9 posts tagged “demo”
A few days ago there was a thread going on the Seattle Tech Startups mailing list, about whether DEMO was worth participating in. Having been there twice, I chimed in with a list of 7 key points that should be considered when deciding if DEMO is right for you. I received a lot of positive responses from the list, so thought I'd share it here as well.
From: daryn@eyejot.com
Subject: Re: DEMO conference
Date: October 22, 2007 11:05:22 AM PDT
To: organize@seattletechstartups.comLike most things, DEMO is not one size fits all. Here are some of my observations from launching at DEMO twice: one being a dud, and one being quite a success.
Would I do it again? In a heartbeat, assuming I could handle each of the following points.
1. Have a consumer-friendly product that people can touch or play with immediately
- unless it is really sexy or honestly revolutionary, I wouldn't bother launching an enterprise or b2b product there.2. Hire PR assistance
- if you're going to spend the $25k+ on the conference, spend another 5k on an experienced PR person who has done DEMO before. Have them wrangle the press and bring them by your table as well as setup interviews.3. Be prepared
- have the product ready, have the pitch down, and be ready to answer all the hard questions.
- I agree with Clay from Yodio. Too much emphasis is put on the 6-minutes on stage. Truth be told, half the crowd isn't paying attention, and if they are interested, they'll come followup with you during your pavilion time. The pavillion is where you man a table, demo your product, and talk to attendees 1-to-1.4. Know the audience
- the crowd is primarily investors, press, and other presenters. When talking to someone, check out their badge and structure the conversation accordingly.5. Be involved
- this isn't just another conference for you. It's a big deal. Be prepared to spend 3 days, the full 72 hours, ON. Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, Late night. Don't hide up in your room working, this is in-person, buzz-building, and networking time. The other 71 hours and 54 minutes are WAY more important than the 6 on stage.6. Bring a team
- your 18k includes 3 attendees. That's the minimum number of educated people, who can pitch the product, that should be there (Someone who cannot pitch and field questions, or at least carry conversation until someone else is free, is useless)
- An extra one or two people can make a big difference in letting you not get burnt out, and being the most effective (walking the room, doing interviews, breaks, etc., while not neglecting your station)7. Know your post-DEMO plan
- why are you there? to build buzz? to forge partnerships? to raise money? DEMO is not the end-game.
Why DEMO was a failure for MyPW:
I didn't follow any of the 7 rules listed above. Leading up to, and during, the conference I was scrambling to finish building the service, juggling meetings, stuffing envelopes, and doing kinko's runs. There were only two of us there who knew the product, and I was exhausted the entire time.Why DEMO was a success for Eyejot:
We followed 6 of the 7 rules ( all except #7 ). We got great press (WSJ, USA Today, CNET, ...), and lots of interest from attendees. I'd say at least half of the people at the conference stopped by, and recorded an eyejot to send to their family or colleagues back home. Our one flaw was that we had so much momentum leading up to DEMO, that we hadn't spent much time focused on the post-launch, besides a development-roadmap. We definitely had the post-DEMO glow, but weren't quite ready to follow-through with many of the leads we formed, primarily in regards to partnerships and fundraising, and the wave passes quickly.
That said, I still get "You guys were at DEMO weren't you?" and it's definitely a credibility builder. It has more broad reach and lasting power than a techcrunch post, but you need to give it serious thought, and make sure you're committed if you want to get the most out of it.
Hope that helps!
Daryn
DEMO was a smashing success! The six minutes on stage went great, and it was a lot of fun manning the booth, hanging out till the wee hours each night, and watching everyone use the system. In fact, right after the first pavillion session, I grabbed my laptop, fired up eclipse and flex builder, and started making tweaks based on watching everyone's experience.
David has been posting links to some of our press coverage over on Eyejots. You can also watch our demo by clicking here.
We have a new blog for Eyejot over at blog.eyejot.com.
Today's post is a set of links to some pre-launch media coverage we've received, including a nice piece (with a screenshot!) in the Wall Street Journal. I haven't gotten a chance to grab a physical WSJ yet to see it in print, but that's very exciting!
We are in Palm Desert for DEMO right now. Our presentation is at 9:29am tomorrow morning, and I'll be sure to post a link to the video once it is up.
One week till DEMO, and the launch of Eyejot! We got our business cards today, check it out...
Today's the day I get to announce that my new company is launching at DEMO 07, in Palm Desert at the end of this month.
If you've been paying attention, you'd know that I launched MyPW at the last DEMO conference in September. Although things didn't exactly pan out well with that, it was a great experience, and I'm excited to be going back.
My colleague (who will be doing most of the talking) has also done DEMO before, so we both know what works and what doesn't, and I think it's going to be a great launch. We've also got PR help this time, so hopefully we'll be able to relax and enjoy the experience, show off our work to the world, and meet some great people.
