Airplane pilots use checklists to make sure they do the
right things as much of the time as possible (like always). Checklists dramatically reduce the risk of
bad things happening. Should we apply
the same principle to the wonderful world of demos? (Everyone, say “yes!”…)
Perhaps a failed demo is not quite as bad as crashing an
airplane, but consider: Are there any
demos that you don’t care about them being successful, similarly? Assuming not, you may want to follow the same
idea and use a checklist before the demo to make sure you are prepared – and
post-demo to see if your preparation was really complete.
I’ve been delivering demo skills training as a business for
12 years and I still use checklists for many of my activities. Doing Discovery (especially) warrants a
checklist; preparing for trips; preparing for Workshops (several lists – my
prep, room infrastructure, etc.
etc.). I also follow a checklist process
to debrief from Workshops, with an emphasis on constantly trying to improve the
content, my delivery and (especially) seeing the participants implement the key
ideas.
There are (at least) four take-aways here:
First, when learning a new process, a checklist helps you do
the right things and avoid unnecessary errors or omissions.
Second, “building great habits” implies many repetitions
that will (hopefully) result in consistency.
Checklists enable consistency
to take place – we are able to refer to checklists to make sure we’ve done the
right things in the right order.
Third, to get better.
In many disciplines where practitioners want to continue to improve, checklists
are used both before and after
sessions. Before, to make sure they are
properly prepared; after, to evaluate their performance (“what did I do well;
what could I have done better?”). An honest
assessment of performance right after a demo can be surprisingly effective in driving improvement.
Finally, should a checklist (for demos) remain a
constant? (Say, “No”). Checklists should evolve as practices change
and improve. New items should appear,
older items may change of disappear, and more subtle items may surface as new areas
of focus.
We built DemoCoach
to help Great Demo! practitioners achieve these objectives. Great Demo! Workshop and Seminar alumni, and
readers of the Great Demo! book will
find DemoCoach a gentle, personal coach –
available on our smart phones (or via the web) to remind us of key preparation elements
for a demo and to help us review how we did, post demo. [DemoCoach is available at http://factorlab.com/demo-coach.]
For non-Great Demo! alumni and readers, I encourage you to
create your own checklist(s) and use them similarly to establish and improve
your own practices.
