Explainer's Secret Weapon
Trainers and presenters treasure this strategy. Take our free mini-course and watch your audience fall in love with your ideas.
"Excellent. Invaluable. The Explainer Academy was just what I was looking for."
- Bonny Hart, NYC
What’s This All About?
The Explainer Academy is an online school that teaches explanation skills and strategies based on a decade of real-world experience. Whether you'd like to create animated explainer videos or improve your next presentation, we can help.
This free mini-course is a great way to take the Academy for a test-drive.
Why Does This Matter?
Being smart and having great ideas is not enough. Unless your audience truly understands your points, you’ll always struggle to get the attention you deserve.
That understanding comes from explaining with intent. It comes from having a plan and designing your communication to be understandable. That’s why the Explainer Academy matters.
The Problem
You’ve been there… You have amazing, powerful information that will help your audience. Once they understand it, they’ll be able to solve problems and feel confident.
But despite your best efforts, the ideas didn't resonate.
What looked so clear in your head seemed to confuse your audience. They didn’t get it. And now it looks like they've tuned out.
Time was wasted and it’s frustrating. Something needs to change.
The Solution
The secret to solving this problem is developing an explanation strategy and explaining with intent.
Once you learn the basics of explanation strategy, you’ll discover it has amazing potential and depth. You won’t believe how many opportunities there are to improve.
That’s why we built the Explainer Academy. We believe that explanation is an untapped resource that is often taken for granted. We're ready to show you, in an easy step-by-step guide, what it means to be an explainer.
Develop skills that will change your professional life for the better. Learn how to design presentations for understanding and make DIY videos that look professional and solve problems in classrooms, in organizations and on websites.
Are you ready to get started? Take our free course and learn a strategy that you can put to work immediately.
Our Story: Professional Explainers Since 2006
In 2006, we started a project at our company Common Craft that changed our lives. We saw an opportunity to explain technology for the everyday person in the form of short animated videos. Our first video was called RSS in Plain English and today it is now considered the first explainer video of the YouTube era.
Since that time, our intention has always been explanation and we quickly discovered the incredible demand that exists for clear, understandable communication:
- Our videos have been viewed over 50 million times online
Our library of ready-made videos are used by educators in over 55 countries
- We’ve worked with Google, Intel, LEGO, Dropbox, Microsoft and more on explanation projects
- In 2012, we wrote The Art of Explanation (Wiley), the definitive book on the subject
- Academy host Lee LeFever is an international keynote speaker on the subject of explanation
And through it all, we’ve remained focused on two things that we feel are incredibly powerful:
- Explanation Strategy (planning and communicating information with the intent to explain)
- Explainer Videos (using media to package an explanation and make it reusable)
The two courses of the Explainer Academy reflect our proven strategies for true understanding. We believe explanation represents an powerful resource that anyone can put to work.
"The Explainer Academy taught me real, tangible skills that make me a better collaborator and leader."
- Kalpita Kothary, Co-owner & Engineer, Minky
An Innovative, Multi-Media Experience
This mini-course is offered in Common Craft Style - an engaging mix of words, short animated videos, original visuals, and an exercise to try yourself. And, of course, you'll have a downloadable guide to take with you.
Learn the Explainer's Secret Weapon in this 15-minute mini-course. And once you've registered, we'll email you HUGE course discounts.
Are you ready to get the party started?
Your Instructor
Lee LeFever has been a professional explainer for over 10 years.
Lee is the co-founder of Common Craft, an international keynote speaker and author of The Art of Explanation (Wiley, 2012). He is also credited with inspiring the online "explainer" video industry. In his work, he's helped companies such as Google, Intel, LEGO and Ford to explain their products. His explainer videos have been viewed over 50 million times and licensed to professionals and organizations in over 50 countries.
Our newsletter is a great way to get course discounts:
Course Curriculum
"The Explainer Academy couldn't have done a better job of creating 'just right' size pieces to give me a sense of accomplishment and lots to process. Great explaining!
- Bob Rosen, Explainer Academy Graduate
Frequently Asked Questions
Other Courses We Offer:
Let your ideas get the attention they deserve. Learn essential skills for turning complex ideas into crystal clear explanations. List Price: $349.
Learn to produce DIY animated videos using common and affordable tools. This course will turn you into an animated video producer. List Price: $299
Save 15% by purchasing the Media Maker Course and the Explanation Master Course as a bundle. Bundle Price: $549