Understanding this one thing got me hired (and then promoted) @ Amazon

Hey there! I’m Raika, a Senior UX and Conversation Designer at Amazon. If you’re new here, welcome! You can subscribe to my Secrets to Great UX Design newsletter for weekly insights. I share actionable ways to create great experiences, grow your career and more… for designers and non-designers.

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If there’s one thing that can demonstrate a designer's mastery, it’s their presentation skills.

Their ability to deliver informative, engaging, and compelling presentations.

You can design the best experience but if you can’t get stakeholders to say yes to it, then… ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

A great presentation is three things: easy to follow, easy to understand, and captivating.

I learned this the hard way. It was my first presentation at a company I had recently joined where I was the only UX designer. Once my designs had been vetted by engineering, I sent out an invite to my stakeholders for their approval and put together a powerpoint deck — the deck included current metrics, a competitive analysis, my proposed design treatments, etc.

I was prepared and excited to share my thoughtful solution.

But, I didn’t make it past the title slide.

The title slide (!!!).

As I kicked off the meeting one of our executives interrupted to ask “Why aren’t we just doing what Netflix does?”

They picked a company that was in a completely different, unrelated industry. I was so thrown. And just like that, I was trying to recover my meeting.

Mistake #1

I didn’t set proper expectations leading up to the meeting. An agenda in the meeting invite isn’t enough. A successful presentation is a result of bringing your stakeholders alongside the design process. Starting with a kickoff meeting to align objectives and expectations.

Mistake #2:

My title slide was boring and generic. That was the first impression when people walked into the conference room. I missed my opportunity to pique their interest and capture their attention. Think outside the box here, it could be a surprising fact, a thought-provoking quote, or a joke… make your meetings fun and bring some levity into their day. Fill the room with good energy.

Mistake #3:

I presented finished designs. And leadership didn’t want to see finished work or be asked to give approval in front of a big group. So I pivoted to smaller reviews in their office with essential team members to create the right environment and work in a more collaborative way.

Here’s what I do now:

1. Set expectations early. Leading up to the meeting I establish clear expectations and review them at the beginning to ensure alignment and productivity.

2. Have a clear agenda with a clear ask. Am I looking for specific feedback or a decision? Or am I sharing for visibility?

3. Grab their attention from the start. And get to the meat of the presentations as quickly as possible. We live in a world of multi-tasking and distraction so you need a good hook starting with the title slide and to keep their attention throughout the presentation. The first 5 minutes are crucial.

4. Proper framing. I concisely frame the topic in terms of my audience's needs, then tell them how, together, we’re going to solve that problem.

5. Know the audience. I try to anticipate their concerns and questions to address those as early as possible. Most CEOs don’t care about every design detail as I do, so I cater the message to give them the info they need… and then add some design details here and there to demonstrate expertise.

6. Make it conversational. The best meetings are not monologues. I make space for feedback and I ask pointed questions to facilitate input. Managing time can be a challenge here but sometimes design reviews spark necessary discussions that may require you to adapt.

7. Drive the key points home. Repetition is important. I tell the audience what I’m going to say, say it; then tell them what I said.

8. Structure presentations like a story. We’re wired for stories so I make it personal by using personas and tasks (i.e. Sam is shopping for a gift for her boyfriend’s birthday). I try to never state the obvious, but tell a story instead.

9. Have a parking lot for follow-ups. A parking lot helps me handle questions I don’t readily have answers to or are out-of-scope questions/comments. I write the question on a sticky note and post it on the wall. This helps people feel heard and keeps us on track. (It also can give you a reason to follow up and maintain communication.)

10. Practice and get feedback. I used to hate rehearsing but I found the more I practiced the easier it became to commit my talking points to memory. This freed me up to think about my gestures and the pace of my delivery, which was when I started to enjoy presenting. And for really big presentations I love to visualize myself in the conference room and play out different scenarios - they hate it, they love it, etc.

What would you add to the list? I’d love to hear from you! 😊

Last thing I’ll say, researching and observing presentations that went well gave me good insights into what can work. But it was through trial and error that I got better and learned my style.

For Amazon, I spent at least 40 hours preparing for my portfolio review. Crafting a story that demonstrated the skills that made me a good addition to the team.

I showed work that was relevant to the problems and challenges Amazon was dealing with. I focused more on my process than the final product. Which meant I showed the messy parts, no project goes as planned. I was vocally self-critical, sharing what I learned and what I’d do differently. I clearly communicated what my contribution was. And I shared about myself and tried to show my personality throughout my presentation. In other words, I had fun with it.

Mastering presentation skills requires practice. Ask for feedback. Put yourself out there. Tell them you’re nervous! Comfort will come the more you present.

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Favorite Quote and Photo(s) of the week

“Balance isn’t always a good thing. Or all the world would be gray, lukewarm and taste like oatmeal.” ― Raymond St. Elmo

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Until next week,
raika