Although the opinion of public speaking fill as much as 77% of the population with fearit's often an unavoidable fact of building a successful career, especially for high-profile executives who act as the go-between for their company or product and the rest of the world.
So perhaps it is not surprising that some of the most admired business leaders are not only known for their visionary minds, solving problems skills or decision-making skills – but for their presentation skills.
The co-founder and former CEO of Apple Steve Jobs was one of them. During the course of his leadership now trillion dollar technology companyJobs had to communicate effectively with an audience of consumers and investors—sometimes about ideas or products they had never encountered before.
Thirteen years ago, on June 6, 2011, Jobs did just that when he delivered his final keynote, colloquially referred to as “Stevenote,” at Apple Worldwide Developers Conference. He took the stage to debut iCloud, the service that allows users to store and synchronize data across Apple devices.
Jobs used three public speaking Power moves to make an impact with his latest presentation, and anyone hoping to improve their communication skills — regardless of audience or topic — can learn from them.
1. Jobs always came prepared and understood that practice was the key to success
As Jobs began his presentation at iCloud, it was clear that he knew exactly what he wanted to say to his audience—yet he was so adept at it that it seemed almost open and effortless. Of course, Jobs was the ultimate evangelist for Apple products, and that passion helped, too persuade listeners who couldn't wait to hear what he had to say next.
Practicing the delivery of material under the same conditions you'll experience on the day helps you “mimic” the feeling of the high-pressure moment and better prepare you for success, said cognitive scientist and Dartmouth College President Sian Beilock. entrepreneur in 2022. Accounts from people close to Jobs reveal that he used that strategy.
Ken Kocienda, who served as principal software engineer at Apple for 15 years and worked on the original iPhone, he said Inc.. in 2018, Jobs wouldn't even wait for the presentation to finish before he started trying it out in the auditorium on Apple's campus. Then, on the Saturday and Sunday before the event, he would do a “dress rehearsal” at the venue, wearing his trademark mock black collar and jeans, and go through the entire presentation twice a day.
Connected: How Steve Jobs fooled a room full of tech media and changed the world
2. Jobs knew the story he wanted to tell — and didn't rely on overwrought slides to tell it
Jobs didn't just walk up to the stage and start throwing technical jargon in his audience. Instead, he told a story that allowed people to relate to what he was saying AND better understand the implications of the product. Studies show that if you share a story, listeners are often more likely to be convinced, as you take them from one point of view to another, according to VMware Women's Leadership Innovation Lab at Stanford University.
During his last keynote speech, Jobs established the need for iCloud first describing a related problem: the arduous process of moving photos, files, and more across various Apple devices. Then, he revealed the solution. With iCloud, people don't have to worry about moving photos from their phones to their iPad or laptop because the technology does it all automatically.
Throughout the speech, the slides behind Jobs featured only simple images and minimal text. To demonstrate the simplicity of iCloud, the cloud symbol flashes at the top of the screen, with the iPhones that belonged to “Mom” and “Dad” below it; lines exploded from one cloud phone to the next and back again, highlighting how technology made a calendar event move seamlessly from one device to another — to the applause of the crowd.
Connected: These 5 key notes of Steve Jobs will inspire you to sell your ideas better
3. He did not recover also seriously, which adds an element of humor and builds trust
Jobs he wasn't afraid to make jokes at his (and Apple's) expense. Before iCloud, the company released MobileMe, a collection of online services and software with a $99-a-year subscription that launched in 2000 and was discontinued in 2011. It was one of Apple“Infrequent product failures,” with a difficult sign-up process, an initial delay that prevented people from accessing their data, and several outages, CNET reported.
So Jobs used it as fodder for his own presentation. After giving an overview of iCloud, which read like a more sophisticated version of its flawed predecessor, Jobs quipped, “You might ask, 'Why should I trust them? They're the ones who brought me MobileMe .” Bring out loud laughter and applause.
Connected: Steve Jobs' most famous speech is totally overrated. That is why.
Not only did Jobs' injection of humor lighten the mood and entertain the audiencebut it also served a practical purpose: We know we messed around with MobileMe and that you're probably drawing parallels between it and our new productJobs essentially said—and that self-deprecating admission helped people believe it Apple he had really done better this time.
These days, anyone remotely familiar with Apple products knows that the company delivered on that promise — it can be hard to remember a time when the now-ubiquitous iCloud didn't keep all of a user's devices in sync.