Prepare a live demo

---
name: prepare-a-live-demo
category: media
description: Prepare and rehearse a concise live product or project demonstration with a clean environment, realistic data, timing, narration, failure recovery, and a verified backup path. Use when someone must demo software, present a prototype, record a walkthrough, or show a working project to an audience.
---

# prepare-a-live-demo

Design the demo around one audience question and one visible outcome. Make the live path reliable enough
to trust and the backup honest enough to use without pretending it is live.

## Inputs

- Name the audience, decision or learning goal, time limit, presenter, venue, and allowed equipment.
- Identify the exact build, accounts, network needs, sensitive data, and actions that affect real systems.
- Confirm whether the session is live, recorded, streamed, or all three.

## Procedure

1. Write the audience takeaway in one sentence and select the shortest user journey that proves it.
2. Create a run-of-show with opening context, setup, actions, visible result, evidence, limits, and close.
   Assign a time budget to each section.
3. Freeze or identify the demo build. Prepare a clean account and realistic, permission-safe data that
   show the intended states without exposing private information.
4. Remove notification, update, login, payment, and permission surprises. Test display resolution, zoom,
   audio, browser state, cables, network, and account access in the actual or equivalent environment.
5. Write narration as cues, not a memorized essay. Explain user intent and observed result while leaving
   space for the audience to see the interface.
6. Rehearse the exact sequence with a timer. Record one rehearsal and remove slow setup, repeated explanation,
   tiny text, and actions that do not support the takeaway.
7. Rehearse expected failure recovery: refresh, retry, switch account, reset state, skip a step, or explain
   a known limitation.
8. Create a backup using a recording, screenshots, or a local fixture from the same verified build. Label it
   clearly as a backup.
9. Prepare a reset script or checklist so repeated demos start from the same safe state.
10. Run a final technical check shortly before the session. Stop changing the build unless a blocker is found.
11. After the demo, save questions, failures, and follow-ups with owners.

## Boundaries

Do not expose real customer data, secrets, private messages, or production administrative access on screen.
Never trigger charges, send messages, or modify live records without explicit permission. Do not present a
recording or mocked result as live behavior.

## Done

- A timed rehearsal completes the critical journey within the limit on the intended display and audio setup
- The demo environment uses the identified build, safe data, clean account, and repeatable reset path
- A rehearsed recovery and clearly labeled backup prove the presentation can continue after a failure
- The final run-of-show and follow-up log record takeaway, limits, questions, failures, and owners

Then use screen-recording-tutorial when the backup or final deliverable should become a reusable walkthrough.