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Information for vendors making presentations to UGs
Some info can be used as guide for non-vendor presentations by UG members
Born To Demo Guide
by Dave Winer, President of UserLand Software
(Note: The "Demo Guide" was distributed to attendees at Demo '91, an industry insider conference produced by Stewart Alsop.)
Having a product that's interesting enough to demo at Stewart Alsop's Demo 91 conference doesn't guarantee that the demo itself is going to be interesting. I don't want to make you nervous, but it's important that you think about your demo before doing it, that you make your mistakes before showing up in Palm Springs.
The flow of information about products starts at the center of the industry and this conference is loaded with bigshots whose opinions are listened to. Following are some hints and tips about preparing for and doing demos that are interesting and help you communicate all that's fun or special about your product.
Experience demoing a product will help you understand what features turn people on. Your first demos will be filled with nothing but surprises. By the time you've done your twentieth or thirtieth demo there will be no surprises.
Demo to yourself first. Go through, step by step, reviewing the features. Take detours, try things out. Use the product to solve the kinds of problems it was designed to solve. Put in some real time.
Then, you want to demo to non-critical people. This is a double-entendre. They should be non-critical meaning that they're pre-disposed not to criticize you. And non-critical because if they don't like it they might give you another chance before they tell their friends that the product is slow, unnecessary, or crashes a lot. Your ego will need a lot of support in the early demos.
If you're part of a company, demo to your tech support people. They will appreciate being in the loop with product development; and will immediately recognize why certain features are there. And they'll tell you which features you missed. Try demoing to small groups of tech support people. Take them out to lunch afterwards and talk about the product. Listen to what they have to say.
Crashes are not funny
The splash box for our new product said: "CanCoon -- software that crashes from UserLand.” We knew the early demos could crash, in fact one release crashed whenever I clicked on a cell in the object database. Crashes make you look silly. Sure, everyone understands, so they say, but in practice there's nothing worse than the awkward feeling you get watching the machine reboot after a crash.
Learn what makes your software crash, and avoid doing those things! Run through the demo over and over, each time you get a new version from development. If the new version doesn't demo without crashing, use an older, more reliable version instead.
If your program is crash-prone, remove as many INITs or TSRs as you can from the boot process so that reboots will happen as fast as possible. And memorize a good joke you can tell while the machine is rebooting.
The best demoers are people who have access to the source code and are inclined to fiddle with the user interface and performance of the software to make it demo better and use better. Take time in advance to make some changes to the product so it demos better. Certainly you can develop better demo materials.
Appreciate every feature in the product you're demoing. If you don't like the product, if you don't use it yourself, it will show.
A demo is not a tutorial
I've been given countless demos by people who think that I have to understand and appreciate every small little niche of the product. In some settings you have as much as a half-hour to show off the features of your product, sometimes longer. In a tradeshow or conference setting, five minutes is the max. Generally, you want to focus on results you can accomplish with the product, not how you accomplish those results.
Complete understanding of most software products can take days, weeks, even months. If you dive into corners of the product, you must be leaving out major chunks of what the product does. The prospect walks away thinking your product is a word processor when in fact it's an integrated file manager and word processor. Bad news.
Start with your hands on the keyboard or the mouse. Make something happen on the screen while you're telling them that your product is the latest, wizziest scripting system and object database. No speeches! These people came to see your product, not to hear you pontificate.
Get the saliva going by minute #2
If you have five minutes to tell your story, make sure that by the time minute #1 is over the prospect has seen enough to be totally blown away. Surely there must be one thing you can show that will make almost anyone start salivating. If not, your product has a real problem.
I remember getting my first demo of a spreadsheet in 1979, from Dan Fylstra, then the President of Personal Software. Dan understood some of the basics of giving good demo. Before minute #1 was over I had seen him enter a new number in one cell and watched the numbers ripple down and to the right. I know it was a great demo and a great product because I still get goosebumps thinking about it!
Of course you can't expect to have a product as revolutionary as VisiCalc was in 1979, but there must be something that wows 'em every time. Don't save that for the end, put it up front where it belongs.
By the way, that first feature you demo is going to be the one people talk about. You might want to vary it. If you have three killer features, rotate them through the first slot. That way when Mr. X and Ms. Y are talking about your product later in the day, one will say, "Did you see how it recalced?" And the other will say, "I think people are really going to love the way it paginates on the fly!"
Okay, let's assume you've floored them with the killer feature in minute #1. Now that you've got their attention, don't let up. Your prospect is going to be predisposed to thinking your product is great, so show some more great stuff.
When we were rolling out MORE at Living Videotext in 1986, I liked to show tree charts first. I'd start by typing in the name of the company president. Then ask, "Who reports to the president?” I'd enter a list of the direct reports. Then flip the switch, and voila! -- a beautiful little graphic tree chart, with their names in it. No fuss no muss. Involving the prospect in the demo makes it hard for them to shift their attention. It also shows you care about them.
Who are you demoing to?
If you've got a programming tool and the prospect isn't a programmer, focus on what you can accomplish with the product, instead of how you accomplish it.
Humor definitely does have a place in demos. If you're demoing an accounting program, hide a little embezzlement for your prospect to "discover.” Show it to them if they don't catch it. Demoing a word processor? Make the memo entertaining.
Eye contact is important
The demo stations at the Demo conference have been set up so that eye contact is not impossible. Look at the faces of your prospects as often as you possibly can. If you see their eyes glazing over, show them something visual that will wake them up. Don't let their ennui rattle you.
A little nausea can be a good thing
You should show at least one hard-to-understand feature in each demo. This may sound cynical, but I learned this the hard way. At Living Videotext, we fussed and fussed over the first version of ThinkTank to push all the hard features out of the initial release. At the time (1983), ease-of-use was the big industry buzzword. We fell right into the trap.
People came away from demos thinking the product was trivial. Some competitors boasted that they could have an outliner on the market within months, if not weeks. We knew that it would really take them years to match the features in ThinkTank, but the product earned a reputation for being almost insignificant. That's why we added a dizzying feature called Cloning to the second release of ThinkTank. "Great technology!" people said. Our competitors stopped sniffing.
I believe in showing off one deep feature of every product, knowing full well that most prospects won't get it. On the other hand, don't use up more than twenty or thirty seconds to show this feature, and for the most part stick with trying to build an understanding of what your product is really all about
No one wants to sit there (or stand!) while you type "Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of their country...” If you're demoing a text product, have a memo or report on your disk so you can show the features working on a real document.
Don't get me wrong -- I think you have to do at least a little typing if only to prove that it's a real product and not a HyperCard simulation of a product.
There's a scene to avoid
You're in the middle of demoing your second killer feature to a group of five important prospects. A newcomer arrives with a pressing question. "Does your product do circular redundancy algorithms?” Do you stop your demo and deal with this jerk? No way!
Stick with your script
Accept detours only if you're sure it will be a turn-on for everyone getting the demo. If you can handle requests from the audience gracefully and smoothly, you'll impress them. But you're courting disaster if you've never rehearsed the feature.
The wrong thing to do is to abort the five-minute demo and answer the challenge. "Let's talk later," would be an excellent response. By the way, the person with the big problem is probably a competitor.
Once you've done twenty or thirty demos you'll be ready to teach other people how to demo the product. Then it pays to sit down with an outliner or word processor (if possible the product itself) and outline the demo, step by step. Put the keystrokes and mouse strokes in the major heads and the words you say in subheads.
You must have confidence in your product, and confidence in your ability to sell it. The only way to get there is to practice, to think about demonstrations, and play Monday-morning quarterback. Refine your demo, and maybe even the product, and experiment and rehearse until you win every time.
Permission to reproduce and distribute is granted to member user groups of the Association of Personal Computer User Groups.
Copyright (c) 1991, Dave Winer, UserLand Software. All rights reserved.
by Ed Margulies ed_margulies@msn.com
Death on stage. It’s what people most fear about public speaking. This ranks second only to the "naked on the playground" nightmares and the boogieman in your closet. Most of us are too busy programming, developing packages and selling products to worry about theatrics.
Thankfully, Computer Telephony Demo Fall 96 was a huge success. Several hundred people from 69 companies demoed live on stage. Each demonstrating company had ten minutes on our revolving stage. Harry called it our wheel of torture.
