If you like these videos from the BBC’s ‘Explainer-in-Chief’, you’ll love his book The Art of Explanation: How to Communicate with Clarity and Confidence.
Here is a recent video.
If you want to do something well, look at those who do it well and find out how they do it.
And, even better, if they write a book explaining their model, read it, and apply it.
‘Explanation – identifying, distilling and communicating what we want to say – is an art.’
It is an art that is nearly absent in Brussels. Too Few lobbyists have it. Many technical experts – in whatever discipline – don’t recognise the need for it.
If you possess it, it is a rare and useful skill. Imagine being a lobbyist who is able to put a persuasive case forward to the official and politician they meet, An explanation so clear that people agree with it and co-opt it. Apply the advice in this book, and you may well succeed.
It provides a degree of rigour that, if applied to lobbying, would increase the chances of success 100-fold.
If you want to gain it, read this book and apply the lessons.
I liked the book for two reasons.
First, it reveals the model that delivers consistently brilliant work. Watch his videos.
Second, it echoes some points I’ve made.
I rank it among the three most practical and useful books any lobbyist can buy. The other is Chris Rose’s How to Win Campaigns and What Makes People Tick.
What follows is my take on notes extracted via Readwise from this excellent guide.
If I miss the quotation marks, just assume anything useful is from Ros Atkins. Anything parochial is from me.
Atkins spent decades learning and refining his technique.
I don’t think there is enough interest in explaining complex issues clearly and well.
This is likely for three reasons.
First up, it is hard work. It is not easy. The process Atkins suggests will frighten many away. People want the results of the hard work and application of a systems approach without putting in the hard work. It does not work like that.
Second, a lot of experts find the idea of communicating with non-experts repulsive and beneath them.
Third, good communication may expose that what you ask for has no solid basis. Better to shroud your policy asks in mist before people realise the emperor has no clothes or the asks have no basis.
There is something that unites most NGOs and industry. The information they want to communicate is neither hitting the mark nor delivering what they were hoping for in return. Every day, people with important things to say fail to get it across. Officials and politicians are none the wiser after they talked to advocates promoting an interest.
Why are so many lobbyists plagued with the inability to explain things clearly? It is not a surprise. There is no professional training. Many come to it as issue/technical experts and never leave their niche. The jargon that pervades that policy ghetto gets embedded in their vocal cords.
Atkins notes that “the starting point is that the odds are stacked against us. Don’t assume people will be interested in the subject.” People are too busy to spend time listening to you confusing them.
So, a good place to start is that people don’t want to read or listen to you. You need to earn the privilege of securing their interest and time. If you make that psychological shift, you’ll work harder to produce something that is clear and interesting for the intended audience.
If you assume that an official or political is going to share the same level of interest, often verging on pathological obsession, that you do, you’ll be in for a shock when they blank you.
Atkins calls for an alternative approach. That is, to provide a “successful explanation – by which I mean identifying the information, shaping it, passing it on, and it is understood and, if need be, acted on – is something I will have to fight for every step of the way. Trying to demand attention will not get me far at all. Instead, I try to create explanations that are so clear, focused and relevant, they merit attention in and of themselves” (emphasis added).
Atkins shares his system of explanation that helps identify information, organise it and then communicate it in a clear, concise and comprehensible way. You can use this system for presenting reports, position papers, writing emails, speaking in one-to-one meetings or a speech.
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I’ve extracted many of the excellent checklists and quotes.
“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.”
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THE CENTRALITY OF EXPLANATION
Bringing clarity to complex systems so non-specialists can understand them is the “art” of the explainer.’
‘Good explainers are engaging, not only informative.’
a good explanation contains all the information the person or people I’m addressing need to know on the given subject.
ask yourself, ‘What do the people I’m speaking to need to know?’
Explanation is about distilling and sharing, effectively, all the essential information on a given subject.
I also learned to adjust my words depending on who I was talking to
‘Less clarity means less buy-in.’
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THE ANSWERS ARE ALL AROUND US
The good news is that while we are surrounded by examples of poor explanations, we will also encounter many people who are getting it right.
But can you do it in a way that is both accurate and takes people with you? ‘Keep listening back,’ If someone’s not listening to you or if they’re not taking in what you’d like them to hear, it’s reasonable to ask why are we spending time and energy telling them? What is the purpose of communicating if we’re not giving ourselves the best chance of being heard and understood?
