Demo Class: How to Plan, Start, Teach and Follow Up a Free Demo That Parents Trust

What a demo class is, and the kinds you can offer

The words 'demo class' are used in two ways in India. For an institute or a tutor, it is a free trial class for a student who may join. For a teacher looking for a job, it is a short class the teacher gives in front of the principal or the owner during the interview. This guide is about the first kind. If you are a teacher preparing for a job demo, our guide to teacher interview questions and answers will help more.

Even the first kind comes in different forms. Pick one on purpose, because each sends a different message to parents.

Most small institutes do best with a seat in a real batch plus a short talk with the parent afterwards. It is honest, it costs you nothing extra, and the parent sees exactly what they will pay for.

Decide your demo class rules before you offer one

Write down a few simple rules first, so every teacher and staff member says the same thing on the phone. Put them in your prospectus or on your notice board.

• How many free classes: one demo class is normal. Two is fine for a long course. More than that and students start using demos as free tuition.
• Which batches allow demos: a batch close to an exam, or a batch that is full, may not be a good place for a visitor.
• Who can attend: the class, board or exam the batch is for. If a student is clearly in the wrong level, say so and suggest the right batch.
• Whether a parent may sit in: for young children it helps; for older students it can make them shy. Many tutors let the parent sit for the first few minutes only.
• What the student must bring: a notebook and pen, and the school textbook if the topic is from it.
• What happens after: a short talk, the fee and refund rules in writing, and one follow-up message.

If your centre is covered by your state's coaching rules, check the age rule too. The Ministry of Education's 2024 guidelines, sent to States and Union Territories to adopt through their own laws, say a coaching centre should not enrol students below 16 years of age, and should enrol only after the secondary school examination. Those guidelines apply to centres that coach more than 50 students. A demo class is the first step towards enrolment, so do not run demos for students you are not allowed to enrol. Our guide to coaching centre guidelines explains the rules in full.

The 2024 guidelines are a model for States. What binds you is your own state's law or rules, where they exist. Read your state's rules before you decide who can attend a demo.

When a parent books: what to ask, and what not to collect

Keep the booking short. You need enough to place the student in the right class and to contact the family. Nothing more.

Do not ask for Aadhaar numbers, marksheets, school fees or family income at this stage. You do not need them for a free class.

India's Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 says consent must be free, specific, informed and limited to the data needed for the purpose. It also says that before you process the personal data of a child, meaning anyone under 18, you must get verifiable consent from a parent or lawful guardian. The Act also bars tracking, behavioural monitoring and targeted advertising directed at children. The DPDP Rules, 2025 were notified on 14 November 2025 with an 18-month phased compliance timeline, so many duties are still coming into force, but the habit is easy to build now: take the booking from the parent, say what you will use the number for, and do not add the number to a promotional broadcast list without asking.

A booking reply you can copy

'Thank you for booking a free demo class for Riya. Batch: Maths evening batch, Tuesday 5:30 to 6:15 pm, at our centre. Please bring a notebook and the school maths textbook. After the class we will talk with you for about ten minutes and give you the fee and refund details in writing. We will use this number only to confirm this class and to talk to you about it. Reply STOP if you do not want any messages from us.'

For more message formats, see our WhatsApp messages for tuition classes.

How to choose the topic for a demo class

The topic decides most of the result. A good demo topic is small enough to finish in one class, important enough that the student will use it again, and hard enough that the student learns something new. Avoid the very first chapter of the book (the student may already know it) and avoid a topic that needs three earlier chapters.

One rule helps more than any other: teach one idea completely rather than three ideas partly. A parent remembers that their child solved a problem alone at the end. They do not remember how much you covered.

A 45-minute demo class plan that works

The plan below follows well-known research on teaching, collected by the education researcher Barak Rosenshine in 'Principles of Instruction'. Among his principles: begin with a short review of earlier learning, present new material in small steps with practice after each step, ask many questions and check the answers of all students, give models and worked examples, guide the practice, and check for understanding. Rosenshine reports that the best success rate during practice seems to be about 80 percent: high enough to show students are learning, and still a challenge. That is a useful aim for a demo: most questions right, but not all of them easy.

