With a background that spans comedy, code, and literature, Ben Sauer has carved out a unique space as a speaker, author, and product/design leader. He’s helped global brands communicate more clearly and design more thoughtfully — often at the intersection of tech and humanity.

Can you share a bit about your background?

Speaker, Author, Coach, Product and Design Leader: teaching people the art of strategic storytelling

Ben Sauer isn’t one to be pigeonholed into STEM or the humanities. As a teen you might have found him performing comedy, hacking away at software, or studying for his English literature degree. Discovering that he wrote terrible code (but passable iambic pentameter), he turned to designing how humans interact with machines.

While working at the award-winning design agency Clearleft, Ben earned Apple’s App of the Year, shaped a groundbreaking science journal, and even redesigned a social network or two. As voice AIs like Alexa emerged, he became fascinated by the future of human-computer interaction beyond the screen.

Hired by O’Reilly, he trained people all over the world in designing conversations with machines over chat and voice, including at NASA. His workshops consistently earned 10/10 ratings. Ben’s communication design frameworks have been adopted by Amazon, Google, and the BBC. In the healthcare sector, he led the creation of $100m AI products for patients.

From Helsinki to Tokyo, he is now a seasoned global keynote speaker, having spoken at events like NEXT, and for brands including the Financial Times, VW/Audi, and Penguin Random House.

Drawing on his public-speaking experience, Ben wrote *Death By Screens*, a guide that helps creatives tell strategic stories about their work. He frequently sells out of books at conferences—often emerging as the day’s top-rated speaker. Most recently, he’s been speaking about a future where communication is mediated by AI, and what that means for mere mortals.

Did you come up through a “traditional” techie route or has your career taken twists and turns along the way?

See above – very much an accidental combination of humanities/engineering.

Reflecting on your career, is there a specific moment that stands out as pivotal or defining?

Yes. Designing the information architecture for Brighton and Hove’s council website, which improved how quickly people found the information by around 1min per visit.

Rough calculation: population of c. 200K * 1 visit per year * 12 years * 1min = 4.5 years of time.

I get a secret kick walking around the city knowing I helped to save everyone an almost unnoticeable bit of time.

What piece of advice would you give your younger self as you embarked on your professional journey?

Be more intentional about your personal brand. Pre-social media it mattered, but not as much as now.

Looking ahead, what’s your big prediction for the tech landscape in 2025?

We’ve been FAFOing with the rise of LLM-based AI. This year is FO phase: what happens to the internet when it’s filled with AI slop; what happens when people use ChatGPT instead of search; what happens when the inflated stock prices catchup with the AI companies. Plus a small number of use-cases will filter out in the wash and actually work without human oversight.

Considering your involvement in Silicon Brighton and community-building, what does the concept of ‘community’ mean to you personally? How important is it in the tech industry?

Everything we do is based on artefacts we share with others, on a scale quite unlike any other industry before it. It’s the heart of what we do.

How do you balance staying updated with the latest industry trends while ensuring continuous personal and professional growth? Any specific resources or practices you find particularly valuable?

Once you’ve been through this change cycle a few times you know roughly what to expect. Just always be prepared for change.

As someone who has contributed significantly to the community, how do you see mentorship playing a role in the development of the next generation of tech professionals?

I think there’s a growing appreciation for how important it is, e.g. the rise of coaching and mentoring.

Anything else you would like to promote to our community?

My strategic storytelling workshop on Friday the 2nd May: https://bensauer.net/workshop/

Is there any additional wisdom, experience, or anecdotes you’d like to share with our audience?

There’s no limit to the upside of being a better communicator.