The book provides a method to to understand how to explain effectively.
HOW TO USE THIS BOOK
The book is divided book into five sections.
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The Anatomy of a Good Explanation
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Know Your Audience
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Seven-Step Explanation
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Seven-Step Dynamic Explanation
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Quick Explanations: Verbal and Written
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1 THE ANATOMY OF A GOOD EXPLANATION
There are ten attributes that I am looking for in an explanation. 1. SIMPLICITY 2. ESSENTIAL DETAIL 3. COMPLEXITY 4.
EFFICIENCY 5. PRECISION 6. CONTEXT 7. NO DISTRACTIONS 8. ENGAGING 9. USEFUL 10. CLARITY OF PURPOSE
In its simplest form, this is what I’m trying to do when I’m explaining myself: I want to provide all the information that someone needs from me or that I would like to give them. And I want to give them that information in a way that gives it the best chance of being consumed and understood.
1. SIMPLICITY
Allan Little, BBC, ‘Simplicity is the key to understanding. Short words in short sentences present the listener or reader with the fewest obstacles to comprehension.’
‘obstacles to comprehension’. Within that information there may be words, facts and phrases that are obstacles to people understanding what I’m trying to say. . These include superfluous adjectives, obscure or complex vocabulary, unnecessary detail, long sentences.
It boils down to a question I’ve asked myself thousands of times – about each sentence of every explanation. (Location 550)
ASK YOURSELF Is this the simplest way I can say this?
2. ESSENTIAL DETAIL
what is the detail I need to include to properly explain this?
Detail for its own sake is not good. It doesn’t make us look clever nor is it helpful. Every piece of non-essential information makes it harder for the essential information to be communicated. we risk hiding what matters most.
ASK YOURSELF What detail is essential to this explanation?
3. COMPLEXITY
The more complicated a subject or an issue, the greater the threat to an effective explanation.
To explain is to first understand. First a a complexity badly explained is, well, complex and inherently hard to understand.
That undermines both someone’s understanding of what you’re trying to convey but also, more broadly, undermines their faith in you as a source of useful information.
My suspicion in these cases is that the person doing the explanation has either come up against a limit on their own knowledge or their own willingness to make the subject accessible.
to constantly check that you’re calibrating the explanation to match the level of knowledge of your audience.
ASK YOURSELF Are there elements of this subject I don’t understand?
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.
4. EFFICIENCY
ASK YOURSELF: Is this the most succinct way I can say this?
5. PRECISION
‘Good writing is all about choosing the right words to say precisely what you mean,’ Allan
The first is working out what we want to say. ‘If your sentences are too long, your writing hasn’t been disciplined enough. If your
writing hasn’t been disciplined enough, your thinking hasn’t been disciplined enough.’
Less is more in explanation if the information at the heart of it is worth hearing.
writing is only powerful when it is punishingly precise.
ASK YOURSELF Am I saying exactly what I want to communicate?
6. CONTEXT
Context is key to making people care and making them understand.
‘Why does this matter?’ You significantly increase your chances of someone wanting to hear what you say.
ASK YOURSELF Why does this matter to the people I’m addressing?
7. NO DISTRACTIONS
The person or people we’re communicating with to stay focused on the subject in hand.
These distractions can come in two forms – verbal and visual.
Visual support can be a massive plus in great explanation. But if you’re creating visual distractions, you’ll be having the opposite of the desired effect.
ASK YOURSELF Are there verbal, written or visual distractions?
The first is as obvious as it is important: if someone’s not listening to you, you’re not going to be communicating with them.
8. ENGAGING
It is self-evidently true that if someone is not listening to you, you’re not going to explain anything to them.
ASK YOURSELF Are there moments when attention could waver?
How to keep someone’s attention, – it explicitly answers the questions that the audience has.
9. USEFUL
The best explanations are helpful.
I write a list of the questions that I think I’ll be expected to answer. If you can answer them all, there’s a good chance whoever you’re addressing will want to hear what you say.
ASK YOURSELF Have I answered the questions that people have?
10. CLARITY OF PURPOSE
If you’re not sure exactly what you’re trying to do or say, people tend to notice. So, address the problem in advance.
ASK YOURSELF. Above all else, what am I trying to say here?
