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Ask HN: How to Get Better at Articulation

2 points by hahnchen 5y ago

When i try to explain complicated things to others i seem to confuse them. How are bloggers and professors so good at this? Is there a way I could practice on my own?

soueuls 5y ago
If you have limited time, I think your best bet is to think it through until you can come up with 2-3 strong metaphor/analogy for the complex things you are trying to convey. IP -> post office + zip code domain names -> yellow pages
yuppie_scum 5y ago
Look into ToastMasters.
auslegung 5y ago
Richard Feynman was considered excellent at this. Look Up the Feynman Technique. He’s a fascinating person so I greatly enjoy his anecdotes. There are 2-3 books full of them
- hahnchen 5y ago
  isn’t the feynman technique about learning not really about teaching?
tibbar 5y ago
Explaining complicated things to people is mostly an illusion - especially in a short period of time (professors have a window of months and many hour-long lectures, plus a textbook to offer people for background reading.) No one can explain, say, blockchain to someone who's never heard of it before in 5 minutes so that they really understand it. Instead, focus on saying simple and high-level things about the subject, and go into increasing levels of detail if you have more time, after checking that people are on board with you. For instance, you could start by saying 'blockchain is a form of internet money'. Great! What does that mean? They won't know, and this statement isn't even particularly accurate, but they will feel they understand you so far. You could follow up with 'It is decentralized - that means it's not controlled by any government or bank. Instead, ordinary people all around the world work together to authorize transactions and release new money. There are many different kinds of blockchain. We often call the money that's released on a blockchain a cryptocurrency.' Be very careful about dropping lots of jargon. Avoid using technical terms at all. (An exception for terms they've probably heard before like cryptocurrency or bitcoin miner - people like to tie together words they've heard before.) You want people to understand the high level concept, not the grandchild concepts. Be humble about the amount of knowledge you can convey in a short period of time. And be interesting! Be funny! Help people to stay attentive. Also, you will get better at explaining any given concept if you practice it. Over time you will get faster, know what points tend to cause confusion and clear those up proactively, and ramble less. Make sure to talk with people instead of at them -- get their feedback. If they seem confused, see if you can figure out why, and work that into your talk! Good luck.
- _448 5y ago
  > 'blockchain is a form of internet money' Is it?
  - tibbar 5y ago
    No, but it’s the kind of directionally accurate description you can use to start one of these discussions. Remember they won’t really go away understanding anything anyway. You just want to give them the emotional catharsis of following along

2 points by hahnchen 5y ago

When i try to explain complicated things to others i seem to confuse them. How are bloggers and professors so good at this? Is there a way I could practice on my own?

soueuls 5y ago

If you have limited time, I think your best bet is to think it through until you can come up with 2-3 strong metaphor/analogy for the complex things you are trying to convey. IP -> post office + zip code domain names -> yellow pages

yuppie_scum 5y ago

Look into ToastMasters.

auslegung 5y ago

Richard Feynman was considered excellent at this. Look Up the Feynman Technique. He’s a fascinating person so I greatly enjoy his anecdotes. There are 2-3 books full of them

hahnchen 5y ago
isn’t the feynman technique about learning not really about teaching?

tibbar 5y ago

Explaining complicated things to people is mostly an illusion - especially in a short period of time (professors have a window of months and many hour-long lectures, plus a textbook to offer people for background reading.) No one can explain, say, blockchain to someone who's never heard of it before in 5 minutes so that they really understand it. Instead, focus on saying simple and high-level things about the subject, and go into increasing levels of detail if you have more time, after checking that people are on board with you. For instance, you could start by saying 'blockchain is a form of internet money'. Great! What does that mean? They won't know, and this statement isn't even particularly accurate, but they will feel they understand you so far. You could follow up with 'It is decentralized - that means it's not controlled by any government or bank. Instead, ordinary people all around the world work together to authorize transactions and release new money. There are many different kinds of blockchain. We often call the money that's released on a blockchain a cryptocurrency.' Be very careful about dropping lots of jargon. Avoid using technical terms at all. (An exception for terms they've probably heard before like cryptocurrency or bitcoin miner - people like to tie together words they've heard before.) You want people to understand the high level concept, not the grandchild concepts. Be humble about the amount of knowledge you can convey in a short period of time. And be interesting! Be funny! Help people to stay attentive. Also, you will get better at explaining any given concept if you practice it. Over time you will get faster, know what points tend to cause confusion and clear those up proactively, and ramble less. Make sure to talk with people instead of at them -- get their feedback. If they seem confused, see if you can figure out why, and work that into your talk! Good luck.

_448 5y ago
> 'blockchain is a form of internet money' Is it?
- tibbar 5y ago
  No, but it’s the kind of directionally accurate description you can use to start one of these discussions. Remember they won’t really go away understanding anything anyway. You just want to give them the emotional catharsis of following along