Lightning Lessons

Give Great Demos of Terrible Work

Hosted by Beth Adele Long

What you'll learn

How to get clear on the function of each demo

Some demos are more like glorified stand-ups; others are high-stakes presentations. Shape your content accordingly.

How to shape demos so they always build confidence

Lead with intent vs. action, describe the context in clear terms, and show your work so it makes sense to your audience.

How to down-regulate so you can perform "on stage"

Plain old fear can sabotage the best content. Get concrete tips to manage physiological stress and keep your audience.

Why this topic matters

Not every work cycle yields great work. It can be stressful (and risky) to demo when things haven't gone to plan. But by embracing demos as re-calibration points, sharing setbacks with neutral honesty, and hacking your physiology to stay calm, you can turn even the worst sprint into a demo that builds trust with stakeholders and makes your teammates happy.

You'll learn from

Beth Adele Long

Founder, Continuous Re-integration

I've spent the last two years coaching software companies in learning from incidents, applying the principles of Resilience Engineering based on my experience as a software engineer and product manager at a range of developer tooling companies.

Previously at

New Relic
Gruntwork