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KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE
There are many times when we are conscious and clear about which people we’re communicating with. We factor that into what we make and what we say. In my experience, we don’t do this in many other areas of our lives. We don’t shape and adapt our explanations according to who they are for.
Part of the art of explanation is to do just that in whatever circumstances we have to explain ourselves. You can’t explain yourself as well as you’d like if you’ve not considered who your explanation is for.
As often as possible when communicating, I want to pause and check what I know about the people I’m speaking to or writing for. (Location 1091)
If I’m not satisfied that I know enough, I’d try to find out more by asking or researching.
The more you know about who you are speaking to, the more you can calibrate your explanation and the more likely you are to communicate effectively.
These five questions are a useful start:
1. The target: who am I talking to?
2. Knowledge assessment: on this subject, what do they know and what would they like to know?
If we can better understand what our audience knows and wants, we can better judge what information is most relevant and helpful to them, with all the benefits that come with that.
3. Tailor it: how do they like to receive information?
4. Make it personal: how best can you convey that this information is for them? If you think something is for you, you are much more likely to pay it attention. If someone feels you are talking to them, they are far more likely to engage and respond. Equally, if someone feels you are communicating with a group but not particularly with them, they pay less attention and are less likely to respond.
5. Believing in the messenger: how best can you be credible?
I developed an editorial process. Each script would be seen by several senior people and would go via an expert on that particular subject. After that, if there were any doubt, we wouldn’t do it.
My credibility checklist: • Am I credible to the people I’m addressing? How do I want to be seen and am I achieving this? • Who do I need to be credible to? Can they be treated as one or are there different groups? For each group, are there long-term ways of building my credibility? If yes, what form would that take? If no, how can I build my credibility quickly? • Which aspects of my experience and knowledge will enhance my credibility? Can I speak on these areas with fluency and precision?
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SEVEN-STEP EXPLANATION
This is what the process looks like.
1. SET-UP
2. FIND THE INFORMATION
3. DISTIL THE INFORMATION
4. ORGANISE THE INFORMATION
5. LINK THE INFORMATION
6. TIGHTEN
7. DELIVERY
STEP ONE: SET-UP
• What do you hope to explain and/or communicate? Provide one sentence maximum.
• Who is this explanation for? Give the answer in one sentence maximum.
• Is there a consistency of knowledge amongst those you’re addressing? Yes / No
• How do you assess their knowledge of this subject?
• How would you summarise what they’d like to learn from you?
• What specific questions will this explanation need to answer?
• What, if anything, do we know about how they like to receive information?
Provide a brief number of bullet points for each of the last four questions above.
• Are there ways you could find out more? Provide a few bullet points.
• Where will this be consumed? One sentence maximum.
• Is there a fixed duration? Specify a number of words or minutes.
• Is the duration strict? Yes / No
STEP TWO: FIND THE INFORMATION
• Where and how should I look for information?
• Which parts of the subject do I want to explain? Make a list of bullet points.
SOURCES
Two source rule: This means that you want the information from two reliable sources.
It’s always worth asking:
• Have others raised concerns with this source of information?
• Is there an agenda or belief that I need to factor into my considerations of this information?
• What do I know about the organisation or platform where the information is appearing?
• Where do they get their information from?
• Can you see people you trust using this information?
• Is the information being shared by this source also being shared by other sources?
• Does what they’re saying match?
Questions to ask about sources:
Q1: What’s the source? If no source can be found, that is clearly a reason to raise an eyebrow. You will notice how much information is being shared where the sourcing is either non-existent or unreliable.
Q2.Really? First, if it doesn’t add up, it might be wrong. Second, if it doesn’t add up to you, it might not add up to someone you’re sharing it with.
When you are copying and pasting, make sure you label the source and author at the top of the text and put a link in too.
YOUR QUESTIONS LIST
What do you think people won’t understand? The more people have their questions answered, the more interested they are going to be and the more value and credibility they see in you as a source of information.
What don’t you understand? Kidding yourself that you understand something when really you don’t is likely to lead to trouble later on. We need understanding to get to the best explanations so, there’s no use in trying to short-circuit the process.
What is you are confused?
My goal here is to collect the information and note the areas where I’m confused. Have you discovered subject areas where you’d like more information?
• Add any areas of missing information to your original list.
• Go and find information on those subjects and add it to the pile.
• Go down through the whole list. Do you have information on each point?
• If yes, fantastic. If no, what’s the plan?
