Rambleitis – Run-on Demo (aka Demo Diarrhea)
Symptoms: No pauses, no breaks, no interaction with audience – often compounded by Conjunctionitis, fits of Whooping If and Zippy Mouse Syndrome.
Examples: “…and the really cool thing about this is…”
“…and the next thing I want to show you is…”
Cure: Inject pauses at least once per segment, at the end, and repeat as frequently as needed. Treat commensurate Conjunctionitis with the use of Biased Questions, designed to give the audience the opportunity to interact (e.g., “Many of our other customers have found that the ability to ____ saved them hours every week. Is this something that might also be of interest to you?”) Turn the demo from a unidirectional, fire-hose-delivery presentation into a bidirectional conversation.
An older cure, still applicable in extreme cases, is to place the patient in an ice bath until unable to speak…
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