Friday, July 29, 2011

“Demo Day” Sessions

Many Great Demo! Workshop principals and participants ask what they can do to keep the implementation process moving forward, after a Workshop completes.  One simple (and surprisingly effective) tactic is to do a “Demo Day”.  This is an extension of the role-play sessions practiced in the Workshop, where each person or team presents an 8-10 minute demo to the overall group, followed by feedback and discussion.  This reinforces the key concepts and surfaces new tips and best practices – and is a highly valuable exercise whether or not the team has had the pleasure of participating in a demo skills Workshop.

I typically suggest allocating about 30 minutes per role-play to give sufficient time for the demo, feedback, technical glitches and break time.  In a half-day session you present and review 8 demos easily.

A Demo Day is something that teams and principals can do on their own or  [warning:  shameless self-promotion alert!]  have someone who is highly skilled in teaching and coaching demo practices facilitate – me, for example! 

Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Having Your Champion Drive – Interesting Variant

I often suggest having your customer (or more specifically your Champion) drive for portions of a demo.  This changes the entire dynamic in comparison with traditional demo meetings, making things different and very engaging.  I also recommend reducing any risks by working with your Champion and practicing beforehand so that both you and your Champion are comfortable.

A wonderful  alternative to this is to have your Champion narrate while you drive – this may be the next best thing to having the customer drive, but with (substantially!) reduced risk.  Try it!

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Introducing the Demo - Like the Evening TV News

A number of Great Demo! Workshop participants have enjoyed good success in positioning “Do the Last Thing First” by drawing an analogy with the evening TV news.  They tell their audience that “We are going to start, like TV newscasters do, by going you the headlines for each “story” so that you have an outline of the overall demo.  Then we’ll go into each “story” section in more detail.”

Customers apparently understand and appreciate this analogy – it resonates!