• What people who we can ask for guidance?
QUICK CHECK By this stage we should have the following:
• A summary of what you’re trying to explain and for whom
• A list of the questions you think the audience will want answered
• A list of what you don’t understand – or want to better understand
• A list of the subject areas you think you need to hit
• A pile of information on the subject
STEP THREE: DISTIL THE INFORMATION
We need to go through the same process with information. If you want to organise and explain information effectively, you’re unlikely to be able to do it in one go, especially if there’s a lot of it.
The purpose of this distillation is to break our information down to its absolute minimum – the smallest nuggets.
We’re trying to do two things here: refine information that is or may be relevant and discard information that we definitely don’t need.
THE FIRST SWEEP
Remind yourself of your ‘purpose’ .It’s a test of whether it’s relevant and essential.
As you read, ask yourself: is this relevant?
With each section that you decide to keep, ask yourself: what is it that is of value here? And then start to remove everything else.
Focus on the information that has value and strip everything else out.
THE SECOND SWEEP
Now we’re going to go back to the top and start again.
If you decide something no longer supports your purpose, delete.
HOW TO DECIDE RELEVANCE
• Does this particular element help me meet the ‘purpose’ of this explanation?
• Why does this particular element of the explanation matter?
As you sift, your document will get shorter and shorter.
QUICK CHECK
• Are there any gaps in the information you need?
• If there are, repeat Steps Two and Three for where you see a gap.
• Do you have anything to add to the list of questions you have?
• Is all the information you have in its simplest form?
By the end of Step Three, we’re in a strong position. We know what we’re trying to explain. • We know who we’re explaining it to. • We’ve completed a comprehensive sweep of information that is or may be relevant. • And we’ve distilled that information, which makes it more usable for us and more consumable for our audience.
STEP FOUR: ORGANISE THE INFORMATION
In Step Four, we need to identify what I call the ‘strands’ of an explanation.
MAKE A LIST OF THE MAIN STRANDS OF THE SUBJECT
There’s no fixed number of strands. Make a list of the ones that come to mind and give each a short header.
Core strands plus two more. You should now have a list of the strands that you’ve identified. To these, we’re going to add two more. One is for information that we’re unsure how to use. One is for high-impact information that could be useful at the start and finish of our explanation.
STRAND A STRAND B STRAND C STRAND D STRAND E STRAND FOR HIGH IMPACT STRAND FOR INFORMATION WE’RE NOT SURE OF
Soon we’re going to want to start putting the information we’ve distilled into the strands – but not quite yet! Before that, we need to think about narrative.
WHAT STORY DO YOU WANT TO TELL?
Where using stories to deliver information is an essential tool in your armoury. If, from the start, your audience wants to know what happens next, there’s a very good chance that they’ll stay with you.
Before you start to write and when you think you’ve finished, take a few seconds to ask yourself: ‘What’s this story in five words?’ Have you conveyed that?
Where perhaps we go astray is not understanding the centrality of narrative to explanation and communication. Arguably it is the most powerful tool at our disposal. Because while the information may be valuable, it may not be enough to draw people’s attention on its own.
Pure facts and context are, of course, a wonderful resource but, for whatever reason, they don’t grab our attention as a story does. (
This is why at this stage in Step Four – where we organise our information – we must pause to think about the story we want to tell.
ORGANISING THE STRANDS
it’s time to order our strands.
STRAND C STRAND A STRAND D STRAND E STRAND B STRAND FOR HIGH IMPACT STRAND FOR INFORMATION WE’RE NOT SURE OF ADD THE INFORMATION
Start going through your distilled information and move each element into the strand of the story where you feel it fits.
Continue this until all the information is in one of the strands.
ORGANISE THE INFORMATION IN THE STRANDS 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 another?
• Here and now, if you had to describe each strand to someone, how would you do it?
Start from the top. Place the element you want to begin with. Next, bring in the element you think should follow. Either in your head or out loud, outline how you would flow from one element to the next. (
Keep going until you feel this strand of the explanation has sufficient information to do its job. At the end of this, two outcomes are very likely. First, you will have some elements left over. Double-check that you don’t need them. If you don’t, move them into the ‘not sure’ strand. You might turn back to them later. Second, as you begin to order the elements and you really start to engage with how you want to tell this story, you may spot a missing element that you really need.
