The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs: How to Be Insanely Great in Front of Any Audience Hardcover – Oct 2 2009

This is a good news, bad news book. The good news is that there are some great tips in this book. The bad news is that it shares that Steve Jobs spent about one hour of preparation time for each minute of presentation. I suspect that if we all did that, we'd all be half way to delivering great presentations without ever reading this book. So, if you're looking for a short cut, this book isn't for you. But, if you want to copy the best and put in the work, this book is very accessible and provides some great insights.

Read it more than 5x and still getting new insights every time. Use some of the techniques in my toastmasters speech "Think like Steve". Get the hard copy as well.

excellent.

Brilliant! Great lessons on how 'less is more' when it comes to PowerPoint presentations.

Exactly as descirbed. Great product.

Not as good as the biography but we can learn a lot about Steve Jobs and his Technic.I strongly recommend that book.

Let's face it, few (if any) of those who read this book will then be "insanely great in front of any audience." That's not why Carmine Gallo wrote it. Rather, his purpose is to help his readers to present their ideas to anyone, anywhere, anytime "with the power of believing in themselves and in their story." Obviously, there are valuable lessons to be learned from what Steve Jobs does and how he does it. He brings so many resources to bear on each presentation. They include (1) a thorough understanding of the given subject, (2) a passionate interest in it, (3) rigorous and extensive preparation, (4) total self-confidence and physical presence that command attention, (5) brilliant insights that are thoroughly developed, and (6) sharp focus on what is most interesting and most important to the audience...and on nothing else. I have seen Jobs in action several times and can attest to the power and impact of what he says and how he says it.

Note: Visit [...] and upload his commencement speech at Stanford in 2005. Once you've seen and heard it, you will never forget it.

Gallo cites a few tips early in his narrative. They may seem simple but don't be fooled. All of the greatest public speakers will tell you that it took them many years (about 10,000 hours) of deliberate practice to master them.

1. "Plan in Analog": Think of the presentation as a story that has a setting, a plot, characters, conflicts, increasing tensions because of unsolved problems and/or unanswered questions, a climax, and a brief concluding lesson.

2. "Answer the One Question That Matters Most": Those in the audience are asking the same question, "Why should I care." Disregard this question and you will lose the audience almost immediately.

3. "Develop a Messianic Sense of Purpose": Gallo notes that Jobs was worth more than $100 million by the time he was 25 and it didn't natter to him at all. That wasn't what he was about. "Understanding this one fact will help you unlock the secret behind Jobs's extraordinary charisma."

4. "Create Twitter-like Headlines": Develop headlines into 140-character sentences. Less is more.

5. "Draw a Road Map": Jobs effectively uses the most powerful principle of persuasion, The Rule of Three (i.e. three new products, three objectives, three barriers. three parts, three new features).

6. "Introduce the Antagonist": In each of Jobs's greatest presentations, he introduces a common enemy against which everyone unites, becomes emotionally engaged, prepares to do battle, agrees to make sacrifices, etc.

Note: It could be waste, a foreign country, the New York Yankees ("the Evil Empire"), a product, a competitor. Whatever.

7. "Reveal the Conquering hero": At each presentation, Jobs introduces a hero that the audience can rally around. It could be a person, a product, a goal, or a destination.

As I suggested earlier, few (if any) of those who read this book will then be "insanely great in front of any audience." However, there are valuable lessons to be learned from what Steve Jobs does and how he does it. I commend Carmine Gallo on his brilliant organization and presentation of so much material. As perhaps he would agree, much of his success as a writer is explained by how much he has learned from "an insanely great" role model.

Best part is that it is a short and fascinating read. There are so many different real examples of Steve Job's actual presentations - throughout the book. This is fantastic, though it does break up the reading flow -and can get a bit distracting. That aside, it is great to have a reference with so many real examples. Also the whole book is based on the world champion in product demonstrations - Steve Jobs. If you just learn 3 things from him you are on a role (like making your presentation follow 3 acts).
Great read. Concise, to the point, and a super important subject to someone like me - who presents and represents his own company - constantly