use rhetorical devices such as analogies.
2.3. Use "amazingly zippy" words
- Language is analyzed based on 4 criteria:
+ Average number of words per sentence.
+ Lexical density: how easy or difficult a text is to read.
+ Hard words: average number of words in a sentence that contain more than 3 syllables.
+ Fog index: the number of years of education a reader theoretically would require to understand the text.
- Declutter your copy. Eliminate redundant language, buzzwords, jargon.
- The words Jobs choose to announce a new product have 3 characteristics: simple, concrete, and emotionally charged.
- Don't sell solutions, create stories instead.
- Analogies are shortcuts.
2.4. Share the stage
- Incorporate testimonials into your presentations by videotaping ~2min.
- Publicly thank employees, partners, and customers and do it often.
2.5. Stage you presentation with props (demo)
- Keep the demo short, sweet, substantial.
- Provide something for every type ò learner in your audience: visual, auditory, and kinesthetic.
2.6. Reveal a "Holy shit" moment
- People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did but people will never forget how you make them feel.
- The brain pays attention to an "emotionally charged event" when the amygdala releases dopamine into the system.
- Jobs usually heightened anticipation to create the experience.
3. Refine and rehearse
3.1. Master stage presence
- Pay attention to your body language. Maintain eye contact, have an open posture (nothing between you and your audience, no lectern), and use hand gestures when appropriate.
- Don't copy what Jobs did. Be yourself. Be authentic.
- Vary your vocal delivery by adding inflection to your voice, raising or lowering your volume, as well as speeding up and slowing down.
- Let your content breathe. Pause. Nothing is as dramatic as a well-placed pause.
3.2. Make it look effortless
- Practice isn't the thing you do once you're good. It's the thing you do that makes you good.
- Record yourself.
+ Eye contact.
+ Body language.
+ Filler words.
+ Vocal delivery.
+ Energy.
- Bucket method for preparing tough questions - What questions do you have for my answers.
+ Identity the most common questions likely to be raised.
+ Place the questions into "buckets" or categories.
+ Create the best answer you have for the category. And this is critical-the answer must make sense regardless of how the question is phrased.
+ Listen carefully to the question, and identify a key word-a trigger-that will help you isolate the correct bucket.
+ Look the person in the eye and respond with confidence.
- Best antidote to nerves: Go from "me" to "we".
3.3. Wear the appropriate costume
- Dress like the leader you want to become, not for the position you currently have.
+ Great leaders dress a little better than everyone else in the room.
- Wear clothes that are appropriate for the culture.
- If you're going to dress like a rebel, dress like a well-off rebel.
3.4. Toss the script-5 steps
- Write your script in full sentences in the "notes" section of PowerPoint.
- Highlight or underline the key word from each sentence, and practice your presentation.
- Delete extraneous words from your scripted sentences, leaving only the key words.
- Memorize the one key idea per slide.
- Practice the entire presentation without notes, simply using the slides as your prompter.
3.5. Have fun
- Treat presentations as "infotainment".
- Never apologize. you have little to gain from calling attention to a problem. If your presentation hits a glitch, acknowledge it, smile, and move on.
- Change your frame of reference. When something does not go exactly as planned, it did not "go wrong" unless you allow it to derail the rest of your presentation.
Here are some helpful quotes
- The presentation should be inform, educate, and entertain.
1. Create the story
1.1. Plan in analog
- Sketch your ideas on paper.
- It's the story, not the slides, that will capture the imagination of your audience.
- 9 elements of a alive presentation: short & memorable headline, passion statement, 3 key messages, analogies, demo, partner showcase, customer evidence (word of mouth), video clips, and props.
1.2. Answer the most important question
- Ask yourself: Why should they care?
- Make it as clear as possible, repeating it at least twice.
- Eliminate buzzwords and jargon.
- Make sure the one thing is consistent across all of your marketing material collateral.
1.3. Develop a messianic sense of purpose
- You are a leader, and only if, you are restless for change, impatient for progress, and deeply satisfied with the status quo.
1.4. Create Twitter-like headlines
- Apple's headline was memorable because it meets three criteria: concise, specific, personal benefit.
1.5. Draw a road map
- Create a list of all the key points you want your audience to know.
- Categorize the list until you are left with only 3 major message points.
- Under each of your three key messages, add rhetorical devices to enhance the narrative.
1.6. Introduce the antagonist
- The idea of conquering a shared enemy.
- Your brain craves meaning before details.
- Don't start with the details. Start with the key ideas and, in a hierarchical fashion, form the details around these larger notions.
- The problem should not take long to establish. Simply create a one-sentence answer for the following 4 questions: (1) What do you do? (2) What problem do you solve (3) How are you different? (4) Why should I care?
1.7. Reveal the conquering hero
- Jobs doesn't sell computers, he sells an experience
1.8. Obey the 10-minute rule
- Your audience checks out after 10 minutes.
