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September 26, 2006

Notes for Demo Presenters (and Others)

Some quick notes for Demo presenters (and others). I'll add to this post as thing continue to piss me off:

• Never call your product/service "award-winning", unless you plan to talk meaningfully about the awards. It makes you sound like Ron Popeil, which is only a good idea if you're selling hair spray.
  
• Remind people at the end what your product/service does. It's amazing how many people end presentations with a tagline, rather than reminding us what the hell the damn thing does.
  
• Don't describe your product by saying, "It's kind of a Google of ...". That's so-oooo 2003.
• I don't install anything, so don't ask me to. Any presentation that ends with "Just come by our booth for a demonstration copy..." is a presentation that might as well not have been done. Real men Just Say No to binary software.
• If you're not funny, don't pick this kind of presentation to give it a shot. If you're in doubt about whether you're funny, you're not. And if you aren't in doubt about being funny, there is a better than even chance that you're wrong. Just ask your spouse.
  
• Go easy with the Parental Unit Marketing. Somehow ease of use has become equivalent to "Mom", and presenters natter endlessly about how appealing their product/service will be to Mom. Fine, I get it, but stop beat it into the ground. It's ease of use you're selling.
  
• And this one is more a note to me. It's fine to have opinions, but keep them to yourself. On sitting down I immediately began ranting about Treo, operating systems, and wireless devices to a fellow from Sony sitting beside me who I asked to "Please kill my Treo". Three people in the row in front of me turned around: They were senior marketing sorts from Treo, and we had a short and somewhat strained conversation.
• It's important to be conversational and direct, but be careful you don't go all Discovery Channel documentary-ish. Check out the Buzzlogic presentation at Demo for an example of how you can go over-earnestly wrong. CEO Robb Crumpler sounds eerily like in his spare time he sits alone in a room talking to a camera, saying things like, "Consider the amoeba".
  

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