Step by step
Name the audience and outcome
Choose what the listener already knows and the one thing they should understand or do afterward.
Write the core in three sentences
State what it is, why it matters and how it works without specialist terms. Define any term that cannot be removed.
Add one concrete example
Use familiar numbers, objects or events and walk through the change step by step.
Test the boundary
Give a similar case where the concept does not apply, then ask the learner to create their own example.
Ready-to-use checklist
- Audience knowledge defined
- Core fits three sentences
- Jargon removed or defined
- Concrete example included
- Non-example included
- Learner creates an example
Common problems
The explanation keeps growing
Return to the single outcome and move prerequisites into separate explanations.
The analogy creates wrong conclusions
State exactly where the analogy stops matching and replace it if the mismatch affects the main idea.