7 Lessons From The World's Most Captivating Presenters (SlideShare)

7 Lessons From the World's Most Captivating Presenters [Slide...
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7 Lessons From the World's Most Captivating Presenters [SlideShare]
by Marta Kagan
March 18, 2013 at 9:00 AM
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Its 7:54 on a frigid January morning in San Francisco. Youre waiting outside the Moscone Center, in a
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queue of several thousand people, many of whom have been camping out in the cold for over 12 hours. The security detail for this event rivals the Democratic National Convention. Another hour passes before youre comfortably seated in a giant auditorium thats crackling with anticipation. Finally, at 9:43 a.m., the moment youve been waiting for arrives. The thin, soft-spoken man gracing the stage in his signature turtleneck and jeans, clears his throat, takes a sip from his water bottle, then pauses for a full 12 seconds before uttering these words: "This is a day I've been looking forward to for two and a half years. Every once in a while a revolutionary product comes along that changes everything. Such was the scene on January 9, 2007, when Steve Jobs unveiled the iPhone in one of the most captivating product launches in history. Indeed the iPhone was a revolutionary product, but it wasnt the iPhone that inspired thousands of people to camp out in the cold over night. It was Jobs unique presentation style -- which Apple fans referred to as a Stevenote -- that helped make this among the most awe-inspiring, memorable keynotes ever delivered. As Carmine Gallo puts it in his book, The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs, Steve
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transformed the typical, dull, technical, plodding slideshow into a theatrical event complete with heroes, villains, a supporting cast, and stunning backdrops. People who witness a Steve Jobs presentation for the rst time describe it as an extraordinary experience. At LeWeb Paris in December 2012, I had the opportunity to witness another kind of extraordinary experience. This wasnt a product launch; it was a keynote delivered by charity: water Founder and CEO Scott Harrison. Scott shared the remarkable and very personal story of how a spiritually bankrupt New York City night club promoter found courage, purpose -- and a new mission in life -- on a trip to one of the poorest countries in West Africa.
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Scotts presentation moved people to tears and drew a standing ovation. And thats not the sort of thing that typically happens at a tech conference. Last year at INBOUND, the worlds largest gathering of inbound marketers, before an audience of 2800, Gary Vaynerchuck did the unthinkable. No, it wasnt dropping the f-bomb 76 times (he did, in fact, drop the f-bomb 76 times, but thats not the unthinkable Im referring to). Gary gave an impassioned, inspiring 45-minute keynote -- at 9 oclock in the morning -- without a single PowerPoint slide. He had the audience laughing, cheering, and tweeting like mad. He, too, earned his standing ovation.
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Steve, Scott, and Gary are three of the worlds most captivating communicators. Their ability to inuence, entertain, and inspire an audience is incredible. And yet, their presentation styles are totally different. What, if anything, do they have in common? What can we learn from them to improve our own presentation skills? In a word: plenty. Because even if youre not the star of a highly anticipated product launch, or the CEO of an organization that is reinventing charity, or a best-selling author/entrepreneur who can say F**K! 76 times in 45 minutes and still get a
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standing ovation -- chances are, youre going to be standing in front of an audience delivering a presentation of some kind at some point in your career. So learn from the best. Take these 7 lessons from the worlds most captivating presenters, and apply them to your next presentation. You'll also nd them in the SlideShare below, sliced up into 10 lessons.
What Would Steve Do? 10 Lessons from the World's Most Captivating Presenters from HubSpot All-in-one Marketing Software
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LESSON #1: START WITH PAPER, NOT POWERPOINT.

Think back to the last time you prepared for a presentation. Did you start by outlining the story you would tell on paper? Did you then gradually weave in meaningful data, examples, and supporting points, based on that outline? Did you have a clear unifying message that your audience would remember even without the benet of a transcript or notes? Chances are, you answered no to those questions. If youre like most people, you probably prepared by opening up PowerPoint the night before your presentation, cobbling together a few dozen slides from decks you or your colleagues have used in the past, peppering in a few stock photos, and counting on your ability to wing it in person. The single most important thing you can do to dramatically improve your presentations is to have a story to tell before you work on your PowerPoint le. Cliff Atkinson, Beyond Bullet Points The worlds most captivating communicators know better. They carefully, painstakingly plan,
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storyboard, script, design, and rehearse their presentations like an Oscar-winning Hollywood director prepares their lm for the big screen. Theyve seen the impact that a carefully crafted story can have on inuencing an audience, and they know that skipping this crucial rst step is what separates average communicators from extraordinary ones. According to Nancy Duarte, the communications expert behind Al Gores An Inconvenient Truth, presenters should dedicate roughly 30 hours to researching, organizing, sketching, storyboarding, scripting, and revising the story for a one-hour presentation. (Later, theyll invest another 30 hours to building their slides, and a nal 30 hours to rehearsing the delivery.)
TAKEAWAY:
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Dont sell yourself short by jumping head-rst into presentation software. Take the time to thoughtfully craft your story on paper before you even think about creating a single slide.
LESSON #2: TELL YOUR STORY IN 3 ACTS.