‘shopping list items’.
Write ‘SL’ next to areas where I know something is lacking.
VISUAL ELEMENTS
Look at each strand and go through the information you have in each one.
• Are there phrases or facts you want to emphasise, a series of actions you could highlight one at a time, sections of your explanation that you want to mark as you work through them?
• Are there graphics, maps or images that you want to show?
• What do you plan to show at the start?
• What will be the final image that remains visible when you finish?
Select visual elements that explicitly support what you’re saying. If you want to quote someone, pull up the quote. If you want to show an event, show a picture of it. If you want to reference a statistic, show the statistic. At best, generic images do nothing; at worst, they distract and create a sense that you’ve nothing of great value to show.
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? • How do you feel about the information in your ‘not sure’ strand? • Do you need advice?
We’ve taken great care to assemble, refine and organise the information we think we need for our explanation. Now we need to turn it into something that is coherent, consumable and, we hope, starting to resemble a great explanation.
STEP FIVE: LINK THE INFORMATION
This is where we start to tell our story.
As you prepare to write, keep these questions in mind:
• Is the language you’re using as simple as it can be?
• Are you clear what role each element is playing?
• Are you sure precisely what you’re trying to say with each sentence?
• Are there areas you still don’t understand?If there are, jot them down.
• Do you have your list of the questions that you think people will have?
COMPLETING THE FIRST DRAFT
GO FROM THE TOP TO THE BOTTOM
Want to check if it’s hanging together.
• Are you happy with how the strands and elements move from one to the next?
• Are there gaps in your explanation?
• Are there areas where you’re struggling to get your point across?
QUICK CHECK
• Are you happy that you’ve stuck to your story structure?
• Have you used different techniques to provide emphasis and momentum? •
Does it sound like you?
STEP SIX: TIGHTEN
Turn a good explanation into an exceptional one.
Cold blood is required! The need to be able to cut something you’re heavily invested in.
Not for the first time, as you start the tightening, here’s a list for you.:
1. Are there any obstacles to understanding?
Which personal or place names do you need?
Which dates do you need?
Which statistics do you need?
More broadly, have you included any information that is not essential to your explanation?
2. Is there unnecessary complication?
3. Could any sentences be made shorter without losing their content and meaning? eliminate expressions that add nothing to what’s been said’ and which make ‘writing longer, not better’.
4. Is there anything that is unexplained and could distract?
5. Does what you’re showing match what you’re saying?
6. Does the start hook you in and the finish leave you with a clear conclusion?
7. Has your explanation answered all the questions that people will have about this subject?
8. And the big one: are all the strands and elements essential?
GET A SECOND OPINION.
QUICK CHECK • Are you satisfied you’ve tightened this as far as it can go? • Is there anyone you’d like to show it to?
STEP SEVEN: DELIVERY
The question is: would people want to consume it? Would they choose to consume it?
So we would work then past the perfection point until it became natural.
It needs to be clean and calculated.
The best written and verbal explanations have a rhythm,
VERBALISATION
Say it out loud. Iron out all the creases. This is about the flow and how well the whole thing hangs together.
As you read, ask yourself:
• Does this sound like me?
Does each sentence logically move on to the next?
As each sentence follows the one before, does it feel right to you?
After each adjustment, read it out loud again. If it’s worked, great. If it hasn’t, keep trying until it’s right.
If it’s not right, don’t leave it.
FROM TOP TO BOTTOM AGAIN . . . AND AGAIN
Read your explanation out loud once more. What’s causing the crease? Normally, you can pinpoint a word or two. Alter them and read it out once more.
PLACING YOUR VISUAL ELEMENTS
Open up your script and your list of visual elements and start marking on the script where they should go.
There is a direct connection between my words and what you would see.
SCRIPT v BULLET POINTS v MEMORISATION
Staying on script. If you do need to read a script, here are three practical measures that can help. Ask yourself:
• Is the font size big enough to make the words easily discoverable at a glance?
• Are the lines spaced out? 1.5 line spacing if I’m reading direct from a script.
• Have I added headers?
ASK YOURSELF • Is the font big enough? • Is the spacing right? • Can I easily see bullets at a quick glance? • Can I talk through each section fluently with only the bullets for prompts? • Can I talk through the entire explanation fluently? • Would it be better if I added or deleted bullet points? • Am I confident when I want to look down?
