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Steve Jobs passed away in 2011. 14 Years. His Presentation was legendary. iPhone was introduced in 2007. 18 years. The world should have learned what a great p

by ksec 1y ago

Steve Jobs passed away in 2011. 14 Years. His Presentation was legendary. iPhone was introduced in 2007. 18 years. The world should have learned what a great presentation is and what presentation software should be like. And yet nearly 20 years later No Slides or presentation software, including MS Powerpoint is even at the level of Keynote in 2007. If there is one thing I learned, is that even if you ask people to copy, making a 100% exact replica in itself is hard enough. Most people cant even copy exact and they ignore the small details. They copy and make things worse much like Microsoft in the 90s and 00s. And this at the end may come down to taste. Just like Stave Jobs said, the biggest problem with Microsoft is that they have no taste. They do not have the craftsmanship or the product genius to make a call on what is a great product or a bad product. Instead a great product is distilled into one that sell or not, by the sales and marketing people, which is the current Apple.

masklinn 1y ago
> The world should have learned what a great presentation is and what presentation software should be like. The underlying difference can not be fixed by software, because software can't make you care about or value things: Jobs saw presentations as performances. I don't mean that in a dismissive way, I mean that Jobs treated presentations as plays and musicals. Few people are willing (let alone able) to block out days in order to rehearse and fine tune a presentation. Even less so days of multiple people in order to get feedback and suggestions. In real world settings.
- ghaff 1y ago
  And graphics designers. Maybe I should rehearse, spend more money (normally out of my own pocket as I don't have access to a graphics staff), and otherwise prepare more for a conference presentation, which may be 50 people or fewer. But that's probably not realistic. I think I do a decent job in general. I could probably do better. But everything is a tradeoff.
- wisty 1y ago
  Also the slide deck is often dual purpose. Often it's an OK presentation, and an OK document for people who need you to break it into paragraphs and explain each paragraph. Yes, Tufte hated this, because presentations should be presentations, and people should read the accompanying technical report.
  - gre 1y ago
    Tufte is 83 and still alive. (Had to check because of parent comment.)
    - airstrike 1y ago
      Maybe he hated it but still hates it too.
- bombcar 1y ago
  Even just rehearsing twice - once to yourself, perhaps in front of a camera to watch back and check timings, and once in front of a spouse or coworker - puts you ahead of 99% of corporate presenters. And it shows. Even at large events half the presenters appear to have never even seen the deck before and revert to Storytime with CEO as they read the slides to you.
  - bowsamic 1y ago
    > Even at large events half the presenters appear to have never even seen the deck before In my experience in academia, most of them wrote the slides just before going up to present In fact it seems to be almost a badge of honour for the older professors. They pride themselves on giving lazy and unprepared talks. Why? Because it shows that they have earned not having to care anymore, they are powerful enough now that they don't have to perform
    - saagarjha 1y ago
      I often finish the slides right before going up to present. They're mostly there as a visual flourish rather than the main content of my talk.
Aldipower 1y ago
> The world should have learned what a great presentation is and what presentation software should be like. Could be that presenters that have some mojo are a small minority, a niche. Really, almost nobody on the world cares about presentations.
nixpulvis 1y ago
It's really too bad nobody has been able to step into the role Steve had for the industry. We lack the ability to effectivly communicate what's new and exciting to people and it's effecting the moral across the board. Now it's hypemen with teams of engineers pushing their solutions more and more. I'm not saying Steve didn't contribute to hype, but somehow he made it feel natural and welcome.
- thejazzman 1y ago
  He made the ordinary become extraordinary. He didn't promise shit that never shipped; he made people that excited about what Apple actually shipped. That's a huge difference from what Silicon Valley has done since while trying to mirror his image
  - FireBeyond 1y ago
    And now we get Apple Intelligence. And Siri, which is frankly farcical, and cannot handle the simplest of requests, after how many years?
- enos_feedler 1y ago
  Thats a good observation. Never thought about this but nobody recent comes to mind. These days everything feels pushed on us. Like we are just a role in their agenda of ushering the world into VR experiences for example. Steve had a way of delivering what we were waiting for and truly wanted. That probably helped the presentation of it all
  - nixpulvis 1y ago
    It did help that Steve was alive during the personal computing revolution. He was a big part in shaping it but it was also just a good time to be in his position. There's not been the same kind of thing for a while. His death came as personal computers had managed their way fully into our pockets. Now there are new technologies, but nothing I think we all agree is as ubiquitous as the PC. Even AI is hard to sell because unlike the word processor or the portable music device, AI isn't always functional, and so it doesn't feel as much like a complete solution. Technology is suffering more and more from itself lately, and I really hope a leader will emerge and help us take an honest look at ourselves and what we accept in terms of usability. No more cookie warnings pretending they solve privacy issues, but complete overhauling of contracts and agreements between technology companies and users, just as an example.
CJefferson 1y ago
Maybe controversial opinion, I'm not sure most people can learn much useful from Steve Jobs, and trying to emulate his presentations. He had a huge support team to help him polish, and was very skilled. It feels like someone who has never driven a car trying to learn by watching Formula 1. Yes their drivers are amazing at drivers, but you can't really complain when your delivery drivers can't hit F1 speeds.
- pcurve 1y ago
  Agreed. I also think too many people are trying to emulate his exact style, mostly to their detriment even though Jobs honed the craft for decades.
- rchaud 1y ago
  If you've been to SaaS product conferences, they are ALL doing the Steve Jobs thing of presenting slide decks that are basically advertisements of new features. All fluff and stock images, very little substance. The implementation details and all their asterisks are provided by your account manager/sales engineer. Try doing that when presenting a proposal or project results to senior leadership at your company, and see how quickly you get placed into PIP.
  - maccard 1y ago
    Step 0 of a presentation is: know your audience. Doing a sales pitch to C suite person on your hobby horse is likely to get in as much trouble as doing a technical deep dive into the same topic to the same person. > The implementation details and all their asterisks are provided by your account manager/sales engineer. That's because the purpose of the presentation is to get you to talk to your account manager.
ssivark 1y ago
> The world should have learned what a great presentation is and what presentation software should be like Bullshit. His style of presentation was suited for a very specific kind of communication that Apple marketing is now known for. Slides are used in a far wider range of settings -- from classrooms to boardrooms -- where the effect of the Apple style would range between ineffective and detrimental. I'm willing to bet Steve Jobs would have flayed the presenter if they had tried to present some internal technical presentation at Apple in that kind of style. Let's not elevate form over function. Not all human communication is about tickling the cave brain and getting someone to buy a product.
mrisoli 1y ago
Having worked on presentation software, it's more complicated than what it looks like in its surface. First, considering the base/generic case, you can't really beat Powerpoint, Keynote and Google Slides, they are somewhat free/included in basic accounts, they will get the job done, people are used to Powerpoint, and it's not the core product of any of these companies, there's very little incentive for them to improve that. Second, because you can't compete on base case, a company needs to target those who will willingly pay for presentation software, that's sales and marketing, they don't care about beautiful software, they care about conversion and data. And lastly, most presentations are bland, the more you invest in a great creation and editing experience, the more complicated it gets and makes it less likely that people who just want to create basic presentations actually do it, doesn't matter if you have tutorials or templates, they will make crappy presentations to get the job done, if they try to do add a little touch to it they will likely overuse animations or similar features and make it even crappier. In the end there are very few people who put effort into creating actual presentation decks, the actual content being presented is far more important or a presentation is often a hurdle to get over with, such as doing internal presentations or presenting your school assignments. Even in conferences you still get really bad presentations, the better ones are mostly remembered not because of the quality of the slides, but the contents and the skills of the presenter.
jccalhoun 1y ago
I am curious what is so different about Keynote? I tried using it once for a few minutes in a computer lab years ago and while I remember some of the ways of doing things were different, I don't remember it being different. I was never that impressed with the quality of Steve Jobs' slides so maybe I'm missing something.
wodenokoto 1y ago
It was hard work, tons of rehearsals and many writers that formed these presentations. It’s not a concept that you can just adhere to and your ugly disorganized presentation becomes beautiful and engaging.

