Have you seen how Steve Jobs presents his keynotes? Wow. He is not your typical, loud, eloquent speaker. But he’s really fundamentally sound and he’s really good at bringing his point across. I think he’s one of the coolest speakers I know. It helps that he has had really good products to sell.

Check part 2, and part 3. And see what I mean.

This article is from Carmine Gallo of BNET.COM. I have summarized and highlighted some parts of the article for AngPeregrino.Com’s readers’ convenience.

Comparing a Steve Jobs presentation to most presentations is impossible — he’s in a league all his own. Apple’s chief executive is arguably the most charismatic pitchman in business today. His presentations are brilliant demonstrations of visual storytelling that turn customers, employees, and the entire computer industry into evangelists.

STEP 1: Ignite Your Enthusiasm
Goal: Engage your listeners’ passion by tapping into your own.

Steve Jobs is passionate about designing cool, fun, and easy-to-use computers, digital music players, and now phones. And he’s not too bashful to admit it. His words and phrases reflect his enthusiasm. These are quotes from the iPhone launch and from previous presentations:

“We’re going to make some history together today…”

“Today we’re introducing revolutionary products…”

“We’ve got amazing stuff to show you this morning…”

“This is an awesome computer…”

“This is an incredible way to have fun…”

“This is the coolest thing we’ve done with video…”

“We are so excited about this. It’s incredible…”

The lesson here: If you honestly believe that something is “amazing,” go ahead and say it. After all, if you’re not passionate about the topic, how is your audience going to be?

STEP 2: Navigate the Way
Goal: Present your theme as a mantra to help your listeners remember it easily.

Jobs has always been able to craft a vision so vivid and powerful, he rallies his listeners to the better future he sees and, in so doing, persuades them to go along for the ride.

“This is a day I’ve been looking forward to for two and a half years,” Jobs said during the iPhone launch. “Every once in a while, a revolutionary product comes along that changes everything. One would be fortunate to work on just one of these in your career. Apple has been very fortunate to introduce a few of these in the world.” At this point in the presentation, Jobs reminds his audience about the Macintosh and the iPod, giving listeners permission to believe in the vision he is about to describe: “Today Apple is going to reinvent the phone!”

Reinvent the phone. This is a mantra so simple and yet so bold, and reflects a concise core purpose that is easy for listeners to remember and to rally around.

Step 3: Sell the Benefit
Goal: Explain the real-world problem, then offer your solution.

Once Jobs reveals his one-liner — his core vision — he immediately launches into a discussion of why the world needs a new phone. A solution is inspiring only when it cures a real-world pain. While most speakers describe the solution before the problem, Jobs flips it around to make it easier for the listener to follow.

Jobs sells the benefit of the phone by first describing the current state of the industry. The problem, he says, “is [smartphones] are not that smart, and they are not that easy to use. We want to make a leapfrog product that is way smarter than any mobile device has ever been and super easy to use. That is what iPhone is.”

Jobs continues to describe the problem on most smartphones: keyboards, which take up more than one-third of the phone whether the person is using them or not. The Apple solution is to create a “revolutionary interface” that will get rid of the buttons and create one giant screen. This brings up the problem — how do you get around the screen with no scroll wheel or stylus?

Again, Jobs sets up a problem and offers a solution: “We’re going to use the best pointing device in the world,” he says. “A device we’re all born with. Our fingers.” Jobs then describes Apple’s new “multi-touch” technology that accurately responds to the touch of a finger to bring up applications on the phone.

Step 4: Paint a Picture
Goal: Use a captivating storyline to structure your presentation.

Jobs tells the iPhone story by using several techniques:

1. Stick to the rule of three. We remember lists in groups of three. Jobs unveiled the iPhone and built drama at the same time by saying, “Today we are introducing three revolutionary products. The first is a wide-screen iPod with touch controls, the second is a revolutionary mobile phone, and the third is a breakthrough Internet communications device.” For added emphasis, he repeated the three products three times, then delivered the knockout: “These are not three separate devices. This is one device! Today Apple is going to reinvent the phone!”

2. Tell personal stories. During one section of the presentation, Jobs’s clicker suddenly stopped working. He mentioned it with a smile, knowing that someone backstage would take care of it, then told a story about how he and Apple cofounder Steve Wozniak had built a TV jammer and used it to block TV signals at Wozniak’s college dorm. He used the opportunity to make an emotional connection with his audience. Once the problem was solved, Jobs continued as if it had all been planned. Effortless but powerful.

3. Keep it visual. In a Steve Jobs presentation, you will not find bullet points, mind-numbing data, or lists of numbers on slides. When Jobs mentioned each of the three products — an iPod, a phone, an Internet communicator — a slide with an image of the product appeared. When he discussed the “ultimate pointing device” — your fingers — all the audience saw on the screen was an image of a finger touching the iPhone.

Too much text on the screen distracts from the speaker’s words. Strike the right balance between visual and verbal by creating slides that are big on images and low on text.

4. Rehearse. Jobs rehearses presentations for hours. Nothing is taken for granted. He knows the flow of his story, how he is going to build up to a big moment, what he is going to demonstrate, and how he will open and close the presentation. He appears effortless — but only after hours of rehearsal. Motivation takes preparation.