Create guided demos

Updated November 26, 2024 17:06

About

Sometimes you’ll want to create guided demos, at others, a non guided demo will work best. There are advantages to both guided and non guided demos. So what’s the difference?

A guided demo ‘guides’ viewers and you control the flow and content of your story. You control. The flow of screens, when popups or other guides appear, the option to add audio, who has access to view or make changes and much more.
A non guided demo means that viewers watch the demo in any way they choose.

We have five articles that describe the different workflows and settings to create a guided demo starting with how to create a template right through to publishing & sharing.

In this article, we give a short description about the importance of the different stages when you create guided demos and then invite you to head over to each article to get the detailed workflows.

Create & share templates

The simplest way to create a template is to use one of our mockups and then insert your own image into it. You can:

Create your own using the Walnut capture extension or use an existing Walnut screen mockup and then import your own image into the screen mockup.
Mix and match screen templates and use as many needed throughout your template.

For more on templates and the flexibility you have to set them the way you want, head over to the article Create demos part 1: create & share templates.

Set displays for browser and mobile

One layout doesn’t fit all! We’ve created options so your demos will look great whatever the screen size (also known as viewport) of your browser or mobile.

Knowing how to optimize the viewing experience is a key part of creating great demos. There are four screen display options

- Dynamic screen size

Adapts dynamically to browser size for a flexible display. Use when you want viewers to see the demo exactly as if they were using your product.

- Proportional fit

Use this when you want to Walnut to:

scale screens proportionally to fit browser size while preserving originally captured aspect ratio. Use this when you want to:
ensure viewers the entire screen (including tops and bottom corners).
embed your demo on a landing page.

- Fixedwidth

Maintains the captured aspect ratio, scaled to a fixed width for consistent sizing. Use this when you want to:

ensure viewers see your demo at a specific width
showcase mobile or tablet versions
disable screen responsive capabilities (meaning the images do not not adjust to the screen size of the browser or device.

- Fixed size

Scaled to a fixed height and width for consistent sizing.

For more on display options, head over to the article Create demos part 2: set display settings.

Capture screens

Whether you capture screens using the Walnut extension or import screens into templates, screen captures are the skeleton for your demo. We recommend using the Walnut extension because it syncs directly with Walnut and gives you different ways to capture screens, all saving you time and effort.

Capture screens with the Walnut extension

If you haven’t done so already, download the extension from the Chrome Web Store.

Then pin the extension so it’s always there when you need it!

For more on capture workflows, head over to the article Create demos part 3: capture screens.

Create demo guides

When you add guides to demos you’re communicating key messages to your viewers. You control the flow and ‘guide’ and highlight features. You give the viewer a way to focus on your message creating an interactive experience that is engaging and fun to watch.

Walnut has a ton of easy to use features to add modal pop ups, tooltips and hotspot.

To see all the different options at your fingertips, head over to the article Create demos part 5: create demo guides.

Publish & share demos

The step you’ve been waiting for! Creating the demo file to share with others.

Before you click Create & Share demo, it’s worth asking yourself a few questions:

Do you want to customize the demo so that customer / organization names show in the demo?
What about a specific welcome message?
Who do you want to share the demo with: everyone in your organization, some or selected customers / prospects.
Do you want to connect the demo to a specific CRM channel?
Do you want to receive comments and be able to reply to comments?
Who can make changes?
For guided demos, which elements do you want to highlight or show?

For all about how to publish & share demos, head over to the article Create demos part 5: publish & share demos.

Spice up demos

Yes there’s more …

We’ve a ton of great features to add spice to demos. We’ve an article to describe the workflows and options for each one, so check them out.

- Additional features

- Insights & analytics

Specific use cases

Here are some tips for specific use cases.

Hide the Guide toolbar when presenting a demo

In the relevant library, click the 3 dots, select Demo Preferences>Links and set the Show guide toolbar toggle to OFF.