Comments on: Video Critique: Steve Jobs (Stanford, 2005)

By: Alla

Alla — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 11:36:08 +0000

I am ordinary Russian women and liked his speech very much.
It das not matter much who helped to write it.
Reading this material I felt the same. This great man has survived and understood a lot. I believe him.
He is very positive person and nether became embittered.
Good luck to everybody.

By: Sarah Gershman

Sarah Gershman — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 20:07:32 +0000

This is a terrific critique. As a speech coach, another thing I took away from Jobs’ speech is the importance of speaking on something you are passionate about – no matter what your topic is. I blogged recently about Jobs’ speech and this takeaway on my speaking advice blog – sarahgershman.blogspot.com. I would appreciate hearing your thoughts.

Much thanks,
Sarah

By: alex hughes

alex hughes — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 06:09:23 +0000

I thought it was wonderfully organized and written speech. More importantly, it was authentic and had guts. It would have been so easy for him to serve them platitudes but he gave them the real speech about his real life and I admired that. My main gripe was his lack of eye contact. He could have given that speech without the notes. He had his eyes down the whole time reading the script, yet I’m sure he didn’t need it. Hell, it was his life. That was unfortunate.

I was also embarrassed for the audience. They should have been more grateful for that speech. Perhaps their tepid reaction was from being in the hot sun too long.

By: Svyatoslav

Svyatoslav — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 01:55:24 +0000

Keep looking. Don’t settle. http://bit.ly/9Yj3J

By: Lisa B. Marshall

Lisa B. Marshall — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 16:02:12 +0000

I use this speech for teaching university undergraduates. They think that since he reads the speech it’s rude to the audience and they don’t like that he doesn’t give eye contact. Many of my students do not know who Steve Jobs is so they don’t understand some of what he talks about. (I am always amazed when not a single person in the room knows who he is. I thought you might find that interesting.)
About the comments regarding the language choice. My students don’t think he wrote the speech himself. They argue that he is certainly rich enough to hire a speech writer. My personal feeling is that it is very likely that he worked WITH a speech writer to create the speech. The choice of more “lofty” language was an attempt to use appropriate language for the occasion and likely came from the speech writer and not him. Maybe that’s why the delivery seems awkward. Like Ronald Regan did in his challenger speech.

Andrew thanks for this great blog! I am looking forward to reading more of your reviews and the comments.

By: Jeanne C.

Jeanne C. — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 14:59:52 +0000

i think both of you guys’ opinion pointed out here are excellent! i have very important rhetoric presentation tmr and found out this perfect website! it helped me alot and i really appreciate you both posting and sharing this critique with everyone!

By: Bernhard Kast

Bernhard Kast — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 23:12:09 +0000

wow! Great work, I will refer to it in my thesis about the 2007 keynote.

By: MACvsPC.ru - Three Stories: Steve Jobs

MACvsPC.ru - Three Stories: Steve Jobs — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 12:51:22 +0000

[...] Analysis of Jobs’ speech in English (stylistic techniques, and so forth) [...]

By: Nikita Kolganov - Russian translation of Steve Jobs Speech Critique

Nikita Kolganov - Russian translation of Steve Jobs Speech Critique — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 16:44:08 +0000

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By: Ellen Taliaferro, MD

Ellen Taliaferro, MD — Sun, 20 Jan 2008 15:44:18 +0000

Andrew: thanks for this fabulous post. I have carried this speech in my head for sometime now and occasionally go back to read it. But to have it accessible with your analysis, good comment from Jason, and the ability to see it and then read about it–what a joy.

I give workshops on the topic of writing to heal and help. Many gems from this post will quite soon find their way into these workshops. Thanks, again.

–Ellen