EYN#040: 3 Frameworks That Elevate Your Demo Impact

I've sat through a lot of boring demos in my time. Demos that take a brilliant product and make it seem pretty dull.

Often, the approach that led to this soul destroying experience is the feature walk through demo. The presenter opens up the product and then describes every feature on the screen. They then click to the next screen and repeat. The pattern is continued until either all the screens have been explained, or the sun exhausts its fuel reserves and expands to a red giant ending the solar system.

The impact of this demo style?: Unengaged stakeholders, bored customers and minimum impact from your demos.

I talked about a great framework for Demos in Newsletter #030, but today I want to expand the structure and story section. Here's 3 ways to structure your demo to make it more engaging.

Tell Em, Show Em, Tell Em

A classic approach that many people have heard of:

• Tell them what you will do. Before you show the product, describe what you will do. Based on the personas in your audience, give them a depth appropriate overview. If it's complicated give them an architectural overview of what's happening. Use a whiteboard, or slides to make the complex simple. Give them context.
• Show Them With The Product. Show them a compelling demo. Make it ambitious. Show the product in the context that the audience would want to see it. Make it punchy and make it engaging.
• Summarise What You Did. Now share a crisp summary of what you did. Remind them of what you showed them in the product demo.

Problem Solution Benefit

Another approach I often hear about:

• Outline a problem that causes pain. Describe the problem that they have to today. Share the pain and the impact it has.
• Solve that problem with the product. Share a compelling and punchy demo that solves the pain you outlined. Solve that pain for the audience that is listening.
• Share the benefits of solving that problem. Now remind the audience of the benefits of the demo they just watched. Describe how it solved the problem and pain you initially described.

The Hybrid - POSOB

My favourite approach is a hybrid of the two. It fuses the two together to make the demo understandable and memorable:

• Pain and problem. Share the pain, the problem and the impact it has.
• Overview. Share the overview of HOW we can fix it. Based on the personas in your audience, give them a depth appropriate overview. If it's complicated give them an architectural overview of what's happening.
• Solve That Problem With The Demo. Share a compelling and punchy demo that solves the pain you outlined. Solve that pain for the audience that is listening.
• Overview. Share a crisp summary of what you did. Remind them of what you showed them in the product demo.
• Benefits Tell them the benefits of what we did. Describe how it solved the problem and pain you initially described.

That actually makes nice little pneumonic. POSOB. I love a good pneumonic to help me remember things. The weirder the better.

Well there we go. Structure your demo properly and make it understandable and memorable.

Hope this helps

Ben