If your class is 60 minutes, add the time to practice, not to talking. If it is 30 minutes, cut the review to three minutes and the independent practice to two questions.

Worked example: a maths demo on Heron's formula

1. Goal on the board: 'By the end, you will find the area of any triangle when you know its three sides.'
2. Quick check: 'What is the perimeter of a triangle with sides 5, 6 and 7? What is half of that?' and 'What is the square root of 36?'
3. Small step one: what the semi-perimeter s is, with one example. Ask the student to find s for sides 3, 4 and 5.
4. Small step two: write the formula, area equals the square root of s(s minus a)(s minus b)(s minus c). Work out the 3, 4, 5 triangle fully, thinking aloud at each step. Check it against half of base times height, which the student already knows, so the student sees the formula is true.
5. Guided practice: sides 13, 14 and 15, done together; then sides 7, 8 and 9, where the student leads and you only prompt.
6. Independent practice: three triangles, the last one a word problem about a triangular park.
7. Close: 'Today you learned to find the area from three sides. Homework: one triangle with sides 6, 8 and 10. Check your answer with base times height.'

Notice what the plan does not have: a long speech about your institute, results of past toppers, or a lecture with no questions. Write your own plans in the same shape; our lesson plan format has a blank template.

How to start a demo class in English: a sample opening

Many teachers search for how to start a demo class in English because the first two minutes feel the hardest. Keep it short, warm and about the student. Speak slowly and use simple words; the student may be nervous, and so may the parent.

'Good evening, Riya. I am Mr Arun Mehta, and I teach maths here. Welcome. Today's class is about one thing: finding the area of a triangle when you know only its three sides. By the end of this class, you will solve one on your own. You do not need to know anything new before we start. If something is not clear, stop me and ask; that is how this class works. Let us begin with two quick questions.'

Notice what this opening does. It greets the student by name, gives your name and subject, states one clear goal, lowers the fear, sets one rule about asking questions, and moves straight into work. It does not talk about your degrees or your years of experience. If the parent asks about those later, answer honestly then.

For a seat in a real batch

Introduce the new student to the class in one line: 'This is Riya. She is joining us today to see how we work.' Seat them near the front, next to a friendly student, and ask them an easy question early so they speak once in the first ten minutes.

For an online demo

Start with a quick check: 'Can you hear me clearly? Can you see my screen? Please keep your notebook ready and your camera on if you can.' Share the questions on screen, and ask the student to hold their notebook up to the camera to show each answer. That way you check the work, not just the voice.

The talk with the parent after the demo

The ten minutes after the class matter as much as the class. Many parents decide here. Use this order.

1. What you saw: one thing the student did well and one gap you noticed, with an example from the class. 'She found the semi-perimeter quickly. She is slow with square roots, which costs her time.'
2. What you would do: how your batch would help with that gap, in plain words.
3. The facts in writing: course, batch timing, class days, duration, fee, how fees are paid, the exit and refund rule, and the batch size.
4. An honest expectation: what is realistic, and that joining is no guarantee of marks or selection.
5. The next step: 'Take a day or two to decide. Here is the sheet. Call or message us if you have questions.'

This is not only good manners; it is close to what the 2024 coaching guidelines ask of centres. They say a centre must issue a prospectus with the courses, their duration, number of classes, fees, an easy exit policy and the fee refund rule. They say students should be told about the difficulty of the exam, the syllabus and the effort needed before enrolling, and that students and parents must be told that admission is no guarantee of success. They allow an admission or mock test, after which the centre may share a realistic expectation with the parents. And they say a student who paid in full and leaves midway gets a pro-rata refund for the remaining period within 10 days.

When the family decides to join, use a clear form; our coaching admission form has a format with the fee and consent lines, and our tuition fee receipt format covers the receipt.

