Blog Posts About: tips

10 Steps to a Truly Horrible Explanation

Step 1.  Forget about your audience’s needs. Their needs don’t matter. Your job isn’t to help them, it’s to make yourself look smart.  This is all about you. 

Step 2. Make tons of assumptions. Assume everyone in the room knows exactly what you know or more. Find ways to save time by skipping the big picture and context. Head straight for the details.
 
Step 3. Use lots of jargon and unfamiliar words. Since everyone in the room knows what you know, you can feel free to be loquacious in your articulations and not be concerned with eschewing obfuscation.
 
Step 4. Speak directly to the experts. Remember that the only way to look good is to impress the experts in the room. If other people can’t keep up, it’s probably because they’re not very bright.
 
Step 5.  Focus on one question: “how?” No one cares about why an idea makes sense or why they should care - they only want to know how it works. Be as detailed as possible.
 
Step 6. Don’t use analogies or metaphors. These are shortcuts for dolts that only serve to remove technical accuracy.  You’re better than that. Get real!
 
Step 7. Skip the stories.  Are you sitting around a campfire?  Are people holding hands? If not, then you can forget about story time. No one wants to hear about some fictional character who solves a problem. You might as well do interpretive dance.
 
Step 8. Bullet points, lots of bullet points. Your slides don’t matter. If the audience needs a visual aid they can close their eyes and dream of rainbows and unicorns. Your words are what matters, so use a lot of them.  Extra points for big ones (see step 3).
 
Step 9. Never draw anything ever. Cartoons are for kids. You’re an expert not a preschool teacher. 
 
Step 10. Focus on speed. You have a lot to say and you’ll never get it all in unless you go very quickly. Talk fast, move fast, be efficient.  If they can’t keep up, that’s their problem.
 

NOTE: If you're interested in learning in-depth about the skill of explanation and how to make Common Craft Style videos, check out our online courses at the Explainer Academy.

Instagram's Real Problem? Lack of Explanation

It’s not been a good week for Kevin Systrom and the Instagram team.  They recently updated their policies and caused the Internet to collectively freak out. Here are a couple of headlines:

Yikes.  But wait.  What if this is all a misunderstanding? For now, let’s give Instagram the benefit of the doubt and ignore the possibility that they’re willingly throwing users under the bus. Nilay Patel at The Verge has an informed and reasonable take on the whole thing. The bottom line: this is, in part, a result of poor communication.
 
But for Instagram, a lot of damage has been done. Perception is reality and CEO Kevin Systrom tried to stop the bleeding with a blog post clarifying the issue. 

Here’s my question -  What could have been done differently?  I have some ideas.

What if the new policies came with a blog post or website EXPLAINING the changes?  Instead of relying on legal language and assuming everyone would get it - what if they were proactive instead of reactive?
 
Here’s how that could have looked:
 
1.  State the Intent - Question to answer: Why should I read this?
 
Our policies are changing and we want to make sure they’re understandable for everyone.  These changes focus on a few big things...
 
2.  Come to agreement about a problem - Question: Why is this happening?
 
Instagram is a free service for users like you. Unfortunately the service is not free to operate. To make sure Instagram remains free and successful, we must find ways to make money and advertising is how we plan to do that...
 
3. Build Context - Question: What’s the big picture?
 
Up to this point, our policies have been X, Y and Z. We use the policies because...  These policies protect you in these ways... Here’s why some of those policies need to change...
 
4.  State the Changes -  Question: What’s really happening?
 
Below I’ve listed a few sentences from the policies followed by a plain English version that’s easier to understand.
 
5.  Tell a Story - Question: How does this apply to my life?
 
Sally is a lot like you. She’s worried about Instragram selling her photos and using them in advertising. After learning more, she now sees the policies from a different perspective.  When she posts a photo of her dog on Instagram, that photo can... But Instagram cannot... Sally is also worried about... The new policies say...  Sally now feels better.
 
6. Make a Connection - Question: Is this like something I already understand?
 
The chances are, you’ve seen the ads that appear on Google when you search for something, right?  What about “sponsored posts” on Facebook?   These are similar to Instagram because... Instagram’s version is different because... 
 
7. Use a visual or video - Question: Can I learn this another way?
 
Provide a hand-drawn sketch, a quick video or an infographic.  Make it sharable. 
 
