
The Curse of Knowledge: When Your Brilliance Falls Flat
Have you ever proposed a policy or some ordinance to the public or a board and not gotten the response you were looking for? You have spent countless hours researching, preparing, and crafting the presentation into a condensed format that you thought was easily digestible to your audience, only to be met with a blank stare and scrunched brows of confusion and uncertainty. This can be commonly referred to as the Curse of Knowledge.
The Curse of Knowledge remains a reasonably tricky concept as it is so simple it trips up 90% of the population. The Curse of Knowledge theory is that you have spent so much time working with the information, you forgot your audience does not have the same insight you do. This frustrating phenomenon can take you from feeling like you were on top of the world before the presentation to being put in the corner of shame when your audience does not understand your message's meaning. The presenter is often left feeling discouraged and like their idea was not worth all the effort it took to present. Luckily, there are ways around the Curse of Knowledge! Let's dive into what we can do to help avoid it. 1) You can't unlearn anything We really mean that the curse of knowledge can only occur because you have learned something. The simple fact is, once you know something, you cannot unknow it. Armed with this knowledge, you should be able to remind yourself that only you know the content! 2) Do not Assume! Of course, you've heard the saying about when you assume something…well, the same principle can be followed here. Do not assume that your audience has any idea what you are speaking about. When you keep this in mind, your content will hold more of the information your audience needs to understand. 3) Remember You are Not in The Indy 500 Slowwww it down. There is no reason to rush the perfection you have created with your information. The curse of knowledge occurs worse if you add an extra "demon" to it. The demon's name is speed. It is not smart to rush already potentially new information to your audience. Rome wasn't built in a day, and neither is a radical change. 4) Inventory Your "Stock" When writing and condensing your information to present it, make sure you take inventory of essential information. What will the audience need to know to understand it, and how will you direct the information flow? Armed with these insights, your information will contain the necessary points for your audience to understand what is being presented. It will aid comprehension. The information will also not be assumed, making it more straightforward during and after your presentation. Finally, your presentation will not contain the dreaded Curse of Knowledge that will prevent/ limit your audience from appreciating the content. |
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Cobalt Community Research is a national 501c3 nonprofit, non-partisan coalition that helps local governments, schools and membership organizations measure, benchmark, and affordably engage communities through high-quality metrics, mobile geofencing data, surveys, and dynamic population segmentation. Cobalt combines big data with local insights to help organizations thrive as changes emerge in the economic, demographic and social landscape. Explore how we can help by calling 877.888.0209, or by emailing [email protected].
Cobalt Community Research is a national 501c3 nonprofit, non-partisan coalition that helps local governments, schools and membership organizations measure, benchmark, and affordably engage communities through high-quality metrics, mobile geofencing data, surveys, and dynamic population segmentation. Cobalt combines big data with local insights to help organizations thrive as changes emerge in the economic, demographic and social landscape. Explore how we can help by calling 877.888.0209, or by emailing [email protected].