Experience “supercharged” communication

We all struggle with communicating complex topics. It’s hard to simplify the story we’re telling and it’s hard to capture the attention of an audience bombarded by media every minute of the day. Watch this video, The Empathic Civilisation, and note how it tackles an elaborate topic in 10 minutes. It was created by Cognitive Media, a company out of the U.K. that blends animated drawings, handwritten text and narrative into a storytelling format.

The producer of this video – RSA (Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce – whew, what a name!) – has partnered with Cognitive Media to translate several other complex topics into animated videos. Find them in this RSA blog.

This animated approach is not accessible to everyone; I imagine Cognitive Media charges a fair fee for their services. That said, certain elements could certainly be adapted in a “do-it-yourself” kind of way. You’d have to give up the idea of animation, and stick to static visual images. More on that in Use clipart but exercise restraint.

I recommend you begin with a “burning question” per the ABCaP method because it forces you to define an angle on your topic that your audience will care about. For example, I would have liked to hear “What is the most surprising thing scientists have learned about human nature in the last ten years?” at the front of the video I’ve attached here. The answer is the title: the human race is an Empathic Civilisation.

If you had the same reaction, I hope it encourages you to use a little more caution when establishing your topic. Audiences in the business environment are generally impatient; you have to engage them in the first 15 seconds.