Design, in nature, tends to be a social endeavor that relies on your ability to sell, persuade, and rally the troops around an approach to problem solving. Being able to share what you’re working on, present design concepts, articulate a rationale for the design decisions you’ve made, and solicit feedback and approvals from your peers and leads are all fundamental to moving work forward. From art direction and advertising to user experience and user interface design, your work is only as good as your ability to convincingly share it with others. Let’s look at some of the crucial considerations in making presenting your work a success.

Ask yourself why

There are many reasons you might be called upon or need to present your work, and being clear on exactly why you are doing it will help you to achieve your goals.

Know what you need at the end of the presentation — feedback, an approval, buy-in, and alignment. Ask yourself, “Why am I presenting this work?” Do you need to get feedback from a peer or team member? Do you simply want fresh eyes from someone who is not directly involved in the project? Do you need approval from a key stakeholder in order to continue? Is this about informing a team and bringing them along the journey to increase chances of implementation and buy-in to the work?

Clearly state the objective upfront and let people know what’s expected of them. Being crystal-clear on the objective of presenting the work will help you and your audience. It will also allow you to frame the presentation, and let everyone know upfront what is expected of them. It can also help you set the tone for what is on and off the table in terms of commentary.

For example, “I’m so glad you could all join me today. The purpose of this session is to share the current evolution of the app refresh with you, so that you are all up to speed. While we won’t be making any significant changes after this session, please feel free to ask any clarifying questions that might come up during the presentation about the direction we are taking.”

Know your audience

Pairing a clear objective with a strong understanding of your audience will set you up for success when sharing work.

To whom are you presenting? Is it your team and peers, your lead or manager, executives, the development team, or perhaps your client? Tailor your presentation style and focus to your audience. Put yourself in their shoes for a moment. What do they care about? What do they need to know? What type of feedback or questions have you gotten from them in the past (maybe you’ve done a design spectrum exercise?) Putting yourself in the shoes of the people you are presenting to will help you make the presentation relevant to them.

Consider the context they might need — it will be different depending on how close to the project they have been. The level setting and upfront framing that you do sets the stage for people to absorb the work you are sharing. One crucial piece of context setting that always needs to be included is the goal of the design work you are sharing. For example, “Today we are going to look at the checkout flow, which is being redesigned in order to reduce cart abandons.”

The medium is the message

Thinking strategically about the format you will use to share your work will shape the message as well as let you spend effort in the right place.

Consider ways to show, not tell, when sharing work — for example, using an interactive prototype to demo, or showing screens in context of use, such as putting ticket purchasing flow into a photo of a transit kiosk. Screenshots or print-outs can work well for getting feedback from your team on work in progress, or even showing the working files in prototyping tools. You still need to clearly present the objective of the work, any rationale for design decisions, and articulate the type of input that will be most useful at this point.

For more formal presentations, presentation decks remain a popular format. Make sure to spend time structuring and polishing the narrative and flow of the presentation deck. If your work forms as part of an executive update, work with the other presenters to make sure your content comes at a logical point in the flow, and that you have the appropriate set-up. Prepare yourself for a presentation by thinking through the key messages and structure of your presentation. If you are using slides, print them out with the notes function and jot down the key bullet points or messages per slide. Once you have an outline, it’s time to stand up and practice the presentation out loud.

Practice makes perfect

The only way to get better is to practice presenting and sharing until it becomes second nature.

Make sharing work with team members and leads a habit. Build this into your daily practice in informal ways, which will allow you to get comfortable sharing work and explaining your rationale for design choices.

It’s important to simulate the presentation environment as much as possible when practicing for more formal presentations. Will you be on your feet? Will you be using a clicker to advance slides? Then practice exactly like that. Getting used to all of the components will help build confidence. Practicing also allows you to get feedback. Ask a supportive colleague or manager if they are willing to watch you rehearse, and then invite their feedback on your presentation content and style.

For higher-stakes presentations, a dress rehearsal is a must. Set up a lunch time rehearsal and invite colleagues to attend. Dress rehearsals allow you to simulate the presentation environment in detail and thus feel more confident on the day of the actual delivery.

Getting comfortable with questions (or critique)

Part of leveling-up your presentation skills is getting comfortable with handling questions or push-back on the work you share.

It’s important not to treat every question like a change request. It’s natural to feel nervous when sharing work and to jump to the conclusion that a question or critique requires immediate commitment to a change. Part of your role as the designer is remaining in control of design decisions while being open to clarifying or explaining work further and considering feedback. Welcome questions openly, and spend time probing to understand what’s really behind the ask. It’s also okay to say, “I’ll take that away” and not commit to changes in the room.

Being comfortable pushing back on critique or further explaining design decisions is the mark of a more seasoned designer. Using data from research with users and analytics to back-up design decisions shows a maturity in your design work. Continuously connecting back to the design objectives and business objectives shifts the conversation away from personal preference and subjectivity, and towards a common, shared business goal.

Onward and upward

Leveling up how you present your work takes time and practice, but it is entirely possible.

Whether you practice at home alone in front of your cat or at lunchtime with a large group of colleagues watching (or something in between), do it, and do it often. If each time you present work you make sure you know your objectives, audience, have thought strategically about the format, have practiced, and are ready to articulate rationale for design choices, then you’re on your way.