Esa Ruoho quoted Sean McCarthy, chief executive of Steorn:
"Obviously Steorn and Sean McCarthy would never recover if there is a negative result here. But we don't see that as even an outside possibility . . ."
That is the WORST POSSIBLE THING to say before a demonstration!!! As I pointed out the other day, and Steven Johnson reiterated, you should NEVER stake your credibility on a single demonstration. Before you begin, you tell the audience something along these lines:
"Remember folks, this is an experimental prototype, and it may not work. It worked back in the lab, and we tested it an hour ago before the trade show opened, so we are pretty confident it will work now, but you never can tell . . ."
Then -- as I said before -- after you extinguish the fire in the power supplies, you put on your best smile, keep your cool and say:
"Okay, let's turn to the PowerPoint slides and this nifty video we made of a successful demonstration last week. We'll come back to this after Charlie here installs new power supplies . . ." [You chuckle and give Charlie an attaboy pat on the shoulder, even though you would like to kick him for not checking the power supplies.]
The fate of an experiment, a scientific claim, or a company should never ride on a single make-or-break demonstration. It should always be spread out over hundreds of demonstrations, performed over many months with many different audiences. Expectations must be kept in check, and the tone of the demonstration must be low key, and matter of fact. When it fails, you show the audience that you can take that in stride, and you know how to fix the problem.
- Jed
