Studying every Steve Jobs keynote ever: Damage Control at MacWorld (1997)

Mikey Mioduski (00:06.956)
Welcome back to Presentation Thinking, the storytellers study club. We're so glad to have you. This is Mikey Medusky, founder of Ghost Ranch Communications, a presentation design agency, founder of Story Camp, an event for people who want to tell better stories, give better presentations. Molly Gagan, my co-host, your favorite, what's going on?

Molly Geoghegan (00:29.64)
presentation nation, AKA should I also add Mikey, we're the Steve Jobs fan club these days. Mikey and I have been on a journey to watch every Steve Jobs keynote ever. you know, when like, you know, if you've ever like been in a room with people talking about some of the greats of present presenting and business and, certainly in tech Steve jobs names name always comes up.

Mikey Mioduski (00:36.558)
Yeah, we are.

Molly Geoghegan (00:58.718)
There's multiple movies made about him. And so Mikey and I were like, you know, similar to our Ted Talk kind of study, we should check out every Steve Jobs keynote ever given, of which there are not quite 100 in this library, but quite a few. I'm sure there were 100.

Mikey Mioduski (01:15.116)
know. Yeah, Molly found this link. The website will share it in the notes, but it's all about Steve jobs.com. Someone had a track down some really old content and we yeah, Molly, like we know the most common ones that get cited are like the iPad keynote or the iPod announcement, thousand songs in your pocket. Maybe like the iPhone was a really big one. But we're going deep. Yeah. Staying for commencement too. Yeah.

Molly Geoghegan (01:21.65)
Yeah, check it out. Thank you.

Molly Geoghegan (01:32.201)
Mm-hmm.

Molly Geoghegan (01:35.868)
Yeah, huge.

And his Stanford commencement address too. Yeah. Yeah.

Mikey Mioduski (01:44.866)
But now it's like, you found one today that we're talking about that is, it's not the rah rah, let's thump our chests because we're Apple, killing it, everyone loves us. This was a major inflection transition point in the company's history.

Molly Geoghegan (01:55.315)
Mm-hmm.

Molly Geoghegan (02:00.085)
Yeah, definitely. This was 1997 and for those that are listening, I will be building a timeline at this point. We're basically creating my own school project with this. But 1997 was the year of damage control, Mikey, because if we are revisiting our timeline and if you've seen the 2015 film, you might be even more familiar. During that time, Steve Jobs was just returning to the company. He had an absence from the company because of...

various leadership oustings and drama, right? This is quite the backstory. But his previous software, his previous company had been acquired by Apple, which was his intent all along in 96. So in 1997, he's brought back in as the interim CEO for a couple of years. And this is kind of the year of damage control, because at this point, a lot of people were excited and enthusiastic about various products like the Mac OS and...

Mikey Mioduski (02:28.384)
ousting. Yeah. Yeah.

Molly Geoghegan (02:56.626)
and the iMac hadn't been announced yet, that would have been 98, but people were like, what the hell, this was supposed to be this really great futuristic new company, you guys have been back and forth and back and forth, there's been a lot of issues. And so this was the year of damage control, and he basically comes out to, and he puts him right on the screen right away at the beginning of the keynote, and he's like, I gotta dispel some myths about Apple.

Mikey Mioduski (03:21.998)
Mmm.

Molly Geoghegan (03:22.79)
And I just don't know how many talks we've covered like that, Mikey. Presentations can be used for so many things, but when you're reviving a reputation, course correcting, we talked about Malcolm Gladwell apologizing for past harm, his research on crime in New York City had done. Yeah, it's a tricky thing, right? That's a very specific type of presentation that I think there's something.

to be learned from. There's no gimmicks, no prompts, there's no shark images, which Steve Jobs was known for. So this is a very simple presentation, but we think he, especially given the crowds interaction, it's a really interesting one to watch.

Mikey Mioduski (04:07.788)
Yeah, it's very sober, earnest. But it does take quite an arc toward the end. Has an ability. But he couldn't have done it without establishing some level of trust right up front. if you are publicly, your company is publicly failing. Close to bankruptcy, I want to say, if some of these lawsuits, like the copyright stuff had gone through, they were losing.

Molly Geoghegan (04:14.589)
Yeah.

Molly Geoghegan (04:27.593)
Mm-hmm.

