You may have heard the term 'deminar' in client conversations about bringing new products to market or showcasing new innovations and thought to yourself, "did I just hear that correctly?"
Don’t despair, you’re not losing your hearing. A deminar is a customer demonstration and seminar combined. The expression is often used when referring to a virtual demonstration and webinar.
Virtual event planners will be hearing the word a lot more in the future, as in-person product launches are swapped for digital demos and time-consuming face-to-face sales calls are replaced with punchy webinars and digital discussions.
A lead generation tool with a wide reach, a deminar program offers the ideal opportunity to combine platform tools with sales funnel strategies, in order to turn prospects into potential customers with engaging content and expert advice.
A deminar strategy starts with planning a webinar - an online event normally lasting between 30 minutes and an hour, held primarily to generate leads and educate or train attendees.
Webinars have long been used as an effective way to expand a brand’s reach, establish a company as a thought-leader in the industry, and engage with prospects and customers through an accessible platform.
In the past, however, webinars were often flat and passive experiences for attendees. There was little branding, low interactivity, and production value was practically nonexistent. It was an episodic, online broadcast. And while they may have gotten the job done, as technology has improved, so have expectations.
Now, webinars staged on market-leading platforms can include panel discussions, polls and audience feedback, pre-recorded content, and dynamic presentations from industry experts.
Webinars work well because they’re accessible. They don’t take up an enormous amount of time, they’re often free-to-attend, and getting to the venue is as simple as clicking a link.
With the right form fill you can find out key information about your attendees that can later be used to set them off on their attendee journey to engage with more content or get them in front of sales.
The webinar content defines their level of intent or acts as an additional data point in their buyer profile.
In order to turn a webinar into a deminar, virtual event planners and their marketing partners need to plan a content program around a particular product demonstration.
The latest product innovation or newly launched design is the star of your show.
The deminar’s purpose is to provide clarity, context, use-cases, technical specifications, feedback, and testimonials that will drive prospects up the sales funnel.
But most of all, it’s to show-off the product to attendees in order to drive sales.
Create Engaging Demo Content
A great deminar starts with great content, created to highlight the product being showcased. Here are three tips to ensure you engage the viewer and develop engaged interest.
Show, Don’t Tell
Like all good filmmaking, the less you have to explain, the more the product can speak for itself through demonstration, and the better the end result.
With a deminar, you can pre-record the elements of the product you’re intending to showcase in order to avoid any mishaps, script the most persuasive dialogue to really sell its merits, and use the live elements of your broadcast for interviewing industry experts on your product’s sector benefits.
The more you can use visualization to spotlight how a product functions via different camera angles, close-ups, and slowed-down footage, the more engaging your content will be to view.
Make it Interactive
Selling is all about having the right answers to customer questions and demonstrating good listening skills. So ensure you make good use of the chat functionality and monitor questions and comments closely.
Incorporate an "Ask the Expert" element into your schedule so that an allotted amount of time is dedicated to quick-fire questions that can be answered by the product manager or designer.
Use polls to draw out customer sentiment and concerns and then get a panel of experts to address the poll results directly and counter any issues.
Exclusive Offers
Reward viewers for taking the time to attend your deminar by incentivizing them to buy with exclusive offers. It could be a free trial, product discount, business assessment, or loyalty reward.
Your objective is to push potential customers further up the purchasing funnel so that you move one step closer to closing the deal.
An effective demo webinar will turn an interested prospect into a willing customer so provide them with the incentive they need as part of your content.
Decide on a Deminar Format
There are various deminar formats to choose from. Will the deminar be live? Will it be pre-recorded?
Here are a few formats to take into consideration:
Live Video: The deminar occurs in real-time. Doing a webinar live can be more challenging as there is no room for mistakes, but it also allows more options for attendee engagement through live Q&A or responding to comments in chat.
Simu-live: This is a deminar that is mostly recorded ahead of time, but the presenter jumps on to answer questions in real-time at the end. It can allow you to put more into the production value of the overall presentation.
Pre-recorded: This is a deminar that is recorded ahead of time so that attendees are logging on to watch a video. This format allows you to push right to on-demand.
Whiteboard: A creative way to express concepts, whiteboard deminars draw out concepts and points made by speakers in real-time. It’s a great way to keep attendees tuned in.
Find the Perfect Speaker, Speakers, or a Moderator
The main deminar speaker will the person demonstrating the product. Whether you then choose to have one speaker, multiple speakers or include a moderator, the decision should be made with thoughtful consideration.
You may want to choose an expert or panel of industry experts so that the sales executive demonstrating the product can then interview the experts for wider context and a deeper understanding. It will also give your webinar a softer feel so that it doesn’t come across as only being about making a sale.
Choosing a group of speakers can be a challenge, but can also help to vary the deminar format.
