What makes Steve Jobs’ presentation so special?

Steve Jobs’ presentations have definitely played a role in the success of Apple Inc. His presentation not only conveys information, he makes people wait for days when a new product gets released.  What makes Steve Jobs’ presentation so inspiring is that he applies the fundamentals of public speaking to his presentations that are crucial yet often ignored.

Create a Roadmap

Steve Jobs structures his presentation in a way that helps the audience to sustain their focus on the presentation. It always starts with a roadmap outlining what he is going to address.  After the introduction, Jobs opens and closes each of the sections following his outline. By revealing an outline, it heightens the sense of anticipation which makes it easier for the audience to follow through the presentation.

Three Messages

Most of the Jobs’ presentation is built around the communication theory that people can only retain certain amount of information in the short period of time. He builds his presentation in a way that it delivers about three messages per presentation. Instead of overloading the audience with information, he presents only important points to allow the audience to retain the information that matters.

Meaningful Numbers

People are much likely to be blown away when a speaker takes a MacBook Air out of an envelope as supposed to bluntly stating that it is 18 mm thin. And that’s exactly what Steve Jobs did. He converted his data into a language that is easy for the audience to understand.  Not only it makes the numbers meaningful, it creates a moment that is unforgettable.

Visual Slides

When you talk about Jobs’ presentation, one thing that does not get missed in the conversation is his visual slides. Instead of clustering the slides with text, data, and charts, his does the opposite; few images and words. His simple visual aids help audience follow his message not being swallowed by it.

Rehearse

Steve Jobs is known to invest many hours rehearsing his presentation. Without hours of rehearsal, he would not have been able to pull off such a sophisticated presentation.  Nothing is taken for granted. Only the person who invests time presents a well-coordinated presentation.

Overcoming Stage Fright

Do you ever get a dry mouth, sweaty palms, or stomach butterflies before making a presentation? These are common physiological responses people experience before going up to a stage. The fight or flight response is an automatic, inborn response that prepares the body to “fight” or “flee” from something threatening or challenging; in this case, making a presentation.  It is not rare for a person to feel uneasiness before starting a presentation especially when most of people do not consider themselves to be a professional speaker.  That being said, it is important for people to use appropriate techniques to reduce the stage fright.

<Know your topic inside and out>

In order for the presentation to run smoothly, speaker needs to walk up to the stage with a thorough knowledge of the content.  Much of the apprehension comes from the lack of confidence in their knowledge about the topic as well as fear of making mistakes.  By speaker diligently preparing the presentation, one will suffer less of the symptoms.

<Practice your presentation>

You will suffer less of a butterflies and sweaty palms when you’ve taken a time to rehearse the presentation and tested the equipment.  By rehearsing the entire presentation, you will be able see where it needs an improvement and adjust accordingly.  Be sure to arrive early to ensure all the equipment is working properly. It is a good idea to bring extra bulb for the projector or a laptop in case of any unexpected equipment breakdown.

<Take deep breaths>

Deep breathe helps the speaker to ease the apprehension. When you face something threatening or challenging, you start to breathe in short, fast breaths. You can reduce your fear by concentrating on your breathing before your speak or while you are being introduced.

<Be confident>

One must realize that you are often your own worst critic. Audience will not remember every single mistake you have made. It is important to leave the mistakes behind and continue speaking with confidence. Focus on reminding yourself that you know the content and have prepared well for this presentation.

Do you have any tips on overcoming a stage fright?

Designing an Appealing PowerPoint Presentation

PowerPoint has become the standard when it comes to business presentation. It is a powerful communication tool which can help speaker to present and sell ideas in more efficient way. Of course, this only applies when it is well prepared. Since it is most commonly used communication tool, it is worth a while to invest time an effort to learn about what elements makes the impressive presentation as well as the program itself.  Here are some tips on how to create effective and appealing PowerPoint presentation:

Slides 

• Include Presentation title, your name and date on the first slide. Speaker need to state what they are going to talk about at the beginning of the presentation.
• Colors must be chosen carefully. Color conveys different messages in different cultures. In North America, blue, green and purple are commonly used when presenting primary ideas
• Do not overuse the special effects. It may draw attention away from your messages. Try to keep the transition and animations consistent.
• Limit the number of slides. Do not create 30 slides for 15 minute presentation.

6-x-6 rule

Text

•  Use large and legible fonts for the text
• Keep the style of text consistent  
• Use bullets to improve readability
• Use 6-x-6 rule: max 6 bullet per screen; max six words per bullet
• Use colors that work well with each other. Use light text on dark background (vice versa); high contrast make the slides more legible.

