Not long ago, I sat in on a presentation at a business conference and thought I’d landed on Mars. The program topic was compelling but somehow the presenter managed to take us into outer space. No one was following him. I wondered why this is so complicated. The guy had managed to hide his brilliance under a bushel - seizing confusion from the jaws of clarity.

Whenever someone says,”I don’t want to dumb it down,” I know we’re in for a long day. Pour me another cup of joe and pass the half and half. We have a lot of work to do. The hard part isn’t making the complex clear; it’s convincing people that they can explain anything if they try.

It’s dangerously bordering on arrogance to think that just because you know something others don’t that they are somehow inferior. Smart people don’t approach their presentations with the thought that they’re going to have to write for dummies. Most of the time your audiences are real smart. They just didn’t go to the same school you did. They haven’t spent years learning what you know. True genius is being able to explain the complex so that virtually anybody can understand.

Mark Twain once said, “I would have written a shorter letter if I’d had more time.” It’s work, yes. You have to crank your brain into gear to remember how you learned what you know and explain it to others. If people don’t speak your language, take a few steps back and recall or develop common language or terms that express the concepts. Look for opportunities to clarify.

My husband writes screenplays and consults on movie scripts. He wrote a book a couple of years ago called the 3rd act, writing a great ending to your screenplay. The only thing I know about movies is what I like and don’t like. (chick flicks, yes, excessive violence keeps me up at night). Over the years, sitting next to him in the movie theatre I’ve learned enough to be annoying (”Honey, is this the second act or the third?”). But let me tell you — after reading his book you’d think you were ready to go write the next Casablanca or Moonstruck or Good Will Hunting. He makes it so simple. Even if you’re never going to write Little Miss Sunshine, you enjoy that 2.5 hours in uncomfortable theatre seats (except for the popcorn commercials, loud previews and catchy songs about where to exit in case of emergency).

So what to do - if you do have a complicated subject to explain?

Here are a few tips.

1. Don’t assume people know what you’re talking about.

2. Never believe that you’re smarter than they are.

3. Look for examples and analogies that make people say, “OH!” It’s sometimes hard to find it, but when you do you’ll have eureka moment; when it happens to me my eyes well up with tears.

4. Look for photos, visuals, even stuff people can hold in their hands. A picture really does explain a thousand words. Search Google photos by plugging in a topic and clicking on images. You’ll get 11,345 of them in about 2.5 seconds.

5. Define your terms - and I don’t just mean technical terms. Explain the business lingo, too. It’s really unbelievable what the human business brain comes up with, isn’t it? You might know exactly what ”customer centric” means to you, but I guarantee there are 82 other definitions out there in the minds of your audience.

6. Test run the presentation on a friendly but discerning person. I’m not talking about your dog and your 6 year old. Of course if you can get them to sit in a room for 20 minutes and listen, bravo. But seek out someone who knows your audience and doesn’t do what you do every day and get their opinion.

7. Strive to be the expert everyone loves to run into in the hallway. You win friends when you are everybody’s go to guy or gal. Help them understand enough to make a good decision and be able to explain why they made it.

8. Name your processes, ideas and concepts. People really like to share the ”tag” for an idea; it’s common language. We use a tool called the “Audience Agenda System” in helping our clients analyze their audiences. The process is foolproof; the branding it makes it memorable.

9. Use humor. When a topic is complex or you are struggling to explain it, a little fun goes a long way. You connect with the audience and help them relax by making them smile.

10. Read good books that explain complexity, listen to speakers who do it well, and emulate them. You may remember Steven Hawking, one of the most brilliant theoretical physicists in history, who wrote the modern classic A Brief History of Time . If he can help nonscientists understand where the universe came from, how it began and whether it will come to an end, then I guess most of us can figure out how to explain what we know.