New book promises to make you as “Insanely Great” as Steve Jobs
Sure, we all want to be like Steve Jobs, but it takes more than a mock turtleneck and Pancreatic cancer to snag a Gulfstream Jet. What you REALLY need to wow auditoriums full of devoted followers is Steve’s legendary “Reality Distortion Field”. Unfortunately, conventional wisdom has it that Steve’s RDF is something he was born with, not something that can be taught… or can it?
Can you pick out which one is the real Steve Jobs?
BusinessWeek‘s Carmine Gallo has penned the loquaciously titled The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs: How to Be Insanely Great in Front of Any Audience
For instance, did you know that: “Scientists are finding that the best way to communicate information is through text… AND images combined, and not text alone.”
Really? SCIENTISTS are finding that? Who’s funding this study, and where is it being conducted? Or, more importantly, WHEN is it being done? I’d guess sometime during the mid 1700’s. As a Dr. of some note myself, allow me to advance those scientists’ findings some 300 years into the future and let you know that people also like MOVING pictures too. And if you want to blow their minds, add sound, and if possible, COLOR to the video to really engage them.
While I can certainly agree there are some things one can do to make their Keynote/PowerPoint presentations visually more like Steve’s – Gallo points out you will never see a bullet point in a Steve Jobs slide – if you have a fear of public speaking I doubt a book is going to turn you into the next Billy Mays.
That is, of course, unless chapter 18 happens to be titled “BOOM”.
[via lifehacker]
Well… I actually think that this book might be quite good. I mean take the video as an example. It’s almost 6mins long and puts HIM to the test. Does he deliver ? Imo sure he does. I was really hooked for these 6mins and thought it was a good presentation. One I could easily follow. One that sticks in your mind. And one you can remember certain pieces of information after having watched it. It’s not see (hear) and forget.
So… I dunno… while my presentations are actually usually quite good (I take a LOT of time for prepping it… and refine it until it is perfect) I still believe I can benefit from this book…
I’ve already purchased and read this book. It’s quite good. My presentations have improved tremendously. I honestly think that anyone who makes presentations on a regular basis could benefit from reading this work.
I actually got a copy of this book for Christmas. I haven’t read it yet but I’ve flipped through it and it seems like a good read. Of course it’s not gonna turn you into the next Steve Jobs but it seems like a good book on how to give presentations.
I advice my students to watch Jobs’ presentations before their final exams, also because i want the to buy Macs to make my life easier.
Steve Jobs still hasn’t unleashed the ULTIMATE PRESENTATION TECHNIQUE. The wrestling world as ben using Scantily Clad Pretty Women With Huge Breasts for years. I imagine Jobs has this in his “Secret Technique” too but has been holding this back as the Ultimate One More Thing. I’ll bet Carmine Gallo never conceptualized the awesome power of the Supreme Reality Distortion Field – SEX!
@Andy, why do you think this site has gained such popularity. Not only is the Doc a great speaker (well, writer technically), but he has learned to follow the ultimate one more thing, MCOTM.
If only Jobs would fill his last slides with some Mac chicks, then Apple could finally overtake the other 80-some% of the computer industry.
Should be a good book, although the bullet-point thing is hugely noticeable and I doubt that any apple fanboy (those who wait for the macrumors MWSF no-spoiler link, to be clear) doesn’t know it. It’s like telling never to put a whole sentence on the slide, we all know this.
It should help a lot, though, the people who don’t.
BUT…. “it doesn’t matter if you’re using PowerPoint or Apple Keynote” ?!
…I miss Steve Jobs. no mwsf holiday goodness this year..