Communication through presentation. How did the tech leader Steve Jobs communicate and excel with these 3 Simple Tricks?

The late Steve Jobs is hailed as the genius behind the success of Apple. The tech leader led Apple to be the most valuable brand in 2019 with a brand value of $206 Billion. A big part for the success was Steve Job's communication style. The public apple keynote presentations, in which he pitched and presented new business products to the world, were a marketing tool with unparalleled effectiveness. Steve Jobs had the ability to spark interest in his products and strengthen the loyalty to Apples brand with classic presentations. Millions of people were hyped and directly influenced by every word he expressed during those presentation.

Whether it is for internal or external usage, the presenting style is a big part of every tech leaders communication style. This article will discuss why Steve Jobs was such an effective presenter and share valuable communication skills that everyone can adapt in his presentation style. Job is called the ultimate communicator and used an extensive amount of techniques to achieve these praises. In this article we will focus on the 3 methods we think are the easiest and fastest to improve on. If you have trouble to get your point across and fail to keep up the audiences interest, we recommend to use the following principles.

Focus on the essential information!

Steve Jobs did not bore his audience with a string of business number slides. However he made sure to focus on the important information he wants his audience to remember. The Product and its usefulness. This gets clear when we take a look at the words Jobs used to introduce some of the most successful Apple Products.

Introducing the iPod: “Thousand songs in your pocket.”

Introducing the iPod touch: “Touch your music.”

Introducing the MacBook Air: “The world’s thinnest notebook.”

It was very important for Jobs to be able to communicate his messages in a few clear, comprehensible words. He applied the same principle to his presentation slides, where he made sure to have precise headings and just a few words or images as content. 

Introduction of the iPhone in 2007

The slide that introduced the iPhone in 2007 had the heading “Your life in your pocket”. Short, precise and effective in communicating the essence of the product.

Repeat key information!

Steve Jobs used many different methods in order to engage his audience. His arguably most often used one was to repeat key information. In 2007 before introducing the iPhone, Jobs starts the presentation with saying that today he will introduce 3 devices. One iPod, an phone and an internet communicator. He repeats this statement multiple times until he reveals, that all of these functions will be in one device. The iPhone. This was revolutionary at that time. Still, the audience immediately understood this new concept. They bursted out into excitement, mainly because Jobs put so much emphasis and repetition on the three key elements that were now bundled into one device. For reference please take the time to watch how Jobs introduces the iPhone in 2007. A transcript of his speech can be found here.

While watching this speech, you will also notice that Jobs did not shy away from making jokes and being funny. One example for that is the fake image he shows when talking about bundling the phone and iPod characteristics. This is an effective way to keep the audience engaged. Jobs used this technique in many instances resulting in great reactions from the audiences.

Fake iPhone Image to entertain and engage the audience more

Be prepared!

Steve Jobs was known by his employees to script and train every single word he says and how to say it down to the smallest detail. There were no spontaneous elements. Steve Jobs prepared by the principle that he must be able to present his speech if someone wakes him up in the middle of the night. This sounds obvious, however without putting the preparation work in beforehand, even a Steve Jobs would not have been able to appear so confident and spark enthusiasm about his products in his audience.

We hope we could give you some information in order to strengthen your communication and more precisely your presentation style.

For everyone who is further interested in the communication style of Steve Jobs I recommend this linked behind the scenes report for one of his presentations from the guardian. Also, the book "Creativity Inc" by former pixar president Edwin Catmull, is a great read concerning the communication in a creative field. As majority owner and CEO, Steve Job's communication style plays a big part that process and this book.
In addition, everyone who is more generally interested in tech leaders communication style can look forward to our blog post next week, where we take a look at text analytics related to the communication style of tech leaders.