If you’ve ever tried to build a demo with your team and ended up buried in version chaos, endless Slack threads, or “who edited this?” mysteries, you’re not alone. This guide is for anyone who wants to truly collaborate with teammates on demo projects in Storylane without losing their mind—or their work. Whether you’re in sales, product, marketing, or customer success, you’ll get the real steps, honest pitfalls, and a few shortcuts that actually help.
1. Get Your Team Set Up the Right Way
Before you dive into demo building, you need everyone on the same page—literally.
a. Invite the Right People
- Admin access matters: Only admins can invite new users. If you’re not one, ask your admin to add teammates.
- Don’t over-invite: Only add folks who’ll actually contribute. Extra “viewers” can clutter things and cause confusion.
- Assign roles: Storylane has roles like Admin, Editor, and Viewer. Editors can make changes; Viewers can’t. Get this right from the start.
Pro tip: If someone just wants to review demos, give them Viewer access. Keeps things safer.
b. Set Up Your Workspace
- Name your workspace clearly: Don’t settle for “Team 1.” Use something like “Product Demos – Q2 2024.”
- Organize by project: If you’ll have lots of demos, create folders or projects inside Storylane. Saves headaches later.
2. Start a Demo Project—Together
Collaboration works best if you set ground rules early.
a. Kick Off with a Shared Plan
- Agree on the story: Get everyone aligned on what the demo should show. Whiteboard, doc, or call—whatever works.
- Assign sections: Break up the demo. Who’s handling which part? Divide and conquer prevents overlap.
b. Create the Demo in Storylane
- Start with a template: If you’re new, use one of Storylane’s templates. It’s faster and gives you a starting point.
- Share editing rights: Make sure everyone who needs to edit has Editor access.
What not to do: Don’t just have five people editing the same slide at once. It sounds collaborative, but it’s mostly chaos.
3. Work in the Demo—Without Stepping on Toes
Multiple cooks can spoil the soup, especially with live editing.
a. Use Version Control Features
- Version history exists, but isn’t magic: Storylane tracks changes, but it’s not as robust as Google Docs. If two people edit the same thing at once, you might lose work.
- Best practice: Communicate! Use Slack, Teams, or even Storylane’s built-in comments to say, “I’m working on Section 2.”
b. Comment Like You Mean It
- Inline comments: Storylane lets you add comments to specific steps or elements. Use them for questions, approvals, or suggestions.
- Resolve comments: Once something’s fixed, mark the comment as resolved. Keeps your workspace tidy.
c. Assign Tasks (If Needed)
- Manual, but effective: Storylane doesn’t have Asana-style task assignments, so spell out who’s doing what in comments or a shared doc.
- Weekly check-ins: If it’s a big project, run a quick sync to make sure nothing’s stuck.
Pro tip: If someone’s “just making tweaks,” ask them to summarize what changed. Saves a ton of “what happened here?” later.
4. Review and Polish as a Team
A demo isn’t done until it’s been reviewed by fresh eyes.
a. Share Preview Links
- Viewer links: Storylane lets you share a live preview with teammates or stakeholders. Use these for feedback without giving editing rights.
- Password protection: If it’s sensitive, set a password on the preview link.
b. Collect Feedback Efficiently
- Centralize feedback: Don’t let feedback scatter across email, Slack, and comments. Pick one spot—ideally Storylane’s comment feature.
- Batch changes: Instead of making edits after every little comment, gather feedback and work through it in focused sprints.
What to ignore: You don’t need sign-off from ten people. Pick two or three key reviewers and move on.
5. Manage Demo Versions and Hand-Offs
The more people touch a demo, the messier things get—unless you have a plan.
a. Duplicate Before Big Changes
- Clone, don’t overwrite: If you’re about to make major edits, duplicate the demo first. That way, the original’s safe if things go sideways.
b. Archive Old Versions
- Clean up: Archive or clearly label old demo versions. Otherwise, people will send out the wrong link—guaranteed.
c. Handoff to Sales (or Anyone Else)
- Finalize and lock: When the demo’s ready for sales or external use, lock editing or downgrade everyone but the owner to Viewer.
- Share the final link: Make sure everyone knows which link is “the one.” Post it somewhere obvious.
Pro tip: Add a version number or date to your demo titles. “Onboarding Demo v3 – June 2024” beats “FinalFinal2.”
6. Common Pitfalls (and How to Dodge Them)
You’ll hear a lot of advice about “building a culture of collaboration,” but here’s what actually trips teams up:
- Too many editors: More isn’t always merrier. Stick to a tight group.
- Silent editing: People making changes without telling others. Always announce big edits.
- Feedback overload: Everyone has opinions. Limit feedback rounds and reviewers.
- Forgotten access: Remove people who leave the team or change roles. Old access is a security risk.
- Lost versions: Always duplicate before drastic changes.
If you hit “undo” panic or can’t find an old version, Storylane’s support is pretty responsive. But don’t rely on that as your only safety net.
7. Pro Tips for Smoother Collaboration
- Use a kickoff checklist: Covers roles, sections, and deadlines.
- Comment early, comment often: Better too much context than not enough.
- Link out to assets: If your demo needs slides, PDFs, or videos, link them in comments for easy access.
- Keep meetings short: Use async updates when possible.
8. When Not to Use Storylane for Collaboration
Some things just aren’t a fit for Storylane’s collaboration tools:
- Heavy workflows: If you need Kanban boards or deep project management, stick with Notion, Asana, or Jira.
- Sensitive demos: If your demo includes highly confidential info, review Storylane’s security settings first.
- Real-time “jam sessions”: Unlike Google Slides, Storylane’s real-time editing is limited. Avoid “live” group editing.
Keep It Simple, Iterate Fast
Collaboration doesn’t have to be complicated. Start small, communicate clearly, and don’t let the tools get in the way of the story you’re telling. Make your process lighter over time—most teams end up over-engineering things at first, then realize what really matters: clear demos, quick feedback, and no surprises. That’s what actually gets results.