Most presentations follow some variation on the following format: 1. Who I am 2. What I do (or what my company does) 3. How my product/company/idea is different 4. Why you should buy/invest/support me now The worlds most captivating communicators typically rely on a three-act structure, more common in modern storytelling than in corporate conference rooms. The narrative is divided into three parts -- the setup, the confrontation, and the resolution -- and comes complete with vivid characters, heroes, and villains. The following table provides a snapshot of the three-act structure and which critical questions are answered for the audience in each:
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Notice that this structure turns the typical presentation ow on its head. Instead of following a WHO > WHAT > HOW > WHY ow, master communicators like Steve Jobs prefer a WHY > HOW > WHAT format, because they recognize that the rst thing they need to do when standing in front of an audience is get them to care. So they begin by answering the one question everyone in the audience is silently asking: Why should I care? From there, they focus on answering the question, How will this make my life better? and nally, they spell out the WHAT, as in, What action do I need to take now?
TAKEAWAY:
By structuring your presentation with a clear and
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compelling beginning, middle, and end, youll take your audience on an exciting journey the kind that inspires action, sells products, and funds businesses.
LESSON #3: A PICTURE IS WORTH 1000 WORDS.

Theres a reason why expressions like, Seeing is believing and, A picture is worth 1000 words are so universally recognized -- and that reason is based in science. Its called the Picture Superiority Effect, and it refers to a large body of research, which shows that humans more easily learn and recall information that is presented as pictures than when the same information is presented in words. In one experiment, for instance, subjects who were presented with information orally could remember about 10% of the content 72 hours later. Those who were presented with information in picture format were able to recall 65% of the content.
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Not only do we remember visual input better, but we also process visual information 60,000x faster in the brain than we do text. Which of the following did you comprehend faster, for example?
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Sure, it takes more time to nd and select awesome images to replace text, but master communicators know that its worth the extra effort to achieve maximum impact and maximum audience retention.
TAKEAWAY:
Images are wicked powerful. Use them liberally.
LESSON #4: EMOTIONS GET OUR ATTENTION.

Virtually every presentation relies on some form of data to illustrate or emphasize the core point. Master communicators like Steve Jobs leverage
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data skillfully -- but they also know that data alone aint enough. Think of it this way: If data were sufcient to truly change the way people think or behave, nobody would smoke. Organized religion would have no followers. And who in their right mind would have unprotected sex with a stranger? Clearly, humans are creatures guided by more than logic alone. Science again comes to our aid in explaining how and why this is important. In his book, Brain Rules, molecular biologist John Medina has this to say about the role of emotion on the human brain: An emotionally charged event (usually called an ECS, short for emotionally competent stimulus) is the best-processed kind of external stimulus ever measured. Emotionally charged events persist much longer in our memories and are recalled with greater accuracy than neutral memories.
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Chip and Dan Heath further elaborate on the impact that emotion can have on persuasive communication in their book, Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die. The authors describe an exercise that Chip does with his students at Stanford University. The students are tasked with giving a one-minute persuasive speech. Everyone must present on the same topic, with half the class arguing for one point of view and the other half arguing for the opposite point of view. After everyone has given their one-minute speech, the students are invited to rate each other on the effectiveness of the presentations, and then instructed to write down key points made by each speaker. Heres the data they collected from this
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exercise: On average, the students used 2.5 statistics during their one-minute speeches 1/10 of the students used a personal story to make their point 63% of the class remembered details from the speeches that used stories Only 5% remember the statistics that were shared The Heaths drew this conclusion from the data: The stars of stickiness are the students who made their case by telling stories, or by tapping into emotion, or by stressing a single point rather than ten. Perhaps nobody more succinctly emphasizes the importance of making your audience feel than Pulitzer Prize-winning author Maya Angelou: People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.
TAKEAWAY:
Make sure your presentation content goes beyond pure facts. Triggering audience emotion is a guaranteed way to increase retention and impact of your core message.
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LESSON #5: USE PLAIN ENGLISH.

