When you're explaining things to people it's funny how there are some simple techniques that seem to work, whatever the situation.
In the last eighteen months or so my mother has been increasingly in need of extra help due to age-related memory loss, and through my conversations with her I've gained some fascinating insights into how we store information, how we remember things (or not) and how to communicate complex information in a way that's possible to understand and retain, without insulting the listener.
Sometimes my patience and powers of empathy are severely tested, but I've taken to approaching communications issues with my mother much as I do computer problems - if something isn't working, you need to try another tactic. Getting angry or doing the same thing over and over only backfires!
Something I tend to do a lot with mum is 'direct speech' scenarios. Instead of using reported speech, it involves putting things into speech bubbles. For example, instead of asking her
I'll say
There's a difference. The second way of asking puts my mother firmly in the picture, and encourages her not only to imagine the person coming to the door, but it also jogs her memory so that if that scenario had indeed already happened, she is more likely to remember and tell me about it. If I want to make an even simpler, more immediate point, I'll put it all in the present tense ('If someone comes to the door ...")
So, using direct speech is a method of making a situation concrete, helping the listener to remember what you've said and also helping them to anchor it to any memories of similar events they may have.
For that reason, it's also a powerful technique when you're explaining, presenting or training - in fact, I do use it quite a bit, I just hadn't registered until now what I was doing and how useful it was.



