The Demo Skills Workshop is conducted over a contiguous 2 day period with an optimal class size of 10-to-15 active "hands-on participants" (technical and sales), plus optionally a handful of "observers". Each attendee will perform a demonstration several times "live" in front of the audience (instructor, other attendees, and video recording). The audience will then provide supportive reinforcement and constructive critique. Repetition and peer pressure are important to drive home and then refine the key techniques. Participating also as an audience member is important in helping the attendee "see things from the audience perspective". The "Objection Handling" module continues the same format of lecture followed by "live audience" experiences (starting gentle and becoming more challenging) for each attendee. The "Web-based Demo" module explores the incremental challenges posed by remote web-delivered demonstrations.

Preparation and Logistics for Workshop

One standard demonstration already known by the attendees should be selected as the basis of this workshop. The content of the demo itself is not all that critical (after all, what we're after here is to focus on "how" we demo, not "what" we demo). The demo should be about 10 minutes in length and available well in advance to the attendees with scripted software mechanics (commands, screen selections, etc.) and also with an outline or complete script for the narration during the demo. A copy of the demonstration materials should be provided to WAMware in advance of the workshop.

Each attendee must rehearse the standard demonstration thoroughly in advance of the workshop. From experience, this means at least 10 times successfully through the demonstration, including a thorough command of the simultaneous narration.

The workshop should be held in a large conference or training room and setup as follows:

• • in one half of the room -- the "practice" area -- with one workstation or laptop per attendee

  • in the other half of the room -- the "stage" area -- one workstation connected to a large screen projector for the performances

  • for the web-delivered demo sections, high-speed Internet/Intranet access is required as well as a remote "audience" (could be remote office personnel or simply a group positioned in a separate room in the same building).

Further details on Logistics (preparation tasks, room layout, audio-visual requirements, power requirements, etc):