July 2004
Talk Tech, but Don't Speak the Language
Communicating clearly about technology to a nontechnical audience is challenging. Simplifying the message rather than the technology engages readers and opens the door to understanding technology in a new way.
By Benjamin Tomkins
Most people have seen the "Peanuts" television specials featuring Charlie Brown and the gang. In these cartoons, everything that adults say is indistinguishable; to the gang, their words sound like meaningless murmurs. Unfortunately, writing about technical topics is often just as indecipherable as those adults: too much static.
Just like the adults in the "Peanuts" cartoons, most technology writing doesn't engage customers and prospects. Instead, it drones on endlessly long after the audience has stopped caring. The burden of clarity lies with the writer: Claiming your audience doesn't "get it" is a tacit admission that you haven't attempted to "get" your audience.
"You don't need to understand four-stroke engines and fuel injection to drive, so don't explain these concepts when speaking to a nontechnical audience about driving." Why They Should Care
Regardless of topic, effective writing requires not only knowing what you want to say, but also understanding what is important to your audience. Sure, technology can be intimidating, but the writer's job is to make it more accessible, not less. So don't focus on the technology, focus on your audience. Don't tell them what the technology can do; tell them what they can do with the technology.
Suppose, for example, you were discussing the Internet. A computer scientist may find the electronic exchange of information over a global computing network fascinating, but teens, marketing executives, and healthcare technicians find this concept, explained this way, less than captivating. However, if you show them how they can use the Internet, you'll engage their interest. Explain to a teen that he can send instant messages to his friends. Show a marketing executive how she can sell her product globally using an online storefront. Illustrate to a healthcare technician that he can benchmark lab results instantly using a secure-access database.
Admittedly, the Internet has far-reaching benefits that are easy to demonstrate. Most technologies have narrower applications, but, provided you understand your audience, you can always find examples to show your readers why they should pay attention.
What They Should Know
Presenting technical information in a context your audience cares about is an important step, but it's only the first one. Next up is discussing the technology itself. How much does your audience really need to know? For a nontechnical audience, the concept is usually more important than a blow-by-blow technical process.
For example, most people have driven a car, but not everyone is a mechanic. To use a car, they just need to know several essentials. For instance, they need to know that cars require fuel, that turning the steering wheel will move the car in particular direction, that pressing the accelerator will move the car more quickly, and that pressing the brake will slow or stop the car.
You don't need to understand four-stroke engines and fuel injection to drive, so don't explain these concepts when speaking to a nontechnical audience about driving. Explaining the basics, and then explaining the benefits of driving—speed, convenience, and freedom to get where you need to when you need to—is all you have to do.
How to Tell Them
Even if you make your readers care about the technology and present them with exactly what they need to know, you can still stumble over word choice. If you use the same unintelligible, complex, and alienating terms that scientists, engineers, architects, and software salespeople employ, you will confuse your audience and, even worse, sound as though you are talking down to the very people you want a positive response from.
Many writers retreat to jargon because it's easy or because they want to sound important. Writing about technology successfully involves discussing complexity in simple terms. Unfortunately, some writers do exactly the opposite.
Consider this example: "Lateral fenestration punctuates the planar surface of the domestic accommodation units." I'm not sure who the architect was trying to impress when she wrote that, but more readers would have understood her if she'd written, "The flat wall of the apartment building had windows from side to side." Before you use a technical term, take a moment and ask yourself if there is a simpler—and more effective—way to make your point.
Although it's a good rule to avoid jargon whenever possible, there is a time and a place for introducing new terms. Writing about technology is an opportunity to educate your reader about new terms and concepts. When you use jargon—and do it sparingly—do so with purpose and always take the time to explain the term clearly to your audience.
About the author:
As a Tendo contributing editor, Benjamin Tomkins seeks new opportunities to leverage sentences that deliver on the synergies of bleeding-edge functionality and allow constituents to shift share. Among other diversionary activities, he evangelizes the belief that shaving one's head takes the guesswork out of going bald.
