‘The area of a rectangle is it’s length times it’s breadth.’

This is all the explanation you get from a legendary Indian math reference book we all grew up studying. Other concepts fare no better. The whole book comprises statements like ‘the lateral surface area is the area of four walls of a room’. This is the reason so many fear Math. 

There were many options this author had – helping the reader visualise it using small squares; sharing history of how this was needed to calculate different levels of taxes arising from differently sized farms; giving the reader a puzzle of painting a board using a brush of a certain width, thereby needing to calculate the length of the stroke; asking the reader to buy paint for the walls of a house; and so on.

But for this, the author had to realize that their job was not to inform, but to inspire. 

Many of us have emerged from similar systems, and hence make the same mistakes when presenting data, a proposal, or an idea. 

Instead of telling the facts, try sharing a story of how something unexpected or counterintuitive excited you in the first place. Make a connection that seems implausible. Bring in something from its history or context which sounds weird. Interpret it in ways that is funny or cool. Built this all up to a challenge that sounds like mission impossible. And voila!, you would have excited them with a tension that they just have to resolve. 

And while you’re resolving this tension for them, give them just enough for them to reach the conclusion themselves. If they do so before you do, akin to someone ‘getting’ a joke, you would have created an ‘aha’ they will never forget. 

Photo by Michele Feola on Unsplash