The other night it was Family Movie Night, and since it was my son’s turn to pick a movie he selected the Pixar film Bug’s Life.

Watching Bug’s Life again after all these years was surreal for me for a couple of reasons.

The first reason was that it was weird, retrospectively, to hear Hopper, the villainous grasshopper being voiced by Congressman Francis Underwood from House of Cards.

The other was that when it was released on VHS back in 1998, Bug’s Life was THE demo video of the day. Every single TV shop in town, mine included had it playing all day, every day on the biggest CRT RPTVs in the store.

As a result, I think I have seen Bug’s Life more often than any other film, and that includes Raiders of the Lost Ark, Star Wars episodes IV-VI and The Incredibles.

So much so that I know every word from the script off by heart, whether I like it or not.

Watching the film with my family, I experienced a strange echo-chamber effect in my head: hearing all the dialogue in my head a split-second before the characters on-screen recited it.

And so, just like the smell of fresh-baked cookies inspired Marcel Proust to write À la recherche du temps perdu, I feel compelled to write about demonstrating home theatre systems.

The gear has evolved, the formats we watch and listen to have evolved, but the need to put on a great demo hasn’t changed.

I always believed in staying current, but to remember the classics. And to pick demo material that was appropriate for the prospective client.

I knew, for example that if customers had been shopping for any length of time, and been to several stores, that they might have what I called “demo fatigue,” you can only watch the same scene from Pearl Harbor, Lord of the Rings or Transformers so many times.

I also knew to keep it simple. The whole point of a demonstration is to impress. Have the demo materials ready to go.

In the days before Kaleidescape, using DVDs, I selected demos that began right at a scene marker, and didn’t require tedious fast forwarding to find.

In addition to impressing, I also needed to educate. I’d point out ahead of time what they’d see, hear, and what they should look for. By setting the client’s expectations, I’d prepare to impress them. Otherwise, after the clip has been run, I’d run the risk that they’d shrug and say “It was okay, I guess.”

I spent a lot of my life in sound rooms demonstrating big screens and even bigger sound systems. It’s funny how watching one movie can bring all of that back.