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Product Development · Google Slides

Lightning Demos Workshop

30–45 min3–10 peopleRemote · Hybrid · In-person

Boost your team's creative output and get inspired to solve your next big challenge.

What is this workshop?

Lightning Demos is a technique from the Google Design Sprint that gets teams out of their own echo chamber. Each team member does a quick tour of inspiring products, services, or approaches — not necessarily in your industry — and shares what they find compelling. The goal is to fill your team's inspiration bank before a big design or problem-solving challenge.

What's included

  • 3-minute demo format guide
  • Inspiration capture template
  • Sticky note theme grouping section
  • Idea voting board

This is for you if…

  • Product or design teams preparing for a big ideation sprint
  • Teams whose creative output feels repetitive or incremental
  • Anyone running a Design Sprint or structured innovation session

How to access this template

1Enter your email in the card — we'll send you the template link right away.
2Open the link and go to File → Make a copy → Entire presentation.
3Choose a destination folder in your Google Drive and click 'OK'.
4Your copy is ready — rename it and start editing.

How to run this workshop

1Make a copy of the Google Slides deck — go to File → Make a copy → Entire presentation.
2Before the session, ask each team member to find one example of something that solves a similar problem — from any industry.
3Each person gets 3 minutes to demo their example: what it is, what it does well, and what you could steal.
4After each demo, team members capture their favorite ideas as sticky notes.
5Group the sticky notes by theme and vote on the ideas most worth exploring.

Tips for first-time facilitators

  • Require examples from outside your industry. Same-industry examples produce incremental ideas.
  • Enforce the 3-minute limit per demo. It's uncomfortable, but it keeps energy high.
  • Have people capture sticky notes during each demo, not after all demos — memory fades fast.

Frequently asked questions

How do I copy this template?

Open the link, go to File → Make a copy → Entire presentation. Saves to Google Drive instantly.

Does the inspiration have to be in our industry?

No — cross-industry examples are often the most valuable. A shipping logistics workflow might inspire a better user onboarding sequence. Constraints breed creativity; different industries break them.

What if people come unprepared?

Give 15 minutes at the start of the session to find an example. It's less ideal than doing it in advance, but it still works. The important thing is that everyone participates equally.

How many demos should we do?

One per person, 3 minutes each. For a team of 6, that's 18 minutes of demos plus discussion — about right. Beyond 8 demos in a row, attention drifts.

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