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August 8, 2011Amazing Example of a Boardroom Presentation Using PowerPoint
August 11, 2011Presentation guru Steve Jobs would never unveil iCloud reading the text right off his slides. Would he? Fast forward to (3:17-3:55) and (6:10-6:47) and see for yourself.
Isn’t that what SourPointers say is a cardinal sin: reading your slide text? If there’s text on the slide, say SourPointers, just send us the slides and cancel Steve’s presentation.
This so-called cardinal sin is completely wrong (see The “Mayer Myth” Busted). In fact, short slide text reinforces your key points and you should read it verbatim so people know which point you’re covering. It would be worse if Steve’s words did not match the slide text, like this presenter:
About the author: Bruce Gabrielle is author of Speaking PowerPoint: the New Language of Business, showing a 12-step method for creating clearer and more persuasive PowerPoint slides for boardroom presentations. Subscribe to this blog or join my LinkedIn group to get new posts sent to your inbox.
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[…] Presentation Myth-Busting: Reading Out Loud Your Slide Text […]
Great post, Bruce.
I don’t really have a problem with the second portion of spoken bullet points (though paraphrasing the bullets would have been nicer in my opinion), but I do think Jobs and his team got lazy on the first part by simply putting up sentences and having Jobs repeat them. There was an opportunity there for some graphic or image to make the point visually. We’re dissecting things with fine tweezers here, but I think while using Jobs as an exemplar of presenting (which he really is), it’s also good to point out where he slips up now and then. And he does.
I use Jobs as a great example of a speaker who stresses benefits over features and avoids jargon, but then I also love showing where he has fallen back on technical jargon using parts of this great Apple Bloopers vid: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KsKKQNZG3rE
I might have to add to my montage this latest video clip of him reading those sentences…
Thanks for the comments Nolan. I agree this presentation was strangely technical and full of jargon.
Just one bit from the transcripts: “And we’re going to move the digital hub, the center of your digital life, into the cloud. Because all these new devices have communications built into them, they can all talk to the cloud whenever they want.” Oh, yawn!
If I had shown this transcript to anyone, they might have guessed it was Steve Ballmer instead of Steve Jobs.