The latest tech launch hitting our news feeds is from Google Quantum AI. Willow is the name of their latest quantum computer chip. And, as we have become accustomed to since Steve Jobs started it and Elon Musk continued it, we have an inspirational video presentation announcing it to the world.
However, something really caught my attention with this one. Julian Kelly, the Director of Hardware tasked with inspiring the world, is a pretty uninspiring speaker. And I love the presentation all the more because of this.
This is because the presentation is still very good. It is inspiring because of the way it is crafted and the authenticity of how it is put across, not because of the flair of the presenter. There is no grandiose tone, even if it really could be something that changes the world. There is no bullish self-confidence, yet there is a lot to be confident about.
Watch the 7-minute presentation and consider the type of presentation that Kelly delivers. Is it a creator-type presentation, a magician-type presentation, or a sage-type presentation?
Meet Willow, our state-of-the-art quantum chip
It is tempting to see this as a sage-type presentation. Julian Kelly seems to us to be a sage. He comes across as a super-geek on the topic. He has been working in the field for many years and Google Quantum AI have chosen him to be the face of this announcement. However, Kelly is not theorising or scrutinising the data, and he is not looking to educate us to any real depth. He is not offering alternative models. He is not sharing his expert opinion.
Here he is a magician-type presenter. His aim is to amaze us with the results and transform our sense of what is possible. He may be a sage-like geek at heart, but he is embodying the magician-technologist, coming with an invention that makes something that was impossible yesterday seem eminently achievable today.
What does Kelly do that makes this a magician-type presentation?
The answer is he does many things that we would guide a presenter to do when they have selected to be magician prez-type. Every presentation is different and every presenter is unique. However, there are consistent elements that a successful magician presenter includes.
Below are extracts from our chapter on the magician prez-type plus some added commentary on how we see these things in Jason Kelly’s presentation.
As a Magician prez-type you attest that the impossible is now possible… Make your main message a vision … something wonderful and miraculous is now possible. Kelly closes the presentation with his main message, “With future commercially useful applications in areas like pharmaceuticals, batteries, and fusion power, we are excited to solve the otherwise unsolvable problems of tomorrow.” This is certainly a powerful and important vision.
You astonish them. You do the unexpected. You may hint towards one thing and then deliver something different. In one of his early data charts the y-axis is deliberately set to imply the best we could hope for from Willow is a ‘coherence’ at a little over 40. Then, to emphasise the transformative level of the results, the chart stretches upwards to allow the space for the true Willow number coming in at just under 100. Later he makes an even more dramatic data reveal, “The results are pretty surprising. By our best estimates a calculation that takes Willow under 5 minutes would take the fastest supercomputer 10 to the 25 years ... a timescale way longer than the age of the universe.”
Talk slowly and with a sense of wonder. Key phrases may mimic incantations (e.g. nonsense words like “abracadabra”). Notice how Kelly does this. His pacing is assured and a little slow. He has a few key phrases that are technical or scientific terms – “quantum computing”, “superconducting qubits”, and “tunability” - but to the majority of us listening, these sound little more than arcane incantations. He chooses not to explain these inscrutable terms. He utters them to signal the unknowable essence of the new technology.
Walk slowly and carefully into the space with a sense of occasion – something awesome is about to occur. See how, after a narrated set-up, Kelly walks into the space. He is not doing it in a big dramatic way, but the move into the space is carefully chosen.
The powerful “magic” takes centre stage. Arrange the space so you can stand (or sit) just to the side. Kelly is sometimes positioned slightly to the right or to the left. We realise this is so the magnificent Willow quantum chip can be framed in the centre of the screen with Kelly stood to one side.
Look to impress them in how you visualise the power of your magic e.g. skilfully formed slide animations, technical demonstrations. They have used an intriguing curved screen to connect with a high tech feel. They have invested time and money to create impressive animations that hint at, without really fully explaining, the amazing things that the chip can do.
Hint at the amazing things that they will experience during the presentation. We remember the opening video that reminds us of the marvels of nature, and suggests how quantum mechanics lies at the centre of much of this.
Julian Kelly is no-one’s idea of a larger-than-life inspirational or motivational speaker. But, with the help of others, he has crafted a presentation that is authentically him and powerfully designed to get the response he wants.
We would love you to use our book to help you do the same thing.
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Photo from Google Quantum AI YouTube channel.