Please check out the following guidelines before you or anyone else in the company brief me about a product. These guidelines are essential for a smooth interaction between the presenter and me. Please check my availability to set up a briefing call.
- I would like to hear about the following in a presentation: Basic architecture of the product/platform, features/functionality, use cases, case studies, competitive advantage, future directions. Any briefings on the above mentioned topics can be done using Skype/Telephone/Conference Call System. If you want to inform me about minor product updates, organizational changes, partnerships, etc., please send me the information through email.
- The duration of the presentation should not exceed one hour including any Q&A but I prefer to wrap it up under 45 minutes. I will only extend it to one hour, if you have something important to discuss and warrants the time.
- I prefer to watch a demo than a set of slides. Please try to show me a demo or give access to the product for me to play around before any presentation. Plain slide presentations are acceptable only if there is no demo to show or you want to complement the demo with some information. It is important that you send me the demo and/or slides one day before the briefing. Failure to do so may result in me canceling the briefing call unilaterally. Kindly cooperate on this as I need this presentation to prepare myself for the briefing session.
- The person who presents should be from the technology team/top management. Please avoid any presentations from the marketing department unless there is a very good reason for it. Plain marketing talk will lead to no interaction with the company in the future.
- Please send any relevant whitepapers well before the presentations (preferably) or immediately after the briefing.
- Please use a conferencing system that works well on Mac, Linux and Windows. I will not use a restrictive conference system like, say, Live Meeting.
- Please note that my acceptance to join the briefing call doesn’t mean that I will write about the product/service. Any attempt to influence me into writing a review or breaking the news will lead to blacklisting the company/PR Firm forever. It is entirely my decision to write about the product/service. The only way one can force me to write about a product/service is by making it very interesting and significant.