We're on the same wavelength, but maybe from opposite ends. The thing to bare in mind, is that the context of the demo can determine how it's actually done and what gets presented. If you look at our booth feature demos or the new feature videos that are produced, then yes I could see that you have a point. However in the context of doing theatre or a video for product launch, you don't have the luxury of sitting in front of a customer and extracting specific information. You also only have a kinda limited time, to the information across which isn't easy. Online videos can't be long, so they have to be simple and high level. Doing a GDC/Sigg/IBC/NAB theatre demo, you might have 45-60mins for a Suite presentation, which broken down evenly only really gives you 15mins per product, which frankly is nothing. And even for more localized events with our distributors and resellers, you don't get much more time. In some ways, you could say there's a flaw in this (which I have raised) because by only having a limited amount of time, you dilute the message so much that it kinda becomes meaningless. But these things are really meant to be the hooks in which you can hopefully grab people, so you can get in front of them another time, with more time.
Coming from production myself, I approach my customer demos in a similar way you mention. And I much prefer to understand a customer's needs before going to see them, instead of just arriving cold, providing of course that the sales rep has done his homework, which isn't always the case. :) You touch on one thing thought has kinda frustrated me more and more recently, and that's the demos and assets we have shown don't seem to really apply or resonate with customers and their projects. I recall the criticism on this list of the Max > After Effects demo, we've also had a chameleon on a skateboard (watch someone now show me a spot of chameleon on a skateboard), and we can't seem to avoid using an orc/weird character for Mudbox demos, when the package can do a lot more. :) I'm not meaning to take cheap shots at our Tech Marketing guys, as they actually do a good job with the time and resources they have. However, I do think we do sometimes miss the odd trick or two. It's always good to be able to use actual real customer data (and we sometimes do) but this isn't always the case. Despite a willingness from people to give us data, it very often doesn't happen. When it comes to the agreements, client relations, legal usage, etc, things often break down and we can't get stuff. Which then means creating stuff ourselves, which is more time consuming. Assets and scene data is only one aspect though, ultimately the workflows and scenarios still have to work and look tangible. I do believe we can make some improvement in some areas and at present I'm seeing what we can do, going forward into next year. We have had some good stuff though, especially with Hyperspace Madness, which was the actual game we made. Making a game in 3 months isn't easy but because we did, the assets and workflows that were produced did have a better sense of reality to them. G From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Matt Lind Sent: 14 September 2012 01:08 To: [email protected] Subject: RE: In case you missed it.. Yes and no. I think most of the demos I've seen dance around the elephant in the room. Nobody takes it head on and do the hard sell through information. My greatest disappointment is I feel I waste tons of time to get the information I'm really wanting to know. I have to play 1,000 grains of sand and build up facts from all walks of life just to arrive at a simple answer to what I often feel is a basic question. It's very tiring. Another problem I see with the demos is most are not applicable to production - or at least the productions I work on. They're, as I said earlier, eye candy. There needs to be more use cases, not just in what was done, but how the process could be improved using the product's strengths outside of what the production actually did. Have adjustments been made to the product since that production? Is the product going to steer in that direction? Many customers do ask the 2-3 questions you cite, but my usual response to those as a demo person was to try to expand their thinking into 'what if you work this way..., let me show you how this product can do that....'. I haven't seen that in a very long time. Most demo artists today are paid to show up at booth for a few days and they don't get into the fact they are a salesman and should be brainstorming with the customer to make that product a sale. They do the script and react to a few questions, but don't tend to go much beyond that. Sure, some customers know their stuff and don't need/want that pitch, but you can figure that out pretty quickly once you engage with the customer. I have not seen any of your demos Graham, but I have been largely disappointed with the ones I have seen. They look like the same demo rehashed year over year with slight tweaks. I guess I'm asking for somebody to put attention to detail into the information they deliver by thinking about it more on the front end before building all the content. I know that's not easy as fulltime demo artists are often pulled in many directions, but something needs to change. Matt From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Graham Bell Sent: Thursday, September 13, 2012 4:06 PM To: [email protected] Subject: RE: In case you missed it.. I think I get what you mean, but at the same time, crossing the streams. I think we actually do a lot of that already, but it depends on what you are talking about, showreels, customer testimonials or an actual demo with either Mark, Sidd, Nabe or myself physically showing the software. All three of those things are very different, with different approaches and aimed at the intended audience in a different way. One thing I would say based on the amount of demos I've done and the studios I've been to (bare in mind I've been to a lot), is that when it comes to attracting new people to Softimage, they often tend to pick up on 2-3 things - whose using it and what recent jobs/projects are there, the way in which the product is demoed with workflows/assets they can relate to, and how it can integrate into their existing pipeline. G From: [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Matt Lind Sent: 13 September 2012 23:26 To: [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> Subject: RE: In case you missed it.. I agree. I don't know about anybody else, but I could care less about demo reels. The only time I see them is when I'm at a user group or waiting for a product demonstration to begin, and since there are no more user groups and product demos are basically web downloads, where do I see demos today? Mostly as screen savers at siggraph when the demo guy is taking a lunch break. I don't hang around those booths because I visit booths to talk to people and ask questions. Demo reels are important for students and people new to the industry as a whole, but I think they're irrelevant for people who have been in the industry a while because they become jaded like me from having seen it all before. We need something more that currently isn't being delivered. As a more experienced and mature demographic, what I want is information. I want to see benefit in black and white. I want to determine if I can truly work smarter, not harder, compared to what I'm doing now. I think this aspect of Softimage marketing has been absent for the past 10 years. The exception being the debut of ICE with v7.0. Prior to that the last time I saw something informative that made me pay attention was the animation mixer and perhaps GATOR. However, even in those cases the demos weren't very informative, they were more eye candy pieces. What I seek is a short synopsis like a movie trailer (length) that is information driven. If it catches my interest, let me watch something more in-depth to get the answers to my questions. These don't have to be high-tech demonstrations, just clearly *informative and comprehensive* relative to what's being marketed. Stay way from glossy buzz words and trendy catch phrases. Focus more on the information's value to educate the target audience. I used to demo Softimage in my locale when Softimage didn't have the budget to send somebody out from Montreal. I am information driven, and was always told by attendees that they felt my demos were the most helpful to make decisions. I don't know if sales improved or not as I didn't have access to that information, but the feedback I received from all demos were pretty consistent. I think people are starved for facts as they don't want to have to wade through all the BS to get the info they seek, and in many cases, some people are making decisions to expand a company or switch a pipeline and aren't fully informed themselves what they are looking for because perhaps they're striving for something a bit outside of their comfort zone or level of experience. Informative demos help them, and a good informative demo will entice a customer to follow up. Matt From: [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Sam Cuttriss Sent: Thursday, September 13, 2012 2:50 PM To: [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> Subject: Re: In case you missed it.. Stop thinking of advertising/ demonstration/ documentation and education as isolated entities. in doing so you can make the money you spend massively more productive. look at the success of stephen blairs blog: http://xsisupport.com/ ( Its criminally insane you fired him by the way ) its a go to site for anyone using ice. With a little work something like that could be dressed up as a showcase of softimage work and a technical reference of production techniques. An inspiration to students, and something to pique the curiosity of professionals using other softwares. _sam
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