70. How to Beat the Demo Demons

Plan B and More

When companies bet the farm on new products, they often throw an elaborate launch party for industry influencers and the press. These Big Tent events are often centered on a demonstration of the precious newborn product. As anyone who has ever attended or, more to the point, participated in these events knows, the Demo Demons can strike suddenly, smiting the demo with a software crash, hardware jam, dropped Internet connection, frozen screen, power outage, blown lamp, dead battery, mouse malfunction, pop-up screen, or sound system failure.

Pure common sense, anticipation, preparation, and redundancy will avoid or counteract most of the physical and logistical pitfalls, but there is still the vital matter of showmanship: How do you integrate all the elements of your demo: the physical components, your voice and body language, and your all-important audience?

The Demo Demons may even give you a free pass and let you proceed without crashing, but you still have to make the demo go smoothly. After all, you are the surrogate for your audience; if you can’t make your product work easily how can they?

Here are seven simple steps to make your next demo a success.

1. Get out of the way. When the demo starts, you become subordinate to the demo and are no longer the focus of the presentation. Shift your position to the periphery and make the demo the center of attention. Veteran actors get out of the way when children and dogs are involved. The demo in a business presentation is the equivalent of the cute kid or the adorable puppy on stage. Step aside and let your demo be the focus.

2. Become the Voice-Over narrator. Take a lesson from how well-made documentaries do their narratives. The narrator is unseen, but tells a clear story. Be the VO for your demo, and make your narrative thorough. Don’t be vague. Don’t ad lib. Be as precise as a synchronized soundtrack.

3. Say “you.” In their effort to appeal to the broadest possible customer base, most demos are impersonal tutorials that sound canned, and therefore, detached from the audience. By incorporating the word “you” into your narrative, you involve your audience as if they are participants in the demo and, by implication, as buyers of the product you are demonstrating.

4. Make Eye Connect via the demo. Look at your own demo or at the projection screen displaying your demo. Don’t try to engage with your audience’s eyes as you demonstrate. They are focused on the demo itself or on the screen, and not on you. If you turn to face them, they become conflicted about where to look. This is the same dynamic you read about in Chapter 34, “Misdirection.” Take the same point of view as your audience. Watch the demo evolve as if you were an end user.

5. Pause for action. Allow the demo to speak for itself, especially when many actions are occurring at the same time. Pause at such points and allow the action to run its course. Silence is golden and actions speak louder than words.

6. Use verbal navigation. This is an extension of the same technique you learned in Chapter 45, “No More Mind-Numbing Number Slides.” Navigate your audience’s eyes with your words. Direct their eyes by describing what they are seeing in the demo. Reference colors, objects, position, and direction. Reference top and bottom, center and sides. Reference left and right, too, but be sure that you make it clear which left or right. Don’t force your audience to do the navigation. A simple fail-safe is to orient yourself with same point of view as your audience.

7. Learn Sullivan’s Law. Sullivan’s Law is a corollary of Murphy’s Law, which is, “Anything that can go wrong will.” Sullivan’s Law is “Murphy was an optimist.”

Develop a Plan B for what you will do and say if the Demo Demons strike.