Whether you use Microsoft PowerPoint or Apple Keynote to deliver presentations, there is plenty you can learn from the Apple presentation that kicked off this week’s Worldwide Developers Conference 2012 (WWDC). Several executives took to the stage to unveil new MacBooks, the new version of the OS X operating system (Mountain Lion), and iOS 6 for mobile devices. Each of the featured Apple speakers are skilled presenters, but the first 30 minutes of the keynote offers an MBA class in presentation skills. Here are eight techniques you can adopt to improve your very next presentation.
Grab Attention. Your audience will give you about 90 seconds to grab their attention. If you’re boring right out of the gate, your audience will tune out and it will be very difficult to re-engage them. Apple always has something up its sleeve. At WWDC 2012 the audience expected to see Apple CEO Tim Cook open the keynote. Instead they got Siri, the iPhone personal assistant. Siri warmed up the crowd, literally, with jokes. A new and improved Siri was part of the presentation so it made sense that Apple would choose to shine the spotlight on it. Start strong or you risk losing your audience.
Apple CEO Tim Cook
Avoid bullet points. There are no bullet points in an Apple presentation. There are photos, images, and words, but no bullet points. A slide with filled with text and bullets is the least effective way to deliver information. Here’s a trick, though. If you want to show a list of items (such as features, benefits, technical specs, etc), place an image on the left of the side and the list on the right. Apple spokespeople do this frequently in every presentation. When Tim Cook provided an outline of the conference, his slide displayed an image of a WWDC badge on the left and a list of five items on the right (Our 23rd WWDC, Sold out in 1 hour 43 minutes, Attendees from 60 countries…). If you need to list items, place them to the right of an image and animate each item separately so they drop in to the slide one at a time.
Put numbers into context.Tim Cook and other Apple speakers deliver statistics by putting into the numbers into a context that’s relevant to the audience. For example, Cook said there were 400 million accounts on Apple’s App Store. More impressive, he said, “That makes it the store with the largest number of credit cards anywhere on the Internet.” This is a technique that Cook uses very effectively. In presentations and interviews, Cook will rarely deliver a statistic without adding one sentence that puts into perspective. Other Apple executives do something similar. When vice president Phil Schiller introduced the new MacBook Pro, he said it was just 0.71 inches. Instead of letting the audience figure out how thin that is, Schiller placed his finger alongside the computer and said, “It’s thinner than my finger. Never has there been a notebook this thin, this light, and this powerful for personal use.” Don’t just deliver statistics; put them into context.
Apple's Phil Schiller demonstrates actual thickness of MacBook
Keep number slides simple.Cook delivered a lot of impressive statistics: 400 million accounts on the app store, 650,000 apps, 225,000 apps for the iPad, 30 billion apps downloaded, etc. Whenever Cook mentioned a statistic, the number was the only text on the slide. When Cook said that 30 billion apps had been downloaded from the app store, his slide read: 30 Billion. Avoid the temptation to clutter the slides with extraneous information. Also, think visually when delivering statistics. Cook said that Apple had written $5 billion worth of checks to developers. When he delivered the statistic, the slide showed the image of a check made out to ‘developers,’ in the amount of 5,000,000,000. Important numbers should stand on their own.
Tim Cook makes numbers meaningful
Share the stage. Cook does not dominate the presentation. Instead he introduces several characters in the narrative. In the first thirty minutes of the presentation the audience heard from Cook, Phil Schiller, several app developers, and Apple designer Jony Ive (Ive and the developers were shown in video clips). Several other executives demonstrated new products later in the live presentation. Would you watch a movie with one character? Of course not. Then why do expect an audience to enjoy a presentation with only one person? If you can’t physically share the stage with another person from your company, introduce them via video or encourage some audience participation. A presentation shouldn’t be all about you.
Create headlines. Apple doesn’t wait for bloggers to decide what the headline is. Apple creates and delivers the headline for each of its products. It’s not hard to find the headline. Each new Apple product and key features is summarized in one sentence and the sentence is repeated in the live presentation and on the home page of the Apple Web site. For example, when Phil Schiller introduced a new MacBook Pro he told the audience that Apple engineers had “re-envisioned the consumer notebook.” The Apple.com home page immediately reflected the new message with the words, “Introducing MacBook Pro. It’s a whole new vision for the notebook.” Don’t wait for someone else to position your product. Do it for them.
Deliver wow moments.Molecular biologist John Medina at the University of Washington Medical School likes to say that the brain does not pay attention to boring things. An Apple presentation is never boring. Instead of simply demonstrating the new MacBook Pro, Phil Schiller built up to the moment by showing a slide with a notebook computer draped under a black curtain (it reminded me of 1984 when Steve Jobs built up the excitement for the first Macintosh by pointing to table on the center of the stage with a computer hidden in a black bag). “This is the most beautiful computer we’ve ever made,”
Apple home page after keynote
Schiller said when he finally revealed the computer. Don’t be boring. A little drama never hurts.
Inspire your audience.Like his predecessor and mentor, Steve Jobs, Cook doesn’t just sell products; he likes to inspire his audience, too. After delivering several impressive statistics, Cook said, “What we do together is much more important than any set of numbers could ever reflect. Our goal has always been to do great work and to make a difference in people’s lives. Nothing makes us happier than to see hundreds of thousands of developers around the world using our hardware and software to create and share their latest, greatest ideas.” Cook then introduced a video showing examples of unique apps making a difference in people’s lives (apps that help the blind explore their world or school
Apple's Phil Schiller unveils the new MacBook Pro
children in India learn anatomy). At the conclusion of the presentation, Cook remarked, “We are so proud of these products. Ultimately, it’s why people come to work at Apple, to create products that empower people, to make a difference. The products we make, combined with the apps you create, fundamentally change the world.” A good presentation delivers information effectively. A great presentation inspires.