I just finished Presenting Design Work by Donna Spencer. Its a small book, but pretty good. I don’t get to do a lot of design work these days, but thought it would be a fun and easy read.
A couple of points I walked away with:
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Plan for your audience and give them a “job” to look for. Give them specific things or areas to look at. Never ask your audience what they “like” or their opinion because those are subjective.
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Never present your progress or thought process. Your audience doesn’t care. Give them the final result and let them give feedback on that.
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When you present, don’t walk through and describe features. Your audience can do that on their own time. Instead, tell an engaging narrative from the user’s perspective.
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Set up clear expectations and a channel to receive and work through feedback. Teach your client or team how to give relevant and useful feedback and communicate decisions back to them so they are on the same page before you iterate.