Someone will surely chime in with a more sophisticated way, but I mount the cylinder level in a vise, carefully pour fluid into the intake port and gently work the piston until nothing but fluid comes out of the outlet port. Then, install the cylinder on the firewall trying not to spill any fluid. I'd call Randy's method a 'pre-bleed' or 'partial bleed' since it's not done on the bench. Certainly, a good way to do it--I might try it next time myself.
I'm not sure there's a great advantage to doing this--esp. on a servo'd car since I don't know of a method to 'bench' bleed the servo cylinders--but it might help getting the last bit of air out of the M/C. I think pressure bleeding is the best way overall--I have a reservoir cap with a Schrader valve installed to which I can apply pressure from a regulated compressor output.