Imagine setting-up a demo complete with live ISDN lines, dial-up Internet Connections and several PCs. In the dark. In ten minutes. The ground moves and you're rotated onto a bright stage with 2,000 eyes staring you down. Surprisingly, this scene repeated itself 69 times at Computer Telephony Demo Fall and no one really choked. Despite some technical snafus from time to time, it was glorious. Hears what we learned about public speaking.
The best demos carried a simple, singular message. "We Do Unified Messaging Best" or "Internet Telephony R Us." The idea is to create a lasting, visceral impression on the crowd. The audience should leave saying: "These guys are pretty sharp. I want to go see them and kick iron on their product."
If you say too much about too many products or features, the audience gets bored. They want to know what you do well and how it's better than what they're doing now. And audiences are pretty bright. It's not necessary to beat a point into the ground. One vendor took five minutes to make a point about how bad touch-tone interfaces can be. That's not what you want your audience to remember.
Don't be afraid to do a skit or humorous scenario. Sure, the product is important. But so is entertainment. The APEX and Brooktrout skits were hilarious and the exhibit area was crowded directly after their presentations. What you really want to prove on stage is your approachability. People want to know you're human. Theatrics send this signal loud and clear.
The best demos bounced back and forth between straight product demo and little skits. You've got to be really good to pull the entire demo off as a skit. But it can be done.
We encouraged folks to err on the side of minimalism in the equipment area. Lots can go wrong given all the cables, wires and video gear. We blew up a video board the first day in one of the Barco Projectors. Folks plugged analog phones into Basic Rate ISDN lines. Harry's favorite chide: "It's always the cable" developed a whole new meaning for those with a cartloads of gear. Those with lots of gear still did a good job, even with the ad-libs. Bottom line: the fewer boxes, the fewer problems. Save the really complicated set-ups for your booth or demo suite.
Even with the most glorious demo, things can go wrong. Your ability to "recover" can turn a disaster into a great opportunity. What attendees look for is a smile, a joke and a seamless presentation. If a demo bombs, you should be able to transition over into some PowerPoint slides and a dial-up (over the phone) demo in a pinch. With luck, no one will know it wasn't planned that way. One vendor had to hand a phone back and forth to simulate part of their demo. They were mortified. But the crowd loved it. No one knew anything was wrong. Linkon breezed through with wonderful aplomb despite A/V problems.
We insisted on "mini-screenplays" for each demonstrator. This means each company on stage typed-up a script of who would say what to whom on stage. This was useful for the stage crew, but even more useful for the demoers. Without a script, we all have a tendency to ramble or go off the mark. A script ensures the delivery of a focused message. Of course, it helps if it's the correct message. Very few of us can pop up on stage and deliver a well-crafted presentation without knowing who's going to say what when. Amazingly, the Three Stooges did it and so did the Honeymooners. But that's rare genius.
Look at it this way: How many betas does your product go through till it's in production? You should practice your demo at least as many times. First, practice in front of the mirror or video yourself. You'd be surprised how vastly improved you become after seeing yourself on tape. Second, practice in front of your peers at work. Next, do your demo for a small group of customers. Ask them individually what can be improved upon. Ask for input and you'll get it. But don't ask your family. They'll love anything you do.
Cluttered Slides Don't Work
One presenter showed a yellow-on-yellow PowerPoint slide with 23 lines of tiny type. It was so bad the presenter said, "Since you can't read this slide, I'll read it to you."
It didn't bring down the house. Harry nearly killed the guy. Better: Put no more than 20 words on a slide. Make more slides.
Don't start with... "Let me tell you first a little about our company." No one is interested in your company. They're interested in only one thing: How your products can help them solve their problem. Show them.
Ed Margulies - Ed_Margulies@msn.com
VP, Computer Telephony Publishing
How to Address a User Group
by Rollie Cole and Larry Shaw, APCUG
Ready to present? Here are some tips:
The most important rule for a relatively painless and well received speaking engagement is to encourage two-way communication. Each user group member, informed or not, cares about computer use and wants to share that feeling. Ask the group a few questions. Don't just ask for data ( "how many still have 486 machines?" ), but also opinions ("How many like pull- down menus?"). Invite and respond to comments. Schedule fewer slides and a shorter talk than when speaking to business-types to allow time for such communication.
