I have not read the book "The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs" written by Carmine Gallo, but I, although I cannot be attributed to unconditional Apple fans, have always liked how Steve conducted his presentations and therefore I found interesting excerpts from the book presented by Lynn Truong.
Rule of Three
It has long been known that a person is not able to keep his attention on a large number of any objects or topics. Successful writers, journalists, and lecturers know this, and Steve masterfully uses this rule to maintain greater interest in the speech, grouping topics into digestible threes.
Ten-Minute Rule
The audience « disconnects » from communication with you exactly in ten minutes, not in eleven, but in ten.
Studies have shown that the human brain begins to get bored and look for an opportunity to distract itself after exactly ten minutes. But this does not mean that you cannot hold a performance that lasts much longer. You just need to interrupt it periodically. It can be anything from answers to questions to a video clip, — anything that interrupts the routine and gives rest to the audience.
Less is better, yes better
The first four slides of Jobs contain seven words, three numbers, one date and no enumeration.
How often do lecturers try to place the entire text of their speech on slides. Maybe they are afraid to forget something, or they think they are helping the audience by giving them the opportunity to read everything and make notes on their own. But studies say that this disperses the audience's attention and reduces the influence of words on it. Instead, use slides on several senses at once — use pictures, videos or animations along with your words. This will help the audience better understand the topic.
Practice
Jobs rehearses for hours. More precisely: he rehearses for many, many, many hours every day for a long, long, long time.
When you see a presentation that Jobs is leading, it may seem to you that he is talented in this from birth. He's sure. He does everything perfectly every time, without forgetting the slightest details. And it seems such a simple matter for him. But in fact, he just devotes enough time to grueling workouts. And how noticeable it is when other speakers don't do it! It is clear why they dragged their entire performance onto the slides. The fewer words on the slides, the better you need to know the subject of the speech and every detail in it. Practice. Practice more!
