Excellent post, Carl.
My favorite moment comes right at the end of the "Zune" talk. He has positioned himself near the front of the stage. He ends the Zune talk, and turns his back to the audience and walks away! (goes to the water bottle). No more need be said about Zune!
Yes, an excellent post 
I'm an actor by trade, and have always been a little confused by people's constant referral to Jobs's performance at expos as a "Reality Distortion field", as if his performance was some unique form of black magic, rather than - as you so well point out - based on solid ideas of great staging, hard rehearsal, and carefully crafted technique. It's a keynote for heaven's sake! A *performance* which is meant to outline visions and inspire. It's not a back-room product demonstration! Hint - it happens on a *big stage*. One little professional point I would add though - no matter how good the script, it's ten times better when you really believe what it is you're saying. What if the *real* secret to Jobs's Reality Distortion Field is that he fully embraces his own message as reality?
Thanks Carl for the pointers.
Steve Mc is correct that Jobs fully embraces his own message. If you can go back and watch the ROKR and iPod nano special event, you can sense the change in body language and excitement when he switches from one to the other. And we know which one he really believed in.
Another factor contributing to the keynote is that Steve Jobs has authenticity. Part of what is so special about a Steve Jobs keynote is that you know that he personally had a hand the development of everything he talks about. He is not telling a story about what someone else did. That adds a lot to making his keynotes interesting.
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