100 DELIVER THE EXPERIENCE
computer on top of an envelope, which was even larger than the
computer itself. T hat ’s it. No words, no text boxes, no g raphs, just
the photo. How much more powerful can you get? The picture
says it all. For illustrative purposes, I created the slide in Figure
8.3 as an example of a typical slide that a mediocre presenter
would have created to describe a technical product. (Believe it
or not, this mock slide is gorgeous compared with many slides I
have actually seen in technical presentations delivered by sub-
par presenters.) It’s a mishmash of fonts, styling, and text. Not
memorable and truly awful.
In contrast, Figure 8.4 shows one of Jobs’s slides from the
Macbook Air presentation. The majority of his slides for this
presentation looked very similar, featuring mostly photographs.
He referred customers to the Apple website for more technical
information; visuals dominated the keynote. Clearly, presenting
a technical product in such a way as Jobs did for the Macbook
Air is far more effective.
It takes confidence to deliver your ideas with photographs
instead of words. Since you can’t rely on the slides’ text as a crutch,
you must have your message down cold. But that’s the difference
between Jobs and millions of average communicators in business
today. Jobs delivers his ideas simply, clearly, and confidently.Simplify Everything
Simplicity applies to Jobs’s slides as well as the words he care-
fully chooses to describe products. Just as Jobs’s slides are freeiPhone 3G
● Thinner at the edges
● Full plastic back
● Solid metal buttons
● 3.5-inch display
● Built-in camera
● Flush headphone jack
● Improved audioFigure 8.2 Dull slides have no images and too many words.