Effective Communication

Why some conversations stick and others don’t?

Last week, I re-watched Amy Cuddy’s famous TED talk about power posing.

She explained the same concept three different ways.
First with data, then with a story, finally with a live example.
By the third explanation, everyone got it.

That’s Alan Alda’s communication advice for me: our brains are terrible at holding onto new information.

We need repetition, but not the boring kind.

She didn’t just say “confident posture makes you confident” three times.
She showed the hormone research (testosterone +20%, cortisol -25%).
Then she shared her personal brain injury story.
And finally she had everyone strike a Wonder Woman pose.
Same insight, three completely different ways in.

Here’s what I’ve learned works:

Keep it to three main points, instead of cramming everything into a powerpoint.

Explain the same idea differently multiple times. Like sharing data, telling a story about it, and using an analogy or demo.

Repeat important things multiple times (not word-for-word). Introduce an idea, expand on it, then recap at the end.

The real insight isn’t the technique.

It’s that communication fails when we forget we’re talking to humans, not information-processing machines.

When was the last time someone explained something so well that you immediately ‘got it’? What did they do differently?