I sat through most of the presentations (demos).
And, actually paid attention.
May I suggest for the future:
On the conference side:
On the demonstrator's side:
People tend to map new concepts to old concepts, so explain something similar (like a competitor):
"We are like Dil.licio.us, but for the Enterprise"
Or even a model:
"Hi, I'm Paul Bunyan, Director of Sales with iFearNoDwarves.com. You know how your mom marked your height on the door jam when you were growing up? We let you do this on your phone."
Do tell people why you made it, how "you" use it, and show some great examples of your favorite features that make you or the world better for using it.
Do not show a room full of people that are in this industry how to sign up for your service, or any piece of information that people already know, or can figure out later. Also don't say "um," you lose 10 points each time you say this.
"Obviously we support English and Metric, but also support a great feature that lets you overlay height charts for multiple kids. In addition to default skins such as ‘dirty garage' and ‘unpainted drywall corner' we let you upload your own picture. But my favorite feature is one that sends an SMS to my mom when I grow more than a centimeter in a month."
Read off a quick list of the most important features, and a few more features people should check out for themselves.
And most importantly, to help companies looking to use you, buy you, partner with you, help you, or even just steal from you:
"We are a team of teenagers working out of the basement, so we see the marks on the door jam every day, keeping us focused. We plan to sell out to... well, anyone. We wrote it in a L337-speak emulator written by script kiddies on a PHP forum, and render to WAP on the phone. Currently the server is running on a hacked Dreamcast running Linux. We let people download our system for free, and sell your height information to big pharmaceutical companies who will spam, er, contact you if you deviate from any norm."
Lastly, the three best speakers (to me) represented:
Watch the videos of their demos from Office 2.0 to see why. Hint... passion, and knowledge of the product/service, the market, and the audience.
Sorry for the long post, but I sat through 41 demos...
And, actually paid attention.
May I suggest for the future:
On the conference side:
- Bumper time: What ever the full time limit is, let's say 10 minutes, you need to account for the time it takes to set up.
- Stop watch: Put up a big ass count down timer (RED LED) on the facing wall. Start the moment the demonstrator gets on stage. Set up is their problem. When it hits "0"...they are done!
- Video feed: Offer a feed outside (in the open area) with an overlay of who is speaking currently, and who is up next (with full list on the side).
- Power: More powerstrips in more places.
On the demonstrator's side:
- Paint a quick picture.
- State your name, title, and company name. Slowly, and clearly.
People tend to map new concepts to old concepts, so explain something similar (like a competitor):
"We are like Dil.licio.us, but for the Enterprise"
Or even a model:
"Hi, I'm Paul Bunyan, Director of Sales with iFearNoDwarves.com. You know how your mom marked your height on the door jam when you were growing up? We let you do this on your phone."
- Tell a story
Do tell people why you made it, how "you" use it, and show some great examples of your favorite features that make you or the world better for using it.
Do not show a room full of people that are in this industry how to sign up for your service, or any piece of information that people already know, or can figure out later. Also don't say "um," you lose 10 points each time you say this.
"Obviously we support English and Metric, but also support a great feature that lets you overlay height charts for multiple kids. In addition to default skins such as ‘dirty garage' and ‘unpainted drywall corner' we let you upload your own picture. But my favorite feature is one that sends an SMS to my mom when I grow more than a centimeter in a month."
- Recap
Read off a quick list of the most important features, and a few more features people should check out for themselves.
And most importantly, to help companies looking to use you, buy you, partner with you, help you, or even just steal from you:
- A quick overview of your team or company.
- Your goal (future plan) of your service or product.
- How your system works technically.
- Your market deployment.
- How you make money.
"We are a team of teenagers working out of the basement, so we see the marks on the door jam every day, keeping us focused. We plan to sell out to... well, anyone. We wrote it in a L337-speak emulator written by script kiddies on a PHP forum, and render to WAP on the phone. Currently the server is running on a hacked Dreamcast running Linux. We let people download our system for free, and sell your height information to big pharmaceutical companies who will spam, er, contact you if you deviate from any norm."
Lastly, the three best speakers (to me) represented:
- EchoSign
- MindTouch
- ThoughtFarmer
Watch the videos of their demos from Office 2.0 to see why. Hint... passion, and knowledge of the product/service, the market, and the audience.
Sorry for the long post, but I sat through 41 demos...
Tags:
demo,
speakers,
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