The Art of Explanation: How to Communicate with Clarity and Confidence

But just as simplicity doesn’t mean ignoring essential detail, nor does it mean ignoring the essential complexities of what we want to explain.

Explanation is about distilling and sharing, effectively, all the essential information on a given subject.

when we systematically ask for help every time we spot that we don’t understand something, it can be very powerful.

The opportunity was that, increasingly, in the words of one former editor, ‘We are making news for people who already know the news.’

QUICK CHECK • What is the purpose of your explanation? • What is the story you want to tell? • How do you want to tell that story? • Do your strands work? • Check the list of things that you need to understand better. • Are you missing any visual elements that you’d like? • Have you discovered new areas you think you need to cover?

What specific questions will this explanation need to answer?

human beings have a long track record of not stopping to ask themselves obvious questions on what they’re about to do.

Next, we’re going to look at each subject strand in turn. Read through all the elements you have in it and ask yourself these questions: • What do I hope each strand of the explanation will achieve? • Within each strand, which of the elements are the most important? • Which should I start with? • Which elements do you think will follow on from anot

What do you think people won’t understand?