The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs: The Real Deal Behind The Reality Distortion Field
11:59 pm, September 13th, 2009, Carmine Gallo

Stick to the rule of three. A Steve Jobs presentation is typically divided into three parts. The Rule of Three is one of most powerful concepts in dramatic writing—how many times have you seen a “two act” play? The human mind can only retain three or four “chunks” of information and Jobs is well aware of this principle. He even has a lot of fun with it. During Macworld 2007, he teased the audience with “three” revolutionary products: an MP3 player, a phone and an Internet communications device. Of course, he really only had one device—the iPhone.
Posted by Carmine Gallo in Apple, How-To, Opinions, Steve Jobs | Comment on this article
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Why do you refer to yourself in the third person?
nak, on September 14th, 2009 at 12:11 am
Very good post. Was a great read. Thanks!
Dylan, on September 14th, 2009 at 12:27 am
Interesting article to read. Thanks.
Johnny, on September 14th, 2009 at 12:36 am
I recognise and appreciate that hits = $ so I understand breaking this up over several “pages,” but geez louise ELEVEN PAGES?? That’s just money-grubbing, sorry. Six would have been about right.
Shenanigans like this actually hurt the story (just check Digg comments any time a story not from Ars Technica goes over half-a-dozen pages) by losing “busy readers” and by annoying faithful readers. It also makes me question the motivation behind presenting the story — am I really going to get some useful info if I stay with it, or am I just being used to drive up the hit count and will end up with an unsatisfied feeling at the end?
Better editorial judgement about how long you can string readers along, please …
Charles Martin, on September 14th, 2009 at 1:50 am
I agree with the above post. I’m afraid I skip these articles with so many pages because it’s too annoying to have to keep clicking from one page to another.
Matt, on September 14th, 2009 at 9:45 am
The problem is that if you try to copy steve jobs “reality distortion field” your audience would not think:
-Wow that guy is great at speaking!
Instead they will chuckle to themself and think:
-Wow, that guy thinks he’s Steve Jobs. What a looser.
D, on September 14th, 2009 at 10:26 am
Meh, Jobs is good, but he’s no Billy Mays.
J, on September 14th, 2009 at 8:09 pm