Introduction
There’s a reason some training sessions stay with people for years while others are forgotten before participants make it back to their desks. It’s rarely about the content. It’s usually about how the content was delivered — and one of the most underused tools in a trainer’s kit is a well-built analogy.
The adult brain connects new information to what it already knows. A great analogy does that work for your learners before they even realize it’s happening. Done right, it can do more in 10 seconds than a slide deck can do in 10 minutes.
So how do you build them on purpose? There are two methods, and which one you use depends on how familiar you are with your content.
”The Best Facilitators Don't Just Explain Concepts. They Make Them Impossible to Forget.
The Intentional Method
This method is for content that is new to you. Before you deliver something for the first time, these five steps can help you craft an analogy that makes the connections you’re intending to make:
1. Identify where you’re most likely to lose people. Where are your trickiest points to convey? Where are the connections not so obvious? Start there.
2. Brainstorm what the concept behaves like in everyday life. Quantity over quality at this stage. Use whatever brainstorming method works for you — a timer, a whiteboard, an AI tool. Cast a wide net.
3. Assess and choose the best option. Which idea makes the strongest connection? Are any of them potentially inflammatory or off-brand for your audience? Narrow it down to one or two.
4. Socialize it with someone outside your field. Optional, but worth doing. If the analogy makes sense to someone unfamiliar with your topic, you’re on the right track. If they need it explained, go back to step three.
5. Deploy and refine based on what you see in the room. Try it. Watch faces. If understanding lands, keep it. If it raises more questions than it answers, rework it or cut it — no matter how attached you are to it.
One rule to keep in mind throughout: if your analogy needs explaining, it isn’t working.
The Ambient Method
This method is for content you’ve already internalized and will continue to deliver. Once your material lives in your background thinking, you stop hunting for analogies and start receiving them.
Inspiration can come from anywhere — current events, pop culture, podcasts, movies, music, TV shows, and especially your genuine interests. That last one pulls double duty: it makes you more relatable and creates connections through shared experience. Letting learners see a little of who you are outside the classroom makes the analogy land harder.
The hardest part of the ambient method is capturing ideas as they come to you. Unlike the intentional method, you’re not sitting down to brainstorm — the idea hits while you’re watching a show or driving to the gym. You need a system that lets you capture it immediately and revisit it later. A dedicated email address, voice memos, a notes app — whatever you’ll actually use consistently. The goal is two habits: capture on the fly, review later. A folder full of voice memos you never listen to doesn’t help anyone.
One More Thing
Both of these methods work best when they’re built into a broader training preparation process. If you don’t have one, that’s worth addressing before anything else. This walkthrough covers a full preparation process with downloadable templates you can start using immediately:
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