Drop Distractions in Demos & Presentations

Demos and presentations are common, and whether it’s happening live in person or virtually, or recording for folks to watch later, here are a few ways to make it land better.

Imagine you’re eager to show off a new screen flow in Salesforce, a killer marketing sequence in HubSpot, or a deck that is worthy of being in a TED talk.

Maybe you’re a bit nervous: Will the wifi drop at the worst possible time or forget one of the key examples in the slide notes?

Here’s the thing: that’s all in your head.

What’s in your audience’s head?

Ideally, just the things that you want them to see.

You want them to focus on your words and actions.

Before you go live in the conference room or via Zoom, Loom, or whatever-oom, cut down any possible distractions from what you want the audience to see.

Here’s a quick checklist to run through:

• Hide the bookmarks bar & extensions: folders, icons, and names are like giant billboards in Times Square trying to pull at your audience’s eyeballs

• Close irrelevant browser tabs: you might be a hoarder of tabs, and while there isn’t a reality TV drama series about tab hoarders, there soon might be and you don’t want to be the first episode

• Quit or disable notifications for email and chat: unless you’re demoing something with these specifically (e.g. email notification, Slack workflow), it’s better to have these off

• Check and sweep up your desktop: if there’s a chance that your desktop appears, make sure it’s free from clutter and has an appropriate image

• Open what you need: set your stage with the props and players that you’ll be using to avoid last minute fumbling to log into a site or get the right slide deck open

Make no mistake: demos and presentations are a performance art.

You don’t want to be a world-renowned soloist that no one is looking at because they’re staring at the pixelated art above your head or a poster board that keeps sliding on and off stage left.

TLDR: Before you demo or present, close anything that isn’t relevant, turn off notifications, and open only what you need.