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MacTech 2011: Guy Kawasaki's keynote address
Guy Kawasaki was the keynote speaker for the first day of MacTech 2011. Instead of a talk about Enchantment or Bozosity, this talk took a different turn: It was about Steve Jobs. Specifically, it was about what Guy had learned from Steve and from working for Steve. I really liked his talk since it was a bit more personal than some of the other presentations I've seen him give. It was fun to watch him walk across a photo of an Apple employee reunion and point out people and explain who they were. I really felt like I was getting a chance to sit and talk with Guy about Steve and Apple and his time there, not like I was sitting in a room full of people listening to him talk. I enjoy any chance I get to hear him speak, and he's good at it, so everybody wins, but it's nice to see something that was more personally about him. One of the biggest things he learned was how to give a good presentation, and his slides reflected that. He pointed out that (like Steve) he uses a dark background which is easier on the eyes (and if you're a speaker who walks into the projector beam, your eyes are saved too), keeping the info on a slide as minimal as possible, and shared his own formula for determining the minimum font size in a presentation: Determine the age of the oldest person seeing the slides, and divide their age by two. That's your minimum font size. I liked his specifics about Steve, too. He was discussing how a leader needs to know when it's time to make a change if the wrong path was chosen. He said, "Steve can say something and reverse himself later, and you'll think he was right twice." A favorite of the Apple fanatical was the slide after that, which said "Real CEOs demo." (I know it was a favorite, it got applause.) His example was how Steve knew the products well enough to demo them, and he brought other people in to show off other pieces, but it was basically the Steve show and no other company does that even still. Two things stuck with me as things I learned from Guy that he learned from Steve: First, design counts. (I already knew I was all over this, but it was reinforced during the talk.) It's important that something look good, and price does NOT equal value. Also, he put up a chart with two axis, "Unique" and "Value". He discussed the other three pieces and then made it to the last one and said, "What I learned from Steve is that history is made in the upper right corner." This was a great way to kick off MacTech 2011, it was nice to start with some fun and a tribute to the person who is why we're all here in Los Angeles in the first place.
Guy Kawasaki on what he learned from Steve Jobs
Guy Kawasaki was an early Apple evangelist and helped market the Macintosh in 1984. As a result, he worked closely with Steve Jobs and experienced his leadership first-hand. To remember his former boss, Kawasaki compiled a list of the 12 qualities that set Steve apart from other CEOs. Kawasaki paints a picture of a CEO that hires the best people, delivers products in a timely manner, intimately knows and designs his own products and listens to his own instincts, not that of experts. Kawasaki's full list and details are on his blog and Google + page. It's definitely worth a read. It's not very long and it's chock full of wisdom gleaned from one of the top visionaries of our generation.
A look at Tim Cook's presentation style
Last Tuesday's "Let's Talk iPhone" Apple event was the first time that Apple CEO Tim Cook had the opportunity to run the show for a major product introduction. In the past, of course, most Apple product announcements were "Stevenotes," with the late CEO Steve Jobs wowing the audiences with whatever new products were coming out of Cupertino. Nick Wingfield of the New York Times discussed Cook's different presentation style in a post on the Bits blog. Wingfield noted that Cook left the demonstrations of new products to his colleagues, in particular Eddy Cue, Scott Forstall, and Phil Schiller. He quotes Van Baker, a Gartner analyst, as saying that Cook was smart to avoid being like Steve Jobs: "I think one of the things Tim did was to, in essence, put a stake in the ground and say 'I'm not Steve, don't expect me to be Steve.'" As Wingfield says, the number of iPhone 4S units presold during the first 24 hours of availability seems to show that it doesn't make much of a difference who is telling Apple's story. But former Mac evangelist and current venture capitalist Guy Kawasaki appeared to criticize Cook's style in a Sunday blog post, notes Wingfield. In his post titled "What I Learned From Steve Jobs," Kawasaki wrote that "Real CEOs demo." What's Kawasaki's objection to letting the product guys handle the product show and tell? "Maybe it's to show that there's a team effort in play. Maybe. It's more likely [if the CEO doesn't demo the product] that the CEO doesn't understand what his/her company is making well enough to explain it. How pathetic is that?" I'm hoping that Kawasaki was not singling out Cook with this comment, and would hope that he'd point out Cook's positives with two of the other bullet points in his post: "A players hire A+ players" and "Real CEOs ship." What are your thoughts on Cook's presentation style and the comments from Guy Kawasaki? Leave your comments below.