We have seen hundreds of user-group presentations. One of the best techniques for defusing the irate is to explain why your company did or does something. (See the rules for user groups below.) Users can understand reasons such as shortness of time or money, design choices, estimates of the market based on surveys or other data or other reasons. Most user group members know that not all things are possible. They will respond well to explanations that set forth reasons behind your choices. You can even jump ahead of the curve -- when asked what you did, include a bit of why.
One of the best ways to deal with a strong opinion you think may be unusual is to ask how many in the audience have similar feelings. Then ask a few of those who raised their hands to explain why. Here again, you appear interested, and you help the group members learn from each other. You also reinforce the multi-way flow of communication.
You will be addressing a group of highly informed computer users as well as raw novices. Some of your audience members will be more aware of the industry, and perhaps your product, than you are. When possible, answer questions directly. If you can't answer the question, explain why. If the question is about your product and you don't know the answer, follow up with a response to the User Group. They may deliver it at the next meeting or in their newsletter.
When you make an appointment, keep it. The most negative reactions from User Groups are to speakers who did not show. If a legitimate conflict arises which keeps you from attending a meeting, tell User Group officers as far in advance as possible.
Be Positive
A positive attitude by your company representative carries a positive aura for your company, your product, and the industry. Keep that positive attitude toward your competitor's products as well. Many of the members of the audience may be loyal users of those products, and you don't want to alienate them.
You will be addressing a group with a wide variety of experience and interest. If you can't handle technical questions, bring someone with you who can. If you are a technical representative and can't address marketing questions, bring along a marketing type.
Presenting at a user group? Heed these words
By Tim Mathis, PIBMUG
Hello, I’m Tim. I am a Computerholic. I spend too much time and too much money to support my habit. I and the other members of the Pasadena IBM User Group, PIBMUG, are ideal consumers; we buy a lot of computer products and all our friends ask us for advice.
The average PIBMUG member is most likely a male, about 35 to 60 years old, but his computer is much younger, probably less than two years old. The typical computer system is a 400MHz PII, with 96MBs of RAM, and a 10GB hard drive. Our favorite operating system is Win95, 98, or NT. Many us dabble with Linux.
My favorite User Group Presentations are both educational and entertaining. They start with a few words of who the presenter is and why he is there. And maybe the presenter will ask a few questions of us, to see who we are and why we are there. But after a short while they start up the program and show the program features.
The absolute worst presentations are those that are all talk and have nothing to show. The second worst presentations are those that are all talk and have only slides to show.
I am mostly interested in the look and feel of the software; the approach it takes to solving problems, and its unique features. I expect the vendor to show his product in the best light, so I rely on magazine reviews to point out problems and for more detailed information.
The demonstration does not have to show every feature. For large programs it is best just to highlight unique or special features. Presentations usually first present a feature, and then describe the benefit. I am especially impressed when the software accomplishes a function with aplomb, in half the time and frustration of the software that I am now using.
I appreciate when the software vendor helps me make comparisons with competing software. This helps me to establish which software package is best for a particular application. Perhaps a few words saying that our software does this better, but theirs does something else better. One way or the other I will make this kind of judgment. This is an opportunity for you to help shape this decision.
Use side-by-side comparisons to show differences. For example, one vendor benchmarked his hard disk cache and Microsoft's and visually showed that his product was faster. A communications product compared their proprietary file transfer protocol with the standard Z-Modem.
Some people are natural public speakers. They have a strong voice, vary their pitch, use good visuals, are organized, have practiced, are enthusiastic, and have fun with the audience. Humor is probably the best way to enliven an otherwise dull topic. Audience participation is another way to keep us awake. The PIBMUG audience freely Ooohs and Aaaws at features that we like. If they don’t, it’s okay to prompt them. Hey, folks, is that an “Aaaaw!” or what?
The best demonstrators are usually techno-wizards like ourselves rather than pure salesmen. They can identify with and establish rapport the audience. They tend to emphasize the technical features of the product.
f you have a good product, its features will sell itself.
