Steve Jobs inspired and changed our society in life, and his recent passing has sparked much reflection about HOW he was able to be so effective.
I wanted to share this newsletter from my friend, Geeta Vora, in her 2011 Mantra newsletter, about Job’s skill as a presenter. I am encouraged to see parallels in our concepts, such as the 3 elements of a PosturePractice, the 3 elements of Posture and engaging people with educatainment. Thank you Geeta for allowing us to share your insight, and thank you Steve for making your dreams our reality.
FROM MANTRA, BY GEETA VORA
Namaste my friends,
As I promised in the last article, I’m going to show you how Steve Jobs became known as one of the world’s most engaging and powerful presenters, even though he wasn’t a ‘natural born’ speaker or presenter. If you’ve ever seen one of his presentations, you know that they are mesmerizing. But if you step back and look closely at them (as well as a lot of Apple’s marketing), you’ll find that he’s applying some very simple concepts that you can model.
It’s not about him. It’s about what he is saying and presenting, and how he’s doing it.
So let me now share the 3 ultimate secrets on how he created engaging presentations, and how you can too. These are inspired by the great work of Carmine Gallo and his great studies into what set Steve Jobs apart when it came to powerful presentations.
1. The Rule Of Three
The number 3 has a tremendous amount of natural strength in it. It factors heavily into history and every area of life. For example, think of any organized religion or spiritual philosophy, and you’ll find a lot of key concepts organized into sets of 3. The Holy Trinity of Christianity, the 3 Patriarchs of Judaism, the 3 Jewels of Buddhism, and the 3 Doshas of Ayurveda. Or, look at children’s fables and fairy tales: we’ve got the 3 bears, 3 blind mice, 3 little pigs, and most of the heroes in the stories encounter 3 challenges. In The 3 Little Pigs, how many houses did the big bad wolf try to blow down?
This all isn’t a coincidence.
The number 3 is a very effective number when it comes to telling stories that are simple and memorable. And, as it turns out, it’s also one of the most powerful rules when it comes to creating memorable and amazing presentations. The Rule Of Three is simply breaking down whatever your message is into 3 specific components so that your listener or audience is easily able to process and recall those 3 things. Why do you think a 10 digit telephone number is broken into smaller pieces? It’s because people cannot remember a 10 digit number. But, it’s more likely they can recall it if it’s broken into 3 pieces. It’s the same reason that social security numbers are broken into 3 segments, as well as so many other important numbers in your life – because that’s the best way for you to be able to remember them.
I’ve actually used this concept several times during this report, and you probably didn’t even realize it. For example, I boiled the most significant things that Steve Jobs focused on with Apple down to 3 specific things (trust, simplicity, and results). Obviously, I could list off dozens of things that made him unique and so successful – but by focusing on only 3, it allowed you to remember them and understand what I was explaining in a much more powerful way. Steve Jobs learned this incredibly powerful strategy many years ago, and had been applying it ever since. When he would host a new product announcement, he would often introduce not just 1 product, but 3. In one of his most powerful presentations when he first introduced the iPhone, he actually spoke about “3 different products” (an iPod, a phone, and an internet device) that all turned out to be the same product – the iPhone that he was presenting that day.
I know that it’s easy to feel like you have to talk about everything that’s applicable and list off all the benefits or points… but by doing so you actually complicate things in your prospect’s mind, and a confused mind always says no. The next time you’re going to a presentation or marketing campaign, try focusing on only the main 3 points – you’ll be stunned at how much more simple and clear your communication becomes.
2. Pick a Fight
Before you get the wrong impression, I’m not suggesting that you actually challenge someone to a duel or a fist fight! I’m talking about a fight in the sense of choosing sides, and finding something or someone external that you’re able to position yourself against. I’m also not talking about being negative about your messages or marketing. This isn’t about picking on anyone in particular, or focusing on the negative. If you do this properly, it comes out as a very positive message, as you’ll see in the examples that follow.
Story telling has always been the most powerful part of conveying information. For thousands of years, it’s how our ancestors handed down wisdom and knowledge to later generations. A key element of any story is the hero, and the villain – David and Goliath is an obvious example of this, but almost any movie, book, or well told story has this same thing in common. Superheroes always have “arch enemies”. Luke Skywalker had Darth Vader, and Superman had Lex Luthor (along with many others to keep things interesting). People love a story, and a battle. They want to support the underdog, and the more that they can see themselves in the hero, the more passionately they’ll cheer for them.
