170 REFINE AND REHEARSE
thinking of giving public speaking workshops to underprivi-
leged youth.”^2
Sigman spent forty-two years at AT&T, rising from the lowest
rungs in the company to running its wireless division. Yet, to
many people unfamiliar with his leadership, Sigman’s appear-
ance at Macworld will be his lasting legacy. It wasn’t Sigman’s
fault. He had to follow the master. And, unfortunately, this book
wasn’t out yet to help him prepare!Three Techniques to Improve
Body Language
Steve Jobs resigned from Apple in 1985 after losing a board-
room battle for control of the company in a power struggle
with then CEO John Sculley. He would remain away for eleven
years, returning triumphantly when Gil Amelio, Apple’s CEO
in 1996, announced that Apple was going to buy Jobs’s NeXT
for $427 million. “I was hooked by Steve’s energy and enthusi-
asm,” Amelio wrote in On the Firing Line: My Five Hundred Days at
Apple. “I do remember how animated he is on his feet, how his
full mental abilities materialize when he’s up and moving, how
he becomes more expressive.”^3
Jobs comes alive when he is up and moving onstage. He has
seemingly boundless energy. When he’s at his best, Jobs does
three things anyone can, and should, do to enhance one’s speak-
ing and presentation skills: he makes eye contact, maintains an
open posture, and uses frequent hand gestures.EYE CONTACT
Great communicators such as Jobs make appreciably more eye
contact with the audience than average presenters. They rarely
read from slides or notes. Jobs doesn’t eliminate notes entirely.
He often has some notes tucked out of view during demonstra-
tions. Apple’s presentation software, Keynote, also makes it easy
for speakers to see speaker’s notes while the audience sees the
slides displayed on the projector. If Jobs is reading, nobody can