Apple’s Spring-loaded event was the talk of the internet town yesterday, and for a good reason: it was mind-blowingly great. Everything was perfect: the products, the speakers, the locations, the scenography, the production. How proud Apple employees must feel today after such a great event. I have identified seven elements that set Apple apart from its competitors.
Coaching. Get public speaking coaching. If you look at the video, the delivery of each speaker is impeccable: their diction, their voice, their posture, their body language. It always amazes me when I go, for example, to some top consulting firm only to be told, “Partners don’t need to be coached.” Here is the truth: most of your partners desperately need to be coached. Leadership. It is obvious, from the way the event is made, that Tim Cook, the CEO of Apple and main protagonist of the event, was heavily involved in its preparation. I will go further: the new format for the event was only possible because of Tim Cook’s leadership, sponsorship and direct involvement. While the event company behind it did most of the heavy lifting, ultimately Tim Cook took ownership of the result. Preparation. Something that most people will overlook is the insane amount of preparation required to reach such a level of perfection. If you decide to dedicate just one hour to the preparation of the event because you’re too busy, or worse, if you decide to just wing it, you will never make the cut for Apple’s event. Script. There was not a single boring moment in Apple’s event. Everything was well paced and fell into place naturally. Why? Because they took the time to build a detailed script in advance rather than throw stuff at the audience and see what sticks. Product. Each product is the best in its field, period. I know I am an Apple fanboy, but in the past I criticized the products that I found underwhelming (for example I still think the Mac Pro is an over-engineered and ugly mess, and let’s not talk about those $700 wheels). The event in itself is sleek, but what truly matters, the products, are insanely great. Quality. When we prepare an event, we often receive poorly filmed footage, shot in an untidy room, grainy and with terrible audio (background noise, low volume). While recent advances in image and audio treatment allow us to slightly improve the original material, there is no miracle: if you want your event look like a million dollars, it has to be filmed and recorded by professionals. There is no shortcut, but there is a final cut. Values. Say what you want about Apple, they put their money where their mouth is. The video included an excellent mix of people of different gender and ethnicity. I understand that the mix does not accurately represent Apple’s actual workforce and that some may find it unfair. It’s a question of choice and I think Apple does it right: you have to be the change you want to see in the world, or it will never happen. Speaking of values, it is good to see a high-tech company try to address the environmental issues it causes. However, Apple is far from perfect on that front, so I give them a C+ for effort. There is one thing that was missing from the event: naturalness. It was so perfect that you lose a bit of human connection. But I think that Apple’s objective has been attained: they have set an incredibly high bar for their competitors. In the late nineties, when Steve Jobs came back at the helm of the company, he imprinted his trademark keynote style on product launches. It literally took years for other companies to catch up (and copy Apple’s keynote style). This time, I’m curious to see how long it will take for companies like Microsoft, Google, Intel or Nvidia to adapt.
When I visit companies to speak about presenting, I don’t give the same talk to every company. I don’t even give the same talk to every function in a company. They are all different, and while a standard talk would meet their needs, you should be more ambitious than just meeting their needs. You should aim to delight them.
A presentation is a gift. You could just give everyone a pair of socks for their birthday. Would that make them happy? Unlikely. Likewise, personalize your presentation for your specific audience and they will be delighted.
When it was first published, Garr Reynolds’ first book Presentation Zen took the traditional world of presentations by storm. It brought the presentation revolution to a wider audience of enthusiasts. We propose to revisit five essential principles from the book that have stood the test of time and can still be considered as best presentation practices today.
Plan analog. There are many theories that try to explain how creativity works, but one thing is sure. None of them advise you to get in front of your computer, launch PowerPoint and start hammering at your keyboard to add bullet points after bullet points. If anything, PowerPoint is going to kill your creativity and focus by distracting you from the essential. This is why Garr Reynolds and most creatives start their process with a pen and paper. iPad Pro with Apple pencil? Why not, but only if you are comfortable enough to use it effortlessly. Having to constantly break your flow to work out “how the hell do I do that?” is a sure creativity killer. Start with the end in mind. This simply means that before you start preparing, you should know exactly what result you expect from your presentation. This will help you sort out the content that must be included in your presentation from the content that can be left out. Remember that your goal should not be just to inform or entertain: ask yourself what is the change that you would like to see in your audience. Eat until 80% full. Many presenters tend to put too much stuff in their presentation. Why? Because this is what they learned in school: to give the most complete answers possible. And because they fear that otherwise their presentation will seem too simple or incomplete. But in presentations, complexity and data overload are your worst enemies. So, just as a good meal doesn’t overstuff you, resist the temptation to add those two extra slides that are nice to have but not indispensable. Use full bleed pictures to maximize their visual impact. The use of beautiful pictures that cover the whole slide is is something that has become a trademark of Garr’s presentations, and you should not hesitate to steal it! No other picture layout has the same impact, beauty and simplicity. Connect with the audience. Don’t try to sound “important” or like the teacher you had at school: it will only make you seem aloof and condescending, cutting the invisible but vital link with your audience. Instead, deliver your presentation as if you were having a conversation with a large group of friends. You will sound much more natural, authentic, and you will make people want to listen to you! To learn more about Garr Reynolds and Presentation Zen, you can visit his popular blog. If you want to help your employees deliver better presentations, contact us for details of our exclusive Presentation Zen for Business course, designed by Ideas on Stage together with Garr Reynolds.
2021 already presents many challenges, not only for leaders and executives but for everyone in the white collar sphere who needs to communicate with their colleages, clients and partners.
With online talks raising the bar and audiences increasingly critical, leaders with confidence issues, performance anxiety and low self-esteem have to stay on point. The task of gaining confidence while battling nerves and getting out in one piece is exhausting. Coaching, meditation, rehearsal, visualisation and psychotherapy are all strategies that professionals have turned to over the years to conquer the fear.
Ikigai is a Japanese concept that means “a reason for being.” Ikigai is the intersection between what you love, what you are good at, what you can be paid for and what the world needs.
If you ever want to speak at TED or TEDx event, you should find the ikigai of your presentation. It should be at the intersection of:
What you love, or in the context of a presentation, what you really care about. What you are good at, so that you are legitimate to speak on stage. What you can be paid for, or in the case of TEDx, what you can be invited for. What the world needs, so that the topic reaches a wide audience. It is fairly close, yet different, to the three stakes that you should have in any presentation (what matters to you, what matters to the audience, what matters to people outside). By looking for the ikigai, you can avoid potential pitfalls such as
I write this on the first full day of the 46th President of the United States Joseph Biden’s tenure in the White House. After 4 exhausting years for America and the wider world, the page has turned from the failings of an introspective, corrosive and divisive mandate into a bold, courageous and reactive new era, acknowledging first the gravity of America’s collective problems and seeking to solve them through consensus and action.
Zoom has become one of those tools that most people use, but how many of us have actually followed a training course on how to use Zoom properly? Not so many.
At Ideas on Stage we have been using Zoom for years, so when the 2020 pandemic hit, we didn’t discover Zoom, but we did start to discover new features: some that we hadn’t needed before, and some that Zoom introduced as its usage exploded.
The COVID 19 pandemic has forced all of us to adjust and has pushed roughly 35% of the workforce to an exclusively online existence. While this is fortunate and frankly would have been impossible 15 years ago it doesn’t come without its challenges.
As we struggle to maintain our routines, stay connected with our co-workers we have to continue the regular meetings attendance, trainings and webinars and we often have to give them ourselves.