A team of speakers that is well-practiced at switching back and forth and sharing their thoughts on topics they excel at can help to keep attendees engaged.
Use your speakers as a tool to create the best demonstration webinar possible. Without engaging content, you won’t see as many registrations or high attendee engagement.
A moderator can be used when there are many speakers or if the deminar features a Q&A or an additional interview.
A moderator should be thoughtful, able to think on the fly, and be good at keeping the conversation moving.
If you’re doing a live Q&A, your moderator will need to understand how your virtual event tech works so they can pull questions from the audience.
Virtual Presenter and Speaker Tips and Tricks
Presenting virtually isn’t easy. The product manager or lead demonstrator may have plenty of experience selling in a face-to-face environment but presenting to the camera when you can’t see the audience’s reaction can be a completely different experience.
Set your speakers, and your deminar up for success by providing speakers with the following information about tips and tricks.
Rehearse
Your body language translates on camera and if you are not prepared is it extremely amplified. It will be very clear who has rehearsed and who has not. Take the appropriate time to rehearse your script and presentation flow on your own, as well as with fellow presenters.
A Q&A or interview will be more relaxed, but look at the questions ahead of time and formulate an outline of your answers.
Presenter Essentials
Script outline or PPT Script, remote IT support, personal laptop, additional microphone and lighting equipment, reliable internet are all presenter essentials.
Remote Script
If you have notes or a script, keep the digital or printed document on a stand at eye height close to your camera.
If this is not possible, keep the text in front of you below the camera. Try to memorize notes as much as possible so you maintain direct eye contact with the viewer.
If you and a fellow presenter are both speaking together remotely, it is recommended to work out of the same document so you can follow along when not speaking.
Attire
Think carefully about your clothing. Be comfortable in what you wear. If you have a pale background, wear something with color and vice versa. Avoid highly patterned fabrics (distorts on camera), all black or all white (camera accentuates contrast).
Makeup
Depending on the lighting you may need to add some light makeup. Neutral, muted shades are recommended.
Eyeglasses
If you wear glasses, check for reflection in the lenses and change position accordingly.
Take extra steps with the angle of your shot if you wear progressive lenses or bifocals. If you are required to read text on the screen through the lower part of your lenses, your head will tilt back creating an unattractive camera angle.
Camera Framing
The position of your camera and seating is very important. Take time to assess your options before rehearsal and try to establish a position so that you are correctly framed and centered in the image.
Lighting
Use front lighting to shine on your face. Use a ring light and place the ring light directly above and behind your webcam
Background
Personalized space is good, but it should not be cluttered. It is suggested to add color to your background or use a virtual branded background.
Audio
Place your microphone anywhere from eight to 12 inches away from your face. You may need to play with the distance to get the microphone to sound optimal. Test audio beforehand.
Body Language
Avoid waving your hands or gesticulating. Avoid touching your face. Avoid leaning forward into the camera.
Must-Have Deminar Features
Watching a screen for an hour can be boring. Why is it so hard to keep attendees engaged? Whether our attention spans are getting shorter or the world is getting noisier, the best way to keep attendees interested during your deminar is to engage them.
From high-quality production to chat features, here are a few features that will help improve the viewing experience.
Embedded Video
Display embedded video live streams or recorded videos for a seamless virtual attendee experience.
Live Q&A
Attendees can submit questions to the product demonstrator or experts for an additional layer of interactivity. Q&A allows attendees to engage with the product demonstration and have all their questions answered.
Session Chat
Session participants can connect directly within the session detail page. This is a great way to encourage relationship-building, raise questions, and highlight great points made during the demonstration.
Web Analytics (Clicks & Views)
Get page-by-page web analytics with clicks and views to understand what content is being engaged with the most, so you can modify your events program.
Engagement Scoring
Engagement scoring gives your sales and marketing teams a simple, actionable view of attendee activity for faster and smarter follow-up.
Virtual Attendance Tracking
Track attendance during sessions for governance and enable CE credit tracking. Data from tracking can help marketers and planners understand trends.
Follow-up with Attendees
Don’t let your communication with attendees die after the deminar. The best way to follow up? Send out a survey.
The best time to send a survey is within a day of the deminar while the content is still fresh.
Keep the survey short – no longer than two-five minutes to fill out – and note the survey length in the email. Your survey is key to uncovering what worked and what didn’t during your demo webinar.
Conclusion
Deminars are often lower effort than live, virtual, or hybrid events, but the benefits they provide long-term can be just as impressive.
From turning prospects into customers, establishing your organization as an expert in the field or introducing new leads to your portfolio of products, deminars can play a big role in your total meeting and events program.
With a great team that combines the expertise of planning and marketing, your event program can be a huge driver for sales and impact the organization as a whole.
As you build your deminars, do it thoughtfully and strategically, make quality content that really showcases the product in the best possible light, and track your success.