8. Summary - Call to Action - Question: What’s next?
 
As you can see, the changes are... These policies will go into place on X. We want your feedback, send it here...  If you would like to stop using our service, you can do that by...
 
Unfortunately, this didn’t happen. Instagram just put up a bunch of policies with no explanation and had to deal with the consequences.  It could have been averted through a simple act of explanation.  

The lesson here is proactive communication. 

People need explanations more than you think. If you have an important change you need to communicate, remember that explanation is a kind of media, something you can create that’s different from bullet points and legalese. Provide people with a resource that gives them a way to feel confident that they see the “why?” and can react with grounded, accurate information.

Lee LeFever is the founder of Common Craft and author of The Art of Explanation - Making Your Ideas, Products and Services Easier to Understand. Follow his photos on Instagram and Flickr. 

Introducing: Explain That Sh*t - Sharable Tips from The Art of Explanation

Today we're announcing a new Common Craft website that is focused on one thing: sharing short, snarky and useful explanation tips. The site exists in two forms:

Along with providing a way to learn about explanation, the sites are meant for sharing explanation tips.  You can click the Twitter icon on any tip and the site will copy that tip into a tweet for you.

Here's the site on computers and phones:

Explain That Shit Common Craft

Backstory:

A few months back, friends and fellow authors Darren Barefoot and Julie Szabo of Capulet shared the idea with us on a call. Darren pointed us to a couple of examples like whatthef*ckshouldimakefordinner.com and whatthef*ckhasobamadonesofar.com.  Indeed, profanity is a big part of this genre and something that makes the sites fun and provocative. We loved the idea and within minutes, I reserved explainthatshit.com.

Since then, a lot of work went into getting the sites hosted, designed, built and optimized. This involved the help of Boris Mann, who set us up on GitHub, Jay and Anastasia at Juxtaprose who designed it and Travis and TeeJay and Hop Studios who got the site up and ready for small screens.  We're so psyched to see how the sites turned out.

Share an explanation tip with your followers:

10 Lessons from My Speaking Coach

I thought I was a decent speaker, really, I did. That was until I spent 4 hours with a speaking coach who essentially made me realize all things that should work together to make a speaker and presentation great. This is me last week at WebVisions:

The Intro

I have a long way to go, and it's hard work, but I consider my time with a coach well-spent. I've called that time "boot camp" because I felt like I my speaking was broken down and rebuilt. Here are some of the major points that came up for me:

Presentation Content:

  1. You have 2-3 minutes to hook the audience. Thank them for coming, tell them your name and give them the one big reason why they should continue to listen to you. Show them that you will help solve a problem or fill a knowledge gap. Use an analogy or story. Get their attention early with something tasty. Keep it short.
  2. Outline your talk. Creating an outline will give your talk structure and coherence. Consider the overall theme or message of your talk - it's likely your hook. Everything must relate back to the theme. Outline each slide and each point you will make for each slide. Once you have it written out, go through it and ask yourself if the slides and points support the theme. If it doesn't, scratch it. Focus, focus, focus.
  3. Remember Door Points. Think of the audience leaving the room after the talk is done. What are the major points that you want them to think about as they walk out? These are your door points. Give them a simple way to remember these points.
  4. Use photos or graphics. No one wants to see another bullet point. Rely on your words to relate the information and let the presentation support your words. Never, never, never read from your slides.

Presentation Style:

  1. Control your movement while on stage. Your legs are roots and your arms are willow branches. Stay in one place for a while and then take a few steps to make a point. Don't dance around in a "box-step" motion like I was doing. Stay still.
  2. Keep your hands at chest level. Make points with your hands and don't stick them in your pockets or cross them in front of you.
  3. Make eye contact with the audience. Audience relations is very important and often overlooked. To really connect to an audience, you have to look into the crowd and talk to individuals. Divide the crowd into quadrants and speak to a person in each quadrant.
  4. Don't look down at the floor. Keep your head up and focused on the audience. Looking down makes a poor impression.
  5. Project your voice. Use more volume than you think is necessary. Get used to being loud when you practice.
  6. Slow down. Speak clearly and slowly. It will feel strange - like you're talking to someone who doesn't speak your language - but it works. Use pauses to emphasize your points. Take breaks to drink water or take a deep breath.

If you're looking for help with making a presentation more clear and understandable, check out our online courses at the Explainer Academy. 

As a part of my training, I've also been keeping an eye out for speaking tips. Here are a few informative posts (thanks to Nick for the pointers from this post ).