The presentation secrets of Steve Jobs

What Hacker News says

1. jppopeDec 2025
   I spent the first chunk of my career doing sales (2nd half spent in software engineering). Theres a lot of good books out there but you're going to find a lot of the direct advice to be non-applicable (as I'm sure you can pick up from the comments). Most of the Literature out there is directed at professional sales people, who for the most part are non-technical, have the backing of a marketing org, and are also different than a founder. Anyway, heres a reading list. Most of the trainings I've been a part of were custom built to the org or market, and frankly I learned more from Rules of the Game by Neil Strauss. I did enjoy "the Wedge" training by Randy Schwantz... that one you should do the video not the book. It also sounds like you could use some marketing stuff so I'll throw some of that in there too.

   In no particular order, and please keep in mind this is off the top of my head:

   * Influence (the classic)

   * YC videos (e.g. https://youtu.be/0fKYVl12VTA?si=I9uylXSRyOf1nXRv, https://youtu.be/DH7REvnQ1y4?si=Ke858PmaaBr5ar-e, https://youtu.be/hyYCn_kAngI?si=sO_co6kbDaNn3cql, etc)

   * Thinking Fast and Slow

   * Purple Cow

   * Clayton Christensen stuff

   * Spin Selling

   * Challenger Sale

   * Guerrilla marketing (for the mental muscle)

   * Jeffrey Gitomer (basic but useful)

   * Lean Startup (for positioning)

   * Charisma Myth

   * Minimalist Entrepreneur (bits and pieces)

   * The presentation secrets of steve jobs (just a good book on presentations, framed around Steve Jobs to sell more)

   For what its worth this question comes up fairly often. It seems like technical people would like a "technical people" guide on how to do Sales and marketing. Does that sound useful to anyone?

   Show morethread
2. DLAJun 2023
   These resources may help. All effort you put into better communications will pay you back for the rest of your life. This is the single most critical general skill for success. Good luck.

   Smart Brevity (Absolutely love this one! From the founders of Axios News. Also a TEDx talk.)

   The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs (excellence for presenting).

   The McKinsey Way (Good info on structuring material.

   TED Talk: 4 Steps to Communicate Anything Clearly, according to a Scientist who teaches quantum physics to kids. [1]

   Presentation Zen blog, videos and book. [2]

   [1] https://www.inc.com/scott-mautz/4-steps-to-communicate-anyth...

   [2] https://www.presentationzen.com/

   Show morethread
3. jppopeMay 2022
   Wow... this is a much MUCH bigger question than you think it is. My answer will be obviously extremely incomplete.

   Sales was my first profession. I was good at my work. After a decade, I decided I wanted a change of pace and moved into programming. I very much miss selling and will probably go back someday.

   I got my start as a concert promoter selling concert tickets for my friends bands. I eventually tried most of the major categories of sales: SMB, Enterprise, Retail, Door to door, Patent sales, etc but ended up preferring mostly retail and SMB because the sales cycles were quicker and it made the job a little more fun. Enterprise tends to be the best paid, but much slower and often feels more like project management than a sales gig.

   ---

   To answer your question"sales" isn't just sales. There are many different types, approaches, techniques, skills, cultures, etc. If you are inclusive of any job performed by a "compliance professional" (Cialdini) or where there is a transaction involving two or more people, sales is the largest profession in the United States.

   If you are just looking to get started I'd recommend 1) To actually sell something 2) get reading the literature.

   As far as actually selling something: try reselling something at the farmers market, or go door to door and sell basic manual labor... those two things have high demand which you should be able to land a sale or two right away to get a vibe on a basic process.

   As far as literature here are a couple of classics:

     - Influence
     - the little red book of selling
     - SPIN selling
     - Secrets of closing the sale
     - The challenger sale
     - The presentation secrets of steve jobs (for presentation skills)
     - The rules of the game (neil strauss)
     - Nudge
   

   Once you get your feet under you go find a strong team with a great product and good leadership, or hang out with sales people and have them tell you stories.

   (sorry for the terrible and short answer)

   Show morethread
4. jppopeJul 2018
   1) Do not attempt to live code. change your code via version control, build small videos, copy and paste... whatever you do... do not try and live code

   2) Read "The presentation secrets of Steve Jobs" ... its not really about Steve Jobs so much as its about how to be a great presenter.

   3) building or writing a talk is significantly less important than the delivery... which means that more of your time should be spent on how to deliver the speech (recording I find is the best way to practice)

   4) Pick a single thing and do it well, do not attempt to put too much into a talk or tackle something massively complex.

   5) Make sure that everyone is walking away with something they can actually use. This doesn't require it be a hard skill... "Soft" or philosophical utilities are just as good

   6) Have Fun and be funny... Speakers have a tendency to want to show off the size of their intellect, and the level their competency- having a speech be entertaining is way way more important.

   7) DO NOT READ FROM YOUR SLIDES. know your shit. slides are supplementary

   Extra Credit. Here's a collection of some fantastic technical speeches:

   * https://vimeo.com/9270320 * https://www.destroyallsoftware.com/talks/wat * https://youtu.be/o_TH-Y78tt4 * https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=csyL9EC0S0c * https://youtu.be/a-BOSpxYJ9M * https://youtu.be/kb-m2fasdDY

   Show morethread
5. FluidDjangoNov 2010
   I was going to DL this to peruse later... then found it was a 51MB pdf. Really: got to love that slideshare.

   I thought this pretty weak compared to, for example, "Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs" by Carmine Gallo.

   And... all the plugs for SlideShare in the presentation: what's with that? Started to feel like more of an infomercial than anything. I'd recommend spending 15 minutes just scanning Gallo's book at a book (I did. then bought it anyway.)

   Show morethread
6. criddellMar 2022
   There was an entire book on Jobs' presentations called Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs by Carmine Gallo. Perhaps Ars wrote a review and summarized some of the top points?

   Guy Kawasaki has also written quite a bit about effective presentations and has a 10/20/30 rule. Ten slides, twenty minutes, 30 point font. The idea of putting as few words as possible on a slide sounds like a Kawasaki thing.

   thread