Common Craft Blog
Explainer Tip: Make People Care
By leelefever on June 26, 2009 - 10:05am
The following post is a part of a series called "Explainer Tips" where we share lessons we've learned in crafting explanations.
Looking back on my education, one thing becomes clear: I was a not a good math student. What I've learned since then, is that I had the potential to enjoy math, but there was a mismatch between the way I needed to learn and the way I was taught. I wrote about this previously in a post called "Talkin Bout My Education." Math turned me off because it seemed like memorization and formulas with no context. I had a hard time seeing the big picture. Had someone been able to help me care about math, to see why it mattered, I might not have recurring math-related dreams to this day.
This brings us to one of the big things we've learned: Explanations should make the audience care. Without this focus, an explanation is more likely to fall on deaf or daydreaming ears. In my case, math classes seem to drone on and on because I never fully understood why it mattered.
When it comes to your explanations, remember to spend time on building context. Early on, give the audience a way to see why their time is well-spent listening to your points. If you go too quickly to the how-tos and click-heres, you're likely to lose some people.
Of course, we're believers that brevity is important as well. There's a balance - you may not be able to get into as many details if you focus on context. From our perspective - context wins. Here's why: making people care is the hard part. Time spent on making people care creates motivation that can last long after the explanation is over. Once someone believes that the subject matters to them, they're more likely to listen to the explanation and go looking for details. And that's what making people care is all about - helping people develop a new interest.
So, how do you make someone care? Future posts in this series will help to answer this question - it's one of the biggest. For now, I'll start with this tip:
Make a connection to a real world problem. For example, to explain a new mobile phone service, don't start with features or shortcuts. Instead, tell a story about a real world problem that everyday people experience. For example, you could start with "If you take the bus, you know how frustrating it can be. You never know when it will arrive." These words say nothing about a mobile phone, features or brands. Your introduction is focused on the context and the problem. By making statements that reflect real-world problems, the audience can quickly say "I know that feeling!" Helping them with this realization is the goal.
This way, your explanation has a hook - something that grabs the attention of the audience and helps them feel that the explanation could be worth their time. And ultimately, that's the value proposition - spend time with this explanation and you'll learn about something that applies to your life.
Other Explainer Tips:
Remember the Curse of Knowledge
Great advice
Thanks for the tip, Lee. It's something I try to adhere to with my videos over at nutintuit.com.
Explainer Tip: Make People Care
This is a brilliant - and much needed - explanation indeed!
I had a similar 'need-to-know-why' before learning anything new. W/o purpose or context learning seems pointless and uninteresting.
Thanks for this.
Will look fwd to and track future posts...
developing senior services in Costa Rica
I am very interested in producing a common craft style piece on my site theme... Out Elderly, Ourselves.. my focus in repurposing developments in Costa Rica so they are able to provide a variety of appealing services for seniors.
I want to learn more on how I can do this.
thanks,
David Culver
www.puravidainfo.com/revital
How right you are
Oh Lee, you are so unbelievably right! Without a purpose for learning something it just drifts over your head or, in the case of most of our youngsters, drifts "into" their heads and straight out via the pen or tongue! I could never get how other kids would get such high marks and yet be unable to really apply what we were studying, in fact particularly in math. The difference was, I was asking "Why?"
Thanks for the above! Keep on 'splainin!
sustainable food production
lee
you've created great excitement for me. i will apply this idea to sustainable food supply. anyone else doing this you're aware of?
i totally connect with your learning experience and agree. further simplifying my explanations ON PAPER will greatly enhance my communication.
js
Looking forward to the next
Looking forward to the next post.
You are heaven-sent
At the risk of sounding melodramatic, here goes anyway:
You have just been singularly responsible for blasting me out of this long-standing limbo I've been stuck in. I've been agonizing for months about how to grab the general public's attention regarding the nationally corrupt Child Procurement Services laughably called "Child 'Protective' Services" (CPS) by the goons who run it.
I was stuck because I feared that since not everyone in the U.S. is a parent, adult sibling, aunt, grandma, et al., of a minor child, not everybody would care that minor children were being dragged from their families without just cause. Therefore, I feared I would not touch many people in my efforts to expose the truth about the illegal activities of CPS.
But taking your advice to heart, and thinking hard about real-life context, it occurred to me that while everybody doesn't care about kids and family, almost everybody is a tax-payer and cares about their money. Therefore, I shall now be able to relay in my website and in my public talks at least TWO reasons "why it matters" that all citizens stand up to their government to get these life-destroying, family-destroying, money-sucking CPS vermin off state and federal payrolls.
Thank you, thank you. You have made a friend for life.
Cheryl Moyer
Missouri
CPS goons - yes they are!
Hi Cheryl,
I unfortunately know too much about what you're saying. It is disgusting what is happening out there to kids and families with CPS ripping them apart.
It hasn't happened to me personally (thank goodness for that!) but I would be very interested in seeing a website when you get it up. I've been fighting for 20 years to help protect kids and parents rights to not drug their kids with psychotropic drugs if they didn't want to (something CPS holds against MANY parents as a reason to remove their children from the home).
Can you please email me? I'm at: gailgallegos@yahoo.com
Best regards to you, and thank you for helping fight this CPS battle.
--Gail
'What's in it for me'
Our mind does not have an inlet valve which we can open to start absorbing information. But yes if we are able to stimulate the brain, it will start absorbing.
For this we need to create an emotional connection with the topic. Once this is established, information absorption starts.
The next step now is to keep this connection and thats it... information is in.
Real learning is this absorption without effort that is without the learner knowing that the he is absorbing information.
According to Gagne's nine events the very first step towards effective learning is Gain Attention - which will act as a stimulus to the brain and activate receptors.
All Common Craft videos are based on this principle...
Lee you are doing a great job !!! Keep it up !!!
Curiosity/motivation is where you start
Totally spot-on.
Way before diving into content has got to be:
~ curiosity/motivation
~ answering questions about the nature of the content
Nice to see practical explaining advice from the best explainers on the planet.
math
You're so right Lee, it's sad to think of all the minds that were written off when the right explanations could have changed their lives!
"Make a connection to a real
"Make a connection to a real world problem. For example, to explain a new mobile phone service, don't start with features or shortcuts. Instead, tell a story about a real world problem that everyday people experience. For example, you could start with "If you take the bus, you know how frustrating it can be. You never know when it will arrive." These words say nothing about a mobile phone, features or brands. Your introduction is focused on the context and the problem. By making statements that reflect real-world problems, the audience can quickly say "I know that feeling!" Helping them with this realization is the goal."
This is very true. A very good tip.
Thanks, from Brazil,
Eduardo.
-
(Editor Chefe - Aprenda ganhar dinheiro na internet conosco!)
Just discovered your
Just discovered your existence. So inspiring...
This is Great Advice...
There are so many businesses out there still making ads trying to buy you on how many features a product has. Doing this only makes people skeptical of what you have to sell because they know you are trying to sell them something.
It's funny that if you talk about a person's problem, they automatically assume that you care or that you relate to them in some way and listen to what you have to say.
I try to do this with my videos that I make for the softball Olympians softball clinic the they're holding later this year.
Thanks for the advice,
Monica
Make People Care
I think this is really clever. I am Japanese teacher and I am not quite sure how this applies to my field, but I can see the point that you are making. I too will not engage in learning something unless I see a clear purpose for doing so.
Thanks
Matt
Make People Care
You are spot on with this. You simply must get people involved if and make them care about the topic that you are presenting if you have any hope at all of being successful.
ContractWithTheConstitution.com
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