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4 SEVEN-STEP DYNAMIC EXPLANATION
But there are many scenarios where we’re not in control. In fact, this is surely the majority of scenarios. Because every time we interact with someone else, we don’t know what they’ll say. How can our explanations meet all our expectations – precise, clear, efficient, high impact – in situations we can’t control?
To do this, we need all the techniques we’ve looked at already – but we’re going to layer another set of skills on top.
‘Controlling your two-way’.
‘Today we’re going to learn to say what you want to say regardless of what you’re asked.’
This is really about how we all explain ourselves in the most demanding scenarios. Here goes . . . These are our Seven Steps – but this time with a twist. 1. SET-UP 2. FIND THE INFORMATION 3. DISTIL THE INFORMATION 4. ORGANISE THE INFORMATION 5. VERBALISE 6. MEMORISE 7. QUESTIONS
STEPS ONE TO THREE: PREPARE THE INFORMATION
See previous steps 1-3
STEP FOUR: ORGANISE THE INFORMATION
Your building blocks need to be simple, memorable and usable.
To that end, I am going to limit us to five pieces of information per strand.
STRAND A STRAND B STRAND C STRAND D
Primary point Primary point Primary point Primary point
Fact Fact Fact Fact
Fact Fact Fact Fact
Context Context Context Context
Below your ‘primary point’ you’ll have some facts that accompany it. We also need to provide context to go with it. As we’ve already considered, without context, information loses much of its meaning and impact.
Here’s a simple example if you were going for a job.
• Strand: Organising large events •
Primary point: extensive experience across event types and countries
Fact: Project-managed a 2,000-person conference
• Fact: Responsibility for budget, personnel and marketing
• Fact: Freelance event organiser in five countries
• Context: Recently promoted to
QUICK CHECK • Are your strands of information clearly defined?
• Are you happy with the information you have within each strand?
STEP FIVE: VERBALISE
Verbalising makes the information you have much, much more usable.
Walk around talking to myself.
Drills
Complex story, I may still bring a single page of well-organised notes. And here’s what almost always happens – I never look at them.
Notes can be useful if there’s a specific quote, statistic or fact that you want to be sure of. .
VERBALISE EACH STRAND
And each step is going to involve saying this information out loud.
Try talking through one of the strands.
Connect two strands together.
Next, pick any two strands and talk through one and into the other.
We’re aiming for you to sound focused and informed but also conversational and fluent.
Practise moving from strand to strand in different combinations.
Bridging phrases
• That’s one area I’d emphasise, another is . . . • There is, though, more than one aspect of this issue to consider. Another is . . . • Another thing I’d stress is . . . • And while that’s important, so is . . . • This also links to . . . • From this, we can also look at . . . • There’s more than one dimension to this. Another is . . . • But to understand this issue, we can’t only look at this – we also need to look at . . . • And that connects to . . . • And if X is one aspect of that, Y is another . . . • There are, though, several ways of explaining this. Another (Location 3369)
CHECK • Have you verbalised your information so that it feels comfortable to say? • Are you comfortable moving between different strands of information? (
STEP SIX: MEMORISE
Chunk the information down.
QUICK CHECK • Are you clear on what you’d like to memorise? • Have you decided which memory technique you’re going to use? • Have you practised your explanation without notes?
STEP SEVEN: QUESTIONS
PREDICTING THE QUESTIONS
1. What are the questions you’re very likely to get asked? Write down questions you think you’ll get.
2. What would you ask?
3. If you wanted to be awkward, what would you ask?
4. What questions would you rather not be asked?
5. What questions at the periphery of the subject might come up?
6. What can you find out about the people asking you the questions?
The next task is to split the list into three:
• Questions you think you can answer
• Questions you need to work on how to answer
• Questions you need new information to answer
PLOTTING YOUR ANSWERS
Faced with the first question on your list, which combination of strands would you use to answer the question?
Next on your list are the questions that you’re not so sure how to answer.
What is it that poses the problem? Are you not clear on what you want to say? Or is it that you’re not clear how to say it? Try to work out the former before you then move on to the latter.
What is really important is that you don’t know.
Don’t ignore the things you don’t like. Why? s. First – the obvious one. If you get asked them, you want to be able to answer well. Given you’re already struggling with them, the chances of this going well are low. Often with difficult questions, even when we have all the information prepared, it is a turn of phrase that can both give the explanation its coherence and give you confidence to talk about it.
