Listening: Product Demo to Non-Technical Stakeholders

"Drill down" = go deeper, examine in more detail. In a demo, it means moving from a high-level overview to a more detailed look at a specific area.

Demo narration vocabulary:

• "walk you through" — guide the audience through a process or feature step by step
• "highlight" — show or emphasise the most important or impressive parts
• "drill down into" — explore a specific area in more detail
• "zoom in on" — same idea: focus on a specific aspect
• "let me show you" — direct demo narration opener

Demo structure for non-technical stakeholders: Start with the business outcome (why this matters), then walk through the feature, then offer to drill down where they have questions. Avoid leading with technical details — stakeholders respond to value, not implementation.

"Hand over to" = transfer control or a specific topic to another person. In demos, this is a professional technique for directing technical questions to the right expert without disrupting the flow.

Why this matters: In stakeholder demos, a PM who tries to answer deep technical questions often stumbles — handing over is the professional move.

Demo handover vocabulary:

• "I'll hand over to [name] on that" — direct to subject matter expert
• "[Name], do you want to take this one?" — same, less formal
• "That's a great question for our engineering team — let me bring in [name]" — more explicit

Handling questions in demos:

• Answer what you can confidently
• Hand over what requires a specialist
• Park what's out of scope: "Great question — let's take that offline after the demo"

Sign-off = formal approval or acceptance. In product demos, a sign-off typically means stakeholders confirm they approve the work, agree it meets requirements, and give the green light to proceed (to release, next phase, or deployment).

Sign-off vocabulary in product demos:

• sign off on — formally approve (verb): "Can you sign off on this by Friday?"
• sign-off — the formal approval itself (noun): "We need sign-off from the CFO"
• stakeholder approval — general term for the same concept
• acceptance criteria — the conditions that must be met for sign-off to be given

"Before we wrap up" is a standard demo closing signal — it tells the audience the demo is ending and invites final questions or concerns before formally closing the meeting.