Molly Geoghegan (04:31.326)
Yes.

Yeah.

Mikey Mioduski (04:35.79)
for their last year over year for three years, down like a billion dollars per year. I think he showed one chart early, showed their descent from 11 billion in revenue down to like eight, nine, I forget what it was, but it was like three years of downward, of loss, the negative, the opposite of growth, Yeah. And starts out, like you said, these negative concerns, which he puts right on this slide behind him.

Molly Geoghegan (04:53.556)
Yeah, woo. Totally, and he shows that, he shows that, I think is pretty, I don't know if that's pretty wild for 97.

Molly Geoghegan (05:05.874)
Right, right.

Mikey Mioduski (05:06.002)
Number one, Apple is irrelevant. And these are quotes from what? From media, from well-respected people. Apple can't execute anything. It's a culture of anarchy, can't manage anything. So I think Molly, to your point, is like, wow, what a way to start your keynote. But I think it's so important to establish the fact that we're not gonna sweep this under the rug. We have some massive headwinds ahead of, like, it's not all.

Molly Geoghegan (05:18.1)
What a reputation.

Yeah.

Mikey Mioduski (05:34.594)
all peaches, but that's why we're gonna announce some pretty big, like not uncharacteristic changes here that a couple years ago you would have shocked you if I told you some of these things that we're gonna announce.

Molly Geoghegan (05:43.357)
Yes. Yeah.

Right, yeah. And it's worth noting that at this point in the room, there's maybe some tech writers, there's developers from other companies that are involved with Apple in some capacity, involved with software in general. And so these are people that are invested maybe literally in Apple. And so there's a vested interest. The audience is holding their breath as they did mostly for Steve Jobs' appearances, of course, but there's definitely this, people are listening and you can tell.

You know what I mean? Like he's not finding to get people's attention. So he opens up the talk with that very, yeah, just those texts and those quotes on the screen. And that serves not unlike how we often see people open their talk. He's like, I've got three things I'm gonna talk to you guys about today. Like, here we go. And so he sets these mile markers out and you can use that even for a quote unquote, I'm not, maybe negative is the wrong word, but damage control talk, right? Like you're like, all right, let's address the elephant in the room. Here we go.

Mikey Mioduski (06:32.802)
Right.

Molly Geoghegan (06:45.876)
So he goes by, item by item, and goes through those things. Apple is irrelevant, and he's like, we're actually doing like, know, blah blah blah, X, Y, Z. And well, actually, before he says that, like you said, he shows this graph with the profit margins going down the last few years. It's the only time he shows that, those numbers, and you're like, right, my god, like getting it all out in the open. So he says,

What are some beginning steps we're going to take? Like, let's go.

Mikey Mioduski (07:16.738)
Yeah, it's like a get right plan. And he starts with the announcement of a brand new board, basically. So from what I gather on the internet, he's like, sure. He was running, he had sold Next to Apple. He was currently the co-founder and CEO of Pixar, heard of them. And now he's brought back in to help write the ship at Apple. And he says, I'll do it if you oust everyone on the board except for who, like Ed.

Molly Geoghegan (07:19.421)
Mm-hmm.

idea.

Molly Geoghegan (07:31.11)
yeah.

Molly Geoghegan (07:34.558)
Pixar. Yeah.

Mikey Mioduski (07:47.094)
Ed Worley or something like that. like. Yeah.

Molly Geoghegan (07:47.273)
Yeah. There is some contractual asks.

I'm just guarantee when he came back as interim CEO, he's like, well, I need X, Y, Z. These are my demands, right? Like there was big negotiation behind curtains here. Yeah, so they announced each member of the board. We've got people from IBM and Oracle, which was very new at the time, but also exciting, right? That was a big software upcoming, Larry Ellison. And then lastly, he says that I'll be joining the board as well. And that is met with cheers. People are enthusiastic about that. So at least in this room.

Mikey Mioduski (07:56.728)
Yeah.

Molly Geoghegan (08:20.76)
He has, he's seemingly with a good deal of fans, even if people are skeptical, but yeah, he's like, my hands are gonna be on this. And that's the only video that he shows is the board themselves. You get to hear from each member. And I thought that was interesting.

