Great Demo!

What the book is

Great Demo! How To Create And Execute Stunning Software Demonstrations is by Peter Cohan, founder of The Second Derivative. It first appeared in 2003, with a second edition in 2005. The third edition is a full overhaul and is effectively two books in one: the core method, then a second part on advanced topics such as demos across several products, vision demos, storytelling and virtual demos. The author's site reports more than 45,500 copies purchased across editions.

The core ideas

• Start with the situation. The method opens a demo with a Situation Slide that summarises the customer's critical business issue, the problems and reasons behind it, the specific capabilities they need, the value of solving it and the date that matters.
• Do the last thing first. Show the final outcome the customer cares about, such as the report or the answer, before any of the steps that produce it. Busy people decide in the first minutes whether a demo is relevant; showing the result first earns the time for the rest.
• Peel back the layers only as asked. After the result, show the fewest steps needed to get there, then go deeper only where the audience asks, in the order of their priorities.

The author's site also describes a ten-level proficiency model for demos, so you can see where you are and what the next level looks like.

Why it matters for customer-facing engineers

Most engineers demo software in the order it was built, starting with logins and settings, and run out of time before the part the customer came to see. This book fixes that habit with a clear structure. Sales engineers use it daily, solutions engineers use it for design walkthroughs, and forward deployed engineers use the same ideas when they show progress to users every week.

How long it takes

A few evenings to read the core method. Then script one demo using it, give it to people who do not code, record it and watch it back.

Prerequisites

None. Having a product or project you can demo helps you apply it straight away.

Formats

The author lists paperback, Kindle and audiobook versions of the third edition.

Common questions

Do I need the third edition? It is the current and most complete one, with the advanced material added.

Does it cover discovery? Only as far as a demo needs it. The same author's Doing Discovery goes deep on the conversations before the demo.

Best for: anyone who shows software to customers and wants a method that keeps attention on the customer's problem.