When Steve Jobs introduced the world to the iPod, he could have said something like this: Today were introducing a new, portable music player that weighs a mere 6.5 ounces, is about the size of a sardine can, and boasts voluminous capacity, long battery life, and lightning-fast transfer speeds. But he didnt. Instead, he said: iPod. One thousand songs in your pocket. Jobs could have described the MacBook Air as a smaller, lighter MacBook Pro with a generously-sized 13.3-inch, 1280- by 800-pixel, glossy LED screen and a full-size keyboard. Instead, he walked on stage with an ofce-sized manila envelope, pulled the notebook out and simply said, What is MacBook Air? In a sentence, its the worlds thinnest notebook.
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Unlike most of his contemporaries, Jobs generally avoided complicated stats, technical data, buzzwords, and jargon in his presentations. Instead, he relied on simple, clear, direct language that was easy to understand, easy to remember, and better yet, was extremely tweetable. Jobs frequently used metaphors and analogies to bring meaning to numbers -- for instance, when he described the iPod as a thousand songs in your pocket instead of 5GB of memory. A closer look at some of Jobs most famous keynotes reads like a presentation in headlines -- powerful, memorable, specic statements that
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consistently add up to fewer than 140 characters. Now take a look at one of your recent presentations. Is it buoyant with simple, specic, tweetable headlines? Does the script read like plain English that a 7-year-old could understand? Do you put data and stats in context so their meaning is clear and easy-to-digest? Have you ruthlessly pruned out all of the jargon, including overused, meaningless terms like integrated, platform, leading-edge, synergy, and so on?
TAKEAWAY:
If you want to improve your ability to persuade an audience, do your best Steve Jobs impression. Use simple language, free of jargon. Make sure your key messages are concrete and consistent. And dont forget to use vivid metaphors or analogies to provide context and clarity around big numbers and complex ideas.
LESSON #6: DITCH THE BULLET POINTS.

This may be hard to believe, but Steve Jobs never used a single bullet point. Not once. His presentations were always remarkable spare, relying on a few powerful images and carefully selected words or phrases.
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Even during product demos where Jobs explains or demonstrates key benets of a new product, his slides are refreshingly devoid of bullet points.
As Seth Godin explains in a 2007 ebook called Really Bad PowerPoint, The minute you put bullet points on the screen, you are announcing write this down, but dont really pay attention to it now. People dont take notes at the opera. Seths right. Researchers have demonstrated time and time again that text and bullet points are the least effective way to deliver important information. Yet despite clear evidence that wordy, bulletpoint-heavy slides dont work, the average PowerPoint slide has 40 words. No wonder SlideRocket has found that 32% of people fall asleep during PowerPoint presentations, and 20% would rather go to the dentist than sit through
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another one! Fact: the human brain has this function called short-term memory, which is basically the ability to process and retain a small amount of information at the same time.
Think of short-term memory as your brains Post-It note. Like a Post-It note, it doesnt have huge capacity. On average, our short-term memory can hold onto fewer than 7 items for no longer than 10-15 seconds. So, imagine youre introducing the worlds thinnest notebook. Replace the bulleted list of techie product features with a photograph of a large, manila ofce envelope.
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Or perhaps youre trying to inspire an audience to help your nonprot end the water crisis? Skip the bulleted list of statistics in favor of a short, powerful video that shows rather than tells why everyone in the room should care. The next time youre tempted to cram a dozen facts onto a slide, remind yourself of the Leonardo Da Vinci philosophy that Steve Jobs frequently quoted: Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication. Or take a page from Gary Vaynerchuks book, and ditch the slides altogether!
TAKEAWAY:
Guns dont kill people. Bullets do.
LESSON #7: REHEARSE LIKE CRAZY.

As communications expert Nancy Duarte pointed out in Lesson #1, creating a presentation that informs, entertains, AND inspires an audience takes a lot of time. The rst 30 hours will be spent researching, sketching, planning, and revising your story. The next 30 hours will go toward building simple, highly visual slides with very few words and
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NO BULLETS. The nal 30 hours will go toward rehearsing the delivery. When was the last time you spent 30 hours rehearsing for a presentation? Of all of the lessons revealed above, this one is undoubtedly the most often overlooked. Dont be the person who does everything by the book, only to blow it all at the very end by failing to practice. A lot.
TAKEAWAY:
30 hours of rehearsing may be painful. Its denitely time-consuming. But there are no shortcuts to excellence.
A FEW FINAL THOUGHTS.