Because I mean, I feel like sometimes a board is a really vague thing. You don't know who they are, what their faces look like. So to show their faces in 97, get to hear from them and talk about their vision for Apple, because they go through a few words like focus, you know.

reset and you know, there was one other word that they used to kind of put in there, but they talk about, their vision and like what the plan is and what their experience will bring. So that's kind of a, yeah, just another transparency thing.

Mikey Mioduski (09:07.48)
And we know it's a good, yeah, another Steve Jobs trait. He knows that a monologue, even when you're as captivating as him, will eventually run its course for attention. he, I think it's within 10 minutes of his talk, maybe seven or eight, he runs the video. it's a fairly long video, but I think it is, it is, he can say, he can try to hype up this board as much as he wants, but sometimes it's nice to hear it for people to come to their own conclusion and hear these.

Molly Geoghegan (09:15.603)
Mm-hmm.

Molly Geoghegan (09:35.038)
Mm-hmm.

Mikey Mioduski (09:36.429)
really experienced business leaders talk about the state of Apple. And then if you see them kind of clipped up, all kind of saying similar things, you also see that, they're aligned to this vision and they're not, you know, they're clearly on the same trajectory. And they even ask them, do you use a Mac? It was pretty funny. That was like a fun, like more lighthearted one at the end. Yes, one of these guys like, I have three Macs at home. Of course I use a Mac. Larry Ellison like demands a Mac, yeah.

Molly Geoghegan (09:58.288)
Mm-hmm. Yeah. Hot Seek. Yeah, right. I was like, I need one. And then, yeah, when he comes back to him, he's like, all right, yeah, what's next? So here, like, that was the big.

I think that board was a huge announcement piece of that. Where is Apple still the prominent player, he asks. And this is when he goes through a few stats of like where Apple is really succeeding at the moment. And it's, this has always been true, still true probably to this day, is that creative pros, creative professionals are using Mac computers. 80 % of computers in graphic design and creative press and creative mediums are Macbooks. And so that has been, and that's like a through line from

like his software in general. When you say Mikey, like we come from the ghost ranch full of graphic designers. We've got a few rogue PC users, you know? like that's just a, I learned how to use a Mac because I went, when I went to film school, because I was like, need, I like had this person, I was like, I need it to be a Mac, you know? Because I associated that software with, or just more like creative friendly. So he suggests that.

Mikey Mioduski (10:52.27)
Yeah.

Molly Geoghegan (11:10.088)
they'd like to get into the creative market with Adobe. He's like, why haven't we done something with Adobe? We're gonna explore something there. And I think that's probably the first of many creative partnerships that they would make work for each other.

Mikey Mioduski (11:20.558)
And I did like how he brought that along is to pose it as a question, you know, to let the audience kind of like respond to themselves. yeah, why did we are like, it's everyone in creative likes a Mac. Everyone in creative has to use Adobe. Why doesn't Apple ask Adobe? How can we make Photoshop better on a Mac? You know, so hinting towards this, this partnership idea, like all ships rise kind of thing is, is definitely a sub theme.

Molly Geoghegan (11:31.059)
Mm-hmm.

Molly Geoghegan (11:41.395)
Mm-hmm.

Molly Geoghegan (11:45.49)
Mm-hmm.

Mikey Mioduski (11:50.142)
for the comeback.

Molly Geoghegan (11:50.165)
Mm-hmm. Yeah, definitely. Because he'll talk about that in a bigger way later. And then he says that Apple, he also asked the audience a question here. He says, who is the largest education company in the world to the audience? And he waits. And no one's really like, there's not an obvious answer here. And people probably aren't, I wasn't exactly sure like what he was referring to either.

Mikey Mioduski (12:06.658)
Right.

Molly Geoghegan (12:12.35)
but he says it's Apple because they're the most common computer and software in schools because it's so school, because again, it's kind of creative friendly, creator, it's kid and learner friendly. so he's, and you know, that's something near and dear to his heart. He's a father, albeit maybe a little bit was an absent one in the beginning, as we know from the film, but he, that's important to him. know, 64 % of computers that teachers are using are Apple. So he's like, that's something we're gonna continue to prioritize because

that is a market that they're already doing well in. That's got the emotional part. What's that in marketing, Mikey, where it's like the ethos, pathos? Yeah, that's the emo part of it, right? If you buy a Mac, you're supporting teachers. That's a good feeling, right? And then lastly, he talks about...