The last section of your list is for questions where you need more information.
ANSWERING QUESTIONS IN THE MOMENT
By organising and memorising the information, that is all work that our brain doesn’t have to do in the moment.
By practising the questions, we’ve already worked hard on how to answer them.
SAYING WHAT YOU WANT TO SAY
If you’re asked a question, if at all possible, you need to answer it.
The question you don’t want to answer (‘I’m not sure I’m the best person to ask on that,’
Escape phrases and bad questions
‘In some ways, yes. But Ros, another thing is’You’re right, that is important. As is . . . • I think that’s one important issue. Another that ties into this issue is . . . • On that, I’d agree, but if we look elsewhere . . . • It’s amazing the number of factors here. That is one – but also think about . . . • You’re quite right to raise that. I’d also highlight . . . • One other thing I’d mention . . . • I completely agree. Also . . . • Yes. And that’s just one of a number of issues
ANSWERING QUESTIONS THAT YOU DON’T KNOW THE ANSWER TO. The first is to simply say I don’t know the answer. Do you know I don’t have that – and I’d like to know. I’m going to look into that, but I don’t have it to hand. • That’s a really interesting question that I’d like to know the answer to too. I’m going to look into that. • That is a detail that I’d like to have to hand. Let me get that after this meeting and I’ll send it on to you. • This is something we’d really like to know. It’s on our list of things to look into. I just don’t have it yet, though, I’m afraid.
Switch from what you don’t know to what you do know.• I’m afraid at the moment I don’t have that. What I can tell you is . . . • So far we don’t have those confirmed figures. What is confirmed is that . . . • I don’t know the answer to that right now. What I do know is . • I’m afraid I don’t have that particular piece of information. But I do know that on this same
The advice I always give new reporters going on the TV or radio is that if they get a difficult question, answer it as best they can and then stop.
TAKING CONFIDENCE FROM YOUR PREPARATION
By far the most important thing to do is what you’ll already have done in the Seven Steps – prepare and practise.
The second is to tune out everything apart from the people you’re speaking to. In the end any human interaction is between those involved calmed them by trying to answer each person who asked a question as if I were simply talking to them in the corridor. Try to normalise an abnormal situation.
QUICK CHECK • When you think of the main subjects you need to talk about, are you concerned about any of them? • Have you gone over your list of expected questions? • Are you taking confidence from all the preparation you’ve done? • One more: do you feel ready? (If you’ve done all this work, you absolutely are!)
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5 QUICK EXPLANATIONS
QUICK VERBAL EXPLANATION
Ahead of any conversation that isn’t social, I’d hope to think about what I want to get across, what I want to ask and what I want to learn.
I have three questions, which I quickly try to answer.
1. Which subjects do I want to discuss?
2. What do I want to say? I jot down bullet points under the subjects on my list.
3. What do I want to ask? Write down any questions that you want to make sure you ask.
SHORT WRITTEN EXPLANATIONS AKA EMAILS & MESSAGES
Writing for Busy Readers,
MY ASSUMPTIONS WHEN I WRITE AN EMAIL
1. The recipient/s may not read it at all. 2. The recipient/s may not read all of it. 3. The recipient/s will skim it rather than going through it sentence by sentence. 4. The recipient’s approach will be entirely functional. 5. If the recipient doesn’t feel that it’s specifically for them, they are far less likely to read it.
Assumption one: The email or message may not be read at all. One is to write a subject line that makes clear it is either directly for this person and/or this is about something directly relevant to them. I also write a first sentence that explicitly explains what the email is about. e, ‘If a message’s purpose is not immediately obvious, readers must allocate more of their limited time to read and understand it.
BLUF?’ Bottom Line Up Front.’
Assumption two: They may not read all of it. Make the email as short as possible.
Assumption three: The reader will skim. Use short paragraphs.
Pleasantries, while polite, can be obstacles to where the action is. If they can go last, so much the better.
Use formatting.
The rigour of working through the steps and of working through the checklists are, for me, still necessary.
There is an art of explanation – but it’s one you have to work at. You have to practise.
Why spend this much time fretting over precisely what we say and how we say it? ‘It’s like cleaning a window,’ Allan reflected. ‘You can see through a dirty window but if you clean the window you can see so much better.’
To end, this is a good video talk about the book.