Visual Overload

 Other Features

•  Sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words. Use pictures, charts and diagrams to enhance the content
•  Do not overload the slide with too many visuals
• Use sound and videos if appropriate

Utilizing Visual Aids

When visual aids are used effectively, it will help get the message across to the audience.  Appropriate visual aids increase the audience’s level of comprehension, clarity, and retention. 

Many studies have revealed that by appealing to more than one sense at the same time will significantly increase the audience’s understanding and retention level. Researchers have revealed that: 

• It is six times greater for an audience to retain the information three days after a meeting when information is presented by visual and oral means as supposed to spoken word alone

•  Approximately 83% of human learning occurs visually, and the remaining 17% through other senses

•       Three days after an event, People retain about 10% of what they heard from the oral presentation, 30% form visual, and 65% from visual and oral presentation.

Although visual aids increase the impact of your presentation, speaker needs to keep in mind that you, not the visual aids, are giving the presentation. Utilize the visual aids, do not hide behind it.

There are many forms of visual aids available for speakers to incorporate in their presentation. Every visual aids have pros and cons. Speaker needs to consider the available options and select the most appropriate visual aid. Multimedia slides, overhead transparencies, and handouts are the three of the most popular visual aids.

Medium	Pros	Cons	Notes
Multimedia Slides	-Professional appearance -Easy to use and transport -Inexpensive to update	-Incompatibility Issues -Relatively costly equipment required -Special effects often distracting	Available software programs: -Microsoft PowerPoint -Apple Keynote -Coral Presentation etc.
Transparencies	-Professional appearance -Easy to prepare, correct -Limit information show at one time	-Projected image size is sometimes too small -Difficult to write on the transparency -Speaker feel captive to machine	-Keep the transparencies simple -45-degree angle to the audience is the most effective location for an overhead projector
Handouts	-Encourages participation -Enhance recall	-May lose audience’s attention	-Discuss handouts during the presentation and hand them out after the presentation

Which visual aid do you like using the most?

Dramatic Presentation

If I were to prepare a presentation about child sexual abuse, I would start the presentation by showing the commercial above. This subtle but powerful video will not only catch the audience’s attention instantly, but will also help retain the message of presentation.  By adding a dramatic factor -- telling a moving story or showing clips like the one above -- into your presentation, you can give your audience a more memorable presentation experience. The speaker’s hand gestures, change in tone or pitch of your voice may also do the trick as well.

Tell a Story

When your presentation is filled with dry facts, you will quickly loose their attention.  Interesting one of kind stories is a great way to captivate your audience. Ric Elias’s speech (Link: Ric Elias: 3 things I learned while my plane crashed)  is one of a great example of using drama in the presentation. He starts the speech by sharing his experience in a plane crash. After telling a story, he then delivers his main messages about not wasting time on thing that does not matter. Telling a good personal story that is in line with the presentation will enable you to connect with your audience.

Emphasis

It is very hard for a person to sit through a presentation when speaker is talking in monotone. No matter how great the idea/message is, you will not be able to maintain the attention.  The dramatic elements, such as a long pause, hand motions, and facial expressions will make your presentation more dramatic. It is useful when you want to draw attention to the most important elements within your content.

Visit Ted to find more inspiring speeches

The Importance of Nonverbal Messages

Speaker needs to take the nonverbal messages into consideration to ensure that your message is well received by the audience.  Nonverbal communication is an unwritten and unspoken message which may be intentional or unintentional. It includes facial expression, eye contact, tone and pitch of the voice, body movement, space, distance and appearance.

Nonverbal messages allow the speaker to reinforce the words spoken, deliver additional information, and gain feedback from the audience. If your audience is looking like the picture on the right, they are sending you a nonverbal message that your presentation is not going well. 

Since the nonverbal messages have considerable amount of effect on the presentation, speaker needs to be conscious about their nonverbal cues and how it’s influencing the audience.

In one of the episode of The Office, Michael Scott (Steve Carell) is giving a presentation about PowerPoint.  What kind of nonverbal message is he sending? I would say he already sent a negative nonverbal message about himself even before he started his presentation.  Here are few tips on nonverbal messages:

• Move your body to emphasize ideas. For example one can draw a big circle in the air to enhance the point about how big the object was 
• Vary your tone and pitch of the voice. It is hard for an audience to concentrate when audience is speaking in monotone
• Use your face expression to reinforce the verbal messages
• Move around. It shows the audience that you are confident and comfortable as supposed to standing at one spot
• Use the note as a guide. Do not read the note word-for-word. It is essential to have an eye contact with the audience
• Dress professionally

Maintain Sincere Eye Contact

Eye contact is one of the most essential techniques used on oral presentation. It is important for a speaker to make a strong and steady eye contact at all time.  The old proverb says “the eyes are the mirror of the soul”.  Eyes can captivate an audience and deliver the meaning of the presentation that words may not be able to carry. When a word is accompanied with the sincere eye contact, it enhances a conversation and delivers the message more effectively.

Eye contact is a key element in non-verbal communication as it often speaks as much as your voice does. Making an eye contact not only creates a bond between speaker and audience; it also shows that you are confident about the content you are communicating. When a speaker read their note word-for-word and not makes an eye contact, the speaker will lose their credibility and the attention will likely to decrease.

Suppose you are listening to his presentation. How would you rate her presentation?

Since non-verbal skills often speak louder than the words, here are some tips on using eye contact effectively on presentation:

1.  Before the presentation, scan the audience and make few focal points
2.  Do not scan the back wall hoping to fool the audience that you are looking at them – make an eye contact with individuals
3. Divide the room into sections – make sure you give each section an equal amount of time and energy
4. Try to catch the audience’s reaction when presenting and adjust accordingly
5. Use eye contact to show that you are in control of the room – when an audience is talking, focus eye contact directly at that person until he/she stops.

A key to effective communication is building a bond with the audience. More eye contact you make, more likely you will have an effective presentation.

Attention Reset

Speaker needs to take the attention span into consideration when preparing a presentation.  Given that an average person has an attention span of 15-20 minutes, the presentation needs to be structured in a way that it gives the audience an opportunity to refocus.

Here are some guidelines on how to create an efficient presentation:

1) You have the highest amount of attention at the beginning of the presentation

    -Clearly state your main points in the introduction

2) Divide the presentation into several subtopics.

    -By ending the subtopics with the intermediate conclusion, it will help audience to refocus

3) Intentional repetition and good organization is the two key elements of sustaining the attention level

    -Repeat your main messages in the introduction, body and conclusion

Speech Objective

A speaker must first recognize what the audience is looking for then prepare a presentation along the line of their objective. Oral presentations generally fall into two categories: informative and persuasive speech.

Primary goal of an informative presentation is to promote understanding of an idea or to deliver information.  It is often used to provide an opportunity to learn about new subject or new information about the familiar subject. Generally, informative speeches may discuss about:

•             People and Objects (ex. Country, Building, Animal)
•             Event (ex. Hurricane Sandy, fundraising event)
•          Process (ex. Demonstrate a process of making a pizza)
•       Concept (ex. Explain  a Big Bang theory)

Secondly, a persuasive presentation not only informs the audience, it also tries to change the audience’s attitudes and behaviors. There are four goals of persuasive speech:¹

•  To reinforce the attitude, beliefs and values an audience already holds
•   To inoculate an audience against counter persuasion
•   To change attitudes
•   To motivate an audience to act

For example, organizations like MADD Canada will be using a persuasive presentation to motivate people to stop impaired driving.

Since it is often difficult to distinguish the difference between an informative and persuasive presentation, it is helpful for a speaker to create a specific purpose statement and continuously refer back to it to create a speech that is consistent with the objective.

¹ Brydon, S., & Scott, M. (2000). Between One and Many: The Art and Science of Public

        Speaking (3^rd ed.). Mt. View, CA: Mayfield Publishing.

Preparing an Oral Presentation: Know your audience and venue

Knowing your audience and venue is one of the key steps in creating an effective presentation. Speaker needs to fine-tune the presentation based on the information they collect about the audience and location.

Consider following elements when preparing an oral presentation. These elements will help you determine the most appropriate style of a speech:

1) Audience characteristic:

• Age range
• Gender (Male/Female ratio)
• Education background

It is necessary to tailor the presentation to suit the specific group’s interest and need

2) Location where the presentation is taking place

Visit the venue in advance to learn more about:

• Seating arrangement and capacity
• Appropriate visual aid
• Appropriate volume of voice
• Possible distractions

3) Will your audience benefit from the presentation?

• prepare a presentation based on the level of audience’s knowledge about the topic

In depth research about the audience and venue is necessary to build a solid foundation of a presentation. The more knowledge you have about your audience, the easier it will be to effectively prepare and share the message. 

Attention Span

How many times have you sent a text message to your friend or checked your Facebook in the middle of listening to an oral presentation? No matter how interesting the topic is, it is not a successful presentation if you cannot keep your audience’s attention.

As you can see on the graph attached, it has been proven that the average attention span of an adult is 15-20 minutes. Let’s say if you are doing a 30 minute presentation, you will lose about 80-90% of audience’s attention by the halfway into the presentation. Given the fact that our attention span is limited, speaker needs to organize and prepare the presentation in a way that captures and maintains the audience’s attention.