2. Deliver the experience
2.1. Channel their inner zen
- Avoid bullet points on presentation slides. Pictures are superior.
- Focus on 1 theme per slide, and complement that theme with a photograph or image.
- Learn to create visually aesthetic slides.
2.2. Dress up your numbers
- Make your data specific, relevant, and contextual.
- Use rhetorical devices such as analogies.
2.3. Use "amazingly zippy" words
- Language is analyzed based on 4 criteria:
+ Average number of words per sentence.
+ Lexical density: how easy or difficult a text is to read.
+ Hard words: average number of words in a sentence that contain more than 3 syllables.
+ Fog index: the number of years of education a reader theoretically would require to understand the text.
- Declutter your copy. Eliminate redundant language, buzzwords, jargon.
- The words Jobs choose to announce a new product have 3 characteristics: simple, concrete, and emotionally charged.
- Don't sell solutions, create stories instead.
- Analogies are shortcuts.
2.4. Share the stage
- Incorporate testimonials into your presentations by videotaping ~2min.
- Publicly thank employees, partners, and customers and do it often.
2.5. Stage you presentation with props (demo)
- Keep the demo short, sweet, substantial.
- Provide something for every type ò learner in your audience: visual, auditory, and kinesthetic.
2.6. Reveal a "Holy shit" moment
- People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did but people will never forget how you make them feel.
- The brain pays attention to an "emotionally charged event" when the amygdala releases dopamine into the system.
- Jobs usually heightened anticipation to create the experience.
3. Refine and rehearse
3.1. Master stage presence
- Pay attention to your body language. Maintain eye contact, have an open posture (nothing between you and your audience, no lectern), and use hand gestures when appropriate.
- Don't copy what Jobs did. Be yourself. Be authentic.
- Vary your vocal delivery by adding inflection to your voice, raising or lowering your volume, as well as speeding up and slowing down.
- Let your content breathe. Pause. Nothing is as dramatic as a well-placed pause.
3.2. Make it look effortless
- Practice isn't the thing you do once you're good. It's the thing you do that makes you good.
- Record yourself.
+ Eye contact.
+ Body language.
+ Filler words.
+ Vocal delivery.
+ Energy.
- Bucket method for preparing tough questions - What questions do you have for my answers.
+ Identity the most common questions likely to be raised.
+ Place the questions into "buckets" or categories.
+ Create the best answer you have for the category. And this is critical-the answer must make sense regardless of how the question is phrased.
+ Listen carefully to the question, and identify a key word-a trigger-that will help you isolate the correct bucket.
+ Look the person in the eye and respond with confidence.
- Best antidote to nerves: Go from "me" to "we".
3.3. Wear the appropriate costume
- Dress like the leader you want to become, not for the position you currently have.
+ Great leaders dress a little better than everyone else in the room.
- Wear clothes that are appropriate for the culture.
- If you're going to dress like a rebel, dress like a well-off rebel.
3.4. Toss the script-5 steps
- Write your script in full sentences in the "notes" section of PowerPoint.
- Highlight or underline the key word from each sentence, and practice your presentation.
- Delete extraneous words from your scripted sentences, leaving only the key words.
- Memorize the one key idea per slide.
- Practice the entire presentation without notes, simply using the slides as your prompter.
3.5. Have fun
- Treat presentations as "infotainment".
- Never apologize. you have little to gain from calling attention to a problem. If your presentation hits a glitch, acknowledge it, smile, and move on.
- Change your frame of reference. When something does not go exactly as planned, it did not "go wrong" unless you allow it to derail the rest of your presentation.
October 13, 2011
As a pastor, and a bit of a tech-junkie, this book was right in my wheel-house. I learned a great deal about speaking, was surprisingly inspired by Steve Jobs (didn't know much about him before reading this), and was thoroughly entertained.
I recently preached a sermon that I wound up revising because of this book. The opening did not answer the "why should I care?" question from the congregation, and so I changed my approach.
This is a well written, carefully researched book that draws from many arenas of expertise to help anyone who does public speaking as part of their job to improve. I want to be "insanely great" every Sunday and I believe this book has given me some of the tips and tools to get there.
I recently preached a sermon that I wound up revising because of this book. The opening did not answer the "why should I care?" question from the congregation, and so I changed my approach.
This is a well written, carefully researched book that draws from many arenas of expertise to help anyone who does public speaking as part of their job to improve. I want to be "insanely great" every Sunday and I believe this book has given me some of the tips and tools to get there.
June 21, 2010
This has been (by far) one of the better books on presentation approach and best practices I have ever read. While few things jump out as "wow, I've never thought of that"... Jobs' approach to mixing simple graphics, theatrics, props and other techniques is actually pretty inspiring.
You find yourself reading the book and thinking to yourself, "I could have used that advice last week when I bored an audience to tears"...
