After WWDC yesterday, there’s been a number of people who really liked the quality of the production and wished that the future Apple events will remain pre-recorded. Tim Cook is somewhat awkward with a crowd during live events; by contrast in front of the cameras he appeared confident and excited. The focus on Apple’s technology was absolutely razor sharp, with no “please clap” moments or awkward third-party developer tie-ins.
However I don’t think this is a sustainable format for WWDC, or any tech demo. Tech demos are live for a reason, it acts to increase the credibility of the company’s claims. With a pre-recorded event, multiple takes of the demo can be used, and the best ones can be singled out in the final edit. Things that failed can be cut out entirely. And particularly devious firms and use visual effects to make false claims (however this strategy is short sighted since visual effects always leaves traces behind).
Live tech demos, in a room filled with journalists and developers, avoids all of these issues and shows people firsthand that the products are reliable and work on demand. This is the purpose of live demos, and why they should continue to happen. If it’s pre-recorded it’s not really a demo anymore, it’s just an ad. It’s too easy for things to go perfectly right and not line up with the real-world experience.
People are not suspicious of Apple’s pre-recorded demo yesterday because everything in their live demos generally work. They have a reputation of having everything fully functioning by demo time. However reputations have to be built on something. The best way for them to keep their reputation is to keep doing live demos.
Updated 2021-02-12 (new title)