The Art of Live Demos
Recently, I gave a live demo showing how to deploy cloud resources using Terraform. Despite half a day of planning and multiple dry runs, it failed right after my introduction. My audience? Senior stakeholders from multiple companies across different time zones - a mix of technical and business folks. Exactly the kind of high-stakes situation that makes most engineers avoid live demos altogether.
But the truth is, that by avoiding live demos, we miss a huge opportunity to hold ourselves to a higher standard and develop crucial presentation skills. Also bouncing back from a failed demo is an art and if done well can win the audience over to your side. There's honestly nothing quite as scary or thrilling as debugging in real-time while your audience is watching. In my case, I'd done some refactoring and forgotten to clean up old resources, leaving duplicate resource blocks in two Terraform files. The fix was simple - delete the duplicates - but oh my god did my heart sink when I saw those error messages..
To their credit, my audience was incredibly supportive. They switched focus to the next speaker while I fixed the issue, and switched back to me subsequently. When I bounced back with a successful demo, its probably the closest feeling to winning Wimbledon I'll experience (although I haven't given up hope yet). Also it genuinely showed that what we'd built in the previous sprint actually worked, and also created a real connection with the audience.
Given the choice, I'd pick success every time. But practising for failure prepares you for when things inevitably go wrong. My team will tell you - failed demos aren't exactly new for me. The reason I put myself through these situations internally is precisely to prepare for external moments like this. Getting comfortable with recovering from the unexpected is a genuine skill, and most audiences are actually rooting for you to succeed because they understand both the pressure and the value of live demos.
With live demos, there's nowhere to hide - and that's exactly the point. They prove your solution actually works. Slides can hide all sorts of issues, and because they're static, they can be less engaging for your audience. I also suspect that most audiences question whether you've actually built something, or if you've just put together a nice slide deck. A working demo (complete with its imperfections) shows your creation in motion, which is naturally more compelling.
Want to dip your toes in? Knowledge sharing sessions are perfect for practising live demos. Next time you're explaining a new technology or showing off some work, don't just tell your colleagues about it - share your screen and walk them through it. Even getting comfortable with screen sharing reduces the friction of doing live demos. Plus, it helps you develop the skill of narrating your actions while navigating the interface.
Go on, the next time you've got to present some work do it live, and leave the safety blanket of the slide deck behind. I guarantee you'll build up some great skills, build rapport with your audience and if you are lucky, find new ways for your product or service to fail. If you really want to prepare well, have backup plans and strategies to recover when things don't go to plan. Screen grabs or loom videos of the working demo can help you get out of a pickle and if all else fails... blame it on the WiFi.
Also remember, no matter how badly your demo fails, it'll never be as catastrophic as these epic fails: