“Success is a science; if you have the conditions, you get the result.”

– Oscar Wilde

The typical adult human can pay attention for about ten minutes. If you want people to continue to engage, you’ll need to “refresh” them. You need the dining equivalent of a pause, a sip of water or wine, engaging conversation, or even standing up and stretching. What will refresh your audience in a demo?

Summaries serve as excellent vehicles to refresh your audience. Just hearing the phrase, “So, to summarize…” causes people to reengage. (Sometimes I believe audiences are relieved to hear this phrase as it indicates that the presenter is, finally, reaching a conclusion!)

But offering a summary at the end of an hour-long demo doesn’t help along the way.

What’s the solution? Provide interim summaries at the end of each chunk: “So, you just saw the key dashboard you said you need, enabling you to recapture $20,000 annually. Thoughts? Comments? Questions?” And now you pause to give your audience a moment to process and formulate their thoughts.

This combination of a crisp summary and a pause does indeed refresh your audience. In face-to-face demos you may even notice a change in their body language to a more alert posture.

And guess what? Now you’ve earned another ten minutes of attention!

Are there other ways to refresh your audience? Absolutely!

Questions and comments from audience members: These are some of the most effective refreshment mechanisms. Very importantly, the act of your prospect asking a question or offering an observation increases their ability to remember your key ideas. When they ask a question, they have had to think about it, driving improved retention.

Props and Visual Aids: Staring at software screens in an hour-long demo is tiring. Using props helps make the intangible tangible! (You can use props in online demos as well as face-to-face. I’ve frequently “handed” people objects via our mutual webcams!)
Develop ideas on a whiteboard: In face-to-face demos this often requires your audience to physically turn in their chairs, which forces a physical refresh. In both face-to-face and online demos, the act of hovering a pen over an empty whiteboard causes your audience to wonder, “What’s going to be drawn?” That’s a terrific refresh!
Take a brief break: If you see your audience lagging, invite everyone to stand up and stretch for a moment. They’ll appreciate it, particularly for longer demos. (In Great Demo! Workshops, I would also accomplish this by saying, “OK everyone, take a deep breath…” then wait a moment before adding, “…OK now let it out!”)
Let your champion drive: This will really wake folks up and is extremely effective in proving ease of use.
Customer Fill-in: Instead of you choosing options or filling information in a form, invite your prospect to make these decisions. Very effective, very refreshing!
Stories: Crisp, focused stories will cause your audience to engage and lean in.
Humor: A well-timed joke (preferably self-deprecating!) can refresh but be aware of cultural constraints!
Using an agenda or working from a Menu: Both of these enable you to briefly move away from your software to support summarizing your last segment and introducing the next.
Pauses: In addition to pausing after a summary, modest pauses by themselves can help refresh your prospect.
Pro tip: Track what appears to work best for you and exchange your findings with your colleagues.