Mikey Mioduski (12:52.493)
Yeah.

Mikey Mioduski (12:56.088)
some play-doh

Molly Geoghegan (13:06.088)
customer support and he's like helping the core users. You guys are loyal customers, right? He's talking to the audience and he's like, I've been on the support lines, it takes too long. Come on, we're gonna get you some more help. So I think getting, he has a little bit of that humbling, I've got down in the weeds, I see where the issues are because at this point they have multiple products, a lot of stuff rolling out. So it makes sense, there's a lot of bugs and problems and like other just like.

just logistical issues that are happening at that point. And it makes sense to address that as well. yeah. Another nice little grouping of three. He's so good at that. So we've had a group, the grouping of three of the masthead in the beginning dispelling the apple miss. We've had the grouping of three of things that apple has been doing well, but is gonna like keep prioritizing and digging deeper into. And then he starts talking about Apple the brand. But let's see, what would this be? Seven.

Mikey Mioduski (13:41.826)
Yeah.

Molly Geoghegan (13:59.861)
15 minutes in, 15, 16 minutes in. He said, we haven't paid enough attention to it the last few years, which I think, wasn't Steve Jobs like, I mean, he was obsessed with like the really fun, creative cuckoo branding. You know, he was the mind behind the controversial 1984 Super Bowl ad. So I think he was probably like, let's get back in there. Like, you know, he's really like, I'm about to dive back in.

Mikey Mioduski (14:18.518)
Yeah, yeah.

Mikey Mioduski (14:23.469)
Yeah.

Molly Geoghegan (14:26.982)
And he's like, you know, people think we are going to abandon the Mac OS, you know, like the actual software, but he's like, we are about that. Like this is, you know, one and a half billion dollars of value in software. And he's like, that is going to be like absolutely a priority and weird. That's not going anywhere. And yeah.

Mikey Mioduski (14:36.941)
Mm-hmm.

Mikey Mioduski (14:46.862)
So, okay, I see why that's important now is to just like, cause really talking about creatives, education, improving customer support, these are like strengths that Apple has and like there's no bigger strength than our brand. Cause even in the meeting, the board video, a lot of them talked about like Larry Ellison said, no software company, no computer company has a loyal following. Like, yeah, we have great companies.

Molly Geoghegan (14:57.63)
Yeah.

Molly Geoghegan (15:13.096)
Mm-hmm.

Mikey Mioduski (15:13.294)
but no one's devout. No one cares about the brand or has emotional connections to it, but Apple does. And so it's important to acknowledge that strength, right? Before saying, we are going to buddy up with Microsoft a lot more closely. Yeah.

Molly Geoghegan (15:18.428)
Right, right. Yes. What a unique thing.

Yeah.

Molly Geoghegan (15:29.14)
And people are booing. First he says something, he's like, after a long discussion with patent disputes, and I'm sure that is a understatement of the decade or whatever, because that was a huge, huge rift in between Microsoft and Apple to figure out the patent of various softwares that were starting to, I think, overlap, because people wanted to use.

Mikey Mioduski (15:42.958)
Molly Geoghegan (15:56.059)
some Microsoft software such as Office, like Microsoft Word and Office, on a Mac and vice versa. And so there was this understanding and across licensing that happened across Microsoft and Apple during this time that I think was pretty groundbreaking, I guess, right,

And people boo at this because he says that they have a, because they're going to have a, well, they boo specifically when he says Internet Explorer will be the default on the Mac. He's like, it's a good browser. We like it. We're going to integrate it on our platforms. People are outright booing. That's almost majority boo, which I thought was so fascinating that this group of people so invested in their user experience. Yeah. Yes.

Mikey Mioduski (16:24.867)
Yeah.

Mikey Mioduski (16:35.522)
Yeah, I love the cuts to the audience too. People are just like, it's one of those just talks where everyone just is talking to each other like, what the heck? Looking at one another for reactions, they can't believe it. But then he knows that's gonna be their reaction. So he's like, look, it's a fine browser, but we also believe in choice. And so he, in his very charming way, says, look, it's not the only browser, it will be the default.

Molly Geoghegan (16:49.256)
Yeah, yeah.