If you are regular presenter of products or concepts, I would suggest reading this.
The author is clearly an enthusiastic fan of Steve Jobs, at times it gushes a bit more than needed.
You find yourself reading the book and thinking to yourself, "I could have used that advice last week when I bored an audience to tears"...
If you are regular presenter of products or concepts, I would suggest reading this.
The author is clearly an enthusiastic fan of Steve Jobs, at times it gushes a bit more than needed.
March 2, 2017
This book does an okay-ish job at pointing out some key principles (keeping things minimal, simple and easy to understand being the central one) that lie behind effectively communicating one's ideas to a wide audience. The writer does so by astutely observing Steve Jobs's keynotes over the years, but soon it starts seeming like he's cherry-picking examples that cater to his inherent biases.
To the enlightened reader (whom I'd assume to be someone who has above-average observational skills), this book presents no new ideas and should be avoided.
The author/editor could have been really benefitted the readers by doing some fact-checking.
To the enlightened reader (whom I'd assume to be someone who has above-average observational skills), this book presents no new ideas and should be avoided.
The author/editor could have been really benefitted the readers by doing some fact-checking.
March 28, 2018
Cuốn sách chỉ ra tất cả các điều làm nên bài thuyết trình hoàn hảo của Steve Job.
Từ khâu lên ý tưởng chính, tạo thành câu chuyện, từ câu chuyện đến bài thuyết trình tuyệt vời.
Một câu hay trong cuốn sách để luôn ghi nhớ "Người ta đến xem bạn để bạn kể cho họ nghe một câu chuyện chứ không phải đọc các silde trình bày"
Từ khâu lên ý tưởng chính, tạo thành câu chuyện, từ câu chuyện đến bài thuyết trình tuyệt vời.
Một câu hay trong cuốn sách để luôn ghi nhớ "Người ta đến xem bạn để bạn kể cho họ nghe một câu chuyện chứ không phải đọc các silde trình bày"
October 7, 2009
Jobs' big presentation secret is just that he's a casual personality and his presentations reflects that. All the presentation tips in the book are not as much Jobs', but more from different current media gurus.
I'm almost at the end of the book and still cannot shake of the idea that this is just a Apple product promotion. Little naief from my side to think that it would be any different. Stick with a presentation style that fits YOUR OWN personality, rather then copying Jobs' that does not reflect you. Don't buy this book. You can have my copy for free.
I'm almost at the end of the book and still cannot shake of the idea that this is just a Apple product promotion. Little naief from my side to think that it would be any different. Stick with a presentation style that fits YOUR OWN personality, rather then copying Jobs' that does not reflect you. Don't buy this book. You can have my copy for free.
December 24, 2012
Fuera de ser un absoluto fanatico de Apple y de Steve Jobs el libro es entretenido muy practico. Se separa en dos partes una en la que explica quien era Steve Jobs y por que sus presentaciones eran tan buenas y tan fuera de lo normal. Su secreto en las diaps. Muchas de las presentaciones que en el libro refieren las puedes mirar en youtube lo que ayuda al aprendizaje.
Al final da tips basicos de hablar en publicp como modulacion y no prestar tanta atencion a lo que te sucede en medio de una presentacion, pero visto desde la perspectiva de Steve. Muy recomendado!
Al final da tips basicos de hablar en publicp como modulacion y no prestar tanta atencion a lo que te sucede en medio de una presentacion, pero visto desde la perspectiva de Steve. Muy recomendado!
July 8, 2012
I originally thought the book will be a dry faux-academic content of how to construct and deliver a good presentation. But I was pleasantly proven wrong. The author weave interesting anecdotes from CEO and leaders around the world to keep me engaged. The only small gripe that I have is the fact the examples tended to get reused and reused again. I guess there were only that many Jobs' product launches to get used by the 10 or so chapters.
April 17, 2015
Great tips of how to design & deliver a great presentation like legendary Steve. The end-benefit of great presentations is to create strongly rememberable experience through various dramas by using demos, demonstrations, inviting endorsers, etc. If owning a "do differently" mindset, the book really makes you stand out!
September 30, 2014
It is not a guide how to create your presentations but it is a good example of a best presentations. Everyone has to have his own style and learning from different sources will help it. Keep in mind the Steve Jobs' style and create your own
May 3, 2011
読了!! とてもとてもプレゼンの勉強になりました。
いざプレゼンの際にはもう一度読みながらですね。
いざプレゼンの際にはもう一度読みながらですね。
March 21, 2012
Lots of information and tips about how to make successful presentations, but it seemed a bit repetitive about 2/3 of the way through it.
July 23, 2014
This book changed the way I communicated to the people: simply, sticky and memorable!
Read
January 22, 2016Can recommend with caution: do not try to use it as receipt book. However as list of things to consider might be helpful. Found few interesting tips...
February 7, 2013
Not always applicable for research presentation, but a good summary.
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