Thursday ’s f8 tonic began with comedian Andy Samberg doing an imitation of Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg . But if you followedthe subsequent promulgation of new features to Facebook ’s social messaging site , you might have gotten the feeling that Zuckerberg was doing an impersonation of his own — his presentation seemed like an imitation of one of Steve Jobs ’s keynote .
Jobs ’s presentation skills are legendary , even beyond the world of engineering , so it ’s understandable why Zuckerberg ’s f8 tonic Thursday seemed to hew very closely to the Steve Jobs School of Public Speaking ( though moreso in invention than in execution ) . It ’s also perceivable that , with Jobs leaving his CEO post at Apple , observers are eager to see how his successor Tim Cook handles his first media event in charge of the company . Will he also endeavor to emulate Jobs ’s presenational style ? And would it be a good mind if he does ?
Dissecting a Steve Jobs keynote
Before we can answer that question , we should try out what it is that bring in a Steve Jobs keynote limited . Most of the presentation and medium events that Jobs led during his terms as Apple ’s CEO stuck to a consistent formula : He freely ramble the leg with a wireless mike , a massive screenland behind him displaying simple slides or live presentment of what he was describing . He would proclaim the cosmos - change amazingness of the Cartesian product he unveiled , thank and acknowledge the teams creditworthy , and bring out various folks — from elsewhere in the fellowship , or from Apple partners — to expand on certain cardinal points . Jobs would often then show a couple video to add up further color to his announcements .
Oh , and he ’d often shoot a piddling humor into the proceedings , too . The 1999 Macworld Expo keynotebegan with Noah Wylerepeating hisPirates of Silicon Valleyperformance as Steve Jobs before the real McCoy shooed him off the stage .
Similarly , at WWDC 2007 , celebrity ( and microcomputer in the “ Hello I ’m a Mac ” ad military campaign ) John Hodgman appear on the video screen , proclaim himself to be Steve Jobs , and announcing that he was quitting as Apple ’s CEO .
How did Zuckerberg ’s keynote at the f8 conference go earlier this week ? There was Samberg ’s aforementioned appearance as a faux Facebook CEO . After a few hammy minutes , the two ‘ berg meet on microscope stage , and Zuckerberg launch into his presentation proper . A giant screen behind him point simple slides and survive demos as he freely roamed the stagecoach ; he made frequent consultation to the greatness and biz - commute impingement of the feature he unveil ; he repeatedly give thanks all the individuals and companies responsible ; he showed a few TV ; he trot out guests like the CEO of Spotify ; and finally he handed the reign to a few of his deputies , like CTO Bret Taylor .
It ’s no surprise that Steve Jobs ’s approaching to keynotes now feels like the obvious ( and only ? ) way ; Jobs ’s Apple inspired the same feelings with smartphones , tablet , and desktop operating systems . He ’s surely accustomed by now to seeing his innovations emulated .
Close but no cigar
But though the endless similarity between Zuckerberg ’s f8 tonic and a distinctive Jobs carrying out were obvious , as apparent was the fact that Mark Zuckerberg is no Steve Jobs . mark aside leadership style , invention , and engineering science : Zuckerberg simply lacks Jobs ’s charisma and natural level mien . Zuckerberg ’s presentation fashion was definitely more wooden than Jobs ’s ever was . There were here and now where you could observe Zuckerberg recall the next lines of his hand , screw up a Christian Bible or two , and even occasionally begin the next bank line — and block off himself — before terminate the come before one .
Most assuredly , Steve Jobs forge from a hand , too . But you ’d never know it to watch over an Apple event live : He never stumbled for a line of descent , never seemed to need to pile up his thoughts , and utter with the same smooth , calm bringing you ’d look between friend at dinner .
I do n’t fault Zuckerberg for his more stilted style . Public speak is hard ; public mouth in front of monolithic crowds ( more than 100,000 the great unwashed were find out the live video watercourse , not to mention the in - person audience ) with no notes is harder still . And I do n’t blame Zuckerberg for assay to take a pageboy out of Steve Jobs ’s playbook either : Apple clearly hone the craft , and was continually successful at building grand excitement with its presentation .
Surely , however , there ’s someone at Facebook who could skew more Jobsian on the performance side than Zuckerberg is capable . Steve Jobs did n’t black market Apple ’s keynote because he was the party ’s CEO ; he ran them because he was the company ’s best presenter .
What’s next for Apple
It ’s widely expected that Apple will host an effect of its own sometime presently to unveil new product , like the next theoretical account iPhone . All thing Dreports that Tim Cook will “ preside over ” the event . Cook has been in the public middle before — he was Apple ’s congresswoman at theVerizon iPhone launchearlier this year and he joined Jobs on stage to field doubt at last year’spress league regarding iPhone 4 antenna issues . But this will be his first time running the show .
Though the donor will transfer , it ’s unlikely that Apple ’s demonstration format will vary dramatically from the showmanship we ’re accustomed to . We do n’t yet know whether Cook will seem as well-to-do as Jobs did , or skew nigher to the less - polished Zuckerberg advance . Should Cook — and his interview — retrieve that the display role does n’t suit him , one hopes that he ’ll be surefooted enough to delegate that project to a better selection the next time around .
After all , Apple ’s keynote are n’t designed to showcase the greatness of their conferrer , but rather the product they ’re presenting .
