A few quick ideas that came out of some conversations at Rails Pub Night:
iPhone web demos need icons
Nobody wants to wait for you to load up your example code. Make a folder of links so you can bring up the sample quickly instead of opening Safari, typing in the URL while juggling something else you’re holding (yes, last night it was beer,) and then waiting for the wireless to crap out. Launching from the home screen gets you right to that delightful no signal stage. Which you then deal with by…
Have video backups of everything cool
If you don’t have wireless access, your web-based demo might suck, so make a quick screencam movie of anything you need to demo and keep it on your desktop, USB key, and mobile device. This is going to sound 30% stupid, but if you demo your app via a video playing on an iPad 2, it will seem much cooler than if it was running on a computer where people could actually use it.
Use those same videos for mockup presentations
Giving someone a link and waiting for feedback can result in… interesting distractions, especially if it’s an early mock where some of the content is placeholder. Adding an audio track lets you walk someone through a feature while also being able to explain what’s not done. Before you send something like this out though, be sure to find out if your intended recipient has a sound card and/or headphones.
Use GotoMeeting for more structured presentations
You can do a more interactive presentation than you can with the screencam technique if you use a desktop conferencing solution like GotoMeeting, which I think is around $50/month. This means you have to actually schedule the call, but allows for a much more in depth discussion.
That about does it for now. And yes, these are notes to myself as much as they are to you or to your programming team.
