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

Explanation is a potent mix of clarity of purpose, clarity of language and essential information – all calibrated for an intended audience. Those who do it well stand out.

‘The reason this matters is . . .’ • ‘To understand this, we need to remember that . . .’ • ‘All of which connects back to . . .’ • ‘This is not happening in isolation.’ • ‘This is important beyond the immediate consequences because . .

For me, a good explanation contains all the information the person or people I’m addressing need to know on the given subject.

Support words These are words like ‘the’, ‘it’, ‘then’, ‘of’, etc. The brain expends next to no energy processing these and they require no explanation. 2. Known words This can be anything from a noun like ‘table’, to a country like the United States, to a process like an election, to an event like the Second World War. The vast majority of people

A great explanation will include the essential details and the essential complexities – and do so in the simplest language possible. That simple language will help to meet our next target.

‘Bringing clarity to complex systems so that non-specialists can understand them is the “art” of the explainer.’ New York University Professor Jay Rosen was leading the project and is quoted: ‘Good explainers are engaging, not only informative.’ He goes on to outline how an explainer ‘addresses a gap in your understanding: the lack of essential bac

dodge the complexities and hope to explain something well. To explain is to first understand.

How do you imagine starting this whole story off? Which elements could help you end the story? Select the ones you think could perform these roles. Place them together in new strands marked ‘Introduction’ and ‘End’. What you select will be dictated by the story you’ve chosen to tell, so keep this in mind.

A couple of years ago, the New York Times journalist Jane Bradley tweeted: ‘The best editors send you back your copy with 1,000 words lopped off and you don’t even notice them missing’.