Molly Geoghegan (16:58.343)
Yeah.

Mikey Mioduski (17:03.768)
but there's other good ones and we're gonna, so we're not gonna limit it. We're still gonna give options to almost like mitigate any deep concerns about that.

Molly Geoghegan (17:03.848)
Mm-hmm.

Molly Geoghegan (17:07.696)
Mm-hmm. Yes, yes. And people...

Yeah, and I think in general, mean, we all have like an iPhone in my pocket. I'm able to download apps from the app store that are.

conducive or adhere to the iOS software and Android, right? And so I still have that kind of like, I have the choice to install or, you I have Chrome, right? I didn't want to use Safari on my browser. So I still, I think that started to plant the seed because previous to this, like there wasn't a lot of choice with what kind of, how your computers work because this was such new technology. So I think that starting to plant that seed of like what would become.

pretty paramount to people's user experience and ultimately people are building their own computers now and like you can make things entirely custom. It's just really cool to see how that has grown. Like not only can you choose your internet explorer like you can do.

anything you want on your phone and your computers. So it's interesting to see. But this was ultimately, Mikey, like at the time, as we said, like Next was acquired by Apple, but Apple was not doing well financially, as we've said. And so the Microsoft connection was also pretty much a bailout. Like there was $150 million investment that Microsoft.

Molly Geoghegan (18:27.826)
put into Apple to make this cross licensing and this kind of essentially collaboration work. And Steve acknowledges that and he says that the companies ultimately need each other because like their software needs to work together. And at this point he's like, we've got someone to kind of share a bit more on that. And this is I think probably the Volta as they say in poetry or the...

the climax of the keynote and he has Bill Gates come up on the screen. People go crazy virtually. Yeah, Yes, definitely. And he's like, hello. Yeah, so everyone's like screaming and laughing too because they can't believe this pretty much rivalry of these rivals are sharing the stage. I think that would have been really newsworthy, I'm sure. I'm just finding like a 97 Tech Journal.

Mikey Mioduski (18:59.938)
Virtually, yeah, that must have been some technology in 97.

Mikey Mioduski (19:10.253)
Yeah.

Molly Geoghegan (19:23.1)
to see if there's an article about this at the time. But Bill Gates comes on, he's like, yeah, we're ready to renew our commitment to the Macintosh. And after he finishes speaking, Steve says, we have to let go of this notion that in order for Apple to win, Microsoft must lose. If we like Microsoft Office on the Mac, we've got to treat that company that puts it out there with gratitude. And so that was like, I'm like, okay. That wasn't like, wasn't an apology. It's more like this sort of like, there's like a humbling nature, right?

Mikey Mioduski (19:51.375)
Yeah, and it is like, this is a new era we're about to enter. And he, I think he pretty much says that spot on. And he says, look, we need all the help we can get. If we want Apple to succeed and the only way to do it is with like true partnerships, especially when we do depend on each other. So no longer are we going head to head. Yeah, it's a zero sum game, but it is really like, what does he say? A hundred percent of the market, you know,

Molly Geoghegan (19:54.91)
Mm-hmm.

Cues it up, yeah.

Molly Geoghegan (20:11.537)
Mm-hmm.

Mikey Mioduski (20:21.026)
Between the two, for desktop computers, it's either, it's one of those two companies, basically. So they wanna work together.

Molly Geoghegan (20:27.922)
Yeah, yeah. They wanna work together. And it makes sense from a competition lens too. Like you kind of need, they need competition. I think there was like probably, this is more behind closed doors, but I wouldn't be surprised if there was those words said of like.

brands do better when there is competition, you know, rather than being the only choice ubiquitous. And that's where Apple can really set up its niche. he, and he sets up that tagline that we saw for many, many years from Apple, which is think differently. Like we're the, we're the kind of different software. And he presents a really compelling call to action that I hadn't heard from him before. But I see later in Apple marketing, which is like this, you know, we're here for the change makers. make tools.

Mikey Mioduski (20:45.826)
Yeah. Yeah.

Molly Geoghegan (21:13.79)
for those kinds of people and we're here to provide. Some people maybe think you're crazy, but we think you're geniuses and we're like, that's the people we're building tools for. I he's speaking to himself in a big way there, right? Because he was viewed as such a whack-a-wack job. But there's this assertion that Mac's story is for like...

for creatives, for people that want to do something different than what's already out there. And I think it's really compelling. And he's like addressed the issues, addressed the strengths, and he's like, and now we're, and here we are, setting up for the big future landing.

