Instructions and Advice for Demonstrators

[JFAmprimoz]

Hi All, this has been discussed a couple times so I figured we could start documenting our thoughts on it. I tried to sum up our expectations and advice on demoing for someone and came up with the following points. It obviously needs more heads thinking about it, but I think we should keep it brief and point form to make sure it doesn't cause more confusion than it resolves.

-The presentation format is 5 minute demo, 5 minute questions. -Time limits on speaking are strictly enforced. -A projector and screen are provided, please inform us of other requirements. -The most important thing to remember is that it is a demo. Not a presentation, slide deck, pitch, etc. -Live demos receive the best audience reactions. Where live demos are not possible, recorded screen capture video is strongly recommended over static screen captures.

I liked @knicklabs idea about recommending people do a test run at a Devtricks. I think it is worth including something a bit scary to encourage it without requiring it:

• Democamp audiences are a bit more like spectators at a sporting event than one might expect. Unlike a sporting event, everyone there wants you to do well: there's no opposing team for them to cheer on. If you give a great demo, their team wins. But somewhat like a sporting event, people may cheer at any point if they like what you are saying, or interrupt with a comment or question if they feel you need help moving along.
• People who aren't sure they or their demo is ready for the dynamic nature of a Democamp are encouraged to do a practice run at a Dev Tricks evening, which offers a smaller audience that can offer feedback and guidance.

Thoughts?

[dideler]

Looks good overall. Here's some suggested edits:

Change "static screen captures" to "static screenshots" or just "screenshots".

Shrink

Democamp audiences are a bit more like spectators at a sporting event than one might expect. Unlike a sporting event, everyone there wants you to do well: there's no opposing team for them to cheer on. If you give a great demo, their team wins. But somewhat like a sporting event, people may cheer at any point if they like what you are saying, or interrupt with a comment or question if they feel you need help moving along.

to

People may cheer at any point if they like what you are saying, or interrupt with a comment or question.

Should we add a point saying demos may be recorded, and let us know if you don't want to be recorded? We don't record demos yet, but I suspect we will in the future.

[JFAmprimoz]

Change "static screen captures" to "static screenshots" or just "screenshots".

Agreed

People may cheer at any point if they like what you are saying, or interrupt with a comment or question.

I think that works

Should we add a point saying demos may be recorded

Yes, Good idea!

and let us know if you don't want to be recorded?

Maybe, like what if we ever get to the point where we want to live stream something. Also, if we say we aren't going to record them, and someone is able to record them with a phone or something, and that gets out, we kind of created a false sense of security. People should probably assume they are being recorded, even if we aren't the one doing it heh.

Need more thoughts on this one.

[knicklabs]

I agree with that people should assume they are being recorded, so it's probably not worth mentioning at this time. If we begin recording demos, we can revisit this.

[knicklabs]

@JFAmprimoz and @dideler we have a thread going on our much more publicly accessible forum on tips for giving a good demo. It would be great if you could add your tips there. I think we can point people giving demos to this forum thread as a living breathing document of advice from a number of different perspectives.

http://forum.softwareniagara.com/t/tips-for-giving-a-good-demo/11