New information can be hard to grasp, especially when it addresses a difficult concept or term (such as equilibrium in engineering), a difficult-to-envision process (such as cash-flow management in business), or a counterintuitive idea—one that challenges commonsense thinking (such as drinking a glass of red wine a day can be healthy).⁹

Useful for most any speech, the following strategies for communicating information are especially helpful when attempting to clarify complex ideas.

Use Analogies to Build on Prior Knowledge

Audience members will understand a new concept more easily if the speaker uses an analogy to relate it to something that they already know. Indeed, the process of learning itself is sometimes defined as constructing new knowledge from prior knowledge.¹⁰ By linking the unfamiliar with the familiar through an analogy, you will give your listeners an easier way to venture into new territory. For example, to explain the unpredictable paths that satellites often take when they fall to Earth, you can liken the effect to dropping a penny into water: “Sometimes it goes straight down, and sometimes it turns end over end and changes direction. The same thing happens when an object hits the atmosphere.”¹¹

You can organize part or even all of a speech around an analogy. When explaining how the thyroid functions, for instance, you could liken it to a conductor directing a symphony (the body).¹² Bear in mind, however, that no analogy can exactly represent another concept; at a certain point, the similarities will end.¹³ Therefore, you may need to alert listeners to the limits of the comparison. The statement “The heart is like a pump, except that the heart actually changes size as it pushes blood out” demonstrates that, though similar, a heart and a pump are not the same.¹⁴

In the following excerpt from a speech about nanotechnology, Wolfgang Porod explains the size of a nanometer by comparing it to the diameter of the moon. Note how he attempts to reduce confusion by first defining the root nano and then comparing it to the size of the moon:

What is a nano and what is special about a nano? Nano is a prefix derived from the Greek word for dwarf and it means one billionth of something. So a nanosecond is a billionth of a second. A nanometer is a billionth of a meter. Now, just saying that doesn’t really tell you that much. So what does it mean to have the length scale of a billionth of a meter? Well, imagine the diameter of the moon. It just happens to be, roughly . . . a billion meters. So take that and shrink it down to the length scale of a meter, which is what it means to go a billion size scales. So a nanometer is a billionth of a meter.¹⁵

Demonstrate Underlying Causes

Listeners may fail to understand a process because they believe that something “obviously” works a certain way when in fact it does not. To counter faulty assumptions, first acknowledge common misperceptions and then offer an accurate explanation of underlying causes.¹⁶

Appeal to Different Learning Styles

Audience members are more likely to follow your points if you reinforce them with other media. The reason for this is that people have different learning styles, or preferred ways of processing information. One learning theory model suggests four such preferences: visual, aural, read/write, and kinesthetic.¹⁷ Visual learners will most quickly grasp ideas by viewing visual explanations of them, either through pictures, diagrams, slides, or videos. Understanding for aural learners comes most easily through the spoken word, by hearing and speaking. Read/write learners are most comfortable processing information that is text-based. Kinesthetic learners learn best by experiencing information directly, through real-life demonstrations, simulations, and hands-on experience. Some of us are multimodal learners, in that we combine two or more preferences.

Audience analysis can sometimes give you a sense of the types of learners in an audience. For example, mechanics of all types have strong spatial visualization abilities and thus would be classified as visual learners; they may also be kinesthetic learners who want to “test” things for themselves. Often, however, you may not have enough information to determine your listeners’ learning style, so plan on conveying and reinforcing information in a variety of modes. In your speech, use charts, diagrams, and other visual representations of ideas to appeal to visual learners. Use colorful and concrete language and strong examples and stories that will engage aural listeners. Prepare text-based slides containing main ideas (but beware of crowding) and, if appropriate, consider distributing handouts at the end of your speech. Use demonstration to appeal to kinesthetic learners. Table 23.3 offers guidelines for presenting information to different types of learners.