"You can't teach a man anything new..."

How's that for a conversation starter?

Here's the whole quote:

"You can't teach a man anything new,

you can only remind him of what he already knows"

~ Galileo Galilei

That Galileo was a pretty smart cookie, or not so smart, he did go up against the Church when he insisted that the Earth revolved around the Sun (controversy much?) and, consequently, spent the rest of his life under house arrest... but I digress (warning: I often digress).

Here's another gem from another smart cookie:

"If you can't explain it simply,

you don't understand it well enough"

~ Albert Einstein

These two quotes are my reset buttons.

And here's why they're fundamental to quality engagement and understanding...

Because if you're walking into a room full of adults thinking you're going to teach them something new... or if you just can't make it any simpler without a jumble of acronyms and tech-talk, you haven't embraced the mindset of these two geniuses.

So how do we start?

Remind them of what they already know. Don't be afraid to use metaphors... just make sure they're accurate and don't lead your audience off in a million directions. When people can connect things they already understand with the elements of your project, they feel smart and comfortable... and that not only opens their minds to new concepts, but establishes trust and invites questions
Assume it's simple and describe it simply, then run past your experts again to see if there any major gaps or landmines. You're simplifying to reduce complexity, not to create a mess of back-pedalling when key information is missing. Tell them you want to explain it your Mom, but your know-it-all sister will also be in the room

And here's two more that I think are essential...

Think beyond your own learning style. Are you a visual learner? Do you like listening to new information? Does information stick when it's hands-on learning? We all learn in these ways, but you probably have one that's dominant. Just like we have a right hand and a left hand, but one is dominant... doesn't mean we never use the other one. Most often we teach in the system that is most dominant for us. To make learning powerful for your whole audience, make sure you're activating all these learning channels.
Don't teach cold, hungry, tired people! Try as they might, no one can concentrate when their survival mode is activated. Help position everyone for success by creating a physical space that allows learning to take centre stage.

What are some of your favourite quotes you use to inspire your engagement? Let me know in the comments below.