206 REFINE AND REHEARSE
on our phone. Unbelievable. Isn’t that incredible?”^4 Jobs did rely
on his script for the demo, but it had been written and rehearsed
extensively so that only a few key words were all he needed to
prompt him.
Yes, Steve Jobs appears conversational, but by now you should
know that being “conversational” requires a lot of practice. And
how you practice makes all the difference. Use the slides as your
teleprompter, sticking to one theme per slide and several sup-
porting points. If you forget some of your supporting points, you
will at least have hit the main theme. Above all, toss the script.
Notes will interfere with the emotional connection you need to
establish with your audience, detracting from the presentation
experience. Theatrics can turn an average presentation into an
extraordinary event. A script gets in the way.DIRECTOR’S NOTES
Don’t read from notes except in special circumstances in
which you must follow a step-by-step process, such as a
demonstration. When you must read from notes, create no more than
three or four large-font bullet points on one note card or
sheet of paper. Create one note card per slide. If you’re
using speaker’s notes in Keynote or PowerPoint presenta-
tion software, keep your bullet points to no more than
three or four. One is even better. Use the visuals on your slide to prompt you to deliver just
one key theme—one main message—per slide. Think
“one theme per slide.”