Mikey Mioduski (21:51.801)
Yeah, right. Which will be bringing back ingenuity and innovation and staying true to our point of view, which is it's okay to be different. We know that our customers are different. They choose us because of that. So it's like a regime change. have to show, he sets it up with the why. We have to make some pivots here.

He gives that information upfront, which I think establishes some good trust and explains a lot of, rationalizes a lot of these decisions being made. But then, you know, just really kind of pumps it up. And that was the big trajectory swing toward the end is like, starts a little more sober, but speaks to that vision and like where we could go without showing any real product updates, right? This is just a pure business talk. Like he, think the...

Molly Geoghegan (22:23.815)
Yeah, rapport.

Molly Geoghegan (22:28.329)
Mm-hmm.

Molly Geoghegan (22:39.592)
Mm-hmm.

Molly Geoghegan (22:44.348)
No products. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Yeah. State of the, the state of the...

Mikey Mioduski (22:49.516)
The theme that I wrote is like, the key word phrase that he talks about a lot is like getting back to health, back to health. I think that's what this really is about is it's about the business itself, announcing some transitions. And I imagine, so after this one, now he wasn't in position to announce any major product updates, but we know a year later-ish is when they debut.

Molly Geoghegan (22:59.015)
Yeah, yeah.

Mikey Mioduski (23:19.98)
the iMac, right? Like that beautiful blue and, yeah, OK.

Molly Geoghegan (23:21.35)
Mm-hmm. Just a year later. Yeah. Yeah. Mm-hmm. And that's one Mikey and I have already covered in, if you are interested in episode.

Molly Geoghegan (23:32.891)
187. I'll plug it in the spice cabinet for sure. And I'll make a playlist of these on YouTube and on our Spotify. think we can make a playlist too as well. as we start to cover this series and if you're an Apple nerd or just someone that's really interested in how, yes, a single speaker has earned this status, this iconic status of being such an amazing presenter, I think this is like...

It's really interesting to see this study. I can't believe these remained, and maybe we're just total freaks, Mikey, but this does remain very interesting to me. And we always, if this is your first time listening, Mikey, and I always analyze elements of story, screen, and stage of a single presentation. And Mikey, your keywords there, I think you were speaking to his story. The back to health is almost what I would label this in the timeline of, as I build out this Steve Jobs timeline. Like this is the back to health.

Mikey Mioduski (24:14.732)
Yeah. Yeah.

Molly Geoghegan (24:21.05)
Yeah, and that's, it's more positive than just damage control. It's like back to health. And I think a course correction to Apple's values and just a realignment with its base maybe. Roadmap.

Mikey Mioduski (24:24.291)
Right.

Mikey Mioduski (24:33.762)
Yeah, if we were throwing tags on it, roadmap might be, there's a bit of a roadmap in here. Vision, to a degree, but less so that. It's not like the big, ooh, exciting vision. It's like the get right.

Molly Geoghegan (24:42.504)
Mm-hmm.

Molly Geoghegan (24:46.644)
Mm-hmm, yeah. And notably the Microsoft collaboration and kind of, and that acknowledgement that, cause Steve Jobs, you watched the 2015 film was so obsessed with having everything in.

Mikey Mioduski (24:51.084)
Yeah. Yeah.

Molly Geoghegan (24:58.702)
in-house, what is, like closed system, closed system, and everything had to be Apple made. And I think this is probably the first time, and this obviously still works to this day, that he opened up that system so that it would work with different software that wasn't made by Apple. And that was a huge, huge win. Obviously there's so much stuff that's, as we all have these fricking charging cords from Apple, we know they're not necessarily work with every computer you would get, but.

Mikey Mioduski (25:14.53)
Yeah. Yeah.

Molly Geoghegan (25:26.964)
to have different software allowed onto the computer so that people can customize and create how they need to, very important. So I think that that's a big part of the story. As far as screen elements, super simple visuals in this talk. There's no gimmicks. There's just the videos from the board and the conversation with Bill at the end there. And just black and white, that classic, very simple.

