Wicked Cool Stuff

Latest Post

posted 03/16/07 by Anthony Governanti Behind The Curtain – welcome to the demo world

So a while back I had posted a couple times on topics I looked at as "taking a peek behind the curtain" here at Autodesk. I promised at the end of the last installment that I would talk about the process I used for creating and releasing the scripted demonstrations you all get to see when you attend a Civil 3D seminar or when a reseller or Autodesk AE stops in for a visit.

My intention here isn’t to brag or call attention to this work; it is more to give you a sense of what goes on behind the scenes and maybe give you a better understanding of why we show what we show when demonstrating the product. I want to point out that the materials I create for demonstrations are merely a starting point for a lot of our AEs. It is in no way the end-all and be-all when it comes to demos, and really is just meant as a baseline of material that our sales force can use to present a consistent and concise message of Civil 3D to customers. I think what you’ll find is that most if not all AEs (Autodesk and resellers alike) don’t use the “canned” demo, but instead prefer to create a custom demonstration for their audience that either uses data provided by a customer, or at least more “locally” applicable datasets. This is where the real value of a local AE or technical expert comes in. They can add their expertise and experience to the presentation to improve its overall effectiveness.

So the way I approach creating a demonstration of the product can be boiled down to several common steps;

- Finding a Dataset

- Re-engineering that dataset in Civil 3D

- Canning certain parts of the demo

- Scripting the messaging

Finding the dataset
This is a very crucial part of the process that will lead to the success or failure of a demonstration. The challenge with finding a good dataset is balancing the need to have a large or complex enough project that can show the power of the application, but not something so huge that its overwhelming to an audience when you show it. Once this type of project is found, then the next challenge is to get the rights to it. In our marketing world, we need the materials we produce to be accessible by all of our partners, resellers, and sales folks alike, worldwide. They need to use that information to sell our product, and so getting the legal rights to the information is paramount. The downside is that many companies aren’t willing to sign their data, which represents their intellectual property, over to Autodesk to do with as we please.

Re-engineering that dataset in Civil 3D
Ok, so let’s assume that we find the correct dataset, and then we get the sign off from the customer to use that dataset. No we need to get that dataset configured so it fits the needs of the demonstration. This means that if the project wasn’t done in Civil 3D, it has to be re-engineered or redone using Civil 3D.

“Now wait a second there Govna, you mean to say that you use datasets that weren’t even created using Civil 3D? What’s up with that?!”

Well, this goes back to the first step; sometimes, well if fact most of the time, its very difficult to get a dataset that fits the criteria so we take what we can get. If that means it’s a project that was built using a different product (LDT most likely in my case) then so be it. Also we need to consider what we are showing, and the features we wish to highlight for the customer to show the value of the product. In some cases, that means tweaking or adding to the original design, and that’s part of this step as well.

Canning certain parts of the demo
I hope that you can agree that we can never show all the steps taken to design or create a project using the software in one sitting. So realizing this, we have to take some license with the data, and have some engineering or work done ahead of time in order to get through the demonstration in a timely manner. As such we typically "can", or have a lot of the work done ahead of time. This streamlines the demo and allows us to create a highlight reel of sorts to show all the critical or cool things that the product can do. What I typically do with the parts of the demo I do "can" is to make it clear to my audience what was canned and why, that way everyone is on-board with where the data or project is at before I demonstrate a feature.

Scripting the messaging
This is probably the part of the process you weren’t aware of. Or at least I should say you shouldn’t be aware of. In order to make our demonstrations consistent across multiple demonstrators, we provide a script of messaging with the datasets. This script is usually just a word doc that lays out the marketing messaging and key points we want a presenter to make while they are showing certain things in the product. I mention that you shouldn’t be aware this exists because it is not the intent that the document be given to customers, or that a presenter stands in front of an audience and repeats the script word for word from memory. Much like the dataset, the script is meant as a framework or a guide for the presenter use so that the messaging and presentation of the features is consistent and on target for the intent of the demo. This again is where most AEs will add their value, in that they can interject their personally experiences and points of view to improve the presentations. This is usually the hardest part of the demo creation process in that you need to articulate the value, benefits, and the importance of features to an audience, and do it in a way that is clear and concise, and for me, doesn’t sound like a bunch of Marketing BS.

With all these steps taken into account, at the end of the process, you should have a demonstration with a dataset that’s on target, a set of steps that are easy to follow for both an audience and a presenter, and messaging that communicates the value and benefit of the product. In my role as the Technical Marketing manager, this process has taken me anywhere from 8 weeks with a large demo like the Overview for Civil 3D 2007, to just a few weeks with a mini-demo like the segment specific ones I’m releasing this year for Civil 3D 2008.

Bottom line is that there is a lot of effort that is put into these demos, so the next time you have the pleasure of seeing one first hand, I hope you’ll get a little more out of it then you would have otherwise.

Till next time,
Cheers,
AG

0 comments In Wicked Cool Stuff > Wicked Cool Ramblings