On September 28, 1997, Apple debuted its now famous Think Different ad campaign, which featured a series of black-and-white images of iconic gures like Albert Einstein, Martin Luther King Jr., and Amelia Earhart. While their images ashed on the screen, the following words were spoken: Heres to the crazy ones. The mists. The rebels.
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The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square hole. The ones who see things differently. Theyre not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you cant do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do. The goal of the Think Different campaign was to sell computers. Notice how the word computer didnt appear even once in the script. I point this out as a nal thought, because it summarizes a crucial, remarkable quality shared by most of the worlds most captivating communicators, including Steve Jobs, Scott Harrison, and Gary Vaynerchuk. They may have wildly different presentation styles, but they all have this in common: They dont just provide information; they convey meaning -- and they do it with passion. They dont simply tell people what is, they paint a vivid picture of what could be -- and then they arm their audience with a roadmap to get there. World-class presenters like Jobs, Harrison, and Vaynerchuk arent selling computers, clean water,
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or wine. Theyre selling the dream of a better tomorrow. By applying the 7 lessons described above, perhaps you can, too. Image Credits: iphonsavior.com, Inc.com
Guy Siverson
2013
9:18 AM on March 18,
And when it comes to online marketing consider PPT slides via a system like SlideShare to be a highly relevant option. I often forget how powerful this can be with all the other options available which likely makes this a real boon for whoever
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takes advantage of it.
Jon Nugent
2013
It would be helpful to have a short biography of each HubSpot bloggers experience which relates to the topic he or she is writing about so the audience could weigh the credibility of the author's opinion. For instance, when Malcolm Gladwell writes about marketing it's given considerable weight due to his books being on the New York Times best sellers list.
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So Charming
2013
Just wanted to say that we receive your blog posts several times a day and they have been a massive help to us as well as a valuable source of information ~ thank you!
Jana L. Sheeder
March 18, 2013
9:24 AM on
Awesome blog and topic! I particularly enjoyed learning about "Picture Superiority Effect." Yes, a picture IS worth a thousand words. I also believe that having the audience participate in (not just sit and listen) what you're describing helps people to remember, even if you have them do a few simple tasks (all at once). This blog has helped me to rethink presentations. Thank you.
Thomas Smith
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9:30 AM on March
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18, 2013
I've
never really been one to favour slideshows, usually trying to keep slides as crisp and clean as possible. I nd that it can help with 'simplicity' which, as mentioned above, is the ultimate sophistication. Obviously we all need sophistication to be successful... well... it certainly helps.
Rick Hunsicker
18, 2013
9:34 AM on March
Thanks for this very helpful post and very good timing since I'm nishing up a presentation that I'll make over the next two days, and this helped!
Kamran Khan
2013
I loved this page. I dream to be a public speaker like Jobs and others. But I wonder how I am able to inspire other (so far it's true) despite I head to powerpoint
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as rst thing - and I use bullets set as clues. Although 95% of what I speak is not "written" on slides. Those are just clues.
Deon Nel
9:12 AM on March 22, 2013
Go to Nancy Duarte - Harvard Business School for more [brilliant] ideas on doing presentations.
Slap Dog Hoops

