Steve Jobs. Great presenter? Hmmmm.

A great post from Stefan Lindegaard, on his excellent blog 15inno, from  Denmark.  It’s Steve Jobs again.  Stefan shows a great clip of ‘God’ speaking at the 1984 unveiling of that TV advert and suggests that-

The story-telling, the buildup of an us-versus-them feeling and the general control of the audience by Jobs – without using slides – is amazing! Great learnings on how to give a presentation!

See the clip and Stefan’s thoughts here. This is How You Deliver a Great Presentation | 15inno.

I’m less convinced by SJ as a presenter.  I think he’s like his products.  Beautiful, well presented and targeted, but not as good as he thinks. Yes this speech is good, but it’s my feeling, as with most of SJ’s speeches (to the converted), that as a speech, it’s better on paper than in the delivery, so my question is-

‘Is Steve Jobs reputation as a speaker more for his text than his presentation skills?’

Also it reminds me of another George Orwell thought, not 1984 this time, but from his ‘6 rules for journalists’. Rules that I think are relevant to all speakers, and a particularly useful kick in the pants for most of us professional speakers. I’m sure we’re all familiar with them, but if not, the rules are reproduced here– In my view, Jobs offends the last rule in this speech, and it’s a common mistake that people make. Too much ‘them and us’ for cynical commercial/political reasons.