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Death by Screens: how to present high-stakes digital-design work and live to tell the tale
Presenting your design work? Stop boring stakeholders with screen after screen after screen… tell them a story instead!The hardest thing to explain about a design, is the elusive ‘why?’ Why is it like that? It’s tough to communicate your design decisions, especially when everyone has an opinion about design.
The remedy to this problem isn't what you say about the design, it's the story you tell about it. It’s more important than the design itself. Death by Screens makes it simple to craft a story about your design with an easy-to-follow process and a template presentation structure. You don’t need to be a rockstar presenter, you just need to get your story straight.
You already know how to design a great looking presentation - Death by Screens covers the not-so-obvious what to say, what to show, in what order, and how to talk about it with confidence.
If you’re in a hurry to present, you can use the suggested presentation structure right away, with a handy checklist at the back of the book for quick reference.
In the first half of the book you’ll learn things
The right preparation saves time and pain later on. Set up for success by mapping the concerns of your stakeholders, sending them an invitation email that manages their expectations, and booking the right room at the right time of day.Start with work on slides later. Map the structure of your presentation horizontally to see the ups and downs of the story you’re going to tell to avoid lengthy boring sections.The use a surprising quote, quiz, or story to engage your audience. Use one of the suggested methods in the book to get your audience listening right away, and receptive to what you have to say later.The show your hero using the design. Don’t just show the design, tell the story of someone using it - what they’re thinking and doing, and how the design helps them reach their goals.
The final chapters of the book cover the emotionally-charged your speaking style, discussing feedback, and performance anxiety.
Self-assess the speed, volume, and expression. Learn rehearsal methods that you use to improve your speaking style on your own. The 6Ds of design discussion It’s hard to think of the right answer to a tricky comment in the use this framework to respond with satisfying answers. reframe your anxious thoughts. Deal with anxiety using easy-to-learn CBT methods (Cognitive Behavioural Therapy) and turn your negative feelings into positives.
Why this author can help youBen Sauer is a product and design leader, author and keynote speaker. He’s presented to clients and conferences around the world, and trained hundreds of designers, including at NASA, Amazon and the BBC.
His experience as a public speaker at dozens of conferences and presenting design work to stakeholders, means he’s worked out the best ways to communicate design through trial and error. He’s a seasoned leader of large design teams, helping designers to become better communicators.
He worked at the ground-breaking UX agency Clearleft, and has spoken at events and organisations around the world like The Economist, NEXT Conference, VW/Audi, and UX London.
The remedy to this problem isn't what you say about the design, it's the story you tell about it. It’s more important than the design itself. Death by Screens makes it simple to craft a story about your design with an easy-to-follow process and a template presentation structure. You don’t need to be a rockstar presenter, you just need to get your story straight.
You already know how to design a great looking presentation - Death by Screens covers the not-so-obvious what to say, what to show, in what order, and how to talk about it with confidence.
If you’re in a hurry to present, you can use the suggested presentation structure right away, with a handy checklist at the back of the book for quick reference.
In the first half of the book you’ll learn things
The right preparation saves time and pain later on. Set up for success by mapping the concerns of your stakeholders, sending them an invitation email that manages their expectations, and booking the right room at the right time of day.Start with work on slides later. Map the structure of your presentation horizontally to see the ups and downs of the story you’re going to tell to avoid lengthy boring sections.The use a surprising quote, quiz, or story to engage your audience. Use one of the suggested methods in the book to get your audience listening right away, and receptive to what you have to say later.The show your hero using the design. Don’t just show the design, tell the story of someone using it - what they’re thinking and doing, and how the design helps them reach their goals.
The final chapters of the book cover the emotionally-charged your speaking style, discussing feedback, and performance anxiety.
Self-assess the speed, volume, and expression. Learn rehearsal methods that you use to improve your speaking style on your own. The 6Ds of design discussion It’s hard to think of the right answer to a tricky comment in the use this framework to respond with satisfying answers. reframe your anxious thoughts. Deal with anxiety using easy-to-learn CBT methods (Cognitive Behavioural Therapy) and turn your negative feelings into positives.
Why this author can help youBen Sauer is a product and design leader, author and keynote speaker. He’s presented to clients and conferences around the world, and trained hundreds of designers, including at NASA, Amazon and the BBC.
His experience as a public speaker at dozens of conferences and presenting design work to stakeholders, means he’s worked out the best ways to communicate design through trial and error. He’s a seasoned leader of large design teams, helping designers to become better communicators.
He worked at the ground-breaking UX agency Clearleft, and has spoken at events and organisations around the world like The Economist, NEXT Conference, VW/Audi, and UX London.
178 pages, Kindle Edition
Published June 4, 2023
23 people are currently reading
74 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
January 18, 2025
I attended Ben Sauer’s talk at the DesignUp Conference 2024, and it was brilliant & compelling and it made me immediately rush in line to get my signed copy of the book.
I’m so glad because I’ve read this cover to cover and already used this as a reference to plan out some of my presentations. Its USP is that it is straight-up, brilliantly actionable. This was a captivating read with clearly illustrated sections that come together glued with amazing anecdotes. The concepts are explained so patiently and without any fluff. At the same time, the book is really comprehensive with so many graphs, and tables that keep the content interesting throughout. It sets the standard for stakeholder design presentations, which might seem like an unattainable ideal (at least for me) with real-world constraints & situations, but that’s what makes it really adaptable to your presentation & preparation style. I’ve amalgamated it in a few different ways to use the tools & resources most amenable to me in different scenarios.
It’s overall a super helpful guide (which is also insanely readable) to acing meetings and presentations especially when presenting design work.
I’m so glad because I’ve read this cover to cover and already used this as a reference to plan out some of my presentations. Its USP is that it is straight-up, brilliantly actionable. This was a captivating read with clearly illustrated sections that come together glued with amazing anecdotes. The concepts are explained so patiently and without any fluff. At the same time, the book is really comprehensive with so many graphs, and tables that keep the content interesting throughout. It sets the standard for stakeholder design presentations, which might seem like an unattainable ideal (at least for me) with real-world constraints & situations, but that’s what makes it really adaptable to your presentation & preparation style. I’ve amalgamated it in a few different ways to use the tools & resources most amenable to me in different scenarios.
It’s overall a super helpful guide (which is also insanely readable) to acing meetings and presentations especially when presenting design work.
December 14, 2025
Quick and easy read with a main focus on presenting design/research work in a business context. Some techniques for general public speaking too, but definitely not the core of this book. A very quick read, so you probably want to check out further reading if this one gives you some good tips but not enough depth.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews