No such dilemma for cam queen Shira Lazar, a Los Angeles TV personality and Seesmic comment diva who's been shamelessly flirting with Arrington in public, online, for months. Lazar has landed in San Francisco for the TechCrunch show. Here's a video showing her having to deal with Michael Arrington and preparing for the big TechCrunchOrgy. You can stop watching after she mockingly tells Arrington how great he is, unless you're really into watching Lazar pick out her wardrobe.

————— Forwarded message —————
From: Chris Shipley
Date: Aug 11, 2008 5:06 PM
Subject: RE: Deb McAlister-Holland

Hey, Owen,

I am unable to find the original article, which again would have been in PC Letter pre 1996.

This is one of the advice pieces we provide to our demonstrators; I certainly wouldn't accuse Jason of plagiarizing this.

—-—-——

As you begin to develop your script, it is important to reiterate a few thoughts about what the DEMO audience expects from your presentation.

A LIVE DEMO

First and foremost, the DEMO audience expects to see a LIVE DEMO OF YOUR PRODUCT. If you are intending to do anything other than a LIVE DEMO you MUST discuss this with Chris immediately. The DEMO crowd will forgive the glitches that sometimes occur when you are giving a live demonstration; they are rather unforgiving when they discover that a company has "faked it." Don't risk your credibility to slight-of-hand attempts to deliver a canned demo as a live one.

POWERPOINT, VIDEOS, FLASH, ETC.

Second, the DEMO audience is very familiar with the "no PowerPoint" rule of the DEMO stage. No slides, no videos, no Flash animations, no clever screen savers or wall paper. You have been invited on the DEMO stage to show your product, not your graphic design skills. That said, in specific instances where the use of a visual aid enhances the audience's understanding of the product or its market, we will make exceptions to this rule.

If you are seeking an exception, keep in mind:

1. The visual must be limited to the bare minimum to communicate a key point.

2. They should always exclude extraneous marketing hype.

3. They should never take more than a minute of your on-stage time.

Remember, UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCE may you include visuals without prior approval, and then you are only permitted to show that which is approved. Clever ploys to circumvent this approval will be met with profound disappointment.

TIMING

Third, please remember that your time on stage is strictly limited. At the end of your time, we will bring up music to escort you off stage. Don't let your final comments be lost because you've gone over your time limit.

Some of our direction and advice may sound a little harsh and maybe even foils some of your grand plans. But trust us: Over the years, we've seen some big ideas fail miserably . . . and we've seen simple, direct demos succeed beautifully. So, finally, remember that we are here to help. If you have questions about what will or won't work on the DEMO stage, direct them to Karyn Williams as soon as possible (kkw@k2events.com). We'll gladly get back to you with the sound advice that will make your presentation a success.

SUGGESTED FORMAT TIPS FOR DEMO

* The introduction sets the context for your product demonstration.

* Use only 5% or less of your stage time on the introduction.

* Describe the market issue or user problem your product/technology solves.

* Give a brief summary of the history of the product/technology.

* Start your product demonstration within 30 seconds of taking the stage.

* The product demonstration should show the product/technology and

demonstrate its core value.

* 85% of your stage time should be used for demonstration.

* It's best to make only three key points. Remember you can delve deeper in

the Pavilion.

* Demonstrate only features and functions that support these points.

* The conclusion should be used to re-emphasize the benefits of the

product/technology.

* The conclusion should take up no more than 10% of stage time.

* Stress benefits to intended user.

* Stress benefits to industry.

• Demofall runs September 7-9 in San Diego, Sunday through Tuesday.
• TechCrunch50 runs September 8-10 in San Francisco, Monday through Wednesday.
• Demofall showcases new products. TechCrunch50 requires that the entire company be a new launch.
• Both events try to keep their lists of presenters a secret until close to showtime.
• Demofall requires that exhibitors not participate in any other shows. Companies chosen to exhibit at both shows will be forced to pick one.
• Job-avoiding members of The 250 will surely attend both. But most attendees and many journalists will be forced to choose either Demo or TechCrunch, and to skip the other entirely. Note: This is where the fun starts.
• Demofall is a less-prestigious spinoff of the bigger Demo show held in January in Palm Desert, California. It was originally called Demomobile, but there wasn't enough mobile to demo. It's not all-out war until TechCrunch goes head-to-head with the January Demo.
• Demo's organizers spell it DEMO, but it's not an acronym, so Owen makes me spell it Demo. I'm not sure why TechCrunch isn't Techcrunch by that rule. But I'm glad Valleywag isn't ValleyWag.
• Arrington told VentureBeat that the schedule conflict wasn't intentional. It was, he said, the only time they could get the venue they really wanted. This is the difference between a journalist and a publicist.
• Calacanis has been much more blunt about his desire to "take the payola out of Demo" by hosting a similar event that doesn't charge demonstrators a fee. It's currently $18,500 per company to appear at Demo, free at TechCrunch50. PR people I talked to believe $18,500 is a fair price for the exposure Demo gives a new product or company. But many of the shoestring Web 2.0 firms TechCrunch tracks simply don't have it.
• UPDATE: New improved quotes.
  • Arrington: "Demo needs to die."
  • Calacanis: "Chris Shipley, you moved your event to compete with us."
  • Shipley: "It baffles me, because ultimately it's not very good for entrepreneurs. It doesn't make sense how this will help them."
• If she's so concerned for the entrepreneurs, why not let them do both shows? That seems easier.

