Customer Show + Tell: How D2L Transformed Their Customer Conference

In our Customer Show + Tell series, we highlight how Navattic customers use interactive demos to solve real-world business challenges.

"Have you ever struggled to showcase your product effectively to diverse customer segments at a major event? That was exactly our challenge," shared Sammi Zhao, Product Marketing Manager at D2L, at Navattic’s 2025 Toronto User Event.

D2L faced three critical challenges at their annual customer conference, Fusion:

• Diverse customer base: Depending on the type of customer, they may be interested in a very different feature set and use the product in a significantly different way.
• Multiple product announcements: Juggling numerous releases created alignment challenges around messaging and demonstration.
• High booth traffic: Unlike typical trade shows, D2L's customer event generated overwhelming interest at demo stations.

Rather than creating separate demos for each audience, D2L developed an innovative solution using Navattic's interest form feature:

• A consolidated interactive demo showcasing all new product enhancements
• A "choose your own adventure" experience where attendees could select specific interests
• Personalized demo flows that only displayed relevant features based on user selection

"Attendees can select exactly what they're interested in exploring from the product category down to the specific features. Based on their selection, they're launched into a tailored flow that only showcases what's relevant to them," Sammi explained.

The implementation was straightforward: demos were available on iPads at demo stations for self-service exploration, while staff had them on personal devices to support conversations.

The impact was immediate and significant:

• Streamlined staff enablement: Having all features consolidated with value propositions simplified internal training.
• Better booth traffic management: The self-service option handled overflow when representatives were engaged.
• More meaningful conversations: "Customers who interacted with the demo first had more engaging conversations with us afterwards because they had the opportunity to explore capabilities and consider how it's relevant to their particular use case."
• Valuable post-event asset: The demos became "an asset that's cooler, more engaging than a standard product video" for follow-up communications.
• Analytics insights: D2L began collecting engagement data on which features generated the most interest.

D2L's approach focused on making the demo experience accessible and valuable:

1. Centralizing all product announcements in one interactive experience
2. Creating self-service options for independent exploration
3. Providing staff with the same tools to enhance guided conversations

The success of D2L's interactive demo strategy demonstrates several powerful benefits:

• It empowers users to control their learning journey
• It respects different learning preferences (self-guided vs. facilitated)
• It transforms passive product information into active exploration
• It creates a valuable asset that extends beyond the event itself
• It provides analytics to inform future product and marketing decisions

"We got a lot of positive feedback and we're definitely going to continue to develop and improve this experience for our future events," Sammi concluded.

By putting customers in control of their demo experience, D2L not only solved their immediate conference challenges but also created deeper engagement with their product, proving that sometimes the best way to showcase your solution is to let customers discover its value for themselves.