Steve Jobs (31 page)

Jobs (dressed in gray slacks, a double-breasted jacket, and

bow tie) kicked off the presentation with a quote by his favor-

ite musician, Bob Dylan. After describing the features of the

new computer, Jobs said, “All of this power fits into a box that

is one-third the size and weight of an IBM PC. You’ve just seen

pictures of Macintosh. Now I’d like to show you Macintosh

in person. All of the images you are about to see on the large

screen are being generated by what’s in that bag.” He pointed to

a canvas bag in the center of the stage. After a pause, he walked

to center stage and pulled the Macintosh computer out of the

bag. He plugged it in, inserted a floppy disk, and stood aside.

The lights darkened, the Vangelis theme from
Chariots of Fire

began to play, and a series of images scrolled across the screen

(MacWrite and MacPaint, which came free with the Mac). As the

music faded, Jobs said, “Now, we’ve done a lot of talking about

Macintosh recently, but today for the first time ever, I’d like to

let Macintosh speak for itself.” On that cue, Macintosh spoke in

a digitized voice:

“Hello, I am Macintosh. It sure is great to get out of that bag.

Unaccustomed as I am to public speaking, I’d like to share with

you a maxim I thought of the first time I met an IBM main-

frame: Never trust a computer you can’t lift. Obviously, I can

talk right now, but I’d like to sit back and listen. So, it is with

considerable pride that I introduce a man who has been like a

father to me: Steve Jobs.
”3
The crowd went wild, standing, cheering, hollering.

Letting Macintosh speak for itself was a brilliant technique to

garner the most buzz and publicity. Twenty-five years later, the

154
DELIVER THE EXPERIENCE

YouTube video clip from that portion of the announcement has

been viewed half a million times. Jobs had created a memorable

moment that people would talk about for decades. A genuine

showstopper.

One Theme

The secret to creating a memorable moment is to identify the

one thing—the one theme—that you want your audience to

remember after leaving the room. Your listeners should not need

to review notes, slides, or transcripts of the presentation to recall

the
one thing
. They will forget many of the details, but they will remember 100 percent of what they
feel
. Think about the one

thing Apple wanted you to know about MacBook Air: it’s the

world’s thinnest notebook. That’s it. A customer could learn

more by visiting the website or an Apple store; the presentation

was meant to create an experience and to bring the headline to

life. It struck an emotional connection with the listener.

Jobs had one key message that he wanted to deliver about the

first iPod: it fits one thousand songs in your pocket. The message

The Mental Post-it Note

”The brain doesn’t pay attention to boring things,” writes

scientist John Medina. It does pay attention to an “emotionally

charged event,” as Medina explains: “The amygdala is chock-

full of the neurotransmitter dopamine . . . When the brain

detects an emotionally charged event, the amygdala releases

dopamine into the system. Because dopamine greatly aids

memory and information processing, you could say the Post-it

note reads ‘Remember this!’ ”
4

According to Medina, if you can get the brain to put what

amounts to a chemical Post-it note on an idea or a piece of

information, the item will be more “robustly processed” and

easily remembered. As you could imagine, this concept applies

to business professionals as well as teachers and parents!

REVEAL A “HOLY SHIT” MOMENT
155

was simple and consistent in presentations, press releases, and

the Apple website. However, it remained a tagline until Jobs

brought it to life in October 2001.

Just as a playwright sets the stage early and reveals the plot

over time, Jobs never gives away the big moment right out of the

gate. He builds the drama. Jobs took the stage to introduce the

iPod and, slowly, added layers to the message until he hit the big

note.

“The biggest thing about iPod is that it holds a thousand

songs,” Jobs said.

“To have your whole music library with you at all times is

a quantum leap in listening to music.” (A device that carried a

thousand songs wasn’t unique at the time; what came next was

the big news.) “But the coolest thing about iPod is your entire

music library fits in your pocket. It’s ultraportable. iPod is the size of a deck of cards.” Jobs’s slide showed a photograph of a

card deck. “It is 2.4 inches wide. It is four inches tall. And barely

three-quarters of an inch thick. This is tiny. It also only weighs

6.5 ounces, lighter than most of the cell phones you have in

your pockets right now. This is what’s so remarkable about iPod.