Follow-up messages that help, not push

Send two messages at most. A family that does not reply after the second message has given you an answer.

Do not write 'only 2 seats left' or 'offer ends tonight' unless it is exactly true. The Central Consumer Protection Authority's 'Guidelines for Prevention of Misleading Advertisement in Coaching Sector, 2024' target creating a false sense of urgency or scarcity, such as implying limited seats, to pressure students into deciding at once. The same guidelines forbid false claims about courses, duration, faculty qualifications, fees, refund policies, selection rates and guaranteed results, and they treat violations as a breach of the Consumer Protection Act, 2019.

This is enforced. In a release of 15 May 2026, the CCPA said it had issued over 60 notices and imposed penalties of more than ₹1.39 crore on coaching institutes for misleading advertisements and unfair trade practices. Families can complain through the National Consumer Helpline, which takes complaints on the toll-free number 1915 (8 am to 8 pm) and on WhatsApp.

Your demo class and your results: what you may say

Parents often ask about results during a demo. Answer with facts you can show, and keep these rules in mind.

• Do not promise ranks, marks or selection. The 2024 guidelines say a centre should not make misleading promises or guarantee rank or good marks to get students to enrol.
• If you show a past student's name or photo, you need that student's written consent, taken after their success, not at admission. The CCPA guidelines also ask you to state the student's name, rank and course, and whether the student paid for that course.
• Disclaimers must be as easy to read as the claim. The CCPA guidelines ask for the same font size as other important details.
• Use the words 'registered coaching centre' if your state registers you. The 2024 guidelines ask proprietors not to use 'recognised' or 'approved'.
• Describe your rooms, labs and study material as they are. The CCPA guidelines ask coaching centres to represent their infrastructure, resources and facilities accurately.

The safest result to show in a demo is the one the parent just saw: their own child solving a question they could not solve an hour earlier.

Keep a demo register and learn from it

Most institutes run demos for years without knowing which ones work. A simple register, on paper or in a sheet, fixes that. Fill in one line per demo.

Once a month, count three things: bookings, demos actually attended, and admissions. Divide admissions by demos attended. For example, if 20 students attended and 8 joined, 8 divided by 20 gives 40 out of every 100. The exact figure matters less than the change over time, and the reasons in the last column. If many say 'timing', you may need another batch. If many do not turn up at all, send a reminder on the morning of the class. If one teacher's demos lead to far fewer admissions than another's, sit in on a demo and compare plans.

Common demo class mistakes and how to avoid them

When a free demo class is not right for you

Free demos are common, but they are not always the best choice. Think again if any of these is true for you.

• Your batches are full most of the year. A demo then only creates a waiting list. A short recorded lesson may be enough.
• Many people book and few turn up. Ask for a confirmation the day before, or move to demos inside real batches, which cost you nothing extra.
• Students take a demo in every centre nearby just to collect free classes. Keep it to one demo per student and a fixed topic per batch.
• You teach one-to-one at the student's home and travel takes most of your time. A short online demo, or a first class charged at a fair fee and adjusted against the first month if they join, may be fairer to you. Say this clearly before the class.
• The student is not eligible under your state's rules, for example on age. Then a demo only raises false hopes.

Running demo classes on Sikhami

Sikhami is a social network for learning of every kind in India. On it, coaching institutes and tuition centres get a free LMS: video courses with tests and certificates, classroom batches, attendance, fees and receipts.

When you list a face-to-face course, the course details include a Free demo class option, which tells students they can attend one class free before they join, and a field for a demo video link. Students find the course under the Face to face tab, see the class days and times, seats left, the venue with directions and the free demo class, and apply. You confirm or reject each application, and students pay you directly for classroom courses. The Help Centre article on classroom courses shows each step, and the page for institutes explains the rest.

After a student joins, you can add them to a batch, mark attendance and keep the fee book in the same place, so the demo register above becomes part of your normal records.