Priming the audience
I just re-watched Steve Jobs’ famous unveiling of the iPhone in 2007. A couple of things stood out. For one thing, you can’t help but notice the audience’s gushing adoration. They look like giddy, hyperventilating teenagers in the front row of a Beatles concert in the mid-1960s. Jobs was a masterful showman, and he obviously built a cult following. But you also notice that world-class influencers are great teachers. They anticipate and manage the audience’s emotional journey. This was part of what made Jobs such an effective communicator. Let’s break down his technique.
First, we should remember what he set out to do. He was introducing a new product and category. He needed to redefine the audience’s conceptual landscape. It sounds much loftier than our run-of-the-mill responsibilities at work, but it’s actually quite relatable. Whether we’re making pitches, demos, or recommendations, we are taking the audience on a journey. We’re accompanying them on a stroll from their current reality to a better, as yet unknown, place to be.
The key difference between experts and amateurs is that experts are adept at priming. Amateurs will start and stay small. In a technical domain, they’ll begin with details that excite them about a new product, and they’ll hope this excitement will naturally transfer to the audience. It’s easy to lose people with such an approach, and it’s much more forgettable. If Jobs had begun his keynote by raving about the touchscreen, even his doe-eyed fans would have been scratching their heads. Instead, he primes the audience in three ways.
First, he primes them to see the importance of the moment, giving them a reason to pay attention. He does so by reminding the audience that Apple seeks to have a seismic impact on the world. The company transformed the personal computing industry with the Macintosh. It shook up the music industry with the iPod. Now it was poised to repeat history. Jobs puts a conceptual coat rack on the wall, inviting the audience to use it for a new mental garment. He stokes and steers their curiosity.
Second, he primes them for a fresh concept by separating it into three parts. Mischievously, he claims each part is a distinct breakthrough: a widescreen iPod touch with controls, a revolutionary mobile phone, and a breakthrough internet communication device. He repeats this claim a few times until the ruse becomes clear: “Are you getting it yet? We’re talking about one device!” Each of the elements can be understood individually, but the audience needs time to see how they have merged. By priming them with the building blocks of new knowledge, he gives them the satisfaction of solving a puzzle for themselves.
Third, he primes them with a contrast frame. Understanding a new concept isn’t enough to see its importance, so Jobs lays out a simple 2x2 matrix to establish the superiority of the iPhone: Smart/Not So Smart vs. Easy to Use/ Hard to Use. He separates the iPhone from all conceivable competitors, showing a wide and unbridgeable chasm between Apple and the rest. It’s easy for the audience to conclude the iPhone is not only unprecedented but in a class of its own. Only then does Jobs get into the features and functions of the device.
In brief, he manages the audience’s emotional journey over three discrete phases: building their excitement, engineering their satisfaction, and shaping their judgment. The careful sequencing of information, and the priming technique throughout, were fundamental to his effectiveness. These are powerful and practical principles that any of us can apply.