Mikey Mioduski (25:48.696)
Yeah, yeah.

he's wearing black and white. Yeah, it's like that was kind of the yeah, toned down.

Molly Geoghegan (25:56.213)
Mm-hmm. His visuals include that classic apple serif that we, you still see, but they went through a phase of getting rid of the serif for a little bit there, but it's just the classic black screen, white text, which, Mikey, actually, people are always using white screen and black text or the bright background, so that was cool to see the dark because that's less common, but easier on the eyes.

Mikey Mioduski (26:17.848)
Right.

But Molly, was it a year later did he have the sans serif? Like more of the apple like clean Helvetica E sans serif by then? Because certainly like if you look at their website today, yeah, he definitely went that way shortly after that, way more modern.

Molly Geoghegan (26:30.332)
I'll have to look at what he used in the iMac launch.

Molly Geoghegan (26:37.184)
yeah, yeah, way more modern. But I remember even getting my, I remember getting my MacBook from college and there was a Serif on there, on the box. So I wonder, I mean I'm sure they've gone through different iterations of like the classic Serif and then the, now it's super, it's all super clean right now, there's no Serif. But I'm thinking of the OGs. So those are the screen elements, they're so minimal. And then stage elements, there's like, I mean we covered this with,

Mikey Mioduski (26:45.944)
Yeah. Hmm. Yeah.

Mikey Mioduski (26:59.822)
Yeah, yeah

Molly Geoghegan (27:06.054)
Malcolm Gladwell's apology thing when you're doing this kind of more sobering talk as you said, Mikey, like, you're not pulling out the gimmicks. He's just there. There's no, there's no props. He's still, yeah, he doesn't, he doesn't move around a ton and he does move around a lot in other product launches. He's like from one side of the stage to the other, moving around, you know, like flashing the phone or whatever it is he has to show for the day, the launch.

Mikey Mioduski (27:16.782)
Yeah, just doesn't move around a ton.

Molly Geoghegan (27:35.4)
Yeah, very good. And notably, Mikey, shall we just share? Steve has a walkout song after this presentation.

Mikey Mioduski (27:42.32)
Yeah, yeah. We both picked up on it. Grateful Dad, Ripple or Hand Me Down, you know. What's the line is like? Ripple in still water when there is nobody, no stone was thrown. It's a very heady, deep one, but there's also a line in it. You who choose to lead must follow.

Molly Geoghegan (27:50.323)
Mm-hmm.

Molly Geoghegan (27:54.406)
Yeah, you wrote it down.

Molly Geoghegan (27:59.635)
Yeah.

Yeah.

Mikey Mioduski (28:08.377)
But if you fall, you fall alone. So interesting. thought, you know, he puts some thought into that walk off song.

Molly Geoghegan (28:13.648)
Yeah, I knew, I think so too. The specific part too, if you, yeah, and if you fall, fall alone. If you should stand, then who's to guide you if I knew the way I would take you home? I think it's really smart. There's no, he thought of everything. I just feel like there's no way there wasn't, that wasn't intentional.

Mikey Mioduski (28:22.99)
Ha

Yeah.

And

I just forget what, I wanna find this transcript, cause it was, his parting shot, his parting line was so good. It was really a beautiful call to action. Was it the one about being different and we make tools for those kinds of people?

Molly Geoghegan (28:37.267)
What was this?

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yeah, yeah.

the change makers. Yeah. Here, John, give us a brief pause and I'll pull, I have it pulled up, so I'll just play it. I think I can share this tab instead.

Okay, let's see here.

Molly Geoghegan (29:04.305)
The sound might be weird though, Mikey, you'll see. But I can at least get it for us.

Molly Geoghegan (29:21.628)
Okay. some beginning steps that give you some confidence that we too are going to think differently and serve the people that have been buying our products since the beginning.

because a lot of times people think they're crazy. Hopefully what you see here today is giving you some beginning steps and confidence that we can serve those people, the change makers that he kind of sets up, that we can serve the change makers.

Molly Geoghegan (30:14.608)
I went little too far back there.

Molly Geoghegan (30:28.404)
do think differently and they are the creative spirits in this world. They are the people that are not just out to get a job done, they're out to change the world. And they're out to change the world using whatever great tools they can get. And we make tools for those kinds of people. So hopefully, what you've seen here today are some beginning steps. Give you some confidence that we too are gonna think differently and serve the people that have been buying our products since the beginning.

