We co-sponsor two open enrollment workshops a year with Peter Cohan on his "Great Demo!" methodology. There is one coming up September 15 in San Jose that may be of interest for Silicon Valley members of the DreamSimplicity Community.

This highly interactive, practice-driven training class outlines a framework for the creation and delivery of improved demos and presentations. Attendees can also bring their demo and have it critiqued. If you are not getting the results from your demos--whether they are face to face, in a webinar, or in a screencast--this workshop will walk you through a practical methodology for diagnosing your prospect's situation and presenting the relevant benefits of your software offering.

Peter Cohan is the founder and a principal of The Second Derivative, a consultancy focused on helping software organizations improve their sales and marketing results. In July 2004, he enabled and began moderating DemoGurus®, a community web exchange dedicated to helping sales and marketing teams improve their software demonstrations. In 2003, he authored Great Demo!, a book that provides methods to create and execute compelling demonstrations. The 2nd edition of Great Demo! was published March 2005.

I first saw Peter Cohan< give a Great Demo workshop about five years ago at the SVPMA. About 30 minutes into seminar I said to myself "I have been doing it all wrong." It was a sensation similar to how I felt when I first read "Crossing the Chasm" or "Four Steps to the Epiphany." And at that point I had been planning and delivering demos for the better part of two decades.

For more info see  http://www.skmurphy.com/blog/2010/08/20/compelling-demos/