Mastering Clear Communication: 12 Tips to Simplify Complex Ideas (Full Transcript)

Speaker 1: You've got something important to explain to a group of people. In your mind, your message is clear. Then you start to explain it, and suddenly, everything sounds convoluted. You look at your audience, and you see confusion, blank stares, and boredom. You're blowing it. Now all you can think about is getting out of this situation. Maybe your communication fail wasn't this dramatic. Instead of a live event, maybe it happened on your website, or on social media, or by email. Either way, whether you're talking to customers, investors, employees, or your bosses, poor communication comes at a cost. Learn to explain complicated things in a simple way that attracts and holds attention, builds trust, engages your audience, and moves them to act. Here are 12 tips for doing just that. What does your audience know and need to know about your topic? What do they care about? Adjust your communication accordingly. Never feed salad to a lion. Before you launch into your explanation, make sure your audience understands why it's important and how they'll benefit from it. They'll pay closer attention. Identify the key messages you want your audience to take home. And remember, a chain is only as strong as its weakest link. Build your explanation one strong link at a time. Resist the impulse to provide too much background. You'll lose your audience in a fog of extraneous details that matter only to you. Bill Gates famously released mosquitoes into a crowd to make a point during a presentation about malaria. Without taking such drastic measures, create a series of moments to hold your audience's attention. Give your audience the chance to cement their understanding by asking them questions along the way and inviting them to ask their own. Storytelling is a business superpower. Use stories to spark emotion, take your audience on a journey, and move them to act. Take a communication shortcut by comparing a new idea to a concept they're already familiar with. Use benchmarks to put what you're saying into perspective. If I tell you your sales are at 75% of budget, that might sound bad. Until I tell you that you were at only 55% of your final number at this time last year. Yes. Adding visuals to your explanation can increase retention rates from 10% to 65%. Einstein famously said,

Speaker 2: If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough.

Speaker 1: Check for gaps in your knowledge when it comes to your subject matter. Are your explanations riddled with jargon and acronyms? You might be losing people without knowing it. Speak as plainly as you can. Oops. Need help turning your complex information into a compelling story? Contact exaltus.ca today.