by ksec 1y ago

masklinn 1y ago

> The world should have learned what a great presentation is and what presentation software should be like. The underlying difference can not be fixed by software, because software can't make you care about or value things: Jobs saw presentations as performances. I don't mean that in a dismissive way, I mean that Jobs treated presentations as plays and musicals. Few people are willing (let alone able) to block out days in order to rehearse and fine tune a presentation. Even less so days of multiple people in order to get feedback and suggestions. In real world settings.

ghaff 1y ago
And graphics designers. Maybe I should rehearse, spend more money (normally out of my own pocket as I don't have access to a graphics staff), and otherwise prepare more for a conference presentation, which may be 50 people or fewer. But that's probably not realistic. I think I do a decent job in general. I could probably do better. But everything is a tradeoff.
wisty 1y ago
Also the slide deck is often dual purpose. Often it's an OK presentation, and an OK document for people who need you to break it into paragraphs and explain each paragraph. Yes, Tufte hated this, because presentations should be presentations, and people should read the accompanying technical report.
- gre 1y ago
  Tufte is 83 and still alive. (Had to check because of parent comment.)
  - airstrike 1y ago
    Maybe he hated it but still hates it too.
bombcar 1y ago
Even just rehearsing twice - once to yourself, perhaps in front of a camera to watch back and check timings, and once in front of a spouse or coworker - puts you ahead of 99% of corporate presenters. And it shows. Even at large events half the presenters appear to have never even seen the deck before and revert to Storytime with CEO as they read the slides to you.
- bowsamic 1y ago
  > Even at large events half the presenters appear to have never even seen the deck before In my experience in academia, most of them wrote the slides just before going up to present In fact it seems to be almost a badge of honour for the older professors. They pride themselves on giving lazy and unprepared talks. Why? Because it shows that they have earned not having to care anymore, they are powerful enough now that they don't have to perform
  - saagarjha 1y ago
    I often finish the slides right before going up to present. They're mostly there as a visual flourish rather than the main content of my talk.

