It depends on the audience. A customer demo is different than an internal demo, and I assume you are referring to an internal demo.
You must demo the product in a form that leaves the right impression of the current state. If you are painting a picture of a polished product, expect polished expectations. Instead, show the bugs and say "we are still working through this section" Show missing pages, show your work in progress. Show wrong colors. Show potential, wave your hands and tell them to imagine this part working. Don't fake it. If that feels wrong, then a demo isn't right.
If you show it in a form that looks complete and polished, even if you say it is not, how can you expect any other conclusion from the viewer other than "it's practically ready!"?
Great point with the visual appearance: show what you currently have, just include ugly.css. People are wired to understand Comic Sans and hot pink on green intuitively.
I can only agree with that. It is kinda just being honest. I don't know from where come this idea to showcase our work better than it actually is. Is it our own ego, showcasing unfinished/buggy work making us question our competency? Is it the fear of getting negative feedback because it is buggy and unfinished? Is it deeper issue, society making us believe, that what counts is superficial (apparence) way more than it should?
You must demo the product in a form that leaves the right impression of the current state. If you are painting a picture of a polished product, expect polished expectations. Instead, show the bugs and say "we are still working through this section" Show missing pages, show your work in progress. Show wrong colors. Show potential, wave your hands and tell them to imagine this part working. Don't fake it. If that feels wrong, then a demo isn't right.
If you show it in a form that looks complete and polished, even if you say it is not, how can you expect any other conclusion from the viewer other than "it's practically ready!"?