Making it all about the audience is our first really powerful step towards emulating the Steve Jobs style of speaking.
The next step is passion.
From every moment Steve is on stage what we get from him is the excitement of having the chance to share this new creation with us.
image: Erik Pitti (Flickr)
He could have chosen to give the standard business presentation:
“Today we are releasing our next product, it’s called the iphone, as part of its functionality, you can also use it as a music player, or as an Internet device. it’s the complete all in one system.”
But this is not what he did, he showed us his emotions:
“We’ve been lucky enough to do some amazing stuff so far and I’m really excited to share this new product with you”
When he demoed the iPhone or IPad, he was excited by every single feature.
Even when he delivered boring technical specifications, it visibly thrilled him.
We all know what a turn off it can be when a speaker doesn’t speak with passion about a topic but does that mean that being passionate will always have a positive effect?
Showing passion and excitement in a presentation can have two effects on an audience:
1. It can have no impact
2. It can be infectious
We have all seen presentations where passion has had no impact, they’re the presentations where we’re left wondering, “Why is he so excited about this, it’s just a computer, it’s just a phone”.
This happens when the presenter hasn’t answered that one question:
What’s in it for me?
By making it relevant, by showing them how you’re giving them something that will change their lives, they will share your excitement and that excitement will mean that they will want to share your message and tell everyone they know about your product
And with that relevance and passion, your audience stops being just the people in the room, it becomes everyone they know and their friends and their friends.
So the next time you stand up to speak, ask yourself:
What’s the message that you want to share with the world?
10 STEPS TO SPEAKING LIKE STEVE JOBS
- Practice Until You’re a Natural
- Be Audience-Centric
- Why Should They Listen To You?
- Why Should the Audience be Excited by Your Idea or Product?
- Why This Is The Best Thing That You’ve Ever Done
- Use a Tagline
- Show Your Passion
- Use Theatre and Magic to Captivate Your Audience
- Use Great Visuals
- What Would Steve Do? (Coming Soon)