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[1] Barbara Minto - The Pyramid Principle
If you have that point covered, the rest is "thinking clearly" and "expressing oneself clearly". These require practice as much as placing yourself in the shoes of the audience.
I don’t think that there is a quick fix, but I have found the following useful; 1. Think in billboards (Construct your explanation in less than 16 words) 2. Increase your vocabulary. Try wordthink.com daily. 3. Hold off. Don’t speak just yet. Seek to compact your explanation. 4. Reframe it as an analogy or metaphor 5. Even if your audience isn’t a 5 year old, try to describe your idea in a way that they would underst…
> 3. Hold off. Don’t speak just yet. Seek to compact your explanation.
These have always been the most important/challenging parts of explaining a topic for myself. If I am struggling, I'll take a few moments and ask myself three questions.
1. What am I trying to explain? (What is in-scope)
2. What am I not trying to explain? (What is out-of-scope? "We can come back to that later if you're interested")
3. How would they explain this topic to me? (What is the language the audience would use?)
I had the same problem at work. My former manager recommended me to read about storytelling and especially “the pyramid principle” [1] by barbara minto. It helped me a lot in how to frame a message and make the message logically easiest to absorb. [1] Barbara Minto - The Pyramid Principle
Please note that there has been criticism raised in recent years about the pyramid principle. Some argue that it turns people's writing in "McKinsey" style, which could be even more confusing to the audience. For instance, Duff McDonald writes in his book, "The Firm", the details on Barbara Minto's text, "The Pyramid Principle". He offers a useful critique of writing things in that style.
Minto's book is useful to read, but just be aware of the criticism raised. This will help when you're thinking about your audience and hoping to explain things to them.
I don’t think that there is a quick fix, but I have found the following useful; 1. Think in billboards (Construct your explanation in less than 16 words) 2. Increase your vocabulary. Try wordthink.com daily. 3. Hold off. Don’t speak just yet. Seek to compact your explanation. 4. Reframe it as an analogy or metaphor 5. Even if your audience isn’t a 5 year old, try to describe your idea in a way that they would underst…
> 1. Think in billboards (Construct your explanation in less than 16 words) > 3. Hold off. Don’t speak just yet. Seek to compact your explanation. These have always been the most important/challenging parts of explaining a topic for myself. If I am struggling, I'll take a few moments and ask myself three questions. 1. What am I trying to explain? (What is in-scope) 2. What am I not trying to explain? (What is out-of-…
This reminds me of Michael Porter's note on strategy: "the essence of strategy is choosing what not to do."
Now go try it on a real person. At this step, it may work out differently than it did in your own head! Don't get discouraged by that. Keep trying.
You finally explained that in a way that someone understood? That's great! Take a moment to feel good about that. Then pick something else, and start rehearsing that.
I think this is something most people struggle with. In my personal opinion, when I find it hard to explain things it's often related to one of the following: 1. I honestly don't know it as well as I think. This is a hard pill to swallow, but most of the time it's the reason why we struggle to explain things in clear terms. 2. We are often conditioned to use terms that the audience doesn't fully understand. e.g., Ind…
I do try to explain more in depth (too much). I'm working a lot on this and stop explaining when the main basis is covered, but my pragmatic approach forces me to cover ALL the parts.
I also agree with @WheelsAtLarge about that I might now know a subject as good as I think. When I start explaining something, I realize that I came short on explaining some parts because I lack the knowledge.
Thank you for your comment, it was helpful.