Getting ready before you hit record
Hit record first and figure out the rest as it happens, and a demo clip usually ends up getting shot twice: a notification pops up mid-take, or the next click isn't obvious. Settling a few things beforehand usually gets it done in one pass.
Decide what it needs to show
Before the screen even comes on, settle in one line what this clip is actually showing. A single new button looks different from a full walkthrough start to finish, and that decision sets how much gets recorded. Which screen, window, or tab to share, and how to actually start and stop recording, is covered in the video dress-up guide. Here, it's just about deciding what belongs in frame.
Turn off notifications first
A message or email popping up mid-recording means reshooting that part. Anything that usually pings (Slack, email, whatever normally runs in the background) is worth muting or setting to do-not-disturb before recording starts. Closing other windows on the desktop helps too, so nothing gets in the way when picking which screen, window, or tab to share.
Match the window size and zoom level
A demo clip almost always plays back smaller than the screen it was recorded at, so text at its normal size looks smaller still once it's in the finished video. Bumping the browser zoom up a notch or two before recording keeps it readable in the final clip. Window size matters too: set it to roughly the size of whatever's being shown. Left too wide, everything worth seeing ends up crowded into one corner.
Walk through it once by hand
Deciding the sequence in advance, what to click and where to go next, means not fumbling for it mid-recording. Walking through it once with the mouse before recording means the actual take is just repeating the same motions. It's also the moment to settle on rough timing: knowing about how long a step takes makes it obvious where to pause once recording is underway.
With that settled, the recording itself is covered in the video dress-up guide.