It’s an easy mistake to make. One that most people do probably without realising. I know I’ve done so on countless occasions in talks and in writing, but it’s something I’ve become more aware of recently. When we try to teach people whether in a tutorial, a conference talk, or even some over the phone training, we need to be more aware of the language we use. Sometimes it’s easy to use words or phrases that while used with good intention – usually in an attempt to lessen the perceived complexity of what we’re explaining – can result in quite the opposite effect.

Take the following sentence:

“[It’s] now extremely simple to add custom columns and information to the post’s overview screen for a post type”.

This is an actual opening sentence from a section of a book I wrote in 2013. But the language here, especially if someone new to the subject were reading it, could have the opposite effect I had intended. I know when I was writing I chose to use language like this, things like “this simple function…” or “obviously you would…”. It was a conscious choice with the intention of making what I was about to explain seem like it wasn’t that difficult.

Yet, as I said this can result in the opposite effect. In some cases where the audience is new to the subject, they may not grasp the concepts you’re explaining first time. Instead of it feeling like a comfort it can make the user feel stupid for not being able keep up with your explanations. Whilst the concepts you’re explaining may seem easy or simple to you. With the explanations having the good intention of trying to instil your confidence in the topic. The choice of language may instead have the potential to make your audience feel incompetent for being unable to understand.

“I feel like an idiot while doing my job. A lot.”

The above is from a post called “Just” from last year’s Pastry Box Project. Brad Frost wrote about the way he is often made to feel by language like this.

Changing bad habits

This slide is from Una Kravets’ talk at Sass Conf last year. Una spoke a lot about how to develop a great community, using specific examples from within the Sass world. These included how the community has developed and helpful advice for people looking to start their own local meet ups. Slides are available here if you’re interested in reading more. Una also offered some great advice for teaching others and the language we use. There are some great examples above but there’s a lot more you can do, and it can depend on the context you’re teaching in too.

Conference talks and writing

In a conference or meetup talk and in our writing there are a few ways we can ensure our audience isn’t made to feel left behind during our talk. In talks it’s hard to stop and take questions while presenting. You usually have a time limit to stick to. Or have the talk so well planned out that regular stoppages for questions from the audience might break your flow. I know of speakers that are comfortable with interruptions during their talk. But it depends on what you’re confident with and the setting of the talk.

Depending on the event/conference there may be time for questions at the end of your talk. In this case, ensure that the audience are aware that you’re happy to answer questions about anything they might be unsure of. If there isn’t time for official questions at the end of a talk, try to make sure you stay around afterwards to allow people to ask questions. People may feel shy when asking in front of a packed audience. Of course this can still be hard to do in a social setting if people are sometimes a bit anxious to go up to the speaker at an event. People are always scared to ask what they might consider to be a “stupid question”. But as long as you do your best to make yourself available and open to questions, it’s all you can do. Harry Roberts does a good job of this during his talks. He starts by making a hashtag for the talk so discussion can come via social media. As well as at the end of a most sections he lets people know he will be around at the end of the event for questions and discussions.

Code examples

To make sure that you don’t leave the audience behind at times during a talk there are a few things you can work into the talk itself. As Una mentions in her slide, it’s good to show examples of what you’re talking about. However, when it comes to code examples it’s good to bear in few things in mind:

• Showing 50 lines of code on a slide is hardly going to get read and is going to be a pain to explain.
• In cases where code examples don’t work in small doses, try using pseudocode to explain the concepts.
• If it’s syntax you’re trying to teach, splitting it up into more easy-to-explain chunks might be a better approach.

I’ve experienced a few talks where the speaker goes through a lot of code in rather rapid succession. At the time it left me unable to follow along with what the speaker was talking about and feeling quite frustrated. At a recent event Phil Nash spoke about WebRTC, which has the potential to include a lot of code examples. Instead of diving deep into code, Phil used diagrams to explain the concepts while still using technical language. This method was so much easier to understand. At the end of the talk he also linked to the blog post he’d written which had all the code examples in for you to run through. After this style of talk, I left with a much better grasp of the concepts. Feeling like I could go and tackle the blog post to try out some of the code examples.

A great aspect of Phil’s talk I also want to mention was how he linked to a blog post that explained the topic a bit further. In the slide above, Una’s “don’t” list includes not sending links to documentation. I agree with her on that point, but linking to other resources – blog posts you or others have written – can be beneficial. When trying to explain a concept that might need a bit more background, an external resource might work better than trying to fit those details into the current talk.

Lastly, in any talk or writing, aim to make good use of summaries. Summarising each section within a talk, and reiterating an overall summary at the end can help to reinforce the points that you’ve made. This is not only a good speaking technique, but is also a good way of keeping your audience up to speed on what they should have taken away from each section, or the whole talk. Referring back to the key points of a section should jog the memory of those that might have felt overwhelmed during the section or may have lost track. It’s also a great way of driving home what the reader/audience should have focused on during that section. When writing summaries, it allows you to focus on the key points you want to make sure people are taking away. Whilst section-based summaries are a great recap point within talks, in actual fact any time that you might refer to or expand on something you’ve already covered is a great point at which to jog the memory and mention that previous part of the talk. Doing this helps to put the current information in context and helps your audience follow along.

In person, workshops or one-to-one

When you’re doing more personal teaching, whether in a workshop or on a one-to-one basis. Or any situation where you have a more interactive teaching environment. There are even more ways that you can adjust your language to help people learn in the environment. When you’re in that sort of environment, there’s a lot more opportunity for discussion around what you’re teaching.

Firstly, make sure you allow enough time to stop and answer questions if you’re running a workshop or teaching session. Also, when in a workshop with a small number of people, make sure to ask the attendees questions rather than rely on them to interrupt you. People (especially in England) are far too polite to interrupt someone when they’re talking, even if they’re not quite sure of what the person is explaining.

Going back to Una’s examples, the approach “did you know about x?” works brilliantly here. Instead of a situation where you assume people know what you consider might be a simple example, asking them about it here empowers them. The feeling of “yes! I did know that” opposed to the, “oh, I must be stupid because I should have known that already” is a great feeling and will help the confidence of your audience, instead of knocking them down when they’re meant to be learning.

In summary

I think as speakers or writers, or if you will educators, we need to be a bit more careful about the language we use and the way we present information. Choosing the wrong language can unintentionally defeat the purpose of what we’re trying to achieve. Instead of making our audiences feel empowered and learn new things, we can leave them feeling stupid and unlikely to follow up on the subject.

One of my favourite speakers on education, Christopher Murphy describes what we should be looking to achieve as educators:

“An educator’s role is largely about way-finding and signposting”.

As educators, whether we’re doing a talk in front of our colleagues at work, or at an international conference. Whether we’re writing on our blog or for an industry magazine. We have a responsibility to our audience. We’re not there to show them how clever we are, we’re there to help them learn something new.

In teaching, by making sure our language is encouraging, helpful, and empowers our audience. We’re able to give them something bigger than just a snippet of information. We’re able to introduce them to a path that leads them to discover and learn about a subject on their own. That’s the true point of education.