Guy Kawasaki to keynote MacTech Conference 2011
Former chief evangelist for Apple (back in the days when the Macintosh first launched) Guy Kawasaki will keynote MacTech Conference 2011, happening November 2-4 in Los Angeles. We reviewed Guy's latest book, Enchantment earlier this year. I've read several of Guy's books and recommend them all. If you're looking for pieces of Apple history, check out The Macintosh Way (available as a free download) and Selling the Dream in particular. We also attended MacTech Conference last year and were very impressed with the event. There are two tracks, one for IT professionals and one for developers. For an additional fee attendees will be able to take Apple Certification exams. We'll attend the 2011 MacTech Conference as well and provide coverage and interviews with attendees, including Kawasaki.
TUAW Bookshelf: Enchantment by Guy Kawasaki
Guy Kawasaki, for those of you who don't know, was an original Macintosh evangelist and when the Mac debuted, he went to software developers, advocating that they write software for the new platform. Over the years Guy has been a loyal devotee of Apple and heard numerous startup pitches (and invested in a few). He's written some fantastic books on creating startups, beating the competition, selling others on your idea and more. Guy's latest book "Enchantment" is available starting today (find a seller on this page) and I have to say, if you're starting a company or wanting to reinvigorate an established business, it is worth a look. I've read a few "business" books in my day, plus a few "self-help" books with a business angle. Enchantment is sort of a redux of the best and brightest of those books, including the classic Dale Carnegie "How to Win Friends and Influence People" and Robert Cialdini's "Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion." Enchantment, as you might imagine, refers to bringing customers under your spell. It sounds a little sketchy, but as Kawasaki points out, winning customers through cheap tricks and deception will end badly in the long run. Integrity is key. Perhaps those of us who take for granted how Apple just "gets" the needs of customers and pushes features that make sense will read this book and say "well, DUH" -- but these things are not self-evident. Far too many businesses think that by cramming a million bullet points down the throats of investors and customers via PowerPoint and social networks, they too can become a success. Enchantment is the antidote to this thinking. Instead of a bunch of parlor tricks, Enchantment is full of case studies, scientific research and Guy's experience with enchanting potential customers. It's not a dry book by any means, as Guy's personality and positivity shines through in the writing. It's a very personal book as well, as there are frequent nods to Apple, Guy's own passions and proclivities, plus some very engaging personal stories from guests at the end of each chapter. The subtitle for the book is "The Art of Changing Hearts, Minds and Actions," and I have to say that the book delivers.
Get a free e-copy of Guy Kawasaki's book The Macintosh Way
For those of us who were followers of Apple back in the 80s and 90s, there was no single person who defined the enthusiasm and overall attitude of the company more than Guy Kawasaki. Guy was part of the team responsible for the original marketing of the Mac, and is credited with the use of evangelism in tech marketing to create a passionate following for a product. His 1989 book The Macintosh Way was the first in a series of successful books about the sometimes uneasy marriage of tech and business, and to this day is not only a must-read for tech marketers, but also a wonderful history of the early days of Apple. Kawasaki went on to write other books: a copy of his book Selling The Dream (1992) remains on my bookshelf as inspiration to this day, and The Art of the Start (2004) is a how-to gem for tech startups. Kawasaki is now a venture capitalist and blogger, and is involved in the Alltop RSS aggregator. Kawasaki now has the rights to The Macintosh Way in his hands, and he's giving away electronic copies of the book to anyone who follows him on Twitter. To nab a digital copy of the book, run out to this site. There will be a short delay (or long wait if the Fail Whale is breaching), and as soon as you're validated as a follower of @guykawasaki you'll be able to download your copy.
Macworld 2010: Guy Kawasaki comes by the booth
Few former Apple employees embody the six-color spirit more than evangelist & web entrepreneur Guy Kawasaki; we were pleased that he took a few minutes to talk with us about his experience of Macworld Expo and his relationship to modern-day Apple, Inc. (Hint: He's not holding his breath for that free iPad to show up in the mail.) Of course, Guy's day job is keeping him well up to speed on Apple news, as the Alltop aggregation sites now include apple.alltop.com, mac.alltop.com, iphone.alltop.com, ipod.alltop.com and the latest addition of ipad.alltop.com. You can keep track of Guy on Twitter at @guykawasaki, and see his top stories from across the web every day on his Alltop "Holy Kaw" blog.