Because a lot of times people think they're But in that craziness, we see genius. And those are the people we're making tools for. OK, yeah, nice. Thank you very much. Buying the products. The bikini.

people think.

Mikey Mioduski (31:22.201)
But in that craziness we see genius. Yeah, let's sing.

Molly Geoghegan (31:24.102)
And those are the people we're making tools for. Okay, thank you. All right, I got it, I got it. We're back, John. Yeah, that closing line, that call to action he has, Mikey. Do wanna read it out? It's so beautiful. This part.

Mikey Mioduski (31:37.849)
man, yeah, he goes, he talks about the think differently, the people who buy this think differently, and they're not just the creative types, like to do a project well, they're people allowed to change the world. A lot of times, people think they're crazy, but in that craziness, we see genius, and those are the people that we make tools for. Yeah, it's like a rally cry, right? Like it's power, and it's just like, thank you, walks off, that's it.

Molly Geoghegan (31:58.096)
Yeah.

Mm-hmm. Yep, yep, yep. Totally. He's like, so if you're crazy like me, that's what we're here for. And then by then, think differently. The tagline is on the screen with the rainbow, the rainbow apple. I missed the rainbow apple. Yeah.

Mikey Mioduski (32:09.069)
Yeah. Yeah.

Hugh Jerry Garcia. I don't know. was really well done. So as far as, yeah, this, like a sign off, I thought that was so, so strong. Well, well thought out.

Molly Geoghegan (32:22.824)
great sign off. Yeah. I'd love to start saying that. In that crazy... I leave every room. A lot of people, think the geniuses are crazy. But in that craziness, I see genius.

Mikey Mioduski (32:28.249)
We see genius. Yeah.

Wait, so does that change the genius bar? Are we the geniuses? Or I always thought they were petting themselves on the back. But it's for us. We're the geniuses.

Molly Geoghegan (32:39.47)
Yeah, right, right? It's for the... No, I actually think it's for us, we're the geniuses that are coming in. I couldn't figure out my photo, I can never figure out my photo storage. That's what I was bringing. That's how I broke my first MacBook, I think. Come here, genius. It's facetious, they're actually making fun of us. They're making fun of the Apple experts. I had a friend who worked at an Apple store in the, kind of the 2010s.

Mikey Mioduski (32:50.605)
Yeah, alright. Come here, genius. Yeah. Yeah, hey, genius. We'll never know.

Molly Geoghegan (33:06.916)
And she loved it. Like it was a blast. people, yeah, she was at the Genius Bar. She'd be helping people with shit. She always got me a discount. So I think, know, retail experience, but she had a good time thinking differently with, in the Apple Store. All right.

Mikey Mioduski (33:08.842)
Ooh.

Mikey Mioduski (33:13.795)
Yeah, that's wonderful.

Mikey Mioduski (33:19.907)
Yeah, yeah, right on. Well, this is fun. I'm sure we'll find a new one here in the next coming weeks, months. you want to come on, talk presentations with us, if you're in events, marketing, communications, maybe some weird facet of an industry like art, psychology, you want to talk about decks, presentations, let's do it.

Molly Geoghegan (33:29.244)
Yeah, we'll see you next time.

Molly Geoghegan (33:47.381)
If you think differently about presentations, if you're crazy about presentations, that's us, come join us. Yeah, send me an email, molly at Ghost Ranch, DM us at ghost ranch ppt on Instagram. And if you're listening on Spotify and you've listened to more than one or I think it has to be two episodes, a few minutes of a few episodes, go ahead and leave us a little review. Let us know if we are good at covering, especially if it's a couple of more.

Mikey Mioduski (33:49.231)
That's right.

Mikey Mioduski (34:06.671)
That'd be great. Five stars, especially.

Molly Geoghegan (34:12.764)
stars than the average. And if we're good at covering Steve Jobs' career, if you're interested in that, if you have a favorite talk we haven't covered yet, I'll post the playlist here on YouTube. yeah, we're freaks, so come join us.

Mikey Mioduski (34:26.511)
All right, and until we meet again, presentation nation, thanks for listening and keep on pitching.

Molly Geoghegan (34:33.247)
Keep on pitching.