Workshop

Designing Clear Explanations

Steve Gillis

Turn complex ideas into clear messages.

Help people understand your ideas—and act on them.

Great ideas don't fail because they're wrong.

They fail because they aren't understood.

When people don't understand your message, they hesitate. Decisions are delayed, projects stall, clients lose confidence, and teams become misaligned.

Clear explanations help people understand, trust your recommendations, and take action.

This workshop gives you a practical system for designing explanations that are easier to understand—and harder to forget.

What you’ll learn

Learn a practical system for turning complex ideas into clear explanations that people understand, remember, and act on.

  • Structure complex ideas so they're easy to follow and remember.

  • Cut through unnecessary detail without oversimplifying

  • Translate complex concepts into clear explanations

  • Organize information into a logical flow

  • Build understanding one idea at a time

  • Keep your audience engaged without overwhelming them

  • Use stories, analogies, and visuals to clarify difficult concepts

  • Design slides that support understanding instead of distracting from it

  • Reduce the confusion caused by jargon and information overload

  • Use AI to pressure-test explanations before important conversations.

  • Pressure-test your explanation from your audience's perspective

  • Deliver a message that's clear, concise, and easier to understand

Workshop agenda

  • Why Smart People Confuse Their Audience

    Understand why knowing your topic deeply can make it harder to explain clearly to others. You will: Find the gaps between what you know and what your audience understands.

  • Find the Message That Matters

    Learn how to separate essential ideas from everything that's merely interesting. You will: Distill your topic into one clear, audience-focused message.

  • Build Explanations That Click

    Turn complexity into understanding using stories, analogies, and structure. You will: Create a clearer explanation that helps your audience understand and act.

  • Make Your Slides Do Less—and Achieve More

    Design visuals that reinforce understanding instead of overwhelming your audience. You will: Redesign one of your own slides to make the message clearer and easier to follow.

  • Pressure-Test Your Message

    Pressure-test your message with AI and feedback before your audience does. You will: Refine your explanation so it is clearer, focused, and easier to understand.

Learn directly from Steve

Steve Gillis

Steve Gillis

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I help experts turn complex ideas into clear communication

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Who this workshop is for

  • Technical Professionals
    Turn complex ideas into clear explanations that build trust and drive decisions.

  • Managers & Team Leaders
    Communicate priorities, strategy, and change so teams align, act, and deliver results.

  • Consultants & Client-Facing Professionals
    Explain recommendations clearly so clients understand, trust your expertise, and take action.

What's included

Steve Gillis

Live sessions

Learn directly from Steve Gillis in a real-time, interactive format.

A system for turning complexity into clarity

Learn practical frameworks to: identify what your audience needs to understand, organize ideas into a logical flow, create explanations that are easier to follow.

Visual explanation tools

Learn how to transform dense information into clear visuals, diagrams, and frameworks that support understanding.

Certificate of completion

Share your new skills with your employer or on LinkedIn.

Maven Guarantee

Your purchase is backed by the Maven Guarantee.

Why This Workshop Is Different

Most communication courses teach presentation skills.

This workshop teaches explanation design.

You'll learn how to structure ideas so people understand them the first time—and then use AI to identify confusion before your audience does.

Frequently asked questions

What you'll leave with

A practical framework for explaining complex ideas.

Templates you can reuse.

AI prompts to improve explanations.

Real-world practice and feedback.

Greater confidence communicating with technical and non-technical audiences.

Maven for Teams

Reimbursement

Get your company to pay

Everything L&D needs: email template, receipts, and certificate of completion.

Get reimbursed

Private cohort

Run a cohort for your org

A dedicated cohort with a custom schedule and curriculum, tailored to your team.

Book a private cohort