Hive mind: What advice would you give to someone who has to give a presentation to a non-technical person, and it's important that the listener actually understand the details? How do you go about it? Specific tips appreciated. Pretend it's for a friend you care about.
(This is for an article. Ideally we could refer to you by reference, eg "an IT security pro at a midwest insurance company").
@estherschindler
This is exactly the situation medical professionals have every time they give instructions to patients. There are a lot of sources about ways to do that that have been validated with research
https://www.ahrq.gov/patient-safety/reports/engage/interventions/teachback.html
@estherschindler Here is my plain language slide share. Let me know if I can help.
@estherschindler
Analogies, illustrations, and examples.
e.g., Explaining URL addresses to someone, I used street addresses as an analogy. Explaining layers in digital images, I used the idea of transparencies on top of each other. Context diagrams showed how major components interrelated, and logic flows allowed us to debug business rules and identify gaps. Case studies help show relevance and impact.
Make it a conversation and leave LOTS of time for questions.
Oh, and also have them explain things back to you and/or ask questions to make sure they're understanding the content.
@estherschindler There is a concept that all people interpret the world through the tools they understand.
If you grew up with a calculator you think of a computer as a sophisticated calculator.
Tools usually aren't invented whole cloth out of nothing so there usually is a similar tool to equate to that is more common.
To expand on what @phase said I tend to see what the technology is DOING not HOW it does it and find parallels