Presentation-Secrets-Of-Steve-Jobs

146 DELIVER THE EXPERIENCE
GarageBand? GarageBand is a major new pro music tool. But it’s for
everyone. I’m not a musician, so to help me demo GarageBand, we
asked a friend, John Mayer, to help us.” 13 Jobs took a seat behind a
computer, and Mayer sat down at a mini keyboard hooked to the
Mac. As Mayer played, Jobs manipulated the sound to make the
piano resemble a bass, a choir, a guitar, and other instruments.
Jobs then laid down multiple tracks, creating a bandlike sound. He
took care to explain what he was doing at every step, to show the
audience just how easy it was to create a studio-like experience.
Jobs must have rehearsed the demo for hours, because he
looked like an expert musician. Nevertheless, Jobs knows what
he doesn’t know, and sometimes, as in the case of GarageBand,
it makes more sense to bring in an outsider who speaks directly
to the intended audience.
Element of Surprise
Jobs stunned developers when he announced a transition that
had been rumored but largely dismissed—the transition from
IBM/Motorola PowerPC chips to Intel processors. During the
2005 WWDC, where he made the announcement, Jobs acknowledged
that one of the major challenges would be to make sure
The Next-Best Thing to John Mayer
Of course, you’re not going to persuade John Mayer to
perform at your next event, but do think about creative ways
to reach your target audience. I watched an entrepreneur
pitching his new Web service to venture capitalists in San
Francisco. The service was geared to the teenage market, so
it didn’t make sense for a forty-something entrepreneur to
demonstrate it. Instead, the founder introduced the company
and then passed the demo off to two teens (a boy and a girl),
who talked about their experience with the site and what they
especially loved about it. The demo was different, engaging,
and ultimately successful.