Welcome to Macintosh to air on CNBC on January 4th, 2010
If you missed Macworld Expo 2009 in San Francisco last January, then you probably missed the premiere showing of Welcome to Macintosh, an indie documentary that provides an intimate look at Apple's history. It's been shown at different times and places over the past year, and you can also buy it from iTunes, but now you can watch the documentary for free. On Monday, January 4th, 2010 at 9:30 PM ET, CNBC is broadcasting the documentary for the first time on a major network. Welcome to Macintosh features interviews with many of the early forces in Apple history, including Andy Hertzfeld, Guy Kawasaki, and Ron Wayne (often referred to as the "third founder" of Apple and the person who designed the original Apple logo). CNBC seems to be vying for the title of "The Apple Channel," as we reported yesterday that they're airing a special about the app revolution titled "Planet of the Apps: A Handheld Revolution" on January 7th. [via Macworld]
TUAW @SXSW: Christina talks to Guy Kawasaki
Former Apple evangelist Guy Kawasaki was at SXSW Interactive this week and I had the chance to catch-up with him and talk about the announcement of My.Alltop, a customizable version of Alltop.com. Alltop is a really good way to quickly catch up on a lot of news about a specific topic. NetNewsWire is another app that's great for that, but I don't always have the time to space-bar my way through the latest news and events. Alltop started out small, with only a few categories and niche areas. Now it's huge, and it indexes and large number of topics and sites. This is great, but can lead to information overload. With My.Alltop, you can customize a personal page with your favorite links in one place from all across Allto.. As someone who is frustrated by trying to manage RSS feeds on my iPod touch, I prefer the iPhone optimized Alltop interface for getting information quickly. My.Alltop just launched and it doesn't look like the mobile stylesheets have been rolled out yet. But I'm sure just a matter of time. Guy also said that an iPhone application is in the works so you can add, edit or access your feeds more quickly. Also, be sure to check out the TUAW MyAlltop page. We've started to load it with some of our favorite Mac, iPhone and general tech links and I know this is what I'll be rocking when I want to read news on the run.
Mac founding-fathers appear at Welcome to Macintosh screening
This year at Macworld 2009, two documentary films about the Mac held screenings. While we didn't have anyone on-site at MacHEADS, a few of us were fortunate enough to attend Thursday night's screening of Welcome to Macintosh. Welcome to Macintosh, a documentary by Josh Rizzo and Rob Baca, chronicles the history of Apple and the Mac, using interviews with the people and the users that were there. Tony Walla contributed a great piece about the film last April, which fills in more background. While the film is amazing (the DVD is available now and it is chock-full of awesome), the discussion after the screening was truly magical. Five of the participants from the film, along with Very Special Guest, Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, appeared on-stage and answered questions from the crowd. (See the Woz answer our own Mike Rose's question here) Read on for more historic geekiness...%Gallery-41649%
Ballmer answers iPhone SDK questions, revisits Monkey Boy dance
It's always interesting to hear execs chime in on the competition following big announcements. So it's no surprise to hear that Steve Ballmer was peppered with questions about the iPhone during yesterday's Mix '08 event with Guy Kawasaki. When asked about Silverlight -- Microsoft's attempt at usurping Adobe's Flash -- on the Flash-less iPhone, Ballmer said, "Silverlight for the iPhone is of course interesting," adding, "I can't say there's been extensive discussion with Guy's old boss." He also wondered aloud about Apple possibly digging too deeply into developers pockets with its 30% share of application revenue. Ballmer said, "it's a good business if you can make it." A jab at Jobs' claim that Apple doesn't plan to make any money off the App Store. The highlight though came with Ballmer's compliance to recreate his Monkey Boy Dance for Web Developers. Bill, we're going to miss you.[Thanks, Bryant] Read -- Q&A on iPhone Read -- Monkey Boy dance, take 2
TUAW Podcast #20: Macworld Interview with Guy Kawasaki (Extended Remix)
Wow - you overwhelmingly asked for it, and here it is. I was blown away by the response to the 'TUAW edit' of my Guy Kawasaki interview, so the extended remix is ready for download. This one clocks in at over 55 minutes, so it should satisfy the fans of Guy in the crowd. It was an honor to speak with Mr. Kawasaki, and as you'll discover, we touched on so many more topics throughout the rest of the interview. We covered being a venture capitalist, Guy's surprising humility, what a car from Apple would be like, whether Guy bought a Wii, how he gets his blogging on and so much more. I was admittedly speechless at times around Guy, and I'm glad Laurie Duncan, who graciously came along to handle the recording aspects, was there to help me keep from stumbling. You'll hear her pitch some great questions to Guy a few times throughout the interview.There is, however, one catch even with this extended cut: we wound up chatting with Guy for so long that the recording equipment we used ran out of juice just before we wrapped up. Don't worry - you have virtually all the juicy stuff we talked about, but I just wanted to give a heads up on the use of the canned conclusion.With that said, you can now grab my full interview with Guy Kawasaki, which weighs in at 50MB and 55 minutes. Enjoy it from this direct link, our iTunes Store Podcast directory or our own podcast RSS feed. Enjoy.