It is ultraportable. This is what it looks like.” Jobs showed a series of photographs. He still hadn’t shown the actual device.

“In fact, I happen to have one right here in my pocket!” Jobs

then took a device out of his pocket and held it up high, as the

audience cheered. He had his photo opp. He concluded, “This

amazing little device holds a thousand songs and goes right in

my pocket.
”5

The headline in the
New York Times
read: “1,000 Songs in

Your Pocket.” Jobs could not have written a better headline.

Actually, he did write it! He also created an emotionally charged

event that planted the headline into the dopamine-dumping

frontal cortex of his listeners’ brains.

Dropping a Welcome Bombshell

Jobs returned to Apple as the interim CEO in 1997. He dropped

the “interim” from his title two and half years later. Instead of

156
DELIVER THE EXPERIENCE

Deliver Memorable Stories

A memorable moment need not be a major new product

announcement. (After all, few of us will announce break-

through products like iPod.) Something as simple as a personal

story can be memorable.

I once worked with a major grower of organic produce.

The executives were preparing a presentation and filled it

with mind-numbing statistics to prove that organic was better

than conventionally grown fruits and vegetables. The statistics

provided supporting points, but there was no emotionally

charged event, until a farmer turned to me and told me the

following story: “Carmine, when I worked for a conventional

farm, I would come home and my kids would want to hug me,

but they couldn’t. Daddy had to take a shower first, and my

clothes had to be washed and disinfected. Today I can walk

right off the lettuce field and into the waiting arms of my kids,

because there is nothing toxic on my body to harm them.”

Several years later, I cannot recall any of the statistics this com-

pany presented, but I remember the story. The story became

the emotionally charged highlight of the presentation.

simply announcing that news via a press release as most CEOs

would do, Jobs created an experience out of it.

At the end of two-hour presentation on January 5, 2000, Jobs

said, almost as an aside, “There is one more thing.” But he did

not break the news immediately. He built the anticipation. Jobs

first acknowledged the people at Apple who had been working

on the Internet strategy he had just described in the presenta-

tion, asking them to stand for applause. He publicly thanked his

graphics and advertising agencies as well. Then he dropped the

news.

“Everyone at Apple has been working extra hard these two

and a half years. And during this time, I’ve been the interim

CEO. I have another job at Pixar as the CEO, which I love. I

REVEAL A “HOLY SHIT” MOMENT
157

hope that after two and a half years, we’ve been able to prove to

our shareholders at Pixar that maybe we can pull this interim

CEO thing off. So, I’m not changing any of my duties at either

Pixar or Apple, but I’m pleased to announce today that I’m drop-

ping the ‘interim’ title.” The audience went nuts; people leaped

from their seats, yelling, hollering, and cheering. Jobs was hum-

bled and made it clear that he did not deserve all the credit for

Apple’s resurgence. “You’re making me feel funny, because I get

to come to work every day and work with the most talented peo-

ple on the planet. I accept your thanks on the part of everyone

at Apple,” Jobs conclude
d.6

Revolutionary Product That

Changes Everything

Twenty-six minutes into his Macworld 2007 keynote presenta-

tion, Jobs had just finished a discussion of Apple TV. He took a

swig of water and slowly walked to the center of the stage, not

saying a word for twelve seconds. He then told a story that would

lead to one of the greatest product announcements in corporate

history. We’ve discussed several elements of this presentation,

including Jobs’s use of headlines and the rule of three. For this

discussion, let’s examine a longer section of the segment. As you

can see from the excerpt in Table 13.1, Jobs took his time to

reveal the news that would rattle the industry and change the

way millions of people access the Internet on the go
.7

Once the laughter subsided, Jobs spent the rest of the presenta-

tion explaining the current limitations of existing smartphones,