Aldipower 1y ago

> The world should have learned what a great presentation is and what presentation software should be like. Could be that presenters that have some mojo are a small minority, a niche. Really, almost nobody on the world cares about presentations.

nixpulvis 1y ago

It's really too bad nobody has been able to step into the role Steve had for the industry. We lack the ability to effectivly communicate what's new and exciting to people and it's effecting the moral across the board. Now it's hypemen with teams of engineers pushing their solutions more and more. I'm not saying Steve didn't contribute to hype, but somehow he made it feel natural and welcome.

thejazzman 1y ago
He made the ordinary become extraordinary. He didn't promise shit that never shipped; he made people that excited about what Apple actually shipped. That's a huge difference from what Silicon Valley has done since while trying to mirror his image
- FireBeyond 1y ago
  And now we get Apple Intelligence. And Siri, which is frankly farcical, and cannot handle the simplest of requests, after how many years?
enos_feedler 1y ago
Thats a good observation. Never thought about this but nobody recent comes to mind. These days everything feels pushed on us. Like we are just a role in their agenda of ushering the world into VR experiences for example. Steve had a way of delivering what we were waiting for and truly wanted. That probably helped the presentation of it all
- nixpulvis 1y ago
  It did help that Steve was alive during the personal computing revolution. He was a big part in shaping it but it was also just a good time to be in his position. There's not been the same kind of thing for a while. His death came as personal computers had managed their way fully into our pockets. Now there are new technologies, but nothing I think we all agree is as ubiquitous as the PC. Even AI is hard to sell because unlike the word processor or the portable music device, AI isn't always functional, and so it doesn't feel as much like a complete solution. Technology is suffering more and more from itself lately, and I really hope a leader will emerge and help us take an honest look at ourselves and what we accept in terms of usability. No more cookie warnings pretending they solve privacy issues, but complete overhauling of contracts and agreements between technology companies and users, just as an example.

CJefferson 1y ago

Maybe controversial opinion, I'm not sure most people can learn much useful from Steve Jobs, and trying to emulate his presentations. He had a huge support team to help him polish, and was very skilled. It feels like someone who has never driven a car trying to learn by watching Formula 1. Yes their drivers are amazing at drivers, but you can't really complain when your delivery drivers can't hit F1 speeds.

pcurve 1y ago
Agreed. I also think too many people are trying to emulate his exact style, mostly to their detriment even though Jobs honed the craft for decades.
rchaud 1y ago
If you've been to SaaS product conferences, they are ALL doing the Steve Jobs thing of presenting slide decks that are basically advertisements of new features. All fluff and stock images, very little substance. The implementation details and all their asterisks are provided by your account manager/sales engineer. Try doing that when presenting a proposal or project results to senior leadership at your company, and see how quickly you get placed into PIP.
- maccard 1y ago
  Step 0 of a presentation is: know your audience. Doing a sales pitch to C suite person on your hobby horse is likely to get in as much trouble as doing a technical deep dive into the same topic to the same person. > The implementation details and all their asterisks are provided by your account manager/sales engineer. That's because the purpose of the presentation is to get you to talk to your account manager.

ssivark 1y ago

> The world should have learned what a great presentation is and what presentation software should be like Bullshit. His style of presentation was suited for a very specific kind of communication that Apple marketing is now known for. Slides are used in a far wider range of settings -- from classrooms to boardrooms -- where the effect of the Apple style would range between ineffective and detrimental. I'm willing to bet Steve Jobs would have flayed the presenter if they had tried to present some internal technical presentation at Apple in that kind of style. Let's not elevate form over function. Not all human communication is about tickling the cave brain and getting someone to buy a product.

mrisoli 1y ago

Having worked on presentation software, it's more complicated than what it looks like in its surface. First, considering the base/generic case, you can't really beat Powerpoint, Keynote and Google Slides, they are somewhat free/included in basic accounts, they will get the job done, people are used to Powerpoint, and it's not the core product of any of these companies, there's very little incentive for them to improve that. Second, because you can't compete on base case, a company needs to target those who will willingly pay for presentation software, that's sales and marketing, they don't care about beautiful software, they care about conversion and data. And lastly, most presentations are bland, the more you invest in a great creation and editing experience, the more complicated it gets and makes it less likely that people who just want to create basic presentations actually do it, doesn't matter if you have tutorials or templates, they will make crappy presentations to get the job done, if they try to do add a little touch to it they will likely overuse animations or similar features and make it even crappier. In the end there are very few people who put effort into creating actual presentation decks, the actual content being presented is far more important or a presentation is often a hurdle to get over with, such as doing internal presentations or presenting your school assignments. Even in conferences you still get really bad presentations, the better ones are mostly remembered not because of the quality of the slides, but the contents and the skills of the presenter.

jccalhoun 1y ago

I am curious what is so different about Keynote? I tried using it once for a few minutes in a computer lab years ago and while I remember some of the ways of doing things were different, I don't remember it being different. I was never that impressed with the quality of Steve Jobs' slides so maybe I'm missing something.

wodenokoto 1y ago

It was hard work, tons of rehearsals and many writers that formed these presentations. It’s not a concept that you can just adhere to and your ugly disorganized presentation becomes beautiful and engaging.