But giveaways and discount pricing at the meetings also help. Most software vendors make a special offer somewhere around the upgrade price. You should bring some software that you can sell that night, and be ready to accept credit cards.
Most vendors distribute information sheets, marketing literature, and coupons or flyers with the special price that is available for a month or so. Others will offer an extra-special deal if you buy today.
Some vendors also hand out questionnaires and conduct market research. Remind us to fill it out and collect it from us before the end of meeting and you will get a better response rate.
Off with His Head!
or
How to Not Get A Tomato in the Face When Presenting to Users Groups
by Bill Gilliland, Phoenix Technologies Ltd.
Cold sweats and nervous stomach. These are the first things that come to mind when a vendor is offered the opportunity to speak to a user group. Immediately the questions start flying. Who do we send? What should we say? What kind of a product demo should we do? What's in it for us?
The answer to all of the above is a resounding, yes. Addressing a user group is a privilege that any vendor should jump at. No matter what your product is, the user group represents the heart of your customer base. User groups are not so much a collection of technical users as they are a group of people who love computing. And as such, they're major influencers within their own organizations regarding computing and computer products. They are the same people whom market research firms charge major sums of money to identify for you.
After you have said yes to the user group invitation, the rest is easy.
Send the most competent communicator. The hottest, newest, flashiest technology isn't worth anything unless the audience gets a clear picture of what it is and why they need it. Most vendors have to decide whether to send an engineering type or a sales type. Either will do, as long as they understand the technology and can communicate it to the audience.
Say something that will interest your audience. Gee, that sounds simple. But most vendors have a tendency to really foul this up. The audience doesn't want to hear about your new corporate offices, your impending IPO, your highly optimized source code, or, god knows, your last company picnic. They do want to know if you have something of value to them. If you want to make it interesting, keep these steps in mind:
Prepare, prepare, prepare.
The key to any successful presentation is preparation. A famous speaker told me once that any time you make a presentation to a group, you should NEVER use notes. Having crushed my hopes for a public speaking career, he went on to explain that if a speaker ever has to refer to a note to make his point, he is admitting that he is not intimately familiar with his material. If the speaker hasn't made the effort to thoroughly know the material, why should anyone listen?
Use a simple outline format in preparing, and know your material. You'll easily be able to memorize a simple outline, and then expand each point to make your full presentation.
Keep it basic.
The best speakers are those who can make simple the most complicated topics. Assume that your audience is a non-technical one. A user group President suggested to me to pretend that I was speaking to my Aunt Sophie. I don't have an Aunt Sophie, but if I did, and she was in the audience, she should be able to comprehend my presentation. Although there are many sophisticated users in the group, they'll be patient if you work at keeping all of your audience involved.
Poll your audience.
Market research is important. Audience research is essential. Ask for a show of hands on how many people use your product, the competitor's product, how many like or use special features. Not only is this invaluable information for your company, it will tell you exactly how to fashion your presentation to keep them interested. [[Please, though, keep your polling to a minimum. One vendor asked for a show of hands every five minutes as a way to cover his inability to present the product.—Eds.]]
Keep focused.
There will always be questions that will take you off the main topic of your presentation. Every user group has at least one person who will always ask you to solve HIS problem now. Politely defer, and ask that person to speak with you after the meeting. The rest of your audience will appreciate it, and if it is a common problem, they'll let you know and make you answer the question. Be ready to briefly cover other topics, but know your material enough to keep on track.
A short one. Some of the better user groups have found a way to provide an array of projection equipment. And using A/V equipment to support your presentation will always help. But even the best equipment has limitations in clearly displaying computer information.
Make sure your visual support is obvious and easy to understand. Make sure it ties into what you are saying. And if you have to demonstrate your product, explain exactly what is going on with each step. Don't assume that the entire audience can read your pull down menus.
Even the hottest products have only a few features that will lend themselves to exciting visual display. Figure out how to quickly get to that part of the program, show it, and get on with the rest of the presentation.
Bill Gilliland is the Marketing Director for Phoenix Technologies Ltd. He's presented to numerous user groups and each time he sweats a little less.