Sender: Erica Lee To: paul@paulboutin.com Subject: Invitation to DEMO 08 Hi Paul,

On behalf of DEMO Executive Producer Chris Shipley, I would like to invite you to attend DEMO 08, in Palm Desert CA, January 28 - 30.

[...]

Please join our exclusive audience of VCs, gurus, entrepreneurs and business executives as we spend two full days identifying industry trends and peeking into the future of technology innovation. We have a limited number of complimentary press passes and GigaOM has been selected to receive one. To sign up for your free pass, please contact me.

Remember when Bill Gross launched the search engine GoTo.com, later Overture, and shocked the industry by ranking listings by how much advertisers were willing to pay? At the time, his pay-per-click model was ripped apart as cynical and sleazy. But paid search ads, it turns out, were the right idea. The willingness of an advertiser to pay, among other factors, was actually a useful criterion for determining whether an ad might be effective, and it's a practice that's making billions of dollars for Google.

I think there's a similar effect here. There was no downside for TechCrunch40's presenting companies; if they gave a lousy presentation, all they wasted was the audience's time. One of the best-received startups was MusicShake. Note that MusicShake is based in South Korea, which means that its founders flew across the Pacific to make their debut, at considerable expense. They may not have paid Calacanis and Arrington anything, but unlike most of their peers, they actually had skin in the game.

Contrast that to the sloppy demos given by some Bay Area startuppers who only had to roll out of bed to get there — and looked like they just had.

By contrast, every company at Demo had some money at stake. It might not have been a big risk, but it was enough to make them take the event seriously. Shipley told me earlier this week:

Demo is involved in helping companies launch their products, and there are costs associated with that. That doesn't remove the hurdle of qualifying and being selected to participate. The fee is a commitment for a small company. It does signal a seriousness of intent — it is a bit of a bar for a company, and if you're able to clear that hurdle, that means that there's more at stake and the company is perhaps more viable.

The irony is that when I reported that DemoPit, TechCrunch40's for-pay sideshow that required startups to buy a ticket to the event, Calacanis blusteringly defended his event along much the same lines as Shipley, citing the costs of putting it on. Of course. But by making startups share those costs, Shipley is putting the invisible hand of capitalism to work as a useful sorting function. You know her companies won't waste your time. Why? They have money on the line.

All of these parties are roughly the same, aren't they? Show up, get your nametag, politely chitchat with people while figuring out if you can use them to further your own ambitions, have a few free drinks, and then go in the corner to whip out your cellphone and send text messages to people you'd rather talk to.

But one thing made it different — the crowd Shipley attracts.

At least the Demo-alumni requirement scared off the worst of the usual crowd of hangers-on. The guests here were mostly entrepreneurs who actually have started a company or two, like Kim Polese, ex-CEO of Marimba, recently seen at last week's LinuxWorld conference, and Munjal Shah, CEO of Like.com, the latest incarnation of Riya. More than a few blogger/journalists personalities appeared, like Oliver Starr, late of TechCrunch offshoot MobileCrunch, currently with TechCrunch rival BlogNation, and new Rupert Murdoch underling Don Clark of the Wall Street Journal, who has an annual tradition of playing the Demo conference with his band.

And then there was a trifecta of Valleywag megafans: John Furrier, CEO of PodTech; Red Herring publisher Alex Vieux; and Barak Berkowitz, CEO of Six Apart. All three were delighted to see "Valleywag" on my nametag. Vieux couldn't wiggle away from me fast enough. "Ask Owen why I can't talk to you," Berkowitz snarled as he stalked away. Yet another example of Six Apart failing to engage in transparent communication, as far as I can tell.

The talk of the party, of course, was the looming shadow of next month's TechCrunch20 conference, the Demo copycat from TechCrunch editor Michael Arrington and Mahalo founder Jason Calacanis. Although I wonder if Chris Shipley and the rest of the Demo team should be as worried about the upstart conference as Arrington and Calacanis would like them to be. As one partygoer put it to me: "You know what they say, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Chris has a lot of imitators, like that one guy, oh, I'm blanking on his name ... TechCrunch ... Arlington, Michael Arlington."