[The Lighting Geek]

The entire bed of my truck is a giant demo kit. I keep 4 840 transformers in the little stanley boxes with wheels. I have about 25-30 assorted brass fixtures and 60 or so well lights in groups of 4. I have a couple extension cords and a couple path lights with 24" stems. I also have it on a pull out bed so I can pull the whole thing out and get to all the stuff.

The time you listed is about right. I usually use about 12-20 lights depending on the situation.

 

[The Lighting Geek]

Something else I thought about doing. Call it a drive-by demo. or just a dumb idea.

If I had a 10gauge line ran from the battery of my truck to a multi-plug in the bed area. take 4 maybe 6 spooled extention cords run them from the truck be to the front area of a house. Hit the house in a few places do a couple of trees. How fast could you do that?

When youre down unplug the lights, roll the cords back in and move on down the road. Thats after you sign a contract of course.

I need to figure out how many lights I can run off the truck. The lights will do fine on DC for a demo purpose.

I think you should show up in a monster truck like the grave digger and power 75-100 lights!

 

[The Lighting Geek]

I think you guys are putting way too much effort into your demos. Yes, I know that your demos would be better than mine, but your purpose is simply to show an "example" of what could be done. You can explain the rest verbally. To a potential client, they have no idea of the power of our systems. Even one light looks pretty to them. If you set up several, then your case is closed. You don't need to go through the effort, IMO, to make it look exactly like the final install. Besides, wouldn't it be better for your image to install "more" and "better" than they expected? Some of the descriptions I've heard so far about what you guys go through to set up a demo just kills me. Granted, they do offer the opportunity to take a picture, but what are you trying to prove. I'd be awfully ticked off if I went through that much trouble just to have the client explain what was done to his landscaper and have them do it for cheeper. In my opinion, these full blown demos are giving away your talents and secrets beforehand. Unless you're getting a sizable fee for the demo, I would not do it so inexpensively. I'll explain my effective demo later, but you guys are just expending too much effort and time.
Just my opinion, so don't get mad and start calling me names!

I use about 12-20 lights, uplighting only. I can set up in about 15-20 minutes and be knocking on the door for them to come out. I usually can wrap it up in another 30 minutes depending on the customer. The customer needs to see enough lights to get it. As you get better you can use less lights. When I was new I used more lights to offset my skill level. The sheer number of lights was always breath taking. My best demo ever was 4 lights. Understanding the right vocabulary is equally important to me. Read Nate's book and use the jargon and people listen. Part of a great demo is listening to the client. I get put in check every once in a while by a client whom I was listening well enough. The best demo fits the way the client uses the yard and their lifestyle. I have done hundreds of demos and I will continue to use demos. The role of a demo has changed for me and it will for you as you do more of them. I don't demo every job, but I know exactly which jobs need a demo and that comes from experience.

I would say that I am the lighting professional that I am, more from all the demos, than all the jobs i've done. I learned more from the jobs I didn't get than the ones I did. It is the process not the demo. To me doing a demo is like being a waiter. You don't get a tip if you don't get it right, just like you don't always get the job if you don't get it right. Just like the waiter gets bigger tips from polishing his craft, you will get more jobs as you learn your craft. I am not referring to you people who don't do demos here, just casting a different light (pardon the pun) on the subject of demos.

 

[The Lighting Geek]

transformers work better for me because I always leave the demo for about a week if I can. A larger demo benefits from this because they are used to coming home to it and then it's gone.