March 22, 2013
10:34 AM on
Great info. They should really be teaching these kind of things in schools.
Dorsey M. Deaton
March 22, 2013
12:16 PM on
As a professor for 33 years and a business speaker for 40, I agree with the insights here, many of which I came to
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late. I recommend this presentation because it got to me. I have been in search of a hero for my own inner villain.
Alexander
2013
2:02 PM on March 22,
Points well taken.
Brain
4:26 PM on March 22, 2013
You guys are really rock. Love all the lesson and especially slide. I am going to make some slide and gonna use these tips.
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Winston
7:28 PM on March 22, 2013
Very good suggestions given. Like the old addage in real estate, in making a presentation, it is Preparation, Preparation, Preparation !!
Winston
7:28 PM on March 22, 2013
Very good suggestions given. Like the old addage in real estate, in making a presentation, it is Preparation, Preparation, Preparation !!
Alex Hagan
2013
This is a great post, bookmarked and incredibly useful. Thankyou.
Subrata Roy
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2013
Great stuff!!! So this is what I was missing during my presentations. Brilliant ideas gotta work on them. Thanks.
Subrata Roy
2013
Great stuff!!! So this is what I was missing during my presentations. Brilliant ideas gotta work on them. Thanks.
Hadley Stern
2013
Great piece, as always, Marta. I was at many Steve Jobs keynotes, including the one you referenced here where he announced the iPhone. Watching him present was always such a pleasure. He was the master.
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Bkidd
6:56 PM on March 23, 2013
Great article, seven concise points to a powerful presentation. Thanks!
Chris Meyiwa
2013
Brilliant insights on communication! How fresh!
Joby Blume
2013
Are you serious with the line about Steve Jobs - 'his slides are refreshingly devoid of bullet points' pictured immediately above a picture of a slide of his with six bullet points? Just because he doesn't actually have the bullet symbol there, doesn't make it any better. They are just pretty bullet points. The point is a good one - bullet points suck - but let's not pretend that Steve Jobs was perfect and ignore the picture in front of our eyes! I
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don't disagree with your advice - in general. But readers should be aware that there's a big difference between what works in 'ballroom' presentations (e.g. big event keynotes) and the sort of presentations that get delivered in meeting rooms each day. Also worth noting that most of us don't have the natural charisma or condence to present like Steve Jobs, and probably need our slides to do a bit more of the 'heavy lifting' - I wrote an article about it, for anyone who wants a bit more of the reasoning: http://www.brightcarbon.com /blog/the-presentation-style-of-stevejobs-dont-try-this-at-home/
Harish Chakravarthy
March 24, 2013
6:44 PM on
Right on!
Chantal
9:45 PM on March 24, 2013
This is so well done! Thank you for sharing this. Not only are your points
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relevant to presentations, but they are also relevant to to all kinds of communication. I am inspired to apply what I have learned here.
Chantal
9:45 PM on March 24, 2013
This is so well done! Thank you for sharing this. Not only are your points relevant to presentations, but they are also relevant to to all kinds of communication. I am inspired to apply what I have learned here.
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Efren
10:52 PM on March 24, 2013
great share. i think i have done some of the basics mentioned in this article. my seminar sessions was always a stage play where in include my participants as part of the casting of actors. it leaves a feel good memories to all. post seminar evaluations says it all. a fun way to learn. this article will improve my training styles more. huge amount of gratitude who shared this.
Efren
10:52 PM on March 24, 2013
great share. i think i have done some of the basics mentioned in this article. my seminar sessions was always a stage play where in include my participants as part of the casting of actors. it leaves a feel good memories to all. post seminar evaluations says it all. a fun way to learn. this article will improve my training styles more. huge amount of gratitude who shared this.
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Philippa
2:30 AM on March 25, 2013
A quick note to say that I think this is a one of the best (and most relevant) of the blog posts I have read on Hubspot. Well done.
Philippa
2:32 AM on March 25, 2013
A quick note to say that I think this is a one of the best (and most relevant) of the blog posts I have read on Hubspot. Well done.
Bala FCA
2:56 AM on March 25, 2013
As a person hesitant to speak in front of any audience, When our HR Head started insisting on my taking to stage in Company Senior Executives and Shop Floor meetings, I have realised that Preparation and Preparation does help. The other points are all brilliant additions to the personal charm of a natural speaker. I wish I were 15 years younger
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and in service to try out these and sharpen my skillsets !!
Bala FCA
2:57 AM on March 25, 2013
As a person hesitant to speak in front of any audience, When our HR Head started insisting on my taking to stage in Company Senior Executives and Shop Floor meetings, I realised that Preparation and Preparation does help. The other points are all brilliant additions to the personal charm of a natural speaker. I wish I were 15 years younger and in service to try out these and sharpen my skillsets !!
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Mark
6:18 AM on March 25, 2013
"Infamous" = "well known for some bad quality or deed; wicked, abominable." I do not think this is what you were trying to say about Apple's 'Think Different' campaign. Or were you? I'm assuming you meant "celebrated" or "famous".
Mike
8:45 AM on March 25, 2013
We also have to consider the audience and our purpose relative to them. If the purpose is to 'sell' something, then emotion is critical. They have to feel the need to buy. Alternatively, if the purpose is to convey precise information, such as a network device conguration, or prescription side effects, it does not matter how emotional you become if you don't deliver the meat.
Property Management Companies In Detroit Area
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6:45 PM on July 06, 2013
Great Blog! Your post was very interesting! I think your points are excellent and I look forward to reading more of your posts!
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All inbound marketing, all the time.