One of the rules of DEMO is that you aren't allowed to reveal any details of your product until the conference. However, we'll be opening up some more beta accounts in the next week or two, so if you want to give it a try, leave a comment. You'll need a web cam...
Yes.. those were the exact words that came out of my mouth during my 6-minute stage demo at DEMOfall 2006.
I started out great, but caught up in some technical difficulties, and got totally thrown off.
I'm sure the video will be up for everyone to see soon. And I get to do down with Mena Trott in the classic DEMO blooper reel.
Overall, at least people woke up and had a good laugh, and everyone is in good spirits about it all, including me!
by the way: MyPW is live(-ish) now.
This has been my longest quiet spell since i started using vox, so here's what's been going on (in my longest post ever!):
9/6: i turned 30!
9/9: we had a fun party at our house, with all of my family coming from their various homes on the east coast, and all of brooke's family coming from in-state, as well as a handful of friends. My brother's wife is pregnant (#2), yay! thanks everyone for coming!
9/11-9/15: busy as a beaver preparing for DEMO and our vacation..
vacation
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9/16: drove down to portland. stayed at the jupiter, hung out at the doug fir.. They have tasty mint juleps.
9/17: the traditional stopping at the trees of mystery to take a picture with babe the blue ox's balls..
9/17: drove to "willits, ca".. we were planning on camping somewhere north of there, but it was so dark with no cars around that we got creeped out and kept driving until we found the first town with a non-Bates Motel place to stay.
9/18-9/21: inn at occidental, occidental ca. A very small and quiet town in sonoma county, but pretty convenient to both the coast and the wineries. relaxing!
9/20: drove to Napa for the day.. Went to COPIA, which I thought was a really fun museum. The restaurant there (Julia's Kitchen) was really tasty.
The last time we were in Napa was 9/11/2001.. Today, we went to Frank Family Vineyards, which is where we spent a good part of that day. It's funny how much many little details i remember from that day, and how being there brought them all back out.
9/21: drove to L.A. Stopping in San Francisco to have some Burma Superstar, yum!
9/21-9/23: L.A. stayed at the W in westwood, ate, drank, shopped, walked around,etc.. highlight: DELICIOUS burgers at The Counter in Santa Monica. lowlight: $80+ for room service breakfast!!
work
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I'll be pretty busy the next week or so, but will hopefully be all amped up and posting whenever i get a chance!
I've kind of hinted at it, but now I can officially announce that I'm launching my new company/product at DEMOfall 2006, next month in San Diego.
It's a super big deal to me, and I'm really excited. I've always been the tech guy, and this time I'm running the show. So far, that means programming, designing, talking to the press, talking to investors, writing marketing copy and press releases, coming up with packaging, and of course preparing for DEMO. The other Spam Arrest people are involved as well, and have been very helpful, but I've been pretty greedy with the workload because I really want to break free of that mold and get a fresh start doing things my way.
I can't say much about what the product is right now, but I'm pretty jazzed about this quote:
“With
identity theft and online fraud on the rise, MyPW’s simple and
affordable solution is a welcome breath of fresh air to the world of
costly and complex security products,” said Chris Shipley, executive
producer, DEMOfall 2006. “If you operate an Internet business, there is
no excuse not to integrate MyPW into your system.”
Vox is my personal space, although i'm sure there'll be bleedover like this post, I've setup a official company blog on Typepad.
San Francisco
My first day in SF was stress-city, as I tried to figure out what I was going to do for a presentation for my meeting the following day. The highlight of the day was going to Burma Superstar for dinner. The food was very tasty, and I wish I could have tried more of the menu. Not quite as good as mom's cooking, but close..
The funniest part, and when I knew I must be in San Francisco, is when I took a picture of one of my dishes, and the waitress said "Oh, are you going to blog this?"
Day two in SF was the big meeting, which went extremely well (what a relief). I'm very excited to present our new company and product at edit: the big conference in September! the rest of the day was as much fun as i could have in a strange city by myself. Went for a drive, had a burrito, and headed to the airport early for some pre-flight libations.
Santa Monica
This was my first time in LA since I was about 10. I've always been pretty jaded about the place, but I really enjoyed it for a couple days. Beautiful weather, fun shopping, and I got to see Brian and Nathan. I was a little disappointed that they didn't appear to want to hang out, so I just talked business with Brian then went on my way. Did some fun touristy stuff: rented a bike and rode down the beach, walked down the pier, and went shopping on the promenade and fred segel. Oh, and one of the guys from Top Chef was doing a cooking demo at the Williams-Sonoma in Beverly Hills. It was cute.