TUAW Podcast #19: Macworld interview with Guy Kawasaki
At long last, my Macworld interview with Guy Kawasaki, for which you told us what to ask, is ready to go. Sitting down in the same room with The Guy™ during the week of Macworld 07 was quite the experience, and we had a good time chatting about the iPhone, where Apple is going as a company and more.There's a catch with this podcast, however. Since many TUAW readers have expressed their interest in shorter podcasts, I chopped our interview down to just over 16 minutes. This means I have roughly an hour or so of chatting with Guy which I think is still interesting stuff. So, we decided to put a vote to you readers: after listening to what I put together here, do you want to hear the rest of the interview with Guy? We kept on chatting about the rest of the industry, why no one's buying software, evangelism and its place in business today... the guy really knows his stuff. If you're interested, leave a comment to let us know, and I'll publish a part 2.But for now, enjoy TUAW Podcast #19 which weighs in at just over 15MB and 16 minutes. You can snag it from this direct link, our iTunes Store Podcast directory or our own podcast RSS feed. Enjoy.
Tell us what to ask Guy Kawasaki
Leo Laporte isn't the only upcoming TUAW interviewee you yourselves get to question - we're also going to be interviewing Guy Kawasaki, former Apple Fellow, venture capitalist, author and speaker. Guy has done quite a bit for the Mac world, as he was literally the first official evangelist for the Mac platform and Apple. More recently, Guy snagged an interesting interview with Steve Wozniak that delved a little past the lasers and knee-slapping.So what would you *ask* him, TUAW readers? Lay your questions for the venerable Guy Kawasaki on us, and we'll be sure to bring a few to the interview.
Guy Kawasaki interviewing Woz
We know most of you are kinda over all the Woz buzz, but for those of you who still can't get enough, we direct you to this longish video of Guy Kawasaki, the original Mac Evangelist, interviewing with Steve Wozniak.zBiz.tv has the footage and since it's almost an hour long, you'll appreciate that there are chapter markers available. The interview was filmed a few weeks ago at the Commonwealth Club of Silicon Valley, one of Woz's many iWoz book tour stops. It's a great interview and it's always a treat to have two icons on stage together, chatting like they are in your livingroom. The quality of the video itself is not very good, but the audio is solid so even if it gives you a headache to watch, you should still listen.
Follow that White Laptop
Cambrian House, famous for 'crowdsourced software,' is raising money for Youth For Technology in an interesting way. They have taken a MacBook and are getting is signed by all sorts of tech luminaries and then auctioning it off to the highest bidder. Straightforward and simple, just the way I like it. You can even track where the MacBook is, or read their blog.The first signer is none other than Guy Kawasaki, who will now send it off to someone else to get signed and so on.
Guy Kawasaki gets sneak peek of iWoz
Guy Kawasaki, former Apple evangelist, has read Steve Wozniak's memoirs and he liked what he read. He was posted the top ten things that he learned from iWoz to give us a taste of what is in the book. Guy learned that Woz is, and always has been, an Apple employee. Woz taught computer classes in an elementary school, and that he lost $12 million on each of his US Festivals.I know I'll be getting this book as soon as it is available for lowly bloggers like myself.
