{"id":47356,"date":"2026-09-01T15:43:56","date_gmt":"2026-09-01T15:43:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/greatdemo.com\/?p=47356"},"modified":"2026-09-01T15:43:56","modified_gmt":"2026-09-01T15:43:56","slug":"the-power-of-analogies-and-metaphors-in-demos-and-discovery-part-2-retention","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/greatdemo.com\/the-power-of-analogies-and-metaphors-in-demos-and-discovery-part-2-retention\/","title":{"rendered":"The Power of Analogies and Metaphors in Demos and Discovery \u2013 Part 2: Retention!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Why Use Analogies and Metaphors? Retention!<\/strong><\/p>\n

Facts are boring, whether new or old, and they aren\u2019t memorable on their own. Here\u2019s an example: Crows fly at about 25-30 mph (40-48 km\/h). Not particularly noteworthy on its own, is it?<\/p>\n

However, when you tie that fact to an existing, already-known concept, it can be understood and retained much better. Let\u2019s try this again: Crows fly at about 25-30 mph (40-48 km\/h), what else flies at that same speed?<\/p>\n

As you read that, this time you compared<\/em> that speed to other moving objects that you already know. 25-30 mph (40-48 km\/h) is close to the typical speed of a car driving in a residential or built-up area (well, according to the speed limit signs!).<\/p>\n

Analogies and metaphors leverage existing<\/em> memories, concepts, and relationships, making the new ideas much<\/em> more memorable. Our crow\u2019s speed is analogous<\/em> to the speed of an automobile travelling through a residential or built-up area.<\/p>\n

If you simply present your capability (a \u201cfact\u201d), typical audiences don\u2019t retain it.\u00a0Facts by themselves are flat and lackluster; they don\u2019t stand out. They are unremarkable and are correspondingly difficult to remember<\/a>. In traditional demos, at best<\/em> you can expect your audience to remember only 30% of what is presented!<\/p>\n

Analogies and metaphors that leverage existing concepts are far more \u201csticky,\u201d forming memories that last longer and are easier to recall than facts.<\/p>\n

Next: Examples!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Resources:<\/p>\n

The Power of Analogies and Metaphors in Demos and Discovery Part 1<\/p>\n

Leveraging Attention-Retention Curves in Demos:<\/p>\n

https:\/\/greatdemo.com\/leveraging-attention-retention-curves-in-demos\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Suspending Disbelief: A Collection of Sales, Presales, and Marketing Stories (and Lessons Learned)<\/p>\n

https:\/\/tinyurl.com\/yc7rsrmy<\/a><\/p>\n

Doing Discovery:<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Doing-Discovery-Important-Enablement-Processes\/dp\/B0B8RJK4C2\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Great Demo! Third Edition:<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/dp\/B0C9SNKC2Y\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Why Use Analogies and Metaphors? Retention! Facts are boring, whether new or old, and they aren\u2019t memorable on their own. Here\u2019s an example: Crows<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":47357,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[7],"class_list":["post-47356","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-advanced_topics","tag-blog"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/greatdemo.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47356","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/greatdemo.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/greatdemo.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greatdemo.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greatdemo.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47356"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/greatdemo.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47356\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":47358,"href":"https:\/\/greatdemo.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47356\/revisions\/47358"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greatdemo.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/47357"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/greatdemo.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47356"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greatdemo.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47356"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greatdemo.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47356"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}