thinking about explaining things
you ever wish you could embed hyperlinks in your speech
or otherwise encode "i'm going to assume you know what X means so I'm not explaining things you already know. if that isn't true, please let me know so I can dive deeper. it's okay to do this, i understand that it's a technical term of art and don't want to come off as too technical or as a condescending jerk"
re: thinking about explaining things
@BestGirlGrace I've been practicing adapting to the audience so to say, and it is a pain, especially when the knowledge gap is so wide at times
And yes, it means you kinda need to establish the size of that knowledge gap before you get into the meat of the explanation, which can suck at times
re: thinking about explaining things
@ChlorideCull Yeah, exactly. I want to get a feeling for the knowledge gap without sounding like I'm talking over anyone's head or sounding condescending or wasting time
re: thinking about explaining things
@BestGirlGrace I ask about something central in what I'm about to talk about, and assume they will know about things that surround that, which tends to be correct. Means I can go "Before I get going, do you know about X?" and get the gist of how much they know. If it's an acquaintance, like a coworker, I toss in a "I can't remember" because if you have AD(H)D it's a convenient cushion - you already seem like you forget lots of things regularly, and it shifts it from being "I am questioning your knowledge" to "I am questioning my memory"
re: thinking about explaining things
@ChlorideCull Yeah, when this happens, I'm usually explaining things to someone with little or no familiarity with the subject matter, so I tend to lead off with "Does the phrase X mean anything to you?"