Every business has some kind of natural “villain” or antagonist that can be positioned against, and it usually isn’t a specific person or even a specific company or competitor. In Apple’s case, the antagonist is pretty obvious – Microsoft was the main competitor to Apple through the years, and everyone knew it. That’s why Apple took specific and direct aim at Microsoft as the antagonist in one of it’s most successful campaigns, “I’m a Mac. He’s a PC.” In the ads, Apple was able to position all of it’s benefits such as simplicity, reliability and coolness… while the PC was positioned as difficult, frustrating, uncaring of customer problems, and very uncool. People became engaged by his message, because he “picked a fight” and gave people the opportunity to choose a side with commitment and passion. As the great Robert Collier once said, “you want to enter the conversion that’s already going on in your prospect’s
mind”. That’s what I’m doing here, and it creates massive connection (and quickly). The important thing to see here is that when you draw a line in the sand and create “sides”, your audience wants to choose a side. And if you’re doing it properly, they’re going to want to be on your side (or, if they choose the other side, they’re not your ideal prospect anyway so it helps move them away from you). Ultimately, every business has a natural set of antagonists and villains, and by identifying and then focusing on them in your market, you create a natural distinction between you and the alternatives your market has. Steve Jobs did this in almost every presentation he gave and it strengthened the bond between the viewer and Apple every time he did it. This is a large part of the passion and loyalty that so many Apple fans have for their beloved company, and for Steve Jobs himself.
3. One More Thing
The final key element that separates Steve Jobs from most presenters is that he never lost sight of the fact that he had to entertain people. No one wants to sit and watch a boring presentation filled with a bunch of data, bar charts and financial figures. Not only did he figure out ways to present boring information like technical specifications so that it was interesting, he always focused on keeping his audience entertained.
Whenever you’re speaking to a prospect or client, you can never lose sight of the fact that most people are desperate for joy and fun in their lives. Again, with everything having gotten so complex and fast-paced in the last several years, a moment of simple fun or a smile can create powerful connection with you. Joy and surprise are 2 things that Steve Jobs employed in his presentations all the time, and it was this sense of trying to delight that made him so effective. One of his most creative and powerful methods was his “One More Thing” strategy. He would deliver a keynote address or presentation, and then would summarize and wrap up the talk. Then, as he made his way towards the edge of the stage, he would spin around, almost like he had forgotten to mention something. He would look at the audience, pause theatrically, and say “Oh! … just one more thing”. That phrase would come up on the screen, and create a renewed sense of excitement
that his presentation wasn’t really over. And he would then deliver the biggest, most exciting announcement of the entire presentation. It left people with a big surprise at the end, and it became one of his signature moves that became something people anticipated and looked forward to every time he spoke.
Creating this sense of fun and play with your audience is a very powerful way to engage them, gain their trust and interest, and develop a sense of connection with you. You need to think about how you can create a sense of fun, joy and surprise with your audience – because those are truly some of the most treasured, yet rare things that we get to experience in daily life. And by focusing on them, your audience will magnetize to you …because you’re giving them something that they likely do not get enough already.
One More Thing …
Unlock Your Passions And Personal Values!
These are the internal values and drivers that determine how you make decisions, and what is important to you. Some people call these core values. Steve Jobs was a great example of what happens when you align yourself with your own internal Core Values and Passion. When you know who you are and what motivates you, you literally can do anything you want.
I hope this article will help you to focus in on a very specific, but simple, set of concept that will allow you to instantly begin creating sales material, marketing messaging and presentations that attract new prospects like a magnet, and will have people commenting on how great your presentations are.
Isn’t that what you really want?
I’m wishing you joy and abundance, today and every day!
As Always,
Reaching out to make a difference….
Geeta
p.s. THOUGHTS TO PONDER
Again, you can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something – your gut, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life. ~ Steve Jobs
An iPod, a phone, an internet mobile communicator… these are NOT three separate devices! And we are calling it iPhone! Today Apple is going to reinvent the phone. And here it is. ~ Steve Jobs
