2005 Stanford Commencement Speech
This Stanford speech is one of the strongest ever given by Steve Jobs. Critics call it legendary and one of the most inspiring speeches of all time (Niebuhr, Brem, Novák-Tót, & Voße, 2016). It followed a clear structure, and Jobs opened his address by showing humility to the students, and an outline of the whole address followed after it. It was effective to do so because the speech was rather long, and the plan helped keep the structure in mind. He spoke mainly of his personal stories, and his experience supported his ideas. He often, however, lost eye contact with his audience because he continually looked to his sheet to read the address. The lack of eye contact, along with his unneeded remark about Microsoft allegedly copying Apple, were the only points that Jobs could have improved.
Jobs was loud enough for everybody to hear and very confident. His voice was not monotone, as he filled his address with humor and variances in tone. Jobs spoke at a comfortable rate so that he was understood by everyone. He read his speech, that is why he did not use vocal fillers to permeate time between constructs. Jobs was dressed the same as the graduates, therefore contributing to his confidence and the gravity of his words.
He stood still, without leaning and touching the podium the whole time, and looked poised. His speech was well-organized, and Jobs talked of every point stated in the outline in the beginning. He concluded his words with an inspirational quote, thus emphasizing the main reason for the address, which was to motivate and encourage the young graduates.
This speech was both informative and persuasive, and Jobs succeeded at both objectives. He wanted to deliver that not everything might seem reasonable at first sight, but it will all have meaning in the end. He also wanted to convince the graduates to follow what they love to do even when everybody doubts their decisions. Jobs supported his points with strong arguments and made an overall good impression as a speaker. I learned that the language should be articulate, and the speaker should always speak confidently.
2007 iPhone Presentation
Jobs’ keynote in 2007 was a show in its entirety. It was like a Hollywood movie with a three-act structure. The introduction was a setup for the rest of the presentation, which gave contextual information, and lasted about two minutes. It was engaging, compelling, concise, and up to a point. The ideas presented in his words were supported by historical facts from the past of Apple. Jobs had steady eye contact with his audience and incorporated gesticulation appropriately. There was excitement in his voice, which affected the audience accordingly. He was filled with confidence and was free of monotonousness.
Jobs prepared well for the presentation, so his words lacked fillers. He wore his regular outfit, indicating he was comfortable with the audience. Not many things can be said about his posture because he regularly moved from one place to another as if embarking on a theatrical act. Just like in his 2005 speech, Jobs had three points to cover, and after covering all of the points, he concluded with a summary to capture the key ideas. The presentation was well-structured, and Jobs moved from one idea to another flawlessly. It is one of the best performances in the history of presentations.
The presentation’s objectives were to inform the audience, persuade them to acquire the product, and provide entertainment (Yoffie & Cusumano, 2015). Jobs succeeded at all because the content was highly structured and concise, persuasive, and filled with humor. He once again proved himself as a good performer, a speaker, and a persuasive individual. Humor, in reasonable amounts, is always appreciated, and entertaining presentations seem to be captivating. This might be something everyone can use when delivering their speech.
References
Niebuhr, O., Brem, A., Novák-Tót, E., & Voße, J. (2016). Charisma in business speeches: A contrastive acoustic-prosodic analysis of Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg. In Proc. 8th International Conference of Speech Prosody (pp. 79-82). Boston, MA: Speech Prosody.
Yoffie, D. B., & Cusumano, M. A. (2015). Strategy rules: Five timeless lessons from Bill Gates, Andy Grove, and Steve Jobs. New York, NY: Harper Business.