The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs How to Be Insanely Great in Front of Any Audience Carmine Gallo Columnist, Businessweek.com New York Chicago San Francisco Lisbon London Madrid Mexico City Milan New Delhi San Juan Seoul Singapore Sydney Toronto Copyright © 2010 by Carmine Gallo. All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the United States Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced or dis- tributed in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher. ISBN: 978-0-07-163675-9 MHID: 0-07-163675-7 The material in this eBook also appears in the print version of this title: ISBN: 978-0-07-163608-7, MHID: 0-07-163608-0. All trademarks are trademarks of their respective owners. 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To my father, Franco, an insanely great man who has lived an extraordinary life This page intentionally left blank CONTENTS CCCOOONNNTTTEEENNNTTTSSS Acknowledgments vii Prologue: How to Be Insanely Great in Front of Any Audience ix ACT 1 CREATE THE STORY 1 SCENE 1 Plan in Analog 3 SCENE 2 Answer the One Question That Matters Most 15 SCENE 3 Develop a Messianic Sense of Purpose 27 SCENE 4 Create Twitter-Like Headlines 39 SCENE 5 Draw a Road Map 49 SCENE 6 Introduce the Antagonist 63 SCENE 7 Reveal the Conquering Hero 75 INTERMISSION 1 Obey the Ten-Minute Rule 83 ACT 2 DELIVER THE EXPERIENCE 85 SCENE 8 Channel Their Inner Zen 87 SCENE 9 Dress Up Your Numbers 105 SCENE 10 Use “Amazingly Zippy” Words 113 SCENE 11 Share the Stage 127 SCENE 12 Stage Your Presentation with Props 137 SCENE 13 Reveal a “Holy Shit” Moment 151 INTERMISSION 2 Schiller Learns from the Best 161 ACT 3 REFINE AND REHEARSE 165 SCENE 14 Master Stage Presence 167 SCENE 15 Make It LookEffortless 179 SCENE 16 Wear the Appropriate Costume 195 SCENE 17 Toss the Script 199 SCENE 18 Have Fun 207 Encore: One More Thing 215 Notes 219 Index 233 v This page intentionally left blank ACKNOWLEDGMENTS AAACCCKKKNNNOOOWWWLLLEEEDDDGGGMMMEEENNNTTTSSS T his book is a collaborative effort. The content took shape with the help of family, colleagues, and the amazing staff at McGraw-Hill. Big thanks to my edi- tor, John Aherne, for his enthusiasm and counsel, and to Kenya Henderson, for making it all happen! McGraw-Hill design, marketing, and public relations staff are among the best in the book publishing industry. I’m honored they share my excitement about the subject. My wife, Vanessa, manages our business at Gallo Commun- ications Group. She worked tirelessly to prepare the manuscript. How she found the time between juggling our business and car- ing for our two children is beyond the scope of “mere mortals.” Many thanks to my editor at BusinessWeek.com, Nick Leiber, who always seems to find a way to improve my columns. As always, thank you, Ed Knappman, my encouraging agent at New England Publishing Associates. Ed’s knowledge and insight are second to none. I owe thanks to my parents, Franco and Giuseppina, for their unwavering support. Thank you, Tino, Donna, Francesco, Nick, Patty, Ken, and many other close friends and family members who understood why I couldn’t be around or why I had to skip golf on weekends. Back to the course! My girls, Josephine and Lela. You are Daddy’s inspiration. All your patience during Daddy’s absence will be rewarded with an insanely great visit to Chuck E. Cheese. vii This page intentionally left blank PROLOGUE PPPRRROOOLLLOOOGGGUUUEEE How to Be Insanely Great in Front of Any Audience A person can have the greatest idea in the world— completely different and novel—but if that person can’t convince enough other people, it doesn’t matter. GREGORY BERNS S teve Jobs is the most captivating communicator on the world stage. No one else comes close. A Jobs presenta- tion unleashes a rush of dopamine into the brains of his audience. Some people go to great lengths to get this hit, even spending the night in freezing temperatures to ensure the best seat at one of his speeches. When they don’t get that buzz, they go through withdrawals. How else do you explain the fact that some fans threatened to protest Jobs’s absence from a conference he had keynoted for years? That’s what happened when Apple announced that Jobs would not deliver his tradi- tional keynote presentation at Macworld Expo in 2009. (Apple also announced that it would be the last year in which the com- pany would participate in